Bravo,Im 74,went to Playland from '53 thru '58 with Mom and Bro.Once in a Generation experience.Wish kids could have same!Many thanks for your efforts.
I had forgotten so much about Playland and the Fun House until I looked at several videos today. I remember my dad taking me down the wooden slide a few times. I remember Sal now, and my grandmother getting her skirt blown up. The Diving Bell! All this was such a big part of my childhood. I was sad when it closed.
I remember all this stuff. I must have went to The Fun House 70 or 80 times from 1967 until it closed in 1972. Our parents also left us there by ourselves for the afternoon. I remember the long wooden slide with the burlap bags. The trick to the spinning disk was to sit right in the middle. If you got a spot right in the middle your chances of being thrown off were small. I think the price to get in The Fun House was 50 cents but that allowed you all-day-access. I have great memories of The Fun House. By the time I started going to Playland in the late 60s, most of it was deteriorated. I remember taking the submarine ride once and water was leaking through a crack in the window that had electrical tape over it. I miss Playland. I can't believe they replaced an amusement park with a Safeway.
LOVED IT!!! I would swear that I was NOT going to be slung off that thing but I was NEVER able to stay put...we were sent one by one slamming into those padded walls...LOL...today parents would probably sue the place but back then we were made of tougher stuff..no pads, no helmets when we rode bikes...no child abductions...we walked to school without body guards...ahhh the good old days.
I grew up in the city, San Fran. i loved this place. I grew up in the 60's. I had the same experiences, my parents leaving me for the day to just run around by myself while my two older sisters took off. I loved the spinning record thing. and the giant slide. thanks for posting the video.
I understand this is one person's memories, but I loved the Playland! I grew up close by, so we walked there often. I remember all the details, the only thing that scared me was Sal's laugh, or cackle! I was never seriously injured there, but I had some bumps and bruises. In those days, lawsuits were not common. I don't remember parents being with us most of the time, but my sister was 8 years older than I, so when I was little I went with her and friends. I have a lot of stories. Sometimes we went to Playland just to eat or play Skee-ball. My friends and I rode our bikes there to watch Playland being demolished, very sad experience. I also watched the Sutro Baths burn down, as a child, those two memories were shocking to me, both places were very important parts of my childhood...
That is not how I remember it. I was there so many times as a young child, and loved all the attractions that seemed to bother you. And never got injured. Loved, loved the Playhouse!!!
Loved going to the fun house with my family. Reading these posts reminded of things that I had forgotten about. One thing I do remember was the diving bell outside. It would take you down under the water where there were fish and even a shark I think. There was a microphone inside the diving bell so everyone could hear what was going on down there. I can remember when the diving bell came up, it came up very fast and made lots of waves, and it scared the heck out of me. I was crying screaming, the works. Glad it didn't scare me for life. I love the water.
I loved going to Playland when I was a kid, especially Laughing Sal and the funhouse. The joy wheel didn't scare me though. I thought it was fun when you lost your grip and flew off the wheel. The secret to getting through the barrel of fun was to wait until you were the only one, and then run through it as fast as you could. Thanks for the memories.
I learned how to get through the barrel by watching older kids do it with ease. They just calmly walked at a brisk pace facing at an angle toward the side of the barrel moving 'down' and gradually made their way to the other end, always standing and walking upright. No need to run. It was like a treadmill.
The disk was sure a lot of fun, and the slides were fun. I lived on sutter then we moved to Daly City! I used to have a scooter and go down the hills with it. I remember going to a store on the corner and it was run by really nice Japanese people. I can remember they set me on the counter and gave me an ice cream, I was 3 or 4 but they knew my parents somehow I got out of our apartment and went to the store! Then you could do those kind of things! Great city then, wish we would have never left!
This tracks my memories very closely. I remember so clearly going airborne on my burlap sack. I actually found the scariest and weirdest part of the park to be the diving bell. I can only imagine how dangerous it actually was.
