Kid now have video games. I grew up going here to Playland at the Beach, the beach, and the SF Zoo. Feel like we were the lucky ones. What cherished memories.
Wow! Thank you so much for this! The man behind the counter at 2:12 is my grandfather who passed away before I was born! I never expected to see him on RU-vid, so thank you very much for this unique opportunity!
Me too. Had many birthday parties there in the sixties. Spend the day there then cross the street and run around the beach for an hour or so. Man, it was always so cold but we didn't care. I remember walking along the beach, shivering my butt off and insisting I wasn't cold. Goddess, I miss it.
It was so sad when they tore it down in 72...I was heart broken. I will NEVER forget Laffing Sal..her laugh used to scare me...that fun house was off the hook...that huge wooden slide we used burlap sacks to slide down on...the stair climb up was kind of intimidating but once you got up there...so fun..remember that spinning disk we all sat on and got shot off of..first lesson in centrifugal force kids...best ride..THE DIVING BELL.that fast blast to the top rocked us...so many great memories.
@Susan Martin: Memories of a lifetime there! I actaully managed "one time" to not get tossed off that spinning disk. Yes, that wooden slide seemed to reach to the sky and it was fun sliding down it on those burlap sacks. I got a wood burn once when I slid off the sack near the bottom of the slide. Laughing Sal was terrifying to me! I was always too scared to get on the diving bell ride. That green roller coaster also terrified me even looking at it! I was also very sad when they tore it down.
I used to just stand there and stair at Sal as she laughed. It was both disturbing and yet funny. I was only 3 or 4 years old and my Mother would bring my brother and I and then to the zoo. I believe we had gone to Playland 3 or more times. Sal was ominous in a dark sort of way and yet she would always make me chuckle. I was mesmirized and could have watched her for hours... Each time we would go to Playland, I just had to see Sal and have a laugh. Something about the recorded sound through a funky speaker and her jerky movements with her hand flopping about was so fake, but she still seemed to be alive somehow...
Loved these kind of parks to bad they are all gone days when you could spend a day and have a good time no drama. no worries just having a good time to bad these days are long gone sad😪
I used to go there with my folks all through the 50's. I was probably 6 or seven when I first went there. Skee ball, the merry go round, the haunted house, the slide and the round room where the floor falls out. God I loved it. Cotton candy, colored Carmel popcorn ! Always left with a fresh pie and turnovers at the bakery shop where you could watch the woman make them through the glass window ! So sad that it's gone. Loved the Cliff House on the hill too. Great childhood memories !
Yup we were poor in the 50’s and 60’s. I remember sometimes my grandparents who had very little, would take my brother and me out to Playland. And sometimes all we did was sit on the benches inside the merry go round building and just watch it go round and round, and listen to the wonderful music that played on the 4 working band organs. And when they had a little money, they would take us to eat at the Hot House that served great enchiladas and tamales with sourdough French bread. Great memories growing up in the 50’s in San Francisco
There were a lot of kids in my neighborhood and they all came to my house because we had a big, open back yard and my dad bought the best snacks. In the sixties we'd go to Playland maybe every few months, especially for my summer birthday. I loved the teacups and other fast spinning rides. I didn't like the roller coaster much and hated the ferris wheel. I thought Laffing Sal was the ugliest thing ever; I loved her. Loved the fun house. This video brings back some great memories of home.
I cannot nor want to shake te memories of Playland. We were plain lucky, our age comes into that, heehee, because it was HAD TO HAVE BEEN THERE! Again, I THANK YOU!!
My number one memory of Playland was, I think, right outside the fun house. There was a statue of a lion with its mouth open. You put your garbage in the mouth and the suction would take it right out of your hand. To a little kid that was the greatest fun. We'd run around picking up cups and things from the ground and balling up our own napkins to get sucked right into the mouth. We were so easily amused in those days, weren't we?
I went a couple of times. We lived in Sacramento, so it was a ways to get there. I remember all the fun we had. So sad when they tore it down to put a grocery store there. :(
What fun memories...spent most of my childhood at Playland. Seeing footage of the DodgeCars made me laugh. Remembering a bunch of us kids ditched school, went there & couldn't explain to my parents that day how I cracked 4 ribs (on the dodge cars) lol
Man I had great times as little boys with my family and friends at Playland at the beach as I got older it was even more fun with bands and music on the Beach people from different neighborhoods lots of girls I really enjoyed myself during those times market Street the Fillmore wow!!!! Wayne M Sims.
