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Remembering Crystal Beach.....
There's an old adage which states "You can't go home again". I'm starting to believe it. While I can physically return to the place I grew up, there have been so many changes that they're almost unercognizable.
Earlier this week,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
allisona was taking about her trip to the CNE (Canadian National Exposition, in Toronto). I posted a reply which said that I remember seeing ads for it, but never went to it. I also mentioned the other parks I went to, which included Crystal Beach.
In the fall of 1989, the Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Crystal Beach, ON (near Ridgeway, about 10 km west of Fort Erie) closed. It had been in operation for 101 years. I'm not sure why it closed, but I suspect declining attendance, competition from other parks, aging attractions, and increasing costs (especially insurance).
Crystal Beach was one of the places to go in the summer if you lived in the Buffalo metro area, or the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. It had the best rides, and the best food. As part of their promotional campaign, each local town would have their own day at Crystal Beach, where people from the town would get a discount, and a round-trip bus trip to and from the park.
Many years ago, before I was born, there was a ferryboat -- the Canadiana -- that went between Buffalo and Crystal Beach. There was an effort to raise runs to restore the ferryboat, which was sitting in drydock somewhere near Buffalo -- but I don't believe they raised enough funds to be successful before the boat rotted away.
I remember going to Crystal Beach several times -- one trip was with my family in the early 1970s, and one trip with the members of the Buffalo Time Council in the mid 1980s. And then there was one trip where we stayed at one of the local cottages that was owned by the family of one of my friends. But I'll leave that story for another time.
What were the major rides and attractions at the park? First and foremost was the Comet -- a steel coaster built in 1947. The coaster was built along the lake shore, so riders had a wonderful view of Lake Erie (and the Buffalo skyline) as they ascended. And then there was the drop -- I think the angle was about 60 degrees -- and riders couldn't help but scream. While it is tame compared to day's coaster standards -- it had no loops or corkscrews -- it was definitely the scream king in its day. In the mid-80s, they reversed one of the cars so that riders could ride it facing backward. There was also a great TV commercial featuring members of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team -- one saying "Forwards!", the other saying "Backwards!". The middle of the commercial showed them riding the coaster -- one forwards, one backwards. At the end of the commercial were both players, in uniform, walking away from the camera....with wet bottoms.
Predating the Comet was the Cyclone, which was built in the 1920s, and razed in 1946. I don't know much about this coaster, but I've heard there were several injuries and a few deaths. One of the stories I've heard is that some of the steel that was used on the Cyclone was also used to build the Comet.
When the park closed, the Comet was auctioned off, and the winner was the [Six Flags?] Great Escape Park in Lake George, NY. They rebuilt the Comet in 1994 and updated the manual levers and safety systems with a modern computerized control system.
The Laff-In-The-Dark featured cars on a twisted track going through a darkened arena. As the cars reached certain points in the ride, lights would light up, showing some scary or gruesome scene, accompanied by a sound effect. Some of the scenes I remember were gunslingers firing at us, someone whose head was jsut cut off, and the brick wall at the end.
The Magic Palace (also known as the Magic Carpet) was a walk-through 2-story funhouse. Some of the floorboards were rigged so that if someone stepped on them in a certain spot, an airjet in the board would hiss and spray a stream of cool compressed air upward. (No, I don't remember seeing any skirts blown upward. ;-) )
Other rides included Sawmilll River (their flume ride), Flying Bobs (bobselds going around and around), the Skyway (a lift which took riders to the edge of the pier), and many other standard amusement park rides -- Tilt-A-Whirl, Trabant, Giant Swings, bumper cars, etc. There was also an arcade with skeeball, pinball machines, and video games.
Like any amusement park, there was the typical amusement park food -- hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, funnel cakes, beaver tails, and cotton candy. The two signature Crystal Beach foods were the square (2" long by 1 1/2" wide) x suckers that came in 4 different flavors -- lemon, hot cinnamon, peanut, and coconut -- and the loganberry drink.
There was also the Crystal Ballroom, which was originally a large dance hall. At one time, it was a full-service restaurant. In the 1980s, it was turned into a small-to-medium-sized concert venue. During my last trip to the park, I saw Larry Gowan in concert there in '88. Great Dirty World was out, but Lost Brotherhood hadn't been released yet.
I'm sad that the park is gone. It was a place where I formed many wonderful memories of summertime and growing up in Buffalo. Sometime, during a future trip to the Buffalo area, I'd love to go back to the park site to see what buildings and rides are still standing, or if everything was torn down to make room for more cottages or (eep!) lakefront condos.
Thanks to Timbo's Crystal Beach memories page at http://www.geocities.com/ncp905/cbmemoir.htm for source information and things to jog my memory.