I remember my parents taking us there many times. Despite the video narrator's recollection, we always had an amazing time. I loved the wooden slides and the 'record player'! As I recall, there were also moving wooden horses. My folks only let us go to the fun house because my mom was very wary of the rides. One of the most memorable times of my childhood!!
...and all this was endured in a cute little dress that blew up every time the air jets in the floor were activated. Playland was the abject terror of my childhood...and an enduring memory of my life in The City! Thanks for your video...brings back the hair raising up on the back of my neck and a tear or two when my older sibs taunted, “let’s go to Playland!”
I spent many days in the Funhouse, it was a blast. I remember the slide stairs were rickety wood with some treads broken, loose, or missing. Thanks for the video.
Barring scrapes & bruises, Playland was the best fun place to be in the 50's & early 60's. Junk food was nourishing & some rides made you throw it all up - loved the barrels but not the air holes in floor when I wore a skirt-lol fun! Sad to see it go. Great memories.
☔ thanKs for the memories... great place...diving bell 🔔 bumPer cars, cotton candy, and much moRe... probably 1953 ish was my first times there...i was 3....🎶 got me thinking of the "Family Dog"... little cluB in '68 for music... dynamite times... and i still say peace 💜 🇵🇸🇾🇪🇸🇴🇪🇹🇱🇾🇦🇫🇸🇾🇮🇶🇮🇷🇷🇺🇺🇦🇨🇳🇺🇸🌍🌎...⚾ downtown s.F. kids...we were...🕶️
We had what seems like an identical funhouse here on the East coast at Rye Playland. It was the only ride that didn't end until you wanted to leave. We saved it for the last ride of the night, earmarking our tickets.
not exactly! I lived in the funhouse. the laughing sal you showed was a reproduction. santa cruz has the original. going into the funhouse you had to get through the mirriors, and then the rollers. you had the joy wheel which spun around fast and you would slide off. the barrel , moving stairs, air holes in the floor that blew the women's dresses up. the slide seemed forever to climb in your socks with wood slats on the incline upwards. rode down on burlap sack. its was quite the memory.
We were always so poor as kids when we went there and pretty much only had bus fare. We lived at 1931 McAllister St., so it was a straight shot on the bus down Fulton St. :^)
My brother, sister and I lived in a flat on the corner of Stanyan and Carl street back in the late 30's. We would jump on the cow catcher on the rear of the 76 car and ride it all the way to Fleishaker, swim in the saltwater pool and then go to the Funhouse. What; a day! Totally unattended and free as birds, we'd cautiously get by Laughing Sal, press our way through the spinning cloth-covered tops, lwalk over the air vents and into the guts of the ploace. What fun it was to slide down the polished hardwood slides and to attempt to stay on the Joy Wheel as it spund faster and faster.. Dangerous? Yes. But fun? Oh my God yes. and you could stay in the Funhouse all day, which we often did. Great memories. Thanks for sharing. I'm now 90 years old but remember this as clear as a bell.
@@chuckmclaughlin9490 What a great story, when I was 12 my dad and I was the last ones in the funhouse on the last day. We hid when it closed and messed around until the guards chased us to the slide and just waited for us at the bottom, the best day of my life...
back in the days before law suits...i too got skinned up on the slide when my sack would move...lol...and i got a serious head butt from the kid next to me on the spinning disk but it didnt stop me from going on again and again. Our parents just left us there to go wander around...and we were safe...no one worried about abductions or law suits...remember that diving bell...that ride down wasn't so much but being shot to the surface was what made it worth it...I LOVED that thing..thanks for this.
I lived in Sebastopol in the 60's and 70's and my uncle worked in the funhouse. Needless to say when he and my aunt visited, I'd always get to go home with them and hang out in the funhouse all day long. God it was great. Sometimes my uncle would let me go down the ladder, to the control pit and then go down even lower so I was under the floor. I would re-string some of the wires leading from the handles to the valves that controlled the air holes. Then later they made him one of the midway bosses and I got to go on all the rides for free. I was the first one ever to ride the "Mad Mine" before it was opened to the public.
