Any old-time San Franciscans out there who remember Playland-at-the-Beach?

[red dog 1]

"Playland" also known as "Playland at the Beach", was a 10-acre seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, in the Richmond district of San Francisco, CA, along Great Highway, where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now.

It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century, and was known as "Chutes At The Beach" as early as 1913.
It closed labor Day weekend in 1972.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playland
Under "entertainment venues" click on "Playland, San Francisco", (3rd option down)


A full length documentary "Remembering Playland at the Beach DVD" is available from Amazon.com for $18.

Google "Remembering Playland at the Beach DVD".. Market Street Railroad
(I was unable to post a link to this DVD)

[ghostsinthemachine]

1. I remember it well

The fun house. Laughing Sal. The centrifuge! (Imagine that today!) The giant wooden slides! Spent many great times there. Then there was the carousel, with the brass ring you would be so disappointed to see you hadn't won.

The It's It stand! If you they are good now, imagine seeing them made right before your eyes! The submarine ride!

[red dog 1]

3. I spent a lot of time in the Fun House

We would climb the stairs to the "mezzanine' level and go over & stand behind the guy who sat in front of all the control knobs for the various Fun House functions, (including the Centrifuge),
He also could make the air come out of the air holes at the entrance, and if any ladies came in wearing skirts or dresses, he'd shoot off air holes at them lifting up their dresses for a few seconds...while everybody laughed at them, remember?

[ghostsinthemachine]

7. Yes

I remember the fun house. The barrel, the earthquake steps, the mirrors, the blowers...

[red dog 1]

5. The "submarine ride" was called The Diving Bell

and until the last couple of years of Playland's existence, there were all types of sea creatures in there, including sharks & sting rays,,.and after about 90 seconds or so, the operator would call out "Hang On" & the Diving Bell would immediately shoot up to the surface,

During Playland's last 2 years or so, the water was totally cloudy & you couldn't see anything at all, but there were no living creatures left to see in the water anyway.
You paid just to go down, and then shoot back up again....(What a rip-off!)

[ghostsinthemachine]

8. Yep, my uncle Loved that attraction

My parents never cared for that side of Playland, so we never ventured there much, but when I went with my uncle and cousin we always hit that section. They were the ones to turn me on to the It's It. And the Grateful Dead and a lot of life changing things.

BTW, the Dead song "Crazy Fingers" has a verse in it that references the carousel and the brass ring. "Midnight, on a carousel of life, reaching for the gold ring, down inside. Never could reach it, just slips away, but I'll try.."

[Boxerfan]

2. Laughing Sal...Who could forget her....

Early animatronic ladies bust laughing-well cackling-creepy & wonderful.

They had a huge wooden slide-you would get burnt if you didn't stay on the burlap sac.

Then there was a sloped cone they got all the kids to sit on it & they spun it. You would fight for center position-less centrifugal force-to stay on the longest.


All I can remember now-it was early 60's and all indoors by then.

I live in Portland vicinity now & we still have Oaks Park-same as 1900's in some parts & a real treasure.

Edit-funny we have pretty much the same memories. Cheers!

[red dog 1]

4. The "sloped cone" that spun was the Centrifuge, and if you were the 1st kid in line,

you could go over & sit right in the middle of it..and if you held your place & didn't let anyone move you from the middle of it, you could stay on the thing after everyone else spun off.
That middle spot was the only place you could do that, and you had to be the 1st one in line to get that spot.

That huge wooden slide was great!
You had to take off your shoes, and you had to grab a little burlap "rug" on your way up the stairs & you sat on the burlap rug as you went down the slide.
(The top of that big slide used to be part of the roller coaster before they tore it down)

[Brother Buzz]

12. You would still be slung off the wheel if you didn't...

place your hands flat behind you, raise you knees and plant your tennis shoes firmly on the deck. The jerk in the control pit above you always instructed everyone to stretch their legs out straight; to Hell with that, this was science. Oh, that jerk was also a lecherous ass that controlled the air jets that blew up the girls skirts at the entrance-way.

