Vintage Amusement Park Pix
I'm pretty fond of vintage photos featuring vintage amusement parks, from the big classic examples to smaller parking lot affairs. I picked out some random scans, not the most exciting things, but they'll do.
It's June, 1961 and two small children are flying in an exciting rocket ride - their rocket has been painted to resemble a snarling tiger! It reminds me of my airbrushed van in the 1970s (with the burnt orange shag carpeting inside). I've read that some carnival-style rides like this used surplus fuel tanks left over from WWII (or maybe the Korean conflict), could these be made from those? Meanwhile, I love the unusual color combo on that station wagon in the background.
Too fast! Too fast! They are graying out! I guess three year-olds can't handle 4.5 Gs. Who knew?
Next are two photos from a mystery park, circa August 1971. You can't have a kiddie park without rides that mostly go around and around in circles. It's the law! Rocket ships? Biplanes? Little firetrucks? Sure, those are all real fun, but these speedboats are the best. Just look a the smile on that kid's face! Also, Justin Bieber stole his hairdo! Apparently this park was right near a lake, seen in the background. Not that this helps us ID the location. By my calculations there are over 20 lakes in the U.S. alone.
Here's a classic Tilt-a-Whirl, which (I learned) was invented in 1927. More than a thousand rides were eventually built. Some of the rides produced in the 1940s and 1950s are still in operation. I also learned that the earliest Tilt-A-Whirls were constructed of wood, powered by gas motors, and featured nine cars. Modern rides are constructed of steel, aluminum and fiberglass, and are powered by seven small electric motors, and has seven cars. Notice the sign on the wall Jet Boat ride, could that be the ride in the previous picture? Or was it something much more noisy and exciting?
18 comments:
Major-
Yes, that's quite the color statement on that station wagon - but I'll be damned if I can positively ID the make of that 2-door beauty. (It 'feels' like a Ford, but none that I can confirm - in spite of the unusual "custom" paint job).
I'm concerned the fella in the Tilt-a-Whirl is already in a trance, in spite of the ride being stationary.
Thanks, Major.
Oh dear! Those 'rockets' that the kids are flying in are at least 2 inches off the ground! Why aren't they strapped in! Where are the over-the-shoulder restraints?! And they're probably traveling at a break-neck speed; 1, maybe 2 mph! An accident waiting to happen. I'm going to avert my eyes. Let me know when this wild and crazy ride is over!
Surely that station wagon didn't come in that color combo? Like Nanook said, must've been a special order paint job. Maybe that car belongs to the owner of the park/carnival?
"Too fast! Too fast! They are graying out!" I TOLD you something like this would happen! Now I'm gonna resume averting my eyes.
I notice that the boats all have 'double steering wheels' to keep the kids from tearing the place apart fighting over who gets to steer the boat. (Actually, quad steering wheels!) That one boat in the back has something coming out of its side. Maybe that's the 'lead' boat that pulls the other boats around in a circle?
The lake looks kinda choppy. Perhaps it's one of the Great Lakes?
The kid in the Tilt-A-Whirl is so excited, he's about to have a heart attack!... Or go to sleep. I think the word above "Jet Boat" says, "Aquamobiling". Does that help? I think I have a vague memory of seeing one of those Tilt-A-Whirl rides with the wooden track at our county fair, around 1960.
Love these vintage carnival pics, Major. Thanks.
That lady in the first pic is standing on the wrong side of the railing. She is also standing on an electrical cord. The ride operator should have cranked that ride up as fast as it would go, to knock her over and teach her a lesson!
In the background of the Tilt-A-Whirl pic, there are a couple simple round metal trash cans. Walt Disney should have used cans like those throughout his entire park.
I think I've mentioned it before, but when I was very little, we lived pretty close to a little amusement park with the kiddie rides that mostly go around in a circle. There was a rocket ride and a boat ride, very similar to these. They had a kiddie Ferris Wheel, but also a larger one, and they had one of Bud Hurlbut's miniature trains! A few years after we had moved further away, the little park closed and they built a McDonald's and a Taco Bell on the property. My aunt lives about two miles away from the property, and I can't drive by it without thinking about the little park.
These pics also bring back nice memories. Thanks, Major!
Major,
Thanks for yet another day of honestly brilliant photos. I read every day, but comment annually... at best. I'm just on the right side of not sober right now that I feel like waxing eloquently on this particular batch of photos.
The girl driving the tiger in the first photo is clearly owning her responsibility to drive her sibling to dizzying safety in the infinite circle that is that ride. I can imagine she might have become one of the pioneers in the early Formula 1 women's series. There may or may not be a photo of myself with a very similar look on my face when I was gifted a go-kart for Christmas when I was eleven (with a whopping 3-horsepower engine!!).