As a child the one thing that real freaked me out in the Funhouse was the holes in the floor that shot air at you. It didn't hurt, I knew it wouldn't hurt but it still scared me and when I came to that area I would get up enough nerve and RUNNNN past.
Thanks for the video... Aside from remembering laughing Sal being a bit spooky, Playland and the Fun House were some of my fondest childhood memories... I could not get enough... I remember standing in front of the mirrors laughing for 10 to 15 minutes before going past the rollers... The slide was one of a kind as being the finest hardwood slide in existence... What a loss... The spinning disc was pure fun... I was between 5 an 9 years old in the early 60s and small for my age but I had a blast there and would give anything to relive a few hours there... If I got a scrape or bump along the way, it wasn't worth remembering... I remember it as pure fun... If fear is what stood out to you, I feel bad for you... Bet you were afraid of butterflies too... Lol... Wish you could remember the good part...
I grew up when playland lived, spent many many hours there as a kid. I don't know what planet you are from? Playland was awesome, all of your complaints mean nothing! You must be a safe and sane mommy! Kids are made to get bumped around! Playland was in a time when kids were allowed to be kids! bumps, scrapes, bruises all of it! Not like now where everything has to be SAFE! what a joke I would never trade then for now! LONG LIVE THE GREAT MEMORIES OF PLAYLAND AT THE BEACH I miss it and loved it!
I was many times here too as a child. It was the place I always went to every birthday. I remember the disk well and loved it. I wish you hadn't called it the disk of death, but thanks for the video, I'm happy you created it. Wonderful nostalgic photos bring me back to those days.
I remember that once you got past the mirrors, you then had to get through all these rollers. My dad would lift me up over his head as we went through. Then there was a floor full of holes that the attendant could shoot compressed air through. That place was fun, but it scared the hell out of me too.
on the spinning disc the only one left was the one who sat exactly in the middle which i was luckily able to get a few times, it was a great place to spend lots of time,used to like to watch the girls dresses get blown up from the air holes in the floor placed just before you got to the undulating bridge,i will always remember the fun house
Great video and narration! I share many of the memories described below. A special treat for a birthday party was a trip to the Fun House. You could really fly going down the slide with the gunny sacks. I also remember getting my hands burned on almost every trip. You can now see Laffing Sal at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. She was moved there last year.
I remember Playland well, in particular the Funhouse...I was amazed to see a photo of my "sister and me" sliding down the slide (at 2:06) wow what a surprise...all good memories.
Playland Funhouse was the best, kids today missed out. The Record was my favorite. Everyone would rush to try and sit in the middle, lick, their palms to help stick to record as it spun. The closer you were to the middle the longer you would last. The idea was to stay on and nudge others off...and watch em slide.. Next the big wooden slides, don't do the one with the hump, that slowed ya down. The middle slide was straight and fastest. Laughing Sal down in Santa Cruz on the Boardwalk. For 2bits she will still make you laugh...
I loved the fun house! I liked everything about the place. I liked the slide, the spinning barrel, and walking on the beams that went up and down. Once when I slid off of the turntable. I slid on my little finger, and got a layer of skin that rubbed off. When the guy pressed the button to blow air up a vent in the floor, women’s skirts would be blown up, and their girdles would be visible. There were a lot of sailors at Playland at the Beach.
Also, I chose to be on my own at the fun house. I didn’t want to waste time conferring with my siblings about what to do next. My parents were there but I don’t know if they tried out any of the attractions. My parents never put a much older sibling in charge of a younger sibling. My mother watched over the youngest three, while us older three were sent places on our own.
I am so glad to have re-visited this memory. But no one mentioned the whirling fabric covered "tops" maze that was at the entrance to the main floor. Hope my memory is correct on this.
i soooo remember that...and walking through this spinning things just to get into the fun house...remember that awesome wooden slide? Or that spinning disk that we would try so hard to stay on but got whooooshed off...we learned about centrifugal force on that ride...all my childhood birthdays were spent here. I was so sad to hear it was demolished to build condos...so sad.
