Listen to My Most Recent Radio Interview on WCNS THIS Saturday morning ONLINE!!!

The jaunty chef guy who oversees the making of the Potato Patch fries at Kennywood

Mike Krcil is a rock star (figuratively speaking), an award-winning broadcaster, and a really great guy.  What makes him a rock star is that he asked to interview me for my book, helping to get the word out about it in the Greater Pittsburgh area (where a chunk of the parks I visited reside) and hopefully getting folks interested in doing their own vintage amusement park road trips.

So make a nice latte, cozy up to your computer, and give the interview a listen THIS SATURDAY (that's tomorrow, May 18) at 9:30 Eastern.  You can do so by clicking on this link at the appropriate time:

http://1480wcns.com/talkblock.htm

It's part of the Saturday Talk Block on 1480 WCNS.  Mike and I chat about Western Pennsylvania parks like Kennywood and Idlewild, and I also give some hints about parks to visit in other regions of the U.S.  And at the very end of the 30-minute interview, I give out a holler about how YOU can help save a vintage park in peril, the awesomely historic Rye Playland.

Take some time and tune in tomorrow!!!  Your soul will smile.

Memories of Chicago's Riverview Park from the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/photo/chi-080714-riverview-photogallery,0,2410358.photogallery?index=chi-riverview_030t20080715140116

 

Please take a few moments to enjoy this great photo gallery from the Chicago Tribune on the gone-but-never-forgotten Riverview Park.  Quite often while on my Road Trip, I encountered various parks (Kennywood and Knoebels and Lakeside come to mind) that have elements similar to what I see in these photos. It's good to know there are still some parks out there who keep Riverview's spirit alive.

A writing milestone!

For those of you following along, you'll be pleased to learn that today marked a huge milestone in my book progress.  I've transcribed each and every note thus taken.  now the rest of the creative, fun works takes over.

I've written about 70% of the book already (not just notes, but fully-conceived and scribbled down), but the last 30% or so is now waiting for me to transform it into the same sort of magic that I modestly feel I've already attained with the rest.  And then the herculean task of sorting through literally thousands of photos.  Oy vey schmear, so many photos!!

But first, one last park to visit.  This Sunday.  Stay tuned to learn more about that.

Until then, please do enjoy this photo from Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, PA.

It's the Potato Patch Fries chef.  I choose to celebrate my milestone with the happy memory of too much potato.  Much too much potato.

Twins.

Visited Dad yesterday and noticed a book on one of his sheelves: Riverview: Gone but Not Forgotten 1904 - 1967 Chuck Wlodarczyk. Paged through it for a bit, reminding myself of the magic of the long-gone park. It closed before I had a chance to ever visit it, so all I know baout the park I've learned through my parents' stories -- and this book.

There's a selection of photos of the Shoot the Chutes, a log flume-liek ride. Truly, I feel I have seen this ride in person, when I visited Kennywood Park. I remarked at that time tht the ride was so very similar to photos I'd seen of the Riverview ride. What makes the comparison even cooler is that Mr. Wlodarczyk mentions Kennywood in his book, about how it's a great traditional amusement park.

So enjoy the photo above, confortable in the knowledge that Riverview's spirit, maybe just a ltitle of it, is alive and well in Pittsburgh.

Pace yourself. It's all about the pacing.

You'll notice there are three forks stuck into this pile of potatoey goodness known in Kennywood amusement park circles as Potato Patch fries. That's because Ben, his brother Simon and I shared this heapin' helpin'. And then drifted blissfully into a carbo coma, only to be awoken from it when we rode the Whip, which was subsequently followed by an ice cream bar covered in peanuts. Said bar was easily the size of a paperback novel.

So my words to you this Thanksgiving weekend are: pace yourself. Don't inhale all the foods at once in a copious, embarrassing display. Savor. Enjoy each morsel slowly. Because there's always going to be more...

Kennywood, Pittsburgh, PA. August, 2009.

Sunday on the Blog with Photos -- of garbage cans!!

Yep, it had to happen sometime. I had to post a photo of a humorous garbage can from one of the vintage parks. I've seen garbage can clowns, garbage can hippos, garbage can rabbits, garbage can dinosaurs and garbage can elephants. Here's one of those. In day glo colors even!

Happy, colorful, day glo garbage-eating elephant from Kennywood.

Into the Old Mill...

Well, actually, it's now the Garfield ride. And that's fine. But I would've loved visiting this ride when it was a spooky dark ride, and not-too-frightening tunnel of love ride. Still, it exists as the oldest ride at Kennywood and that's something to ballyhoo.

Kennywood Park, Pittsburgh, PA, August 2009.

My CafePress store, The Vintage Amusement Fun Shop, is up and open for business!

Who wouldn't want this cutie emblazoned on a t-shirt, a mug, a mousepad, even your underwear? Actually, if you purchase an item with the image of the Devil's Den devil on it, proceeds will go directly to the reconditioning of Conneaut Lake Park's Blue Streak rollercoaster!!

Items in the store presently are culled from images I've taken at Kennywood, Del Grosso's and Lakemont. And the Conneaut Lake beauty pictured above. I also have my book's title, "The Cotton Candy Road Trip" available on everything from sweatshirts to Sigg water bottles.

Check back often as I'll be adding more designs in the coming days:

http://www.cafepress.com/vintagepark

Sunday on the Blog with Photos!!

Sundays are meant for fun. Here's a photo of Ben and me at Kennywood riding the Whip, the second-oldest ride in the park.

We are goobers.

Wayback Machine: commercial

First, read my earlier blog entry about "Adventureland", the great coming-of-age flick from last year. Then take a peek at this video, an actual commercial for Kennywood Park (where a portion of the movie was filmed)from 1988. All I need now are my penny loafers, ribbon tie and striped blouse and I'm all set (yep, I was more of a prep than a New Waver, although I listened mostly to New Wave, so I guess I had it all covered).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luiex09AEPk

"Adventureland": take a ride!

2009 wasn't the most memorable year in film, if you ask me. But there were some mighty exceptions -- and one of the mightiest happened to be one of the most heartfelt coming of age films in decades.

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, the film traces the story of our hero, James Brennan (played by the likeable and hugely relateable Jesse Eisenberg) as he takes a seemingly nowhere job at his local amusement park for the summer - which turns out to have life-changing turns. Set in 1987, it's got a great retro sensibility, aided in large part by a BOSS soundtrack (you'll be humming "Rock Me, Amadeus" for days -- I'm just warning you)and a talented cast of young actors, including "Twilight"'s Kristen Stewart as Brennan's love interest.

"Adventureland"'s amusement park sequences were shot at Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, although the real Adventureland Park is in Farmingdale, NY on Long Island (and, yes, I DO plan on visiting it for my book, you better believe it).