AMUSEMENT PARK rides

This week’s Sepia Saturday shows a miniature train with children on board. I’ve decided to use this as my jumping off point for a few amusement park photos.

These first two vintage snapshots were purchased years ago. I have no idea where or when they were taken, but I’m guessing the 1930s. I’ve always thought the one poor boy is upchucking his cookies after the ride.

Click on either image to see them larger.

Looking at these little cars I think back on the Disneyland ride Autopia and how desperately I wanted to drive the cars myself. As I recall, when Disneyland first opened there was a lot of dirt near Autopia. Disneyland was far from complete when I first visited around three weeks after its opening. I remember the sign which showed how tall you had to be to actually ride in one of the cars by yourself. I was way too short. It wasn’t until I’m guessing 1962 or ’63 that I finally was tall enough to go zipping around the track without a parent in the car. In those days you were actually able to steer the car within the cement “trough” that wound round and round. Later they more or less nailed you down on a metal beam that meant you didn’t do any steering. You were left just pushing the gas pedal. By that time driving one of these cars wasn’t nearly as exciting as simply driving a real car in Los Angeles traffic. Ahh, simpler times.

This last photo is of me in the early 1950s, possibly at Fairyland in Oakland, California, though I don't think they had rides. So actually most likely at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Children's Fairyland, U.S.A. was the first theme park in the United States created to cater to families with young children. Located in Oakland, California on the shore of Lake Merritt, Fairyland includes 10 acres of play sets, small rides, and animals. The park is also home to the Open Storybook Puppet Theater, the oldest continuously operating puppet theater in the United States.

Fairyland was built in 1950 by the Oakland Lake Merritt Breakfast Club. The sets were designed by artist and architect William Russell Everritt. The park was nationally recognized for its unique value, and during the City Beautiful movement of the 1950s it inspired numerous towns to create their own parks. Walt Disney even came to Fairyland often to get ideas for Disneyland. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

I have fond memories of Disneyland and Fairyland. I look at this little girl with the butterfly wings and wonder what became of her.

To see more images from an amusement park visit Tattered and Lost Ephemera.