[red dog 1]

6. You're right - they were burlap sacks & if you didn't grab one on the way up,

the guy at the top of the slide wouldn't let you go down the slide
(or if you had your shoes on, he'd make you take them off & hold them in your lap while going down the slide)

[ghostsinthemachine]

9. The centrifuge

I tell my kids about that and they are horrified. "Really, they let kids slide across a concrete floor and crash into a chain link fence"? Uh yeah, was great fun too, slamming into that wall when inevitably got thrown off.
Could you imagine that today?

[Thunderbeast]

10. Chocolate covered frozen bananas!

Tasty treat while fighting a 40 MPH cold wind out of the north.

[Brother Buzz]

11. It's It - The ice cream cookie sandwich was invented there

I love them, but never, ever, had one at Playland because it was never 'ice cream weather' when I visited.








Oh, check out the companion film by the same filmmaker: "Sutro's: The Palace at Lands End" (narrated by the esteemed Ray Taliaferro)

Times have been better

[red dog 1]

13. Thanks for that

Notice at the far left of your photo is the "Hot House"..(you can just barely see the "Hot" part)
The Hot House was a Mexican restaurant and the food was very good.
Further north on the same block was "The Pie Shop" that had something like 25 different pies, including my favorite, Chocolate Cream, made with real whipped cream,
(you could get a huge slice of pie for 35 cents)

I remember Ray Taliaferro from his radio show on KGO-AM 810 and I liked him, but since the show was on so late, I rarely was able to listen to it (1 AM-5 AM weekdays)
I Googled him & there were a few entries, including one from 2016 expressing concern that Ray
hasn't been seen or heard from in quite a while, but a 2016 reply stated that Ray had just.
acknowledged his Facebook request

There is a Ray Taliaferro obituary from 2015 in Alabama
(likely another Ray Taliaferro, but you never know..it's not that common a name)

[Brother Buzz]

14. Ray Taliaferro was an original Renaissance Man back in his day

My bedroom radio used to be welded to KGO; I followed him for decades. He's still alive, but I guess he's mostly retired after KGO flipped to the dark side.

Ray's biggest feather in his cap was discovering and introducing us to PNAC months before the rest of the nation learned. Apparently he stumbled across an article by an obscure Scottish journalist, and said, "What?", and started connecting the dots.

PNAC was hiding in plain sight. Everything from "Statement of Principles" to opinion pieces on regime change in Iraq was parked in a quiet little web page just waiting to be read, including the smoking gun, "Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor", all before 911.

All that was left in my mind was the big question, "Did they MIHOP or LIHOP?".

[red dog 1]

15. I'm glad to hear that he's still alive

He was shit-canned by KGO along with fellow liberals John Rothman & Gil Gross, as well as conservative host Gene Burns.
(Of course they kept arch-conservative Ronn Owens, who routinely interrupts every single guest he has on his show)

PNAC is still alive and well, and Newt Gingrich is waiting in the wings to see what job Herr Drumpf might offer him.

[Brother Buzz]

17. John Rothman has basicly returned to KGO

He's a regular guest on Pat Thurston's weekend program, especially when big political stories are breaking, and he's been doing a lot of fill-in work. My wife follows Pat Thurston, and always lets me know if Rothman is going to be on. John has a Scary photographic memory; he can read, say, a dense four-hundred page history book in three hours and recall it almost verbatim. He is ONE SHARP COOKIE.

I thought Gil Gross was an odd duck at times until I discovered he was mentored by Paul Harvey.

I think it's best to say, PNAC is dormant at the moment.

[red dog 1]

20. I like John Rothman, and Pat Thurston too

I rarely listen to KGO anymore, except on the weekends sometimes.
(Pat Thurston definitely does NOT like President Twitler)

Back in the 1980s, I used to listen to the Jim Eason Show in the morning on KGO
He was a real character.
He used to have "Friday Follies" in the 11-12 hour, where people would call in & play musical instruments & stuff.
I used to play harmonica, and I would sometimes call in myself & play harp for him.
He was kind of conservative, but not a right-wing nutcase like Ronn Owens is
(I have never heard Ronn Owens interview a guest without interrupting them many times)

[PufPuf23]

18. My Mom liked the "Hot House" (I had forgotten the name).

I have so many good memories of Playland at the beach and Great Highway of years from about 1960 to 1971.