Laughing Sal was a scary entry test for little kids. We stayed as far back from her as possible when we walked in. Also, the big flat disk was called "The Pancake". Kids would run to cram in as close to the middle as possible, in hopes of being the last kid still sitting. True, everyone spun off sooner or later; kids would grab other kids as they slid off. As Sandra said, there were also these huge (for a kid) puffy twirling things that rubbed against you as you walked through. A later installed spinoff to Playland was Frontierland with a western theme. I had a birthday party there. It was torn down with everything else. The best restaurant nearby was the Hot House, with amazing chile rellenos where the cheese would stretch from the plate to your mouth, It would be topped off with a warm turnover with cinnamon sauce.
here is you answer....I rode it a lot..spinning disk thing was called...and you can see it in the picture...The "JOY WHEEL"...that was it's official name,
WOW what a negative look at something I cherished..The FUN HOUSE was exactly that!! I would spend all day in there with my friends...I looked at the mirrors that made you look "funny"--either slim or short and heavy..All the events were fun...We would spend hours climbing the stairs only to have a speedy ride down a well worn smooth hardwood slide...We would ride the disc..Contrary to what was written, a person could stay on it if they could figure the exact center of the disc..The disc did NOT have grooves from fingernails in it..It was smooth hence most everyone slid off of it..I had NEVER seen anyone hurt, but then again, I was a kid looking for fun, Not disaster..10 cents and you could spend all day in there---NOTHING will ever replace it..I'm 77 years old and if I could spend another day in there, I WOULD!!!!
Obviously posted by someone who really needed to go through life wrapped in five layers of bubble wrap. Most kids, myself included, managed to not only live through this persons personal hell, but actually enjoyed it and went back time and again. One of my real heartbreaks was when they closed the Fun House at the Santa Cruz boardwalk -- since Playland was long gone by then.
Too bad Lady. The Fun House was fun ! My aunt & uncle lived Up Fulton about 8 blocks. A walk down Fulton to Playland was an essential part of a visit to the Fullers. Stop the whining. Let loose and live a little.
If you had $.50 we were rich! brought our own sandwiches & left them all over the tilt a whirl - lol. Diving bell was scary when it shot back up to the surface. Those were the days.
The disc was called the record player. do you remember that fuzzy tubular things that you passed through and then it shot up air. or how about the rickety Bridge made of wood? I grew up in the fun house LOL the only thing I didn't like was laughing Sal she scared me to death
Perhaps you are being sarcastic and actually enjoyed it, but if you did have trauma at the old funhouse. As you point out in your video though, they would not exist today due to lawsuits. Yes, that is the point and that is the problem too. Funhouses were fun because nothing was padded, safe, and otherwise boring and lame. Funhouses actually met their demise due to rising costs and insurance and fire codes. It was cheaper to get rid of them. I am old enough to remember and funhouses were great.
I loved those fun houses - you seem like a bad person to go to an amusement park with. I can just hear you, “the Ferris wheel is too high, the seats swing too much and make me nauseous, the carousel goes around in circles and makes you dizzy, the roller coaster is too fast and jerky, the tilt a whirl spins too fast, the bumper cars are too bumpy…… “Just stay home 99.99Percent of the people adored those fun houses
I would play in the Fun House till I got sick on the stomach. Then I'll go back a few weeks or months later and repeat it, and repeat it. Then one day I discovered girls are fun too. And didn't miss Playland until maybe the 90's. Now I'm a grandfather and my grandson was at Universal Studios pouting because he wanted to go home and play his video game. He perfer a video game over Universal Studios. Right now I'll perfer Playland over Disneyland.
I hated it. Same thing, I'm 63 years old and I was abandoned there when I was 8 years old. It was like a bad acid trip. The smells, the chaos, it was absolutely horrifying. And to top it off that crazy laughing lady did not help!
