Laughing Sal

Before I was old enough to go there, Playland-at-the-Beach in San Francisco closed. A West Coast version of Coney Island, Playland spanned two whole blocks by Ocean Beach, just north of the western end of Golden Gate Park. Like other amusement parks of its era, by the late 60s Playland was a shadow of its former self. So... exit, Playland; enter, developers. Today, the site is packed with cookie-cutter condos with ocean views, affordable only to those dot.com refugees that got out in time, and other similarly well-off people.

Amusement parks these days seem to break down into three categories: 1) corporate amusement parks such as Six Flags (we've got Magic Mountain down here in SoCal; once an independent, it got gobbled up by Six Flags some time ago); 2) "entertainment" parks, pioneered by Disney and continued by Universal (although I think Disneyland in Anaheim is really in a class of its own, compared with Walt Disney World, but that could just be my nativist California bias *grin*); and 3) those parks that survived the end of the glory days and continue to operate throughout the country. Most of these seem to be centered in the Midwest and back East for the most part; the big places like Luna Park, Playland, etc. are all gone. Coney Island is a shadow of its former self. The pier at Santa Monica is somewhat of a joke. I'd say the closest thing we've got out here is probably the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, which is still going strong.

One of the attractions at Playland was a coin-operated robotic mannequin named Sal, who greeted Playland visitors with this loud cackle. My mother, who lived in San Francisco and later the South Bay, remembers Sal well. So did thousands of others. After Playland closed, this guy who's collected all sorts of antique games for ages was able to procure one of the Sals (there's reportedly more than one-- one was the "regular" one, while the others were backups), and put it on display at the Musee Mecanique, which was in the lower level of the Cliff House, at the north end of Ocean Beach. The Musee has games that go back a century, and most of them are penny, dime, and quarter operated. Everything from masterfully constructed toothpick farms and fairs to the old-fashioned stereopticon and "movies" that you could see that featured "risque dancers!" and the S.F. earthquake of 1906, and things like that, to fortune telling machines to animated "houses of horrors". They're fun, silly, neat, and worth spending a little time and money at. When I lived up north, I used to take guests there-- it was always a fun time, a nice break after tramping around the sights downtown and in the more touristy areas.

The Cliff House is currently under renovation, so the Musee has temporarily moved to Pier 45-- I haven't been to the new location, but I'm glad they were able to make the move. It really is a worthwhile piece of San Franciscana.

Now the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz has apparently obtained their own Sal; while it isn't quite the same (Santa Cruz's boardwalk has been in operation for nearly a hundred years itself, and Playland was a contemporary), it'll be neat to see Sal in a more familiar atmosphere-- among the rides and games by the beach. One thing I love about Santa Cruz is their carousel actually has brass rings. Many carousels used to have this feature, but these days the ones I've ridden in recent years (D.C. on the National Mall, Disneyland, etc.) don't seem to have the brass rings anymore. Not so on the Boardwalk. Here, you go round-and-round, but there is also a point in the ride where if you lean forward and put your hand out just so, you can catch a ring. The next thing you have to do is throw it at this giant clown's mouth, and see if it goes in. It's not as easy as it sounds, and it makes an already neat merry-go-round ride that much more exciting.

I have a picture somewhere of me at age five, riding the carousel. Another thing that comes to mind: when I was little, we lived just off of Highway 17, and we would go in the summer to Soquel or Santa Cruz for the day. On the ride over the Santa Cruz Mountains, we would pass Santa's Village. This now defunct park was past the crest of the mountains, in Scott's Valley. We never stopped, but I always looked longingly at the candy-cane entrance and hoped someday to go. By the time I had the opportunity to stop, I was old enough that it really wouldn't have been exciting for me, and then it closed. The original was in Skyforest, near Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains, and then they built one in Illinois. I know both California locations are now closed: the Scott's Valley version is now a business park (I passed by it a couple years ago), and the Skyforest location narrowly missed being engulfed in the huge fires in the mountains last year. I think the Illinois one may still be in operation, but I'm not really sure at all. I just checked-- it's still operating. So if you want the Santa's Village option, go to Illinois.

As the summer season begins, I'll probably go down to the beach. I may even head over to the Santa Monica Pier. But for some real fun, I'll have to follow the coast about 350 miles north, til I get to Santa Cruz-- now the new home of Laughing Sal.