Vintage Amusements
It's time for more scans from the general category of "Vintage Amusements"! Not amusement parks, necessarily, you see. this first scan is from 1955, with the added note, "Favorite ride". I wish they'd included the location, but what can you do? I thought this might be the LA County Fair in Pomona, CA, but that's just a guess - it could be anywhere. That looks like a eucalyptus tree in the distance! We see three classic "spin around" rides, with the thrilling motorboats in the foreground (each with three wooden ship's wheels), a "flying fish" (?) ride, and a merry-go-round.
This next one is an undated 1950s photo of an unusual and very cool little train ride - I've never seen a train like that before! It's pretty distinct, maybe it dates back to the 1930s? I could almost imagine the same train running at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, though that's just my imagination going strong. Perhaps one of you recognizes it and can add more to the conversation. I was dying to know where this could be; notice the fezzes on some of the youngsters. Could this be the Indio Date Festival? If you look in the upper left, you can see some Moorish (?) arches that seem to confirm my theory.
Here's what is known as "The Magic Carpet Stage" from the Date Festival, as seen in a modern photo. Since 1947 the annual festival has been held to celebrate the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley. The event is held in February on the Riverside County Fairgrounds. The fair is located in Indio, California, a city in the Colorado Desert, approximately 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles.
I hope you have enjoyed these VINTAGE AMUSEMENTS!
22 comments:
Indio for sure Major...
The date festival “magic carpet stage “!!! This and the MGM Thief of Baghdad film was the inspiration for Euro Disneyland’s / Disneyland Paris ADVENTURELAND entry gate.
Major I added a response to yesterdays question you had about the RAINBOW RIDGE / THUNDER RIDGE / RAINBOW RIDGE #2 regarding the originals and the 2015 new replicas.
Major-
I love that child in the last car of the train, who is either waving goodbye, or is warning us to stay back. It's possible the train was made by the Miniature Train Co.; acquired by the Allen Herschell Company in 1956, but...
Thanks, Major.
Love these vintage whatevers! I think the 'flying fish' ride might be a Bulgy the Whale flat ride. Looks like there might be a Ferris Wheel behind the 'flying fish' ride. Or maybe it's a Scrambler... can't really tell. On the left edge (in front of the merry-go-round), we can see another ride similar to the flying fish, it's not the same thing, but I'll bet it does the same movements; up, down, round and round.
In the second pic, I guess we're looking at the 'caboose' of that neat-looking train. I wonder what the engine looked like? That eatery, advertising "Good coffee, eats, cold drinks" is doing much better business than the eatery just out of frame which is advertising "Bad coffee, eats, cold drinks".
Wow! That's a beautiful photo of the Magic Carpet Stage. Interesting architecture, blue sky with puffy clouds, graceful palms, and whatever that derelict vehicle is in the bottom right of the photo.
"Vintage amusements" is one of my favorite categories. Thanks, Major.
I don’t know why I showed up as anonymous… ??
JB: the curved end coach to a streamlined passenger train is called a OBSERVATION CAR ( coach) sometimes it’s also the CLUB CAR. That train is in Union Pacific yellow scheme .
I just scanned a slide of my brother and me riding one of those "Flying Fish" rides at a kiddie park in Torrance, CA. There were also pics of us on a rocket ride, a merry-go-round, and of us standing next to the park's miniature train, which was manufactured by Bud Hurlbut's company. I will post all of those photos eventually and sans "white ovals"!
I also recently scanned some black and white pics of my grandparents, my mom, and my aunt, at the Indio Date Festival, in the 1950s. The pictures show them picnicking out in the date groves!
Thanks for the "vintage amusements" pics, Major!
I forgot to mention that that kiddie park in Torrance also had a boat ride like the one in today's post. I was thinking that pic might have been taken at the park in Torrance, but the merry-go-round looks different, and the park we went to wasn't paved. The rides were surrounded by grass and dirt, even though it was a permanent park.
Cute photos. I don't recall a kiddie park in Torrance, and I grew up there and thought I'd gone to every amusement in LA. The Deer village was not far away, Shady Acres, Beverly Park, etc., but Torrance? Olde Towne mall had rides, but they were inside. I'll look into it.
Funny Cozart, the site suddenly does remember my name, not just anonymous, which is fine, now I don't have to initial my posts after this one.
MS = Michaeland.
Since that is a eucalyptus tree in photo 1, it might be taken in Australia. But turning the photo upside down, all the water would run out of the motorboat ride, so probably not. What cute kids, and cute idea for a ride. The fish ride looks very familiar, no idea why.
