Many recreational and entertainment opportunities once in the East Suburbs have taken a dive, skated away or trotted off into the sunset.

Liability insurance, aging facilities, changes in demographics and interests, planned highway improvements and government regulations have contributed to the demise of local leisure time activities.

One of the more unusual offerings was on Brown Avenue in Wilkins Township in the early 1960s. Mea Hunter, who grew up in Penn Hills, remembers "stretched trampolines over the rectangular holes" that were flush with the ground.

Keith Guthrie, a Wilkins native and now police chief there, says about six trampolines stood where the parking lot for the Wilkins Elks, formerly The Fountain Room restaurant, is today.

He says retired officers remember getting called when patrons got injured on the gravel that surrounded trampolines.

Also gone is Discovery Zone in the Monroeville Mall annex. With its slides, ball pits, indoor mazes and games, it was a favorite with children during the mid-to-late1990s.

A similar, short-lived, indoor facility, Kidz Own Playzone in the Murrysview Shoppes on Route 22, came and left in the last several years.

These are some of the things that are here no more:

Public pools

Several privately-owned, but public, swimming pools no longer exist, including three in Plum Borough, according to Gary Rogers of the Allegheny Foothills Historical Society.

Center Beach on Saltsburg Road near Center-New Texas Road, a sizeable pool with a large white beach house, was open from about 1920 until the late 1950s. Crystal Beach on Greensburg Road near the border of Lower Burrell probably closed in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Rogers says.

Unity Beach, built in about 1927, had large lights that enabled the facility to be open 24-hours, perhaps to accommodate the shift schedule of local coal miners and railroad workers, Rogers says. The pool on Leechburg Road, under the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge, offered bus service from Wilkinsburg, Turtle Creek and Verona, as well as picnic grounds.

The Willows Pool in Oakmont, which survived from about 1910 to 1969, attracted national swimming and diving competitions as well as a crowd of recreational swimmers because of its size.

"It was so large they actually had canoe races in the pool," Rogers says.

Blue Dell Pool on Route 30 in North Huntingdon, part of a complex with a drive-in and diner, closed in 1984. The pool at Burke Glen on Route 22 in Monroeville was open from the late 1920s through the early 1970s, when it faced improvements required by the Allegheny County Health Department.

Blue Spruce Motel on Route 22 in Murrysville, later Camille's, had the last such pool in the area until it closed in the last five years.

Burke Glen, The Willows and Center Beach also had dance halls. Willows drew big bands such as Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller, Rogers says. The dance hall at Burke Glen became the Electric Banana during the 1960s and 1970s.

Rogers attributes the decline in public pools to liability, upkeep because of the size and age, and homeowners installing their own backyard pools.

Amusement parks

At different times, the East Suburbs was home to three amusement parks.

Dream City on Robinson Boulevard at Laketon Road in Wilkinsburg, which opened in 1906 and closed a decade or so later, featured picnic grounds, rides, shows, an artificial lake, fireworks each evening and 150,000 electric lights.

Burke Glen was constructed in 1926 on Route 22 near Elliott Road. The park had a rollercoaster and other rides, a fun house, amusements, a swimming pool and picnic grove.

After the Great Depression and World War II, most of the rides were unusable, writes Marilyn Chandler of Monroeville in her book, "Hamlet to Highways: A History of Monroeville, Pennsylvania."

Later known as Cool Springs East/Burke Glen Swim Club, all that remained when the park closed in 1974 were the pool, picnic grove, driving range and miniature golf course.

Rainbow Gardens in White Oak was a small amusement park with rides, a pool and an adjacent drive-in theater that was open from the mid-1920s until 1968, when it closed because of state plans for a Route 48 expressway through the site, which never materialized.

Drive-ins

About a dozen drive-in theaters once provided East Suburbanites with nighttime entertainment. The majority disappeared as developers bought the land for commercial use.

Along Route 30, North Huntingdon had the Blue Dell, the adjacent Bel-Aire and the Maple, which was near Lincoln Way. Down the highway was the Super 30 in Irwin.

Monroeville had the Pittsburgh Outdoor Theater, where Lowe's is on Route 22, and Monroeville Drive-In on Northern Pike near the Westinghouse facility. Miracle Mile Drive-In was where the Murrysview Shoppes are today along Route 22.