Yup me too. Went out to Playland many times in the early 60's. Had many a birthday parties at Frontier Town out there too. Also miss the Hot House. Had the best Mexican enchiladas and tamales!!!!!! 👍
Do you guys remember fort funston and lake merced? Oh, and the ZOO. I use to race my slot cars at playland where what I remember as a huge slot car track, with many tracks there also!
When I tried to remember Playland, all I got was Fun House, Diving Bell, and popcorn (or pink popcorn). But seeing this brought back the bumper cars, Tea Cups and Tilt-a-Whirl. Never did the arcade games or the high rides. My older brother had a Lowell buddy who worked there, supposedly won a contest with the name "Fun-tier Village". That was probably one of the last rides I did there, the slow Model T, and a rather sad epilog.
Great memories of a highly improbable place, due to prevailing weather. You saw some good weather in May and first half of June, before fog rolled in and again late Sept. to early Nov. We tried to time our visits from '64-,70 to these more favorable segments. Don't see the slot-car tracks or Its-It stand. Maybe they came slightly later. Still have 2 slot-cars we raced in mid-late '60s.
Clendendin10, Thanks for the GREAT memories! I lived in Daly City for years. Do you remember Thornten Beach?, Fort Funston?, Palimar Stables?, And of course...the ZOO!!! Thanks again for the wonderful memories back when life was simple and, oh so special.
Thanks; brings back memories circa JFK era; pre liability laws so rides were wicked especially those in FUNHOUSE; giant wooden slides and a turntable ride that would toss you...
Does anybody remember what happened to the owners of The Hot House? I'm hoping that their recipe for their enchilada sauce was passed down through the decades. Heard they were out on Balboa after Playland closed, but then ?????
I found this recipe: Hot House Enchilada Sauce 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1/2 cup canola oil 3 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce 1 cup flour 2 tablespoons chili powder 3 tablespoons cumin 2 tablespoons dry oregano 1 (3-ounce) can tomato paste + 3 cans water 1 (28-ounce) can Las Palmas Chili Sauce INSTRUCTIONS: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and heat. Whisk in the tomato sauce, flour, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Whisk until smooth. Add the tomato paste, water, and canned chili sauce; cook until thickened. Yields about 8 cups www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sauces-Both-Sweet-and-Hot-3003772.php
In the Fun House, the spinning record and the slide were my favorites, which you've documented both here. Wonderful memories. Women got "hit" with the air-holes blowing out of the floor, if they wore skirts in the Fun House. Never liked Laughing Sal.
Does anyone remember the caterpillar? It was a ride pretty close to the bumper cars. It was an “ on the ground” ride, but during the ride this canvas cover came over you.
Of course. I believe it operated right outside the Dodgers (bumper cars) building right under the big Playland sign that hung on the South side of the building. It was later replaced by the tilt-a-whirl and later that was replaced by the meteor ride when West Coast Shows took over the operations in 1968
i am wondering if walt disney modeled some of his disneyland attractions/rides afte attractions/rides from playland at the beach teacups alpine rollercoaster, the flying rockets.. animatronics of laffing sal(laffing sal was created in the 1930s).. used in pirates of the caribean and haunted mantion and its a small world etc .. walt disney even used "land" in the name disneyland
..all these great amusement parks gone. Used to be you enjoyed standard thrills on a favorite ride, now, thrills are extreme, and not for everyone...and advertised with sex, gore, drugs, and rock and roll. Innocent America no more....
By the time I was old enough to go there, my mom told me it was too dangerous, that it used to be different. And then they tore it down for condos and it sat, a huge open pit, for about 10 years, or so it seemed to me. Imagine my mom thought it was dangerous. She wouldn't believe what the City is like now. It's so sad. And the Dems did it all knowingly and intentionally. Something weird is going on in San Francisco. From my sister's house on Cabrillo you could hear Laughing Sal if the wind was right, and you could hear the seals barking too.