Summer Flashback

Celebrate Summer with San Francisco's Lost Amusement Parks

Friday, July 26, 2013, by Alex Bevk

The weather may not feel like it, but we're deep in the throes of summer. While you might be reaching for a sweater instead of a bathing suit, we thought we'd dream about summers of yore with the amusement and water parks of old San Francisco. From roller coasters and log flumes to carnival games and cotton candy, here are the relics of amusement parks long gone. Know of one we missed? Leave a comment or send a note to the tipline.

Entrance to Woodward's Garden [SFHC, SFPL]
Camel rides at Woodward's Garden, 1880 [SFHC, SFPL]
Frederick Marriott's "Avitor" blimp at Woodward's Gardens, 1870 [SFHC, SFPL]
A performing bear at Woodward's Gardens, 1875 [SFHC, SFPL]
Exotic birds in Woodward's Gardens, 1880 [SFHC, SFPL]
Woodward's Garden, no date [SFHC, SFPL]
Woodward's Gardens Conservatory, ca. 1870 [SFHC, SFPL]
The Willows was an amusement park in the 1860s located near today's 18th and Mission. They had a dance hall, museum, stuntsmen, and exhibitions of Indian braves. [SFHC, SFPL]
Advertisements for the Willows included "the beautiful cosmorama, museum, and menagerie, open all day" [SFHC, SFPL]
In 1894, San Francisco Chronicle Publisher, Michael de Young, spearheads a movement that brings San Francisco its first World’s Fair—the California Midwinter International Exposition in Golden Gate Park. The Midwinter Fair opens on January 27, 1894. [SFHC, SFPL]
Midwinter Fair, 1894 [SFHC, SFPL]
"Dante's Inferno" at the Midwinter Fair, 1894 [SFHC, SFPL]
"Haunted Swing" at the Midwinter Fair, 1894 [SFHC, SFPL]
Roller coaster at the Midwinter Fair, 1894 [SFHC, SFPL]
Sutro's Merrie Way Pleasure Grounds opened above the great Sutro Baths in 1895. Touted as a "San Francisco Coney Island," it featured many of the amusement rides and concession stands that Sutro bought after the 1894 Midwinter's Fair in Golden Gate Park, including a 100' Ferris Wheel. It closed shortly after Sutro's death in 1898. [Sonoma State]
The Ferris Wheel with enclosed coaches at Sutro's Pleasure Grounds was known as a Firth Wheel [Sonoma State]
On November 2, 1895, a Chutes park opens on Haight Street with a 350-foot Shoot the Chutes and a refreshment stand, and, soon, a Scenic Railway roller coaster, a carousel, shooting gallery, penny arcade and 3,000 seat theater to showcase vaudeville acts. [Found SF]
Scenic Railway ride at The Chutes on Haight [SFPL]
The Chutes on Haight [SFPL]
The Haight Chutes proved too small to accommodate the large crowds and "new chutes" opened on Fulton at 10th Ave. in 1902 [Found SF]
Chutes at 10th and Fulton [SFHC, SFPL]
Chutes at 10th and Fulton, 1904 [SFHC, SFPL]
Chutes at 10th and Fulton, 1907 [SFHC, SFPL]
Chutes at 10th and Fulton [SFHC, SFPL]
Coney Island Park opens in the Fillmore in 1907 with 40 concessions that embrace everything from musical pleasures to snake taming. After Chutes owner Charles Ackerman dies, his son Irving moves the Chutes to the Coney Island Park site in 1909. The Fillmore Chutes adds rides like the Devil’s Slide, a zoo, an aquarium, a dance pavilion and a theater for motion pictures and vaudeville. [SFPL]
Brochure for The Chutes [SFPL]
On May 29, 1911, a fire started in the restaurant and destroyed the Fillmore side of the amusement park. [SFHC, SFPL]
The Chutes amusement park would never open again, although a waterslide called the Chutes was part of Playland at the Beach. [SFHC, SFPL]
Chutes at the Beach included the Looff carousel, Bob Sled Dipper and Big Dipper roller coasters, Aeroplane Swing, the Whip, Dodg-Em, the Ship of Joy, the Ferris wheel, Noah’s Ark, and almost a hundred concessionaires. [SFPL]
In 1923, George and Leo Whitney opened a photofinishing concession booth along the beach, and slowly began buying out the other concessionaires under the name Playland at the Beach. By 1942, he owned everything from Sutro Baths to Fulton Street. [SFHC, SFPL]
Group of boys on the "Rocket Ride" at Playland at the Beach, 1935 [SFHC, SFPL]
Playland at the Beach, 1935 [SFHC, SFPL]
Playland at the Beach, 1940 [SFHC, SFPL]
Streetcar parked in front of the roller coaster at Playland at the Beach, 1940 [SFHC, SFPL]
Playland at the Beach at night, 1942 [SFHC, SFPL]
Group of people on the Skyliner ride at Playland at the Beach, 1947 [SFHC, SFPL]
Skateland at Playland at the Beach, 1950 [SFHC, SFPL]
Ghost Ride - Laff in the Dark at Playland at the Beach, 1950 [SFHC, SFPL]
Fun House at Playland at the Beach, 1972 [SFHC, SFPL]
Playland was also the birthplace of the It's-It, Whitney's invention of ice cream sandwiched by two oatmeal cookies and covered in chocolate. [It's-It]
Whitney tore down the Big Dipper roller coaster in the late 1950s. Sutro Baths burned during its demolition in 1966, and Whitney stopped operating Playland in 1968. In 1972, Playland was put up for sale and demolished. [SFHC, SFPL]
Many of the old Playland concessions are now housed at the Musée Mécanique on Fisherman's Wharf [cseeman]
The Looff carousel was saved and eventually bought by the SF Redevelopment Agency to be installed in a glass pavilion in Yerba Buena Gardens. [Mack Male]

Photos galore, this way >>

The first amusement park in SF was Woodward's Gardens. In operation between 1865 and 1891, Woodward's Gardens took up a two square block area now bounded by Mission, Valencia, 13th, and 15th Streets. [SFHC, SFPL]