If you've ever been lucky enough to ride in a real helicopter, then you can imagine how exciting this whirlybird attraction must have been. A real white-knuckler! There's Shoppers World beyond the chain link fence; we can buy all the fixins for mustard and marshmallow sandwiches on our way home.
Somebody needs to mow the grass! This looks like a kiddie-car ride crossed with a jungle attraction. Notice the plywood cutout that looks like Mickey Mouse, sorta. And the dual steering wheels, much like the Midget Autopia. In the distance is the Hollywood Kiddieland quonset hut. Ticket office? Storage shed? Missile Silo?
Kids aren't picky. Spin them around in a circle all day long, they won't complain. In this case they are in fabulous rockets designed in the best 1930's Buck Rogers "Tootsie Toy" tradition. If only sparks shot out of the back they would be perfect! Other than the diminutive size, they aren't that different from Disneyland's Astro Jets. I've read about similar rides being built using surplus WWII aircraft fuel tanks (or whatever), I wonder if that's the case here?
Do you think you can handle the high-speed thrills of this motor boat ride? DO YOU? This one is better than Disneyland's boat ride because the kids get to pull on a rope that rings an annoying little bell. You don't want to accidentally run down any cod fisherman in the fog. I'll bet those kids rang the hell out of those bells. Thank the invisible man in the sky that you can't hear them.
We miss you, Hollywood Kiddieland!
...but it was nice of them to include 4 non-functional steering wheels in each boat. :) That kid really looks determined: "...Hmm, if I ring this here bell enough, cosh durn it this thing might get a move on..."
ReplyDeleteToo funny! Maybe that quonset hut is the Hollywood Kiddieland Hotel!
ReplyDeleteThis place reminds me of a kiddie park that my family used to go to in Torrance on Pacific Coast Highway. Most of the rides just went around in a small circle. They had a similar rocket ride and a boat ride as well.
Love this post, Major!
I hope that autopia kid had his tetanus shot....
ReplyDeleteWe had that boat ride at the State Fair. My four year old self loved it. And yes, I rang the hell out of the bell, which inspired AC/DC years later to write a song about it....
ReplyDeleteNeat images, Major! Looks like a park for roughnecks.
ReplyDeleteIn the news recently was the other Kiddieland near Chicago that just closed last year; the Kiddieland Limited train has found a new home in Indiana, at the Hesston Steam Museum and is being restored for rides! See the site below:
http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/7011705.php?contentType=4&contentId=6077969
I remember riding a boat ride with 4 steering wheels, not sure where.
ReplyDeletefun stuff.
JG
Great post, and the images are a blast....the little car ride one is my favorite. Ah, for the days when an overgrown field and a rusty toy car on a circle of track equaled children's amusement park....
ReplyDeleteThat is the saddest little car ride I've ever seen! And this is what the park looked like *before* it closed? Maybe it could have worked as Mad Max Land. And, wow, does that little roller coaster look safe or what?
ReplyDeletei always loved that helicopter ride and we had a Cadillac cars ride here in our local park that they took away several years ago...so sad!
ReplyDeletethese kinds of parks are the stuff of childhood memories. miss them a lot :(
That car ride picture is just an absolute gem.At first glance,as a car guy,I was drawn to that bicthin' Barracuda in the parking lot.Then I looked at all the other nuances.Those forlorn flowers sitting on the bricks,the apparently defoliated shrub near the fence next to what could be 55 gallon drum full of lord knows what,the traffic cone?Who knows,could be covering a sinkhole.My favorite however,is what appears to be another one of the cars taken off the track and unceremoniously left in the weeds (look between the creepy character and the cone).
ReplyDeleteIf you want to see more pics from people that actually worked there as kids, you should go to the FaceBook group called I hung out at Hollywood Kiddieland. Some of us actually embraced that place when we were young. The owners gave us jobs and got us off the streets. Many thanks to Jeff and Ray for helping us grow into working adults.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous, I will check out that Facebook page!
ReplyDeleteWow! I remember that place! I remember being very young and very upset when it was torn down in the mid-70s and replaced with a Golden Bear restaurant and some other restaurant ... and later with that really badly designed Cineplex Odeon movie theater (from the concrete bunker era -- from the folks that destroyed the old Lincoln Village theater by chopping it into three) with the really horrible parking lot. Of course, now in 2010, to look at that shuttered self car wash, movie theater and the remaining strip mall that sits there today is just sad.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for info like this for a very long time. It takes me back to an earlier time. I used to go there probably a couple times a week. But I do have a question. Does anybody have a picture of the very very very big roller coaster? I loved going on it, and you went around twice. Oh I loved that ride.
ReplyDeleteThe best times of my life were in "Kiddieland". I wish I could go back to that time. A summertime staple If you were a kid growing up on the North side of
ReplyDeleteChicago. Best cotton candy ever! I can still taste it......
Since this was on the south side of Devon, it was technically in Chicago as opposed to Lincolnwood...
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Lincolnwood and visited Kiddieland often. The best memory that resanates with me is winning a plastic racing helmet, taking it home and racing around on my Preschool scooter the rest of the afternoon. Thanx for the photo's and bringing back the memories!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Kiddieland!!! My mother didn't drive so I went to Kiddieland or Riverview. Both were a devastating loss to me as a small child. I'll always remember going on the roller coaster and helicopters. They were my favorites. I also enjoyed a snowcone each time we went.
ReplyDeleteI am from Evanston just up the road from Hollywood Kiddieland. Our parents use to take us there in the early 1970's and we loved it. There was another smaller park
ReplyDeletein Skoike Ill that reminded me of kiddieland but i can't think of the name.
Shelly Scott Wharton
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ReplyDeleteBLUE SHIRT WORKER SAYS:
ReplyDeleteMany of the old work gang at Hollywood Kiddieland are still in touch with each other, including several of the "blue shirt" (uniform) maintenance guys of the early '70's.
I am looking on my desk as I type at a pack of Hollywood Kiddieland matches "save now for summer fun" slogan. We also have an orange uniform t-shirt with the Kiddieland Clown and a blue uniform jacket with the ferris wheel embroidered on it by one of the Kiddieland co-workers I met.
We were there for the arrival of the slide, bumper cars, umbrella ride, paratrooper, rock-o-plane, and octopus.
I remember putting up and taking down the park every year for several years, and driving the firetruck and an occasional spin on the train when we were "alumni".
We have gumball machines, signage, and everything that Jeff let us take with us when the park closed.
Just a few days ago, some of us met to eat at the Chinese buffet that sits approximately wher the ferris wheel used to be.
Any idea where the fire truck ended up at?
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