What Happened To San Francisco's Amusement Parks?

[@StevenTorrey]

Nicely done. People still speak fondly of Playland.

[@michaelch5060]

In 1972 I lived on 12th & Fulton, right across the street from the park and a short bus ride from PlayLand. I remember when they closed it down, much of it was boarded up but still intact, my friends and I figured out how to get into the closed down part and had a blast! We figured out how to start up Cotton Candy machines and found many souvenirs, it was quite literally a kids paradise. Thanks for sharing.

[@thedoneeye]

As a teenager I used to hang out at the Musee Mecanique when it was at the Cliff House. My favorite video game was 'Crazy Climber.' I actually got a decent work out playing that game alone!

[@LindaMToma]

Ooooh my Goodness.I grew up in San Francisco visiting Playland at the Beach a lot,but your videos is a mm amazing.Woodland Gardens, on HIght Street,,?! Rides??? Really?!!!.Your research is the greatest!!!

[@TheMaxWechsler]

Hey Joey, I recently discovered your channel, and as an SF micro history nerd am going through each and every video, enjoying them contentedly with my first cup of coffee, often with my partner who is a Sunset native. We're now at 9th Ave and Anza. Anyway, we've been hiking the Crosstown Trail and recently learned that there used to be an amusement park in Glen Canyon Park. From Wikipedia: "In 1889, the Crocker Real Estate Company bought the canyon to develop a neighborhood that would attract homebuyers... Crocker installed a mini-amusement park with an aviary, a mini-zoo--bears, elephants and monkeys, a bowling alley, and, for extra thrills, hot-air balloon rides, and an intrepid tight-rope walker who performed on a wire stretched across the canyon... It was fenced and rented to organizations for company picnics that often turned into boisterous drinking brawls." Thought you'd appreciate this!

[@scallaghan2118]

Thanks, Max. Very interesting. I've studied a lot of SF history but never heard of this before.

[@nancybarrass9561]

Grew up in San Rafael as we left the city in 1957, those childhood birthday parties at Playland have me crying tears of joy...been in Marin 64 years, but left my heart in San Francisco 🤍

[@JeremiahBarba]

Man, those night shots of Playland made me want to travel back in time.

[@leahchristinasegmen5370]

You do the best job of celebrating life in SF and even remembering to include the quirky El Cerrito landscape as the current home of Museum Mechanique. Thank you for maintaining the spirit joyful celebration.

[@amimolinelli2645]

My parents had their first date at Playland :)

[@gillynova]

Thanks for keeping the history of San Francisco alive.

[@bunnystuff2005]

I enjoyed your video, I was born and raised in the Sunset district. I spent a lot of time during my youth at Playland. Great memories!

[@drucella5581]

Thank you for this. Really miss Playland at the Beach. Grew up in Marin City and Playland at the Beach was the place to go if you wanted to meet people. The Roller Skating rink was a hot spot at Playland. Don't think it could ever be again due to the hostile environment we live in. Those days were innocent and pure fun. Thank you for bringing back wondrful memories of great times.

[@OneManOnFire]

Its shame as popular as San Francisco is we're lacking in a few areas. Anyways love the videos! I think you if you're looking for a new SF video ideas you should look into the history of gambling in SF. When SF banned gambling (unsure when) that included video game arcades in that silly old law. It was recently removed for arcades within 10 years ago. This is how Brewcade in Castro came about. I learned about this from the website curbed sf.

[@JoeyYee]

I never knew about the ban! Arcades have always been a HUGE part of my life, so I might have to dive into this topic at some point. Thanks!

[@SteinOutWide]

Gonna keep this piece of trivia in my back pocket haha

[@j.j.374]

Great video and research! I'm glad the carousels are still around!

[@Zeyev]

Wonderful video! I seem to recall my junior-high class went down to Playland in 1961 or 62 from Napa. It was a great trip. A city that has maintained its amusement park is Copenhagen. I visited Tivoli Gardens in 2009 and was blown away by the variety of rides and age range of the visitors. And it's in the middle of the city. If we're ever allowed to travel again, I recommend seeing it to even more fully appreciate what we lack in The City on Golden Hills.

[@JoeyYee]

I know there are a ton of great parks in Europe that I’d love to see someday! I remember hearing about Tivoli Gardens when I was younger and always thought it looked amazing. The Netherlands has one that’s been getting a lot of attention lately (Energylandia). Someday!

[@francoamerican4632]

Merrie Way (aka, Sutro's "Pleasure Grounds"), next to Sutro Baths, had the Firth Wheel, a Ferris Wheel that came from the 1894 Midwinter Fair in Golden Gate Park. Also located on Merrie Way: the Scenic Railway (described as a "roller coaster of sorts"), the "Haunted Swing," the "Mystic Maze" and a shooting gallery. From 1954-55 until 1965 Whitney ran a "Sky Tram" between the Cliff House and Point Lobos. "The Zone" at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition contained many rides and curiosities. Among these were a fun house called the Jester's Palace, the Bowls of Joy ( a ride that was so dangerous it had to be shut down twice), Looff's Carousel, the Safety Razor, Scenic Railway (same name as Sutro's roller coaster), Toyland GU and the Aeroscope. The Musee Mecanique was originally located below the Cliff House.

