Last Friday marked the 34th anniversary of Playland Pier burning down. I wrote about the history of Playland Pier in this blog at FYI North Idaho but had more memories of what a great place it was as a kid.If you had a dollar, you had a whole day ahead of you. Ten cent ice cream cones, most arcade games were a penny, nickel or dime and for two cents you could get a souvenir postcard postcards from one of two machines, one with movie and singing stars, the other with mostly custom cars like those of George Barris. Like so much stuff we all had when we were kids, I curse myself for not keeping all those cards, like James Dean. Sheesh.
My all time favorite arcade game was an early version of foosball. It was a freestanding metal and glass case that cost a penny a ball to play, and believe me, I put a LOT of pennies into that machine. The playing surface was a lumpy soccer field covered with players fixed in place. Because it was enclosed the ball would eventually roll in front of a soccer player. On the front were two handles, each activating one team (you could even play by yourself). When the handles were flipped it would move a goalie back and forth and make all the players "kick". The harder you flipped that handle the harder the kicks. The back panel was painted like a full stadium and the front and sides were glass. For old glass it was damn tough. When we played we always tried to kick that little steel ball as hard as possible and although it may have been the loudest game in the arcade, that glass never even cracked.
The bumper cars were great except by the time I was old (and tall) enough to drive them, they were usually broke down or not in operation. I left dejected more often than I actually got to drive them.
Everybody's favorite was the swings. Like a sort of suspended merry-go-round, each swing seat swung out with centrifugal force and actually put you out over the lake. We always wondered how fun it would be to have one break shooting a rider out into the waters.
The merry-go-round still exists and about ten years ago there was even talk about bringing it back to Coeur d'Alene. I can't remember all the details but it was (probably still is) owned by a guy who collects, maintains and operated old carousels around the country. And his mother actually worked at Playland Pier once upon a time. Last I heard it was back east somewhere and it still has paintings that represent Coeur d'Alene and the lake.
I do remember PLAYLAND PIER and in fact I worked there for my first real job. Just like most local kids this was a good source of work in the summertime. And as you described the football game I could actually hear the metal ball hitting that dang glass. The swings were great and I knew how to swim well so always hoped it would fling me out in the water. At one time my boyfriend worked the bumper cars, HeyDay and loop o plane. I got all the free rides I could stomach. When working I went home every day with cotton candy in my hair from making hundreds of cones. It was at PLAYLAND PIER while working that I had my first encounter with racial diversity. It was during the Boy Scout Jamboree at Farragut. there were thousands of people and boy scouts in CDA. A black man came to my counter and asked me if I could tell him where his relative may live. I asked for the relative's name and he told me and I told him I did not know that person. So he again asked if I could at least tell him what area his relative lived in. And again I said I am sorry I don't know this person. He seemed to become frustrated and said "well can you just tell me where the black section of town is?" Black Section of town?????? Holy cow what is that? I totally did not know there were such things. We had no black people nor black sections in CDA in 1967. We were pretty sheltered from the rest of the world back then. How I miss that. CDA was a wonderful place to grow up. The local mens clubs (Elks, Eagles, Masonic Temple)used to have yearly picnics in the park and they would have semi trucks come in with ice cream bars and fudgecicles. You were only supposed to get one if you belonged to the picnic but all the kids on the beach would run to the truck and stand in line to get one. Mmmmmmm good! The bag pipers used to practice all of June in the park so that they would be ready for the 4th of July parade. Speaking of the parade if you were in the kiddie parade on July 3rd they would give you a big old stream of tickets for free rides at PLAYLAND PIER. So we spend several hours riding rides on the 4th. There were games of chance and all kinds of booths along the street from 7th St clear to the city park parking lot. Whew this was just going to be a couple lines about PLAYLAND PIER. I got carried away. I sure miss CDA it was great back then. Thank you for letting me reminisce. Barb McD...
ReplyDeleteThe carrousel was in the Shorewood area of north Seattle for a number of years in a small strip mall. I had the pleasure of riding it there. It was then sold to a family in Oregon...if memory serves, it was outside of Portland to the east along the Columbia River - my oldest brother found an article about it in the Seattle paper. I believe that the lady interviewed had some connection to Cd'A. So, it looks like it is still on the west coast.
ReplyDeleteBARB! Great stories, keep them up.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing some research on the carousel. Stay tuned.
Our grandfather would give us each a silver dollar and would send us to Playland. Nice way to quiet down the house for a couple of hours, and we had a blast spending "all that money".
ReplyDeleteIt was the greatest place to a kid, they certainly took it away too soon. I remember the 2 crazy mirrors when you went in the arcade part.Always good for a couple of laughs.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what ever happened to those purple glass plates in the sidewalk in front of Wilsons Pharmacy on Sherman???
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_9e4543b6-5886-5ee6-9346-83dd74517ede.html
ReplyDeleteThe deal on the Carousel is being worked out. As a member of a generation that never experienced the pier I am excited for the return.
I liked the little silver medallions with the star in the middle. The machine in the arcade would stamp letters when you pulled the handle and for 5 cents you could put your name on it. No delete for type-o's / How did it burn? It obviously did so after the merry-go-round was removed.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my grandparents came up on 1974 from San Diego to go to the World's Fair. On their way here they had won a bag of dimes in Vegas. My grand dad gave me the bag to take myself and younger brothers on rides at Playland Pier. That was the only time I went... I'll never forget it. We never did stuff like that as kids as a regular thing... We grew up in the "Blue Army" religious cult so never went out "in the world".....
ReplyDelete