Earlier this week,
allisona was taking about her trip to the CNE (Canadian National Exposition, in Toronto). I posted a reply which said that I remember seeing ads for it, but never went to it. I also mentioned the other parks I went to, which included Crystal Beach. In the fall of 1989, the Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Crystal Beach, ON (near Ridgeway, about 10 km west of Fort Erie) closed. It had been in operation for 101 years. I'm not sure why it closed, but I suspect declining attendance, competition from other parks, aging attractions, and increasing costs (especially insurance).
Crystal Beach was one of the places to go in the summer if you lived in the Buffalo metro area, or the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. It had the best rides, and the best food. As part of their promotional campaign, each local town would have their own day at Crystal Beach, where people from the town would get a discount, and a round-trip bus trip to and from the park.
Many years ago, before I was born, there was a ferryboat -- the Canadiana -- that went between Buffalo and Crystal Beach. There was an effort to raise runs to restore the ferryboat, which was sitting in drydock somewhere near Buffalo -- but I don't believe they raised enough funds to be successful before the boat rotted away.
I remember going to Crystal Beach several times -- one trip was with my family in the early 1970s, and one trip with the members of the Buffalo Time Council in the mid 1980s. And then there was one trip where we stayed at one of the local cottages that was owned by the family of one of my friends. But I'll leave that story for another time.
What were the major rides and attractions at the park? First and foremost was the Comet -- a steel coaster built in 1947. The coaster was built along the lake shore, so riders had a wonderful view of Lake Erie (and the Buffalo skyline) as they ascended. And then there was the drop -- I think the angle was about 60 degrees -- and riders couldn't help but scream. While it is tame compared to day's coaster standards -- it had no loops or corkscrews -- it was definitely the scream king in its day. In the mid-80s, they reversed one of the cars so that riders could ride it facing backward. There was also a great TV commercial featuring members of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team -- one saying "Forwards!", the other saying "Backwards!". The middle of the commercial showed them riding the coaster -- one forwards, one backwards. At the end of the commercial were both players, in uniform, walking away from the camera....with wet bottoms.
Predating the Comet was the Cyclone, which was built in the 1920s, and razed in 1946. I don't know much about this coaster, but I've heard there were several injuries and a few deaths. One of the stories I've heard is that some of the steel that was used on the Cyclone was also used to build the Comet.
When the park closed, the Comet was auctioned off, and the winner was the [Six Flags?] Great Escape Park in Lake George, NY. They rebuilt the Comet in 1994 and updated the manual levers and safety systems with a modern computerized control system.
The Laff-In-The-Dark featured cars on a twisted track going through a darkened arena. As the cars reached certain points in the ride, lights would light up, showing some scary or gruesome scene, accompanied by a sound effect. Some of the scenes I remember were gunslingers firing at us, someone whose head was jsut cut off, and the brick wall at the end.
The Magic Palace (also known as the Magic Carpet) was a walk-through 2-story funhouse. Some of the floorboards were rigged so that if someone stepped on them in a certain spot, an airjet in the board would hiss and spray a stream of cool compressed air upward. (No, I don't remember seeing any skirts blown upward. ;-) )
Other rides included Sawmilll River (their flume ride), Flying Bobs (bobselds going around and around), the Skyway (a lift which took riders to the edge of the pier), and many other standard amusement park rides -- Tilt-A-Whirl, Trabant, Giant Swings, bumper cars, etc. There was also an arcade with skeeball, pinball machines, and video games.
Like any amusement park, there was the typical amusement park food -- hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, funnel cakes, beaver tails, and cotton candy. The two signature Crystal Beach foods were the square (2" long by 1 1/2" wide) x suckers that came in 4 different flavors -- lemon, hot cinnamon, peanut, and coconut -- and the loganberry drink.
There was also the Crystal Ballroom, which was originally a large dance hall. At one time, it was a full-service restaurant. In the 1980s, it was turned into a small-to-medium-sized concert venue. During my last trip to the park, I saw Larry Gowan in concert there in '88. Great Dirty World was out, but Lost Brotherhood hadn't been released yet.
I'm sad that the park is gone. It was a place where I formed many wonderful memories of summertime and growing up in Buffalo. Sometime, during a future trip to the Buffalo area, I'd love to go back to the park site to see what buildings and rides are still standing, or if everything was torn down to make room for more cottages or (eep!) lakefront condos.
Thanks to Timbo's Crystal Beach memories page at http://www.geocities.com/ncp905/cbmemoir.htm for source information and things to jog my memory.
Bringing back memories...
(Anonymous) 2003-09-02 07:03 am (UTC)(link)Wow. You reminded me of many things I'd forgotten about Crystal Beach, going out over the lake, for instance, the cottages, Laff-in-the-Dark!
I also *now* remember thinking back then, that this was the kind of permanent amusement park that you read about in Ray Bradbury stories and saw on American TV shows with mysterious strangers...
Thanks!