Retro Living: Blasts from the Past - Page 6
This indoor amusement-park-cum-museum also features a Laughing Sal from San Francisco's much-mourned Playland at the Beach, plus other mementos from that amusement park, which closed for good in 1972.
On the museum side, there's a lovingly hand-carved miniature circus that fills a good-sized room, plus a collection of sideshow art. On the fun side, Playland-not-at-the-Beach features active carnival games and a party room.
Another spot for children and nostalgia buffs is Fairytale Town, a 50-plus-year-old play park in Sacramento. "If you had just one place to go" in Sacramento, Gretchen Steinberg says, "that place should be Fairytale Town."
It's got its original 1950s castles and pirate ships. "Many things have not changed at all," Steinberg says. And recent additions have been in the spirit of the old. "It's where childhood is celebrated and honored," she says.
• Playland-not-at-the-Beach (10979 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito): playland-not-at-the-beach.org
• Care to learn more about S.F.'s original Playland? Check out the new documentary film, 'Remembering Playland at the Beach' ($15 DVD) by Tom Wyrsch: garfieldlaneproductions.com
• Fairytale Town (3901 Land Park Dr., Sacramento): fairytaletown.org
13. Return to 'Time-Warp Village'
Sometimes, even in the mid-century, people just had to get away. Then, as now, one of the farthest-out spots was also one of the closest—just 26 miles off the coast of Southern California. Catalina Island gets the nod from Charles Phoenix as the place to go today to discover yesterday.
"Seven-tenths of it is total time warp," he says, "1920-ish through 1950-ish. It's a little time-warp village."
Catalina's 'village,' the gem known as Avalon, really does seem like a blast from the past—in part because there are so few cars. The sound of chimes—every 15 minutes of the day from the charming hilltop Chimes Tower—helps, too. Life just slows down. Phoenix loves the town's alternative transportation—on land ("two 1952-era tour buses that are in perfect condition") and at sea.
"A 1920s boat takes you away from the village," he says, providing nighttime views of flying fish winging it 100 or so feet into the sky. "I'm totally serious," he says. "I didn't believe fish could fly until I saw them sailing across the sky with my own two eyes."
• Catalina Island: visitcatalinaisland.com
14.
We all know the charming roadside inns with their flaming neon signs. Route 66 through California used to be a grand route for spotting them—but less so these days.
"Route 66, not much left," Charles Phoenix reports dourly. Still, there is always the Wigwam on Route 66 in Rialto, near San Bernardino, where the road-weary traveler can stay in a real—okay, not really real—wigwam. For one thing, these wigwams have windows—and flat-screen TVs. They also share a pool that's kidney shaped, of course.
Once, seven such wigwam-styled motels dotted the country, the first built in 1937 in Kentucky. Today, at least three remain—including another on Route 66, in Holbrook, Arizona. The San Bernardino wigwams, 19 in all, date from 1949 and are wood-framed and stucco, not stick and animal hide.
• Wigwam Motel (2728 West Foothill Blvd., Rialto): wigwammotel.com
15. Rediscover Small-Town America
No, it wasn't all 'Donna Reed' and 'Father Knows Best' in the 1950s. And, no, it was not a more innocent time. But it was a time of small towns, when going to a pharmacy meant visiting Chermak's Pharmacy and talking to Chermak, and when crossing a street didn't require using flashing lights and beepers to bring eight lanes of traffic to an unwilling, screeching halt.