First with my family. We lived part of the year (school year) in the East Bay from 1959 to 1965.

In mid 60s when I was 10-12 my older sister rode horses competitively and some of the Horse Shows were in Golden Gate Park. My Mom would let me bring a friend and drop us off for the day at Playland.

When I was 13 in 1966, I was sent to a boarding school in Marin (from home in the most rural Humboldt). The 3rd weekend I went with another student via Greyhound from San Rafael to San Francisco to see Haight Ashbury. I went back with another school friend several weeks later and met two slightly older hippy girls in the Haight who suggested we go to Playland (rekindling my love of the place).

In 1967 had one of those epic days. Still at Marin boarding school, I went with a life long friend (heart attack killed him in 2006) and our girlfriends to the Haight, Playland, and a Doors concert at Winterland (my first rock show). My friend's girl was old enough to drive and we told her Mom we were going to the beach (the assumption was Stinson and probably would be back late because of movie and dinner but we had major plans!!). The girls' Moms had figured out that there was some ruse by our late arrival back in Terra Linda but we hemmed and hawed plus we were nice boys and they were nice girls too. Good students that didn't get in trouble.! Leah was my first love and I still have professional pictures of us from formal dances.

So I made occasional trips to Playland until 1971 in conjunction with music, the Haight, and various other late 60s San Francisco things, most with that same buddy. He was from the Westlake District of Daly City near HW1 and Playland had been part of his life too. He had slot carts and we would go into the slot car track between Playland and the Cliff House. Later we went to a Grateful Dead show when it was turned into a rock hall.

The last time I was there was in Fall 1971. I had started college (unwillingly forced by parents). I had a car and took a girl from school to her parents in Saratoga. We spent the next night at my other best friend of grade and high school (same Playland frind from Horse Show days) in school at Berkeley then the day in San Francisco where we attended a Catholic Mass and went to the Cliff House and hiked down into the Sutro Bath ruins. We never went to Playland and, when I returned to area several years later, Playland was gone.

Thank you for the memories.

[red dog 1]

19. My friends & I used to hike around the steep slopes of the man-made rock formation...

..just across Great Highway from the Cliff House. (at the west end of Sutro Park)
The "rock formation" was actually made of plaster, and we would climb inside it at the places where it was broken.
It was very steep, & dangerous too, and you weren't supposed to climb up there, but we did it all the time.

You say you hiked around the Sutro Bath ruins.
Did you ever go into the Sutro Museum, just up the hill from the Cliff House?
We went there often...it was free...and it was a truly great museum.
They had all kinds of very old arcade games, including a miniature roller coaster made out of toothpicks.
There was a large skating rink on the bottom floor.
They also had a "Tom Thumb" exhibit, with many of his clothes, as well as his wife's clothes, and many photos of the two of them.
The Sutro Museum also had a Tucker automobile...all roped off so you couldn't touch it or get in it, but we used to just stand there & look at it...they left the driver's side door open so you could see inside the car.
Also, behind the Museum and the Cliff House, there used to be a Tram that ran from the back of the Cliff House, about 200 feet over the beach to some caves, which you could walk into and which ended with a view of Baker's Beach (I think)
It cost 50 cents for the round trip tram ride.

I also remember the slot car track at the north end of Playland.
.(in fact, a life-long friend of mine managed it for a while).

I saw the Grateful Dead there too, several times, after it was turned into "The Family Dog" auditorium.

