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Amazon
HistorySmith: Tales of California and San Francisco
Category:
History
Publisher: Craven Street Books
ISBN-10: 1610351935
Pages: 152
Copyright: Nov 1, 2013
ISBN-13: 9781610351935
San Francisco's Playland at the Beach, The Golden Years is the follow on to The Early Years, offering great photos taken by those who were there and remember. Color photos of Laffing Sal, the Merry-Go-Round and the Fun House bring fond memories back to life.
Comprehensively documented and illustrated, this is the definitive and authoritative look at one of America's landmark amusement parks, Playland at the Beach, a glamorous park that is still revered by San Franciscans more than 40 years after it closed. A dearly loved part of old San Francisco, the park incorporated rides, dining, sight-seeing, socialization, and its pioneering attractions inspired the designers of the amusement parks that followed. A companion piece to ""San Francisco's Playland at the Beach: The Early Years,"" this keepsake covers the years 1945 to 1972, showcasing both the height of Playland's postwar popularity and its decline, closure, and destruction during its final years. Illustrated by a huge collection of rare black-and-white and color photographs, it lets the reader experience the rides, attractions, restaurants, and behind-the-scenes operations of the great amusement park during its best-remembered period.
Excerpt
The photographs in my first book on this topic, San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach: The Early Years (1924-1945), were professionally composed and shot, likely by the Whitney Brothers themselves.
Most of the photographs included in San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach:
The Golden Years were kindly donated by those who were there and by my friends at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach. I dredged others from our
most helpful local archives and from ongoing searches on eBay and
other online auction and sales sites. A few are from my own collection. These images, mostly amateur, provide a more personal approach, a
family album for those of us who remember.
Some will ask, “Where are the photos and details of the riots?” I did mention them here, but a review of the photographs and local accounts other than newspapers seem to refute the magnitude and seriousness of those events. I have the news clippings and copies of the photographs,
but purposely chose to omit them. That aspect of Playland adds nothing of value to the story of the park.
When I began researching Playland, I had only my own memories.
Online and print documentation is scarce, but so many people shared their memories and stories I can’t begin to name them all. I owe everything in this book to those who took the time to relate their remembrances and knowledge. I pray this book brings back fond memories to the denizens of this lost park and an understanding of what the fuss was all about to those who were never so blessed.
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