Same with the yellow train, I’m nearly certain I’ve seen one like it. I know we visited the Indio Date Festival when I was very young, but I have no clear memories other than some of the palm trees. That 3rd pic is quite a structure!
Thanks Major!
JG
I used to operate kiddie rides just like these back in the 1970's at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Not a bad job but sometimes dealing with the parents was a pain. Especially those parents who thought their children were more important than other children and would sneak drop their child on the ride before l would let the children waiting dutifully in line on the ride.
I'd have to take the child out of the ride vehicle and tell the parents to have their child wait in line like all the other children. The child of course would cry, and the parent(s) would blame me for them crying. This usually occurred on the Kiddie Kars which had only one set of motorcycle vehicles with the rest of the ride vehicles being motor cars. Of course, every kid wanted to ride motorcycles, but you had to wait in line and take your chance.
These are really nice and color photos. Thanks, Major.
walterworld, thanks for the confirmation!
Anonymous, proof once again that Disney parks use the “movie versions” of places and ideas. I’ve actually only seen the Douglas Fairbanks “Thief of Baghdad”, believe it of not, and have never seen the MGM version. But I love the old silent film! Oh, now I know that Anon is Mike Cozart! I did see your response to my question about Rainbow Ridge, thank you - I suspected that the buildings had been rebuilt.
Nanook, I have another scan of yet another oddball miniature train that is more of a streamlined beauty, I sure wish we had some real indication as to who made them.
JB, “Bulgy the Whale”, how rude. His name is Chad! Respect him. I thought that the thing in the background might be a Scrambler, but it’s unclear. I swear, 90% of carnival rides just go in circles. And it’s FINE! I personally like bad coffee and cold drinks, so neener-neener. I stole the photo of the Magic Carpet stage from the Internet, so I can take no credit for it.
Mike Cozart, Google/Blogger has been signing me out without warning, I’ve even left anonymous comments on my own blog! I don’t know why this happens.
Mike Cozart, I’d love to see the front of that train, I suspect it has the likeness of one of the latest streamlined locomotives.
TokyoMagic!, did the kiddie park in Torrance have a name? I assume you’ve done some research. Torrance is farther south than my family would venture, so it might as well be on the Moon. Cool that you have those photos of you and your brother on those rides! No white ovals?? Did you run out of them? I hope you share your photos of your family picnicking at the Indio Date Festival someday.
TokyoMagic!, I could be totally wrong, but I really get an “LA County Fair in Pomona” vibe from that first picture.
Michaeland, “Shady Acres”, that’s one I’ve never heard of! It sounds like a retirement home. Or a cemetery!! I’ve given up trying to make sense of what Blogger does, it is all beyond my control.
JG, I am pretty sure I see a koala behind Bulgy the Whale, so… Australia it is! Unless this is from when SoCal had that koala invasion. While many miniature trains are along the lines of the C.P. Huntington-types, it is fun to see others that are so stylistically different.
K. Martinez, it is so strange to me that people aren’t willing to wait their turn, you see it sometimes at Disneyland (though not as often as I used to). If you want your child to sit in a special vehicle, just ask the operator, and wait through one more cycle, I’m sure they’d be happy to let you go in first. I don’t think I’d have much patience dealing with rude people, I’m sure you did a much better job of it than I ever would.
Shady Acres was an extremely imaginative 1930s mini-golf in Long beach. Lush old landmark/puts and ponds and gardens. All those courses that were built in the '70s were wishing they were this place, but never with class and character this place had. It was on Long Beach Blvd., but the net knows nearly nothing about it. It is a mobile home park now, and kept the name.
A kiddie park in Torrance? Hmmm....that was the "moon" to us kids too....the only thing that was "Torrance adjacent" and acceptable was Alpine Village...for some obvious beer-adjacent reasons. When going past Alpine Village ...on the way to Disneyland...my dad would always want to stop there on the way....and yes...sometimes we did...whilst we roasted away in the Galaxy 500....I don't remember a kiddie park, but I do remember the rides in Old Towne. or was it Olde Towne? and wasn't there a Carvel ice cream place there too in the parking lot? Torrance Beach was the teenage hangout as well. It was a great beach if I remember ,and didn't have the Redondo vibe or the Manhattan Beach "we're better than you" vibe....I digress to Indio. Which yes, has the best dates in California. So juicy and sugary and wonderful. I get some from Hadley's every time I pass those dinosaurs on the way to Palm Springs. I did a TV show in Indio...on a Polo ranch/date ranch. I played a ranch hand with a couple of muppet puppet kind of things from outer space (of course). This is where I wish we had the internet back then as I would have asked more questions to find more out about my co-star:
Sue Sally Hale: who I remember said to me that she had to disguise herself as a boy to play polo...and later was the first woman on the US Polo Team. That was a fun gig on the ranch, albeit very very hot from the heat out there....and these little kids on their rides must be boiling away too! That train is super cool, makes me think that I want a Walt-style ride out in the back.....another thing to tinker with...but I've just ran that tape, and will put it all back in the file cabinet! I see old cars rusting away back there in winter....no backyard train for me! Thanks for the Indio memory Major: now I have to find that VHS!
