Pleasure Island, Wakefield, MA - 1965

[@delzorros]

Thanks for this fabulous flashback! We used to sneak into Pleasure Island in the Winter months when it was closed… we'd walk across the swamp from Lynnfield on the ice. We could hear Ricky Nelson perform there from our backyard in Lynnfield!

[@2butiful]

+delzorros How fun! My sister and I used to sneak in there after the park was closed for good. There was a guard on duty, but we avoided him. I remember finding jars of un-spun cotton candy in an old store, climbing up into the silo, etc.

[@seekermike007]

+delzorros Ricky Nelson did Pleasure Island? wow, so much I didn't know about that little gem. And the stooges, too? Heard that the stooges would do carnivals as far as Quebec Canada and I think there is a video of it somewhere, but I would love to have seen and heard Rick Nelson there for a bragging rights story.

[@honcho13]

Great flick! Brings back great memories!

[@honcho13]

Yes, Ricky DID play there! I remember seeing him there in the Summer of 1962 (I think). Dion Demucci was in the same show which was hosted by Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg, the disc jockey for WMEX (AM 1610) in Boston! It was a great show!

[@Michellelovesanimals]

Thank you Paul ! I was there in 1962 with my mom, cousins and aunts. I remember we were there when Jimmy Dean was there and I really loved the burro ride. That is a 61 year old memory for me and I forgot the name of the park but kept looking..........I enjoyed your post !❤

[@annerprescott9604]

Wonderful! Brings back a lot of my childhood memories!

[@ledzamboni]

great to see this magical place again - thank you ! I remember that yellow slide on the side of the barn and the 2 rides " Wreck of the Hesperus " and " Old Chisholm trail " - what a fun place !😊👍

[@collinmacdonald882]

I remember Pleasure Island really well. Grew up in Lynn. Every summer the local Playground just at the end of the summer vacation would rent a bus, and we all would get group rates, but you had to be over 12 years old to go. This home movie brings back so many memories during the 60's. Didn't it open in 1962 and closed around 1970. It was suppose to be the Disney of the north. Boston Globe did an article about it about 10 years ago, and still pieces of the park, in ruin was still there. I am sure its all gone now. I remember the Wreck of the Hesperus, and the indian spears and drums they use to sell, and of course the triangular pendent with the whale on it....when you are growing up, this is a wonder world. Thanks for posting.

[@williamkiely9523]

Wow, beautiful footage. I was from Burlington and we went there quite a bit.

[@gerryorne2229]

Thanks for sharing.

[@mikekelley5859]

I was talking to a friend and he mentioned Pleasure Island, I just watched this video and I want you to know it was part of my childhood and I appreciate it, unfortunately One can never go home again.

[@seekermike007]

+Mike Kelley Mike, your words ring bitter sweet. No, you can never go home again and things we had in the same era were clearly better imho, but nothing says you can't recall those wonderful memories though the details become hazier and hazier! I am in the process of compiling other details of my old neighborhood; landmarks no longer there-gone, as is Pleasure Island. Pleasure Island had everything a little kid needed except Herve villechaize, Da plane!

[@raymonddipirro7835]

Hello Paul, Thanks for sharing this. I am a member of the Friends of Pleasure Island & I have never seen this before. Originally from Somerville then Melrose. Went there both summer & winter. I was 9 in 1965.

[@jppooler5577]

Thanks Paul for sharing your film. I vaguely remember going to Pleasure Island at a young age with my older brother and seeing The Three Stooges on the outdoor stage. They arrived in a beat up old clunker of a car, did their show on stage and then drove off with all us kids chasing them. Pure joy! Maybe 1961?

[@Niamtougou82]

A bit of nostalgia: Pleasure Island in Wakefield, MA in 1965.

[@seekermike007]

+Paul Locke thanx a lot for uploading this, Paul. the older I get and the more disappointed I get with the present time personally, I seek nostalgic satisfaction. thanx, bud.

[@seekermike007]

Have been searching for info on this park for awhile. this was just a wonderful, wonderful place for kids and families as an escape from the urbanization and sometimes rough stuff in Boston and Greater Boston. I went there with my grandmother a couple of years earlier than this video, say 62' or 63'. I recall being mortified even as a little kid with grandma carrying on and shouting on that merry go round. Hard to find anyone who even recalls it or heard about it now. there is a Pleasure Island Road in Wakefield, I assume that was the site? Might as well have been something you read about in dusty history books.

[@ARCImage1]

Thank you for uploading this 8mm home movie! I remember seeing the tight-rope walker and all of the venues highlighted in the video! Pleasure Island was such a cool place - I feel sorry for the kids who missed out on this theme park when it closed in 1969. (This June would have marked the beginning of its 55th season!)

[@cybrkade]

I live right near where pleasure island used to be. It's so scary man.

[@hanakokun8641]

uwubrie REALLY?!?!

[@hanakokun8641]

uwubrie holy shit that’s amazing. Please film of vlog there, no one has done it yet🥺

[@cybrkade]

@@hanakokun8641 That seems really interesting to do! I will find a way to do it! :D

[@cybrkade]

@@hanakokun8641 Yeah! Since I live near it I have books about it and stuff

[@hanakokun8641]

uwubrie OMGG that’s amazing 🥺

[@Pabloiznotmyname]

Thank you for sharing old memories with me. Gerry Orne Marblehead, MA

[@gaildebenedictis2353]

Thanks for the memories!

[@sushimaster500]

Thank you for this

[@MarciaMatthews]

Fond memories!

[@time2discern631]

August 3, 1965

[@thatguytobyplayz4841]

2:41

[@itsamechrispratt380]

NOT THE WHALE

[@NEVintageFilm]

i was there!

[@mcpeanutful]

Did anybody who heard their parents or grandparents were going to take them here have fears that they were going to be turned into donkeys if they went or think that it would be naughty to go here or not want to go because they thought it was for kids that won't go to school like they're supposed to and if they went here, they would turn into donkeys and never be allowed to return home?

[@yeethedinosaur5566]

That's a big whale

[@LOCALMASON]

Lose a lot of fishing lures cause of that whale!! Bottom of edgewater which it is called now

[@deathandbananas2152]

2:47