I Pity the Young

Trial lawyers have destroyed our culture in many ways. There are no more diving boards at swimming pools. Many outdoor pools now have ugly chain link fences around them. And playgrounds? Forget about it. They are borezones now. Kids born in this age are lucky video games are better than in my youth (when there were no real video games until I was in my late teens).

Check out this story about a cool playground in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. And what happened to it.

When I was a kid they had a thing called Playland in San Francisco. It was this cool old Victorian amusement park by the ocean. They got rid of it in 1972. One of my life’s regrets is I didn’t get to go there more than once. But I was just a kid so I had to depend on my parents to take me.

It would have been a logical place for the Joker to make his hideout. Places like that are all pretty much gone now.

1. Playland at the Beach is gone, but bits of it are parcelled out throughout SF. The carousel is on top of Moscone Center. The Musee Mechanique) arcade is at Fisherman’s Wharf. Some of the old wooden carvings are inside the Cliff House (I think you can see pictures of Playland too), and the hokey Camera Obscura is next to the Cliff House. I’m not old enough to have seen Playland, but I like going to Sutro Park and the Sutro Baths. BTW, the Joker’s probably moved over to Children’s Fairyland in Oakland (http://www.fairyland.org/): it’s more surreal, and in a far more urban setting.

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  09:42 AM

2. By the way, when I lived in the Haight (16 years ago, I admit) I couldn’t even go to the carousel or playground because getting there meant passing through a wall of junkies. And even though I love GG Park, I have yet to take my children to the eastern side of it (where this park is) because I don’t want to run the risk, however outdated it may be, to meet that many junkies (while having young children in tow) at once. The playground update may have as much to do with that problem as with making it safe for kids. I can still find butt-scalding slides and puke-inducing Merry Go Rounds at Happy Hollow in San Jose. Sorry for these long rambling posts on your blog--I just don’t think that park in GG Park was so cool, given its location; and Playland at the Beach went out of business, I understand, because people just weren’t going there any more.

   Posted by Carolyn Bickford  on  12/12  at  10:51 AM

3. Well, I understand that. I just think it’s sad.

   Playland was falling down an antiquated, which is why it was losing business. But many old school playgrounds are being changed due to lawsuits and cities take precautions.

   The junkie problem is sad. Parks tend to be taken over by lowlife in big cities. They need to enforce the vagrancy laws better, especially in SF where they are codependant toward the homeless and it has become a huge problem.

   I remember going to People’s Park in Berkeley in the late 80s to take some pictures as reference for a story I was doing and some homeless came up to me and threatened me because I was taking their picture. I wasn’t. I was taking a picture of the park and they just happened to be in some of the pictures (in the distance!). I mean, these people take over these places meant for everyone and drive away kids and families.

   I went to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris in ‘95 to help a friend scatter her mom’s ashes there. Her mom was French and had many good memories of the place and wanted her ashes scattered there. Well, when we went there, we found out that the park was now taken over by trannie prostitutes who used it as a place for servicing their johns. It is a beautiful park, but once again, it’s taken over by trashy people.

   Anyway, thanks for the link. That’s interesting. I remember hearing about that park but never went there.

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  11:29 AM

4. I don’t remember any junkies during the years I used to frequent Playland (1958-66), but then, being a kid, I wouldn’t have known what a junkie looked like anyway.  All I know is I had no problems going to and from Playland whether with my folks in their car, via MUNI, or on a bike.

   Loved the place! Even though it was pretty ramshackle and run-down at that point and long past its prime… Bumper cars, arcade games, and the Fun House...sorry to see they’ve pretty much disappeared from the modern American amusement park—except perhaps for the Mid-west.

   I remember always trying to get into the Fun House QUICKLY, because the “Laughing Sal” automaton in the bay window near the entrance always scared the shit out of me! That maniacal laugh! Heh.  VERY fond childhood memories.

   And the demolished playground in GG Park!  Damn!  I remember playing there as a kid!  Leave it to the damn left-wing nutcase bureaucrats to turn a kid’s wonderland into a wasteland.  And the big kicker is all we San Franciscans get to to pay for the privilege of having these mentally challenged career politicans to do this crazy stuff!

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  11:29 AM

5. John,

   She was talking about junkies in GG park.

   Posted by  on  12/12  at  12:21 PM
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