I also remember going there many times to see Stephen Gaskin at his "Monday Night Class"
(Gaskin taught English, Creative Writing & Semantics at S.F. State)
Hippies from all over the Bay Area would fill that place every Monday night, listening to Gaskin tell about his experiences with psychedelic drugs, paranormal experiences. and "ecological awareness."
In 1970, Gaskin was part of a caravan of 60 vehicles that left SF to cross the United States to settle in Summertown, Tennessee and started a commune there called "The Farm"
(The Wall Street Journal referred to "The Farm" as "the General Motors of American Communes&quot
Gaskin & his followers did a lot of good for the poor, indigenous people, whales and old-growth trees.
An example of this was their raising 1,200 earthquake-resistant homes in Guatemala, as well as several public buildings and water lines to five villages.
I knew a couple of people who left SF with Gaskin, including a musician who used to play in the SF band "Mt. Rushmore".
He & his wife helped form the band at Gaskin's Tennessee commune called "The Farm Band," which recorded several albums

Thanks for your reply - it brought back some good memories.

[PufPuf23]

22. Yes to Sutro Museum though I would not have recalled the name.

There was a strip of touristy type businesses there just north of the Cliff House.

Recall the fake rocks too.

The Cliff House had the Camera Obscura.

That was my only Family Dog concert, never went to Avalon Ballroom. Several years later when I was at Cal. Helm/s promoted a Tribal Stomp event at the Greek Theatre with old SF bands and several beat era poets. I was a child of Fillmore West and also Winterland. Only went to original incarnation of Fillmore once (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Blue Cheer). Saw the Dead about 15X up to 1987 or 1988 but never considered myself a Deadhead.

Somewhat near where I grew up and now live there is the Black Bear commune in the Salmon River drainage. Folks came there from San Francisco in late 60s. There are now many 2nd and 3rd generation Black Bear folks who are local. I am aware of the group in TN from San Francisco but do not recall or maybe never knew of Gaskin and its history.

John Daggett is the Gold Rush era name associated with Black Bear as a gold mining settlement. On of my great great uncles was in a partnership that originally owned Black Bear and sold to Daggett who put in a stamp mill and made the large mining operation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bear_Ranch

[Brother Buzz]

21. Katharine Branson?

[PufPuf23]

23. No though I am aware of Katherine Branson then a school for girls in late 60s.

I went to San Rafael Military Academy in 8th and 9th grades, 66-68. We did many activities with Dominican School for Girls but also some with Katherine Branson.

Our family home and parents business on the Klamath was destroyed by the Christmas Flood of 1964.

My parents wanted me to get a better? or different education than the high school on the Hupa Reservation that also was 2 hours of travel time each day.

My maternal grandparents had a fishing/hunting resort on the Klamath River from 1921 to the late 50s. The nearby village then had a gold rush era Episcopal Church and on the property adjacent to the resort the Episcopal Church owned a summer seminary. The Episcopal Church also owned and operated San Rafael Military Academy. Over the years people from the Church and SRMA used the dining room and guide services of the resort and also groups of cadets sometimes visited.

So when the decision was made that I was to go off for school SRMA was the only choice considered. I had good experiences and several long relations but SRMA was a perverse place that closed in the early 70s and is now Marin Academy on the site.

[Brother Buzz]

24. You might have known Charlie Mills

Although I'm thinking he may have been a year ahead of you, and I believe he was a day student.

[PufPuf23]

25. I don't recall that name but that was also nearly 50 years ago.

I became anti-war while at SRMA.

The stuff going on in that time and place spun my head and the world view hasn't changed that much.

Smoked my first joint sitting at the base of the cross in Boyd Park by Mission San Rafael.

[Brother Buzz]

27. Did you ever meet Pearly Sweetcake?

This poem was originally published in Playboy Magazine (January 1978)
Also on the Parachute LP, Songs And Stories
And on compilation CD, The Very Best Of Dr. Demento


The Smoke-Off

by Shel Silverstein


Now in the laid-back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcake - you probably knew her well
She was stoned 15 of her 18 years, and her story was widely told
That she could smoke 'em faster than anyone could roll

Well, her legend finally reached New York, that Grove Street walk-up flat
Where dwelt the Calistoga Kid, a beatnik from the past
He'd been rollin' dope since time began, now he took a cultured toke
And said "Jim, I can roll 'em faster than any CHICK can smoke"

So a note gets sent to San Rafael for the championship of the world
The Kid demands a smoke-off; "Well bring him on!" says Pearl
"I'll grind his fingers off his hands! He'll roll until he drops!"
Says Calistog, "I'll smoke that chick till she blows up and pops".