The kid in photo number 2 is clearly looking towards the the innocent bystanders they might take out if the chains holding the gondola to the ride happen to give way! :)
I'm fairly certain I had the same haircut as the kid in photo number three... back when I had hair... to actually cut! I think most of us did.
I see the kid in photo no. four on the Tilt-o-Whirl, and my mind immediately goes to the kids who build the spaceship in the 1985 movie "Explorers" :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorers_(film)
...which was a favorite movie of mine at the time, mostly because the protagonists were just *that* much older than I was at the time to make them 'cool', but also because who wouldn't want to escape to visit extraterrestrial 'kids' who weren't really all that different than you?
Maybe that's part of the reason why the Tilt-o-Whirl is one of my favorite carnival rides, even four decades on.
Thanks, as always, for the great photos and the stories you tell along with them. As I said I'm a rare commenter, but I'm here every day.
-AlbinoDragon
Those “rockets” look like they were fashioned from USAAF 75-gallon drop tanks. There would have been acres and acres of these left over as surplus after the war. The 75-gallon tanks were far too small to be converted into lakesters, but they are the perfect size for a kiddie ride. Loving the paint jobs on both the tanks and that station wagon.
There may have been many amusement parks near lakes, but I’m positive this photo was taken at Lake - what? Really? Now? But I’m right in the middle of - this is important! Fine - I’ll mow the lawn. Geez - you never let me have any fun…
Yep, the first thing I thought of when I saw those rockets was "drop tanks." Actually the very firsr thing was "cool, I wanna ride!" but my adult brain told me inner child to be quiet or take a nap. My inner child threw a bit of a fit, but we're doing better now, thank you.
It's a good thing that they almost always drained the fuel out of those, considering how many three year olds smoked back then. They would say it was only when they drank scotch... but that was A LOT.
The car is a 1956 Ford.
It's not (the trim is wrong) but it's dang close, so I have decreed it.
I've always loved the little boats. I'm surprised that being that close to the lake, none of them broke free to frolic in the open water. Fun fact: Free Willy was really about an amusement park boat.
Tilt-O-Whirl boy looks like a grump. How can you be grumpy in anything with an -O- in the middle? Probably became a lawyer. So sad.
Chuck has already confirmed, but I will back him up, those are definitely wing tanks repurposed as toy rockets. I knew some folks back in the day who buried a tank like this to serve as gasoline storage for their farm equipment. Long before there were any rules about that sort of thing. Swords into plowshares, etc. etc, these were plentiful.
@AlbinoDragon, thank you for commenting! Don’t be shy!
I couldn’t help a spontaneous smile seeing little Justin in his motorboat. I remember a ride like that from the County Fair in my youth. Four steering wheels are a necessity as no one wants to be just a passenger any more.
Tilt-O-Whirl kid is tired of having his picture taken, probably the fifth time that day. Really, Mom?
I’m with you Major, these old amusement park pics are a lot of fun.
JG
@Stu29573-
With a little more careful checking, that is a 1956 Ford Ranch Wagon - with a ridiculous paint job - with added trim, of some sort.
I just got lucky, lol! I'm a Ranchero kinda guy, but I guess the wagons got stuck in my brain by accident, lol!
The Sellner Tilt-a-Whirl is my favorite classic midway flat ride right along with Eyerly's Octopus and Rock-O-Plane. This one is in the traditional red, blue & yellow with crescent moons shapes.
The kiddie rocket vehicle that looks like a vicious hamster is weird.
Thanks, Major.
I like these old time kid rides. My family would go to a little kiddie park on a vacant gravelly lot on Ventura Blvd somewhere around Studio City (I'm 95% sure of this general location). We called it Tinkertown. I've researched a lot, but still haven't found any specifics!
... can't be these pics because of the trees and the lake(!)
Nanook, perhaps the station wagon has been modified beyond identification? It’s OK, I’m always amazed that you know so many different cars! Yeah, Mr. Tilt-a-Whirl looks like he was just told that school starts tomorrow.
JB, rockets flying low to the ground are the most dangerous kind! A rocket a mile up? Pffft. I wear shoulder restraints no matter where I go, and it makes me feel safe all the time. Seeing the colors on that station wagon, I wonder if somebody used “rattle can” spray paint to customize their ride? I wish real cars and boats had double steering wheels, you can’t have too many. I have no idea what that thing is sticking out of that boat, I can’t discern any purpose to that odd piece of metal. “Aquamobiling”, sounds like something that was done out on the nearby lake. It had to be something besides and ordinary motorboat. BUT WHAT? I wish I knew!
TokyoMagic!, that lady should have been standing with one foot on the electric cord, and the other in a bucket of water. It’s how they do things in France. The trashcans are exactly the same kind my parents had, until they bought some rectangular greenish plastic ones from Sears (those lasted decades!). I love your memories of that little park, it’s funny how something so basic can make such a big impression on a young mind. I have a friend who has the opinion that it’s “Disneyland or nothing”, while I like different parks for different reasons, even small “kiddie parks”.