[@AL-si4eo]

If Herb Caen was a young youtuber, I feel he would upload something like your videos

[@jimbeam275]

Wait...so the Laughing Sal at Musee Mechanique that terrified me my whole youth is not the original Laughing Sal??

[@JoeyYee]

I think it’s still fair to call that one an original! To my knowledge, Sal had several sisters at Playland. One for sure ended up in Santa Cruz, and another was bought and sold until it (presumably) found a home at Musee Mecanique.

[@RVBadlands2015]

As a child we used to go to Playland a lot when we visited my uncle and aunt in Mill Valley.

[@sandrataylor3665]

This is so cool, my grandma would tell me stories of her and my pop going to Playland and blew his whole paycheck there, as they were married at 17 and 14 in 41. I always wanted to see what it looked like. Thanks for sharing

[@CaptNeeda1]

Wow, what a fantastic video! The format is very clean and professional and the information is so interesting! Thank you.

[@m.j.golden4522]

Great digging of history. I took a screenshot at 4:38 because I used to live on Haight Street & Waller.

[@djmixnmagic]

So wish they would bring back Playland. I have a B&W poster of it in my room, and always look at the space with bittersweet longing when I pass by.

[@EsEf125]

Bro, I love your channel. This is quality!

[@SteinOutWide]

Really interesting and well done video! I feel like there are some Johnny Harris or overall Vox influences to your work. I'm personally reallllly happy that Playland on the beach is no longer a thing. Having Outer Sunset north of Noriega and Outer Richmond as these quiet beach communities with these wild, desolate, & foggy beaches and massive winter surf right on the doorstep of everything else SF has to offer makes that area one of my favorite places on earth. On the flip side of that coin, it's a shame that a place with as much history as Wise Surfboards closed down as their industry changed.

[@adolfoforonda3363]

I remember an amusement park on top of Emporium in downtown SF.

[@ArtamStudio]

The wonderous Christmas roof rides!

[@bnwinsf]

Your cool video makes me almost like that ferris wheel in Golden Gate Park.... almost. This is one Inner Sunset resident who's disappointed that this eyesore is apparently hanging around for FOUR more years, rather than the ONE year is was supposed to stay up. I bet that was the park department's intention all along, pandemic or no pandemic.

[@BayandBeyondFishing]

I love learning about our history. Keep em coming!

[@ericallnight]

great videos in general, man. I know you're putting a lot of work into each one and they're really good. Keep at it, and keep sharing that SF life!

[@godkeebler]

Man great video....SF boy myself too young for Playland but sure as hell of heard about it all my life..

[@medrep1000]

My favorite attention at Playland was the Diving Bell.

[@MikeCohenSF]

Musee Mécanique is one of my favorite places.

[@gillynova]

Bro, your edits are fun and fire

[@hpotter29]

For a time in the 80s there were three attractions across from Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. (Where the Wax Museum is currently.) One was a family friendly dark ride called “Old San Francisco” about the city’s history. It had been designed by Sid and Marty Kroft and had a groovy sort of “Small World” aesthetic. I remember bits of it to this day. The Haunted Gold Mine was next to that. It was a walkthrough with a bunch of silly/scary jump scares. It stayed in operation the longest of the three (I can remember it still being there in the 90s) For the life of me, I can’t remember the third one. But it was certainly the type of attraction you’d find in an amusement park.

[@familymanfunnymoments]

subscribed. definitely gonna binge watch your channel

[@b3n583]

Most amusement parks are in suburbs of the bigger city. Your options for a theme park in the Bay Area are Santa Cruz, Great America in San Jose, and Marine World (now Six Flags) in Vallejo. The same applies for LA. Universal Studios in Hollywood, & Disneyland in Anaheim.

[@garylester8621]

To me what happened was the attendance was dropping and tough guys started to make Playland their hangout. Which made the attendance drop even further. The operators couldn’t afford to do needed repairs so it looked shabby which dropped the attendance further until the vendors had to leave for lack of money. Then the land owner sold to a developer.

[@filmhowyalike]

Great video, Joey. I love seeing Playland as sort of "The Final Boss," if you will, in Orson Welle's The Lady from Shanghai. Such an amazing use of location. Any other Hollywood movies that feature Playland?

[@JoeyYee]

The movie “Woman on the Run” from 1950 features an entire climax that takes place on Playland’s roller coaster!

[@bartonpercival2147]

The Twilight Zone’s “Perchance to Dream” featured Playland at the Beach circa : 1959 and had shots of the merry go round actually running, and a few other scenes of Playland

[@ArtamStudio]

great scene from "The Lineup" (1958) in Sutro Baths - then an ice rink - kinda next door to Playland.

[@disasteric1]

Informative video, good job. However you forgot to include Pier 39 back when they had a shooting gallery, a bumper car area, whack-a-mole, etc. I used to like Pier 39, but all the fun stuff was taken out a long time ago.