So they rent out Yankee Stadium, and the word is quickly spread
Come one, come all, who walk or crawl, tickets just two lids a head
And from every town and hamlet, over land and sea they speed
The world's greatest dopers, with the world's greatest weed.

Hashishers from Morocco, hemp smokers from Peru
And the Shashniks from Bagun (who smoke the deadly Pu-ga-ru)
And those who call it "light of life"
And those that call it "boo".

See the dealers and their ladies, wearing turquoise lace and leather
See the narcos and the closet smokers, puffing all together
From the teenies who smoke legal, to the ones who've done some time
To the old man who smoked "reefer", back before it was a crime.

And the grand old House That Ruth Built is filled with the smokes and cries
Of fifty thousand screaming heads, all stoned out of their minds
And they play the national anthem, and the crowd lets out a roar
As the spotlight hits the Kid and Pearl, ready for their smoking war.

At a table piled up high with grass, as high as a mountain peak
Just tops and buds of the rarest flowers, not one stem branch or seed
I mean, Maui Wowie, Panama Red, Acapulco Gold
Kif from East Afghanistan, and that rare Alaska Cold

And there's sticks from Thailand, ganj from the island,
And Bangkok's blooming best
(and some of that wet imported shit
That capsized off Key West).

There's Oaxacan tops and Kenya bhang, and Riviera fleurs
And that rare Manhattan Silver, that grows down in the New York sewers.
And there's bubblin' ice cold lemonade, and sweet grapes by the bunches
And there's Hershey bars and Oreos (in case anybody gets the munches)

And the Calistoga Kid he smiles,
And Pearly she just grins
And the drums roll low, and the crowd yells "GO GO GO!!"
And the world's first smoke-off begins.

Well, the Kid he flicks his fingers once, and ZAP that first joint's rolled
Pearl takes one toke with her famous lungs, and WHOOSH that roach is cold
Then the Kid he rolls his super-bomb, that would paralyze a moose
And Pearl takes one mighty hit, and ...... that bomb's defused

And then he rolls three in just ten seconds, and she smokes them up in nine
And everybody sits back and says "Hey.... this just might take some time"

See the blur of flying fingers, see the red coal burning bright
As the night turns into mornin', and the mornin' fades to night
And the autumn turns to summer, and a whole damn YEAR is gone
And the two still sit, on that roach-filled stage, smokin', and rollin'...on

With tremblin' hands he rolls his jays, with fingers blue and stiff
She coughs and stares with bloodshot gaze, and puffs through blistered lips
And as she reaches out her hand for another stick of gold
The Kid, he gasps, "Damn it, bitch! There's nothin' left to roll!"

"NOTHIN' LEFT TO ROLL!" screams Pearl. "IS THIS SOME TWISTED JOKE?"
"I DIDN'T COME HERE TO FUCK AROUND, MAN, I COME HERE TO SMOKE!"

And she reaches 'cross the table and grabs his bony sleeves
And crumbles his body between her hands, like dried and brittle leaves
Flicking out his teeth and bones like useless stems and seeds
And then she rolls him in a Zig-zag, and lights him like a roach
And the fastest man, with the fastest hands, goes up in a puff of smoke.

In the laid-back California town of sunny of San Rafael
Lives a girl named Pearly Sweetcake - you probably know her well
She been stoned 21 of her 24 years, and her story is still widely told
How she still can smoke 'em faster than any dude can roll

While, off in New York City, on a street that has no name
There's the hands of the Calistoga Kid, in the Viper Hall of Fame
And underneath his fingers, there's a little golden scroll
That says:

"Beware of bein' the roller
When there's nothin' left to roll".

[PufPuf23]

29. Don't recall Pearl Sweetcake but like the poem.

From several years later I do remember Magnolia Thunderpussy.

