My friend Todd just had the most epic 50th birthday party at Playland Not-At-The-Beach in El Cerrito, CA. Where? Here's the link. Just go there. You pay one price at the door and all 30 pinball machines inside are free. FREE! I was so busy playing pinball, I didn't take any photos except for this one.Playland was an amusement park at the beach in San Francisco that closed in the early 70s. My parents took me there a few times but I was too little to remember it. Everyone in the Western Hemisphere is sad that it closed though. Even people who never went there and even people who did and admit it got pretty "seedy" near the end. My much-missed Grandma Tocha loved it and she also loved roller derby and televised bowling events so that proves how awesome it must have been.
El Cerrito Playland is 9000 square feet of hallways and rooms, full of vintage arcade games, new and old pinball machines (free!), dioramas of circus life, a haunted house, and special screenings and lectures on magic shows, animated films, the history of Playland, and other such wonderful stuff. The stuff that dreams are... Just go, GO to Playland Not-At-The-Beach.
Happy birthday, Todd. You barely look 40, if that.
- The wacky fun-filled calendar of events.
- The impressive and entertaining slide-show of attractions.
- Oh, and Frank Biafore, one of the founders, is the President of the Eartha Kitt Fan Club. Just go.
Some free pinball at you-know-where.
Original Playland, 1960.
1 comment:
Wow, Lisa! Thanks for that one. My mom and I lived in SF in the mid 1960's (when the old Sutro Bath House burned down) and I remember having the perfect weekends if we went to Doggie Diner then Playland!
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