Week 12

Part 1:

Playland at The Beach San Francisco



I really liked Cotton Candy Mirrors by Devorah Major which is why I chose Playland at The Beach in San Francisco. Playland at the Beach was also known as Whitney's Playland beginning in 1928, was a 10-acre (40,000 m²) seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach at the western edge of San Francisco, California along the Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now. It began as a collection of amusement parks and concessions in the late 1800s, and was known as Chutes At The Beach as early as 1913. It closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.



At various times the rides at Playland included: Skyliner, Rocketship, Big Dipper, Big Slide, Dodgem (bumper cars) Limbo (dark house), Kookie Kube, Dark Mystery (which started as an African-themed dark ride but was redone in the 1950s with a Dali-esque surrealistic facade), the Mad Mine (a dark ride that literally covered over Dark Mystery), Scrambler, Twister, Kiddie Bulgy. Another favorite was the Diving Bell, a metal chamber that took guests under water and then returned them to the surface with a big splash. This ride originated at the 1939-40 Golden Gate Exposition on Treasure Island. George Whitney commissioned the inventor to build another one at Playland on the southeast block of the park. After a decade the attraction was rebuilt on the northwest block where it remained until Playland's closing in 1972.


Among the more popular concessions was the Fun House originally called the Bug House, erected in 1923-24. Laffing Sal was the laughing automated character whose cackle echoed throughout the park. After Playland was closed, one of the original animatrons was relocated to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and another Sal is located in the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco. The last remaining Walking Charley figure is located at Playland-Not-At-The-Beach.





Patrons entered by first passing through a mirror maze which had originally been a separate attraction on the opposite side of the midway. Next patrons squeezed through the spin-dryers and entered the main area of the Fun House which contained a Joy Wheel (flat wooden disc that spun quickly and forced kids to slide off), the Barrel of Laughs (rotating walk-through wooden barrel), the Moving Bridges (connected gang planks that went up and down), and the Rocking Horses (attached by strong strings to a moving platform creating quite a galloping sensation).

More sources are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playland_%28San_Francisco%29
http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/playland.html
http://www.outsidelands.org/playland.php
http://www.sanfrancisciana.com/listman/listings/l0008.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xtJwj9596A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7rBMRNc3nI

I also found out there is a museum of Playland you can visit the website at the next source:

http://www.playland-not-at-the-beach.org/
http://sfpl.lib.ca.us/news/onlineexhibits/amusing/playland.htm
http://laughingsquid.com/playland-not-at-the-beach-grand-opening/

Part 2:

1) Antonio- He never knew that one of the reasons why Berkeley expanded was because of the 1906 earthquake.

2) Tamika- She did not know there was a tune called, “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw”.

3) Judy- She learned about the Association Neighborhoods and their rules, and she said she liked it.

4) Michael- He wasn’t aware the Newport Beach street names were mostly spanish based names.

5) Danielle- From Cotton Candy Mirrors she learned that Playland at the Beach actually existed. She has seen many pictures in the past of ferris wheels on the beach in San Francisco but she always thought they were just dreams she never knew that it was actually real.

6) Mario- His favorite sentence was [an] "image reflected would somehow be closer to the truth. not that mirrors were entirely deceptive, it was after all myself that i saw or at least a form of myself" (pg. 102)

7) Alex- His favorite sentence was, “ Where passion is married to intelligence, you may find genius, neurosis, madness or rapture” (105).

8) Raquel- She wasn't aware of all the rules and regulations people living on "planned communities" have to follow in order to remain complaint. Not sure she could live being told which color her house has to be painted or which flowers she is allowed to plant in her property.

9) Jared- He didn't know California Honky-Tonk by Kathi Kamen Goldmark

10) Kyle- He learned from California Honky-Tonk that sometimes when things don’t go as planned or you get hurt that it can make a good story. I think that if everything went according to plan it would take the adventure out of life and make it dull. I agree with this statement.