There was a Magnolia Thunderpussy restaurant in San Francisco and I understand they catered many of the ballroom rock shows.

There was also a Magnolias Thunderpussy restaurant in Berkeley on Shattuck next to a Mitchell Brothers Cinema.

In 1973 to 1975, I was a Cal undergrad and lived with my gf in a 2BR flat on Durant in the block east of Fulton. It was a neat old building with 6 flats, we were top front. We were friends with a Cal chemistry grad student in lived in the middle back flat. We had taken over his lease when he became a couple with the woman who had that flat. The back top flat was a woman Cal student from Oklahoma but there were usually 4 to 5 non-student folks from Oklahoma living next door. We became the Berkeley outpost for those visiting from our part of rural Humboldt and our neighbor, the "Okies", the Oklahoma Berkeley outpost. There was a nice social scene in the building and we partied a lot. The central location was a flat gravel roof that looked out over the Bay to SF and the Golden Gate. There were chairs and a barbeque. There were back stairs from the basement accessed through a pantry in our kitchens so we could go to each others flat and to the roof easily.

The "Okies" who put in any time in Berkeley went to work at Magnolia Thunderpussy just several blocks away. The women were waitresses and the guys were bus boys, dishwashers, or cooks. At Saturday midnight the semi-private membership Metaphysical Film Society met after hours at the Mitchell Brothers Cinema, not for porn but for movies like 2001, Skidoo, Freaks, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and so on. We were allowed to bring in food and drinks and smoke as it was a private club and we visited before and after the films. The "Okies" often brought food from the restaurant. We were all introduced to the Metaphysical Film Society by the Chem grad student who also was a source of trendy chemical amusement aids.

Really good times.

[red dog 1]

31. Thanks for posting that

I'm a huge Shel Silverstein fan, but I never before saw that one....it's outstanding!
("two lids a head for tickets"?)
He was a great poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books.
What a talent!

[Brother Buzz]

33. The real Pearly Sweetcake was a long time friend of Shel Silverstein

They hooked up in Palm Springs during her groupie days in the early sixties. She was a nurse at Marin General hospital, and lived above a bar in Mill Valley (actually above the legendary Prune Music, next door to the bar). She worked the night shift and always made her appearance in the bar at the strike of midnight dressed in her nurses whites, then proceeded to hustle the pool tables until closing time. I knew her well.

[red dog 1]

34. Very interesting, thanks.

As you probably already know, Shel Silverstein wrote most of the songs for Dr Hook.
(My favorite is "I Got Stoned and I Missed it&quot

[Brother Buzz]

35. He was a genuine Renaissance Man, for sure

And of ALL the things he did, I remember his illustrations best

[red dog 1]

36. Funny you should say that

I was thinking about calling him a "true Renaissance Man" in my previous reply.

[red dog 1]

16. I love looking at that old photo of Playland's "eateries" along the Great Highway

Interesting to note that nearly all the men in the photo had hats on

[brush]

26. I remember "Laughing Sal".

[Nictuku]

28. I do!

[Rollo]

30. Ah yes, I used to go there in the 60's...

We'd ride the street car (N-Judah) out from the inner Sunset...

In addition to the other stuff mentioned, like Sal, the slides, etc., I also remember the tiny roller coaster and the whirly gig ride. I also remember going back there around 1971-2 when it was shutting down, and walking round looking at all the closed arcades etc. At one point I remember seeing a turquoise wooden door ajar, and inside was a washing machine going, making those sloshing sounds. I did a double take, and in an instant someone slammed the door shut. LOL. I felt like I had peered into some secret inner sanctum. Maybe they were washing Sal's unmentionables.

I think it's all boring condos now.

[red dog 1]

32. I think the "tiny roller coaster" was one of the rides in "Funtier Town"

which was located behind Playland for a few years..It was for little kids.

Playland got really funky the last couple of years it was open.
(There were no fish left in the tank at the Diving Bell)

During those last few years, I often visited the "Pinball Palace" (I think that's what it was called)
which had about a hundred old pinball machines that still worked.