Others were scattered -- the Rose off Route 130 near Harrison City, the Ardmore on Yost Boulevard in Braddock Hills and Rainbow Gardens in White Oak at the intersection of Route 48 and Lincoln Way.

In 1997, the East Suburbs lost its last outdoor theater when Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In on Route 30 in North Versailles closed to make way for a Wal-Mart.

Movie theaters

The stadium-seating and multi-screens of Destinta Theater in North Versailles and Loews at the Waterfront in Homestead contributed to the demise of Showcase Cinema, the last movie theater in the Business Route 22 corridor in Wilkins Township.

On Route 22, Monroeville had Cinema 22 in the Jonnet Plaza and the Monroe where Monster Mini Golf is today. Monroeville lost the last of its three venues when Best Buy razed the Cinemette East (Carmike) Theaters at Monroeville.

"One of the most common calls we get at the chamber is, 'Where is there a movie theater in Monroeville?'" says Chad Amond, Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce president.

Penn Hills, Oakmont, Delmont, North Huntingdon and Regent Square have held on to their local theaters. A project is under way to resurrect the now-closed Lamp Theater in Irwin as a movie and performance venue.

Several smaller theaters also once thrived in the East Suburbs, including ones in Pitcairn, Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, and in the Universal and Eastwood sections of Penn Hills.

Stables

Saddling up just for the day is a thing of the past.

The former Tanglewood Stables on Route 30 in North Huntingdon was the last local place that offered public recreational horseback riding.

"There's none in the area," says Diane Storrick, who co-owns Idle Creek Stables in Murrysville, one of about a half-dozen private stables in Penn Township, Murrysville and Plum that offer lessons but not one-time riding opportunities. Storrick attributes the demise of public stables to liability laws.

Golf

Several golf-related facilities have come and gone, including a driving range on Hulton Road near the Penn Hills-Plum border and miniature golf courses on Center Road in Monroeville and at the Dave Smith Chevrolet site along Frankstown Road in Penn Hills.

Lakelawn Park along Route 130 in Penn Township offered miniature golf, go-karts and batting cages.

"I loved it," Andy Blenko, North Huntingdon planning director, says about the facility. "It was great."

Eckerd bought the property at the corner of Pleasant Valley Road for its store, now a Rite Aid, leaving much of the former recreation area undeveloped.

Willow, a miniature golf and driving range, opened in the early 1960s on Saltsburg Road in Plum, where S&T Bank is now located. David Borkovich, whose family still owns the venture, says that land was leased and, in 1986, Willow moved to a new location on Saltsburg near the Turnpike.

Skating

When Monroeville Mall opened in 1969, it had at its center the first full-size ice arena in a shopping area on the East Coast -- larger than the Rockefeller Plaza rink in New York City. The trend for mall food courts and liability insurance issues put it out of business in 1984.

"That was probably one of the best ice rinks in the country," says Bob Mock, the second of two managers there. "To this day."

Alpine Ice Chalet on McKelvey Road in Braddock Hills started as an outdoor facility about 1963, then enclosed the rink before closing in about 1975, Mock recalls. Golden Mile Ice Center opened in the 1980s but closed about five years ago, after Center Ice opened in Delmont in 1997.

Mock's family ran a small outdoor ice rink on Larimer Avenue in Turtle Creek during the 1960s. Other small outdoor rinks could be found in Forest Hills Park, on Duff Road in Penn Hills and in West Wilmerding.

Courtier's Pond on Rebecca Avenue in Wilkinsburg offered indoor ice skating in a basement, says Mock, now skating director at Center Ice in Delmont. Rogers says Center Beach's pool in Plum was filled and frozen over for winter ice skating.

Although many people from the East Suburbs crossed the river to roller skate at Ches-A-Rena in Cheswick, Ardmore Roller Palace on Ardmore Boulevard was the East Suburbs' only exclusively skating facility. Both have closed in recent years.

There were also roller rinks at Monroe Bowl on Monroeville Boulevard until 1986, when SYMS bought the building, and Blazers on Route 30 in North Huntingdon, which is now Pluma.