As a kid just beginning to age out of them, I remember being annoyed that the boats on spinner rides didn't even pretend to float in the water. Almost as bad as fake wheels that didn't actually rotate (although I excused them on dark rides) and trains /coasters that on a track not much longer than the train itself. Also spooky rides and walkthroughs with huge facades concealing that the attraction fit entirely in a trailer, although I was too cowardly for those anyway. As an adult I grade them as eye candy. Do the ride vehicles look nifty? Does the whole thing look playful or industrial?
I forgot : the streamline train seem in this post was the G-16 by the MINIATURE TRAIN COMPANY of Rensselaer, Ind. it was later produced by the ALLAN HERSCHELL Amusement company of New York . Between the two manufactures there were thousand of them made and were pretty common. It was based on the GM Electro-Motive division F-7 Diesel and the Union Pacific color scheme was a popular color option. Incidentally the train was officially licensed by GM which was pretty rare for early amusement manufacturers to do at the time .
MS, Bu, & Major, the park in Torrance went by a couple names. The sign at the street read, "Rideland." It was located in the "Walteria" part of Torrance, so sometimes it was advertised as "Walteria Rideland" or "Walteria Kiddieland." It was located on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Ocean Ave., and existed in the 1950s and 1960s. It closed in maybe 1969 or the early seventies. My family moved out of the area in late 1968 and it was still there at that time. My grandparents and my aunt lived in the area, and I seem to remember it still being there for a few years longer, whenever we would visit them.
My dad also shot home movies at the kiddie park, but I still need to have that digitized. I did post two pics of my brother at "Rideland" about 8 years ago, which were taken at a different time than the slides I just recently scanned. Here's the link to those two pics:
Rideland in Torrance - 1965">
That was me, TokyoMagic!, who left the comment and link, above! Also, the miniature train in one of the pics, was the Bud Hurlbut train that I mentioned earlier.
Bu, I do remember Old Towne Mall. My grandmother used to take my brother and me there a lot! That was the first time we ever saw an entire shop dedicated to just comic books (old and new). And yes, the mall had rides. There was a double decker carousel, bumper cars, a "Dumbo" ride with honey bees instead of elephants, and TWO dark rides! One of the dark rides was two stories and the vehicles were ski lift-like chairs which hung from an overhead track like "Peter Pan's Flight." The other ride was a "Haunted Castle" type of ride. I wish I had taken pictures inside that mall! There are some postcards, but the only ride they ever seem to show is the double decker carousel in the middle of the mall. The bare bones of the mall still exist, but the mall was gutted and converted into an outdoor strip mall.
- TokyoMagic!
these are great!
On a final note about that double-decker carousel at Olde Towne, it is alive and well in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Park.
MS, I have tried to find out where the Old Towne double-decker carousel ended up, but have never come up with any reliable info. Wikipedia says that it was moved to Eastwood Mall in Niles, Ohio. But when I looked into that, I found out that it wasn't there (maybe it was at one point, but eventually moved again?)
I am familiar with the carousel at Yerba Buena Park in San Francisco. Unfortunately, it's not the Old Towne carousel (which was a double-decker), but it does have an interesting history. The Yerba Buena Park carousel was built in 1906, by Charles Loof. It was intended to be installed in San Francisco, but the earthquake and fire kept that from happening, and it went to Seattle's Luna Park, instead. When that park closed, it went to San Francisco's Playland-at-the-Beach. And when that park closed, it was purchased and then leased to Shoreline Village in Long Beach, where it operated from 1983 to 1994. When that lease was up, it was sold again, and moved back to San Francisco where it opened in 1998. The reason I know all of this is because I have some pictures of my friends and I riding that carousel in the early 1990s, at Shoreline Village in Long Beach. I was scanning the pictures recently, and started to wonder if the carousel was still there. That's when I found out that it had been moved to Yerba Buena Park, in San Francisco!
For more details on it's interesting history, check out this article:
History of Yerba Buena Gardens Carousel
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