AlbinoDragon, I remember you! I’m glad you comment, even if it’s once a year. The paint job on the ‘tiger rocket” is actually fairly impressive, I’m assuming that the design was an option from whoever supplied the attraction? It looks too good to be done by some local kid. But you never know! Maybe a young Big Daddy Roth did it. Hey, a go-kart with a 3 horsepower engine sounds fun! There were kids in the neighborhood who had go-karts, I never knew if they built them with their dads, or if they bought the things “as is”, but I was always jealous. We had to make do with our Big Wheel, which was really my younger brother’s. The chains holding the rockets look pretty thin, but then again, those kids can’t weigh more than, what, 25, 30 pounds? I’m bad at estimating that sort of thing, I admit. I was recently looking at some photos of me and my siblings in the early 70s, and was surprised that our hair was actually somewhat styled by a talented barber, not just the “Moe” or buzzcut that one might expect. I remember the movie “Explorers”, how can it be 40 years old?? Didn’t it have some aliens by Rob Bottin (“The Thing”)? I’ll read the Wikipedia link after I’ve responded to the comments. Thanks for checking in and commenting today. See you in a year! ;-)
Chuck, thanks for the info about the drop tanks, that’s pretty cool,, and a good way to utilize some military surplus. I hoped airplanes dropped those empty tanks someplace where they wouldn’t land on somebody’s head. “Lakesters”, that’s new to me. I did a little (emphasis on “little”) research on lakeside amusement parks, but these rides are too generic to enable a positive ID.
Stu29573, you need to let your inner child’s freak flag fly! I have to wonder just how many leftover drop tanks there were after WWII. Hundreds? Thousands? Maybe the people who converted them into rocket rides managed to buy them for $1 apiece. Nanook thought that the station wagon was a Ford, so you guys are on the same page. Imagine those little boats on a real lake - I remember many Minnesota fishing trips on big lakes, the water could get surprisingly rough, which made for very slow going, especially when we were tired and it was time to head in - it took forever.
Nanook, good job! Maybe the wagon was a junker that somebody fixed up, which would explain the paint and the added trim.
Stu29573, you each get equal credit, and a lifetime supply of Swiss chard.
JG, I was thinking that these tanks would rust out if buried for gasoline storage, but then realized that they might be aluminum and not steel (makes sense for an aircraft). If I had a farm, I would like some handy gasoline “just in case”. I’m not sure I’ve ever been on one of those little boat rides, but I definitely have been on similar little car rides. And “Happy Hollow” in San Jose still has lots of rides that go around in circles, to the delight of small children. I totally get why that kid might not be smiling - in a way it’s better than the rictus grin you see on some faces when they are forced to “smile for the camera”.
K. Martinez, it seemed like I saw Tilt-a-Whirls everywhere when I was a kid, you could always depend on being able to ride one of them. I wonder how many remain in operation today? “Vicious hamster”, ha ha!
LTL, whoa, this is the first I’ve heard of a kiddie park on Ventura Blvd! That’s not terribly far from where I live right now. “Tinkertown”, fascinating, I sure would love to find out more about it.
LTL, THIS ARTICLE talks about a "traveling kiddie carnival called Tinkertown" that went to different LA area locations, years back.
Fun Park Pix, Major, thank you.
Lou and Sue, awesome! I'm sure that's what LTL was talking about! Great detective work.
AlbinoDragon - I always think of Explorers when I see a Tilt-A-Whirl, too. Something decidedly 1980s about building a spaceship out of an amusement park ride and an Apple II. It's not quite ET, but is pretty charming for kids' sci-fi.
Lou and Sue, wow, thanks... that Tinkertown post with it's great photos is a new resource for me. Hard to say if it's what I remember. It would've been mid to late 1950s. I seem to recall it being kind of permanent, as in "should we go to Tinkertown again?". However, maybe it was just there for the summer. I've found only a few other references to LA area Tinkertown. Somewhere in my photo boxes I'm pretty sure I have some pics of me on a ride or two!
And thanks Major for the interest. One day I may figure out if I was just mis-remembering the whole thing. But, I've often thought of that little dusty lot with fun stuff for a kid. And I've always thought it was north of Ventura Blvd between Laurel Canyon and Coldwater (my brain is funny).
Major, seems like that's still a fun neighborhood to this day! .... I have lots of memories of that amazing strip of boulevard!
"There may or may not be a photo of myself with a very similar look on my face when I was gifted a go-kart for Christmas when I was eleven (with a whopping 3-horsepower engine!!)."
AlbinoDragon, I hope you find that photo and send it to Major to post at Christmastime. I'd love to see it!
"Somewhere in my photo boxes I'm pretty sure I have some pics of me on a ride or two!"
LTL, you have to find those pictures to post here, too!
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