Miscellaneous Amusements
I have some random vintage "amusements" for you today, starting with this great 1950s shot of the entrance to Kiddie Land, which was part of the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, New York. It debuted in 1952. Kiddie Land had a handful of rides for children, like a boat ride and a jet plane ride. It was part of a “kiddie zoo annex” that opened in 1952 and soon after included a petting zoo. Viola Ryan and Jack Gordon were the original owners of Kiddie Land… Newspaper stories from 1952 said Gordon was an automobile salesman and Ryan was a Kodak employee.
Here's a wintry photo from online that must have been from roughly the same time as my scan.
“It’s fun and frolic for youngsters at Seneca Kiddie-Land, at the Seneca Park Zoo, featuring the world’s safest and most enjoyable rides,” read one story in a July 1953 edition of the Brockport Republic-Democrat. “A real wonderland, with such rides as the Horse ‘n Buggy Ride, Rocket-ship Ride, Boat Rides and the new Army Tank Ride with miniature Tanks and realistic sounding machine guns.”
Below is another photo, this one from August, 1963. The boy is wearing a t-shirt from his trip to Calgary, Ontario. It appears that Kiddie Land closed sometime around 1980. To read more about it, there's a great article HERE.
The next two are "mystery parks", I have no idea where they were located. This little helicopter ride seems to have been very popular, it shows up in many photos from all over the country. Like the fancier Dumbo attraction, kids had some limited control of their whirlybirds, allowing them to go up or down a few feet (notice the sign at the top of the "tower" that reads, "FLY YOURSELF - pull lap bar to fly UP, push lap bar to fly down". Whoa, this is complicated!
And finally, another typical "'round and 'round" ride that could have been anywhere - this happy kid loves his classic automobile!
5 comments:
The artwork on the Kiddy-Land entrance is quite nice, professional looking. It sounds like a place for parents with young children... and pretty much no one else. Apparently, all the rides are the same as you would see in any county fair or traveling carnival. I'm surprised the park lasted as long as it did. Although, this was sort of an annex for the zoo, so I guess the limited appeal probably wouldn't matter much.
Nothing looks sadder than carnival rides all covered up, in shiveringly cold wet weather.
No idea where the Helicopters are located, but they look new, clean, and sturdy. A nice little ride.
I wonder if the car ride had a little foot-high hill or bump on one side to add some 'excitement' to the experience?... Yeah, probably not.
It strikes me that these are the sorts of places where Walt would be sitting on a bench eating peanuts while his daughters went round-n-round... thinking that there should be a place for the whole family to enjoy together.
Thanks, Major.
That helicopter ride is the CHANCE HELICOPTER … you could also get the same ride with STARJETS. The auto ride is an Alan Herschel “KIDDIE AUTO MERRY GO ROUND” and its design and 1940’s style sedans remained unchanged into the early 1970’s. I bet that made them a hard sell by then especially with competitors offering metal-flake and Candy Metalic fiberglass bodied hot rods and sports cars of the late 60’s and early 70’s.
Major, I think the 1962 photo shows the Calgary Zoo Kiddieland. It’s kind of hard to read, but the lettering on the back of the car at extreme left appears to say:
[Something] AMUSEMENTS
GEORGE’S ISLAND
CALGARY
The Calgary Zoo is on St. George’s Island and had a Kiddieland from 1959-66.
That Chance Helicopter looks an awful lot like the one that used to be at the Toledo Zoo. Granted, they all looked alike, but the ride’s orientation in relation to the fencing and the open-air botanical garden behind it match my memories of the Toledo Zoo into the ‘80s.
THIS VINTAGE PHOTO shows the Chance Helicopter at the Toledo Zoo. If today’s photo was taken at the Toledo Zoo, the photographer would have been standing next to or about where the water tower is, which may not have been there in 1960 (today’s photo file name is dated “5-1960”). The open botanical gardens are out of frame to the right in the photo I linked.
Regardless of where they were taken, all of today’s photos are a treat, Major. Thank you!
There appears to be more adults than kiddies in line for Kiddie Land. At only 0.09 cents per ticket, it must have been a bargain, even if multiple tickets were required for each ride.
I’m glad the machine guns were only “realistic-sounding”.
The helicopter ride looks very familiar. Either there was one of these that traveled as part of the Kings County Fair carnival, or maybe fixed at Roeding Park Story Land in Fresno, but I’m sure I rode one like it. Major, the flight controls were complex, but the avionics package was very simple to operate.
I’ve seen the auto ride too, but can’t recall if I rode it. The plank infill is very familiar.
Thanks Mike, Chuck, and Major for these nice photos and the stories behind them.
JG
JB, it turns out that the artwork at the entrance to Kiddy Land was done by Pablo Picasso. It doesn’t look like his typical work, but the man was versatile. I used to go to a zoo/amusement park called Happy Hollow up in the San Jose area, my sister and I would take her small children, and it was a great way to kill a few hours. The kids loved it. The zoo had a pygmy hippo that was the most popular animal. Those helicopter rides were super popular, I have many photos of versions all over, including at Pacific Ocean Park. It must have been very affordable!
Mike Cozart, I don’t want to take a chance in a helicopter. Ha! See what I did there? I’m available for your next convention. Like Chuck Berry, I require a limo to pick me up at the airport. These days it would be fun to ride in a 1940s style car, but maybe not for young children.
Chuck, ha ha, well you know what they say about making assumptions. It makes an ass out of… well, just me in this case. There were SO MANY of those helicopter rides, I feel like it would be nearly impossible to figure out where that one photo was taken without some other external clues.I think there was even one at the 1964 World’s Fair.
JG, I’m sure all those adults are just happy to have something that will divert the attention of the children, even if only for half an hour. “At least they aren’t crying or screaming!”. The miniature tanks originally had fully-working flame throwers, but they switched to the “realistic-sounding” machine guns after the first few weeks. I’d love to know how many of those helicopter rides were sold over the years, I’ll bet it was a LOT.
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