[@jackMcRyder]

Loved it, mate. Is that red kitty next to the 📺 , actually a tiger?

[@sciablina]

I've never liked amusement parks, but I always love your videos, Joey! Keep up the good work!

[@JoeyYee]

Thank you!

[@mr.michaelshaughnessy7497]

Nice job, Joey. Doesn't Sutro's Pleasure Grounds deserve a mention?

[@trbarton743]

Thanks for another great video. 😀

[@jennalynnfung2600]

You come up with some of the most interesting ideas and events to research and share with us. Honestly reminds me of Herb Caen. Thank you for your content! I am an SF photographer (though in NYC right now) and would love to collaborate with you one day :)

[@JoeyYee]

Thanks Jennalynn. Maybe when all this craziness dies down, we could collab!

[@samuelbrewster97]

I’d love it for Playland to reopen. But I think it’s affordable housing now so, can’t get rid of that. What would be cool is if Twin Peaks had a Mountain Coaster though!

[@tomcotter5735]

Beautiful !

[@griffnull]

RIP Great America

[@michaelgreenslade7260]

What about the attractions at the 1915 and 1939 world fairs?

[@andersonic]

This was wonderful, in 24 years I never knew about Woodward's Gardens. But I live on the bottom block of Belvedere where the houses are ten years younger because originally The Chutes were there. Where human bodies reached the unprecedented velocity of sixty miles per hour! Where Man Fish smoked underwater and Little Egypt scandalized with her hootchy-kootchy dance! Also the original Chutes were built to wait out the aftermath of a dynamite factory explosion in the Sunset.

[@yubbieeee]

what's your alcatraz roller coaster idea? (thanks for answering my potrero hill question last time btw!)

[@JoeyYee]

I don’t have a full plan quite yet, but it’d be so cool (though maybe a little bit wasteful) to turn the island into a prison-themed park. The coaster would see you “break out” of Alcatraz, doing some loops, busting through the walls, and zooming near the water like, as if you’re like those escapees from the 60s that made it out.

[@thedoneeye]

@@JoeyYee Interestingly the San Francisco Dungeon down on Jackson st. had an 'Escape From Alcatraz' themed gimmick at the end of the tour. Actually all it was was one of those chair drop things that you'd strap into. Since it was indoors it only rose something like 20 feet giving you the idea you were scaling the prison wall. Noisy but tame.

[@ZeallousMusic]

great video!

[@aarond9563]

Joey I don't understand how you're afraid of heights but love rollercoasters.

[@JoeyYee]

Pretty sure it’s the difference of being strapped into a seat vs. being free to move around (such as in a Ferris Wheel gondola).

[@robertenglish9838]

I can still smell the frying dough from the hot dogs on a stick when I watch that video.

[@nito209]

I LOVE ROLLER COASTER!!!!

[@KhristineHebert]

Loveeee!

[@bizarreadventures152]

SF: Ferris Wheel in the Golden Gate Park, take it or leave it

[@paulaharrisbaca4851]

My mom remembered the Sutro baths, my sister went there when it became an ice-skating rink, and when I was little, I always wanted my mom to take me to Playland. She said it was too disreputable by then. I think Laughing Sal is now down at Fisherman's Wharf, by the relocated Musee Mecanique... Remember the Magic Camera that overlooked Seal Rock? It's still at the Cliff House, I believe, but they charge to see it now, which is ridiculous, especially as tourists have pretty much scratched San Francisco off their list as a tourist destination. To see that happen within 205 years since people like Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, Ed Lee, and other far left politicians financed by the evil man who wants to destroy the American Dream no matter what the cost, George Soros and all his ideologues whose primary desire to to so weaken the principles that helped grow the land of the free and the home of the brave (and don't forget Soros also backed the socialist indoctrination of teachers who taught ME in the 70's-80's because he's a bitter man who hates other Jews....well, I digress....)... anyway.... now I wonder if the entire Left Coast is being systematically taken apart by people who dislike the US, like Soros, Klaus Schwab, and Xi, and want to form a totalitarian world centralist government....it makes me sad.

[@mynamesdemi]

“I’m much older....at least on paper” 💀

[@ScottKew-g8r]

DEMOCRATS is what happened to San Francisco. The Supposed advantages were more taxes from condominiums as opposed to tax drawing parks for safe places for children to play. Things are SO much better in San Francisco now, RIGHT ???

[@rodneyhurst6019]

😂

[@francoamerican4632]

Republicans are always about money. Do you really believe that they would have choosen a park over condominiums? 🤔

[@darkphasex]

San Francisco has no amusement parks, we have a Zoo in the sunset district. You meant outside of San Francisco.

[@moniquepartee415]

Rip bushman 🥺

[@CHRISMED2]

Strange to me that SF held the panama expo worlds fair 1911 & spent so much for such beautiful "temporary" buildings yet they cant even build a giant wheel ?? So much imagination back at the turn of the century & now no creativity just the same ol same ol

[@davidcollin1436]

Dimwit fools now run SF...into the ground

[@francoamerican4632]

*1915. Most likely the reason they didn't follow through with the large Ferris Wheel plan had to do with financing the project.