Thursday, June 16, 2016

Vintage Postcards - Palisades Park, Part Three

GDB is proud to present another installment in Ken Martinez's series of scans from his vast (and probably priceless) collection of vintage amusement park postcards! Here's Ken:

One Last Visit to Palisades Park

Today's post is the third and features the final set of postcards I have for Palisades Park. For those GDB readers who missed the earlier articles and postcards you can find them using the following links.

Part one can be found HERE
Part two can be found HERE

Originally called the U-Drive Em Boats and eventually the Atomic Boat Ride, passengers drove the gas-powered boats through a winding canal. The façade of the ride was designed to resemble a huge steamship. Are those power lines cutting across the canals?


The Cyclone was the headliner attraction of the park. Here's a great shot of a classic wooden roller coaster on one of the several midways at the Park.


Here's one of the largest saltwater pools in the United States at 400 X 600 feet. San Francisco's Fleishacker Pool was larger, holding 6.5 million gallons of water.


I'm not sure if this stage was used for concerts or if there were acrobatic and circus acts. From the structures it looks like some sort of trapeze setup. In the back would be the Hudson River.


Here's what appears to be a happy nuclear family squeezed into one of the Antique cars waving at the photographer. Also pictured is one of the miniature trains. I like all the various props around the track areas.


Well that's the last of the Palisades Amusement Park postcards that I have. I hope you have enjoyed this final visit to the classic amusement park.

Information Source material:
Funland U.S.A. copyright 1978 by Tim Onosko

I love the old-timey look of this place, even though a lot of the postcards probably dated from the 1950's or 60's. You could sense the history of this park. Thanks as always to Ken for all of his hard work and generosity!

12 comments:

Scott Lane said...

I'd say that stage was used for both. Agreed that those look like some sort of trapeze set-up but those 4 fellas in suits look like they're about to sing. (hmm...North Jersey, 4 guys....wonder if one of them's named Frankie)

Unknown said...

I'm hearing Freddy Cannon's song in my head but I don't see the Loop-the-loop. Great images, Ken. Thanks for sharing and the great commentary: always a good read.

dennis said...

"Palisades Amusement park,where a dime buys the most,
Palisades Amusement Park, swings all day and after dark..."
50 years later I can still hear the advertisement on the radio!
Went there once as a kid. Dennis, Levittown NY

K. Martinez said...

Scott, you have better eyes than I do. I didn't connect the 4 fellas in suits. Yeah, Frankie and the Four Seasons. I remember as little kid in the early 1960's getting my first record player for my birthday and my parents included some 45s, two of them were "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry". I played those for days on end. Still burned into my brain to this day.

Patrick Devlin, "Under the boardwalk, out of the sun. Under the boardwalk, we'll be havin' some fun. Yeah, I love that song. Glad you enjoyed these and thanks for the kind comments.

K. Martinez said...

Dennis, Oops! Looks like I missed your comment there. This one's for you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLVgEP8pOWQ

Anonymous said...

Major and Ken, I have learned more about amusement parks from this collection than I ever thought possible. Thank you.

JG

Nanook said...

Ken-

Thanks for sharing more great images. I never did make it to Palisades Park before its untimely demise, but it's certainly been memorialized in story and song.

K. Martinez said...

JG, That is awesome to hear! You've just give me more motivation to share and continue more of these articles. Thank you!

Nanook, Same here. No Palisades Park or Riverview Park for me either. When I read my various books and publications on amusement parks I look at the grand old traditional parks and think, if only I was born a little earlier to experience some of these when they existed.

Chuck said...

Been trying off-and-on all day to find out what happened to the steam train. Until proven otherwise, I'll assume it ran off with one of the antique cars and is living quietly in rural upstate New York.

I have to echo JG's sentiments - I've learned a lot from this series, even about parks I was somewhat or slightly familiar with. I am grateful that you have taken the time to share them with us.

K. Martinez said...

Thank you, Chuck! I've enjoyed sharing these with you and I can't think of a better group to share it with. I definitely plan on doing more. I'll add that your research and childhood recollections of these places has added a lot to this series for me. Thanks!

Dean Finder said...

Maybe that's the stage where Bugs Bunny and a Russian bear competed to dive from ever higher platforms into smaller vessels of water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woH0Nhbc-fc

Katella Gate said...

I visited my Brooklyn grandmother in 1970 when I was 10 and also heard/remembered the TV jingles "Palisades Amusement park / Swings all day and after dark / Ride the coaster ... get cool / in the waves in are pool / so COME ... ON ... OVER"

We never went because I never asked. Too much of a Disneyland Snob.

But here we are 45 years later and now at least I can see the coaster and the pool that I opted out on.

Many thanks for sharing these.