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.

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.

Everything old is new again...

Tomorrow I start work on a new v.o. demo. Much needed -- I won't even mention how old my current one is. It's still a good representation of what I do, but I've grown a lot in the last fjkaieowhfl years and I'd like my new demo to reflect that. Plus, I want to connect with some new agents, so a fresh demo is always a good thing.

I'll probably use a few pieces from my old demo, because they still show off a certain facet of my v.o. work magnificently. Got me thinking about old and new, reworking the old into the new, and creating, through a certain type of alchemy, something even grander.

Which brought me to Knoebel's Amusement Park in PA. Where they take old rides and rework them. Or utilize vintage blueprints of rides to create something that's akin to stepping into a time machine.

Witness the above photo. this is the "new" Flying Turns ride, still under construction at Knoebel's, based on the famous Flying Turns ride from the 1920s which used to thrill visitors to Chicago's defunct Riverview Park back in the day. Including my parents.

Cotton Candy Goes to Whole Foods

Odd that. Or even blasphemous, right?

It started out when I learned I had four hours to burn in Chicago. I'd heard the new Lincoln Park Whole Foods is a sight to behold, a sensory overload experience for any health-conscious foodie, so I figured I'd go and get some badly-needed hand cream and see what was hopping there.

Welcome to Whole Foods, the Dino DeLaurentis production version, in Sensurround and Smell-O-Vision. It's easily the largest one I've ever been to, bright and shiny, spacious and airy. But it has something that other Whole Foods stores don't: eateries. Not just "grab 'n go" ones, but sit down stands offering everything from sushi to wine and cheese pairings, coffee to beer to gelato.

And blue plate specials. Hot dogs. Soda fountain service. This particular stand looked like a retro diner, so I checked it out more closely. It's themed, you see. And this is when my Roadtrip pulled up and Cotton Candy took over the store.

The diner area is themed after Chicago's legendary Riverview, complete with a mural featuring various rides, including the iconic Aladdin's Castle funhouse.

So you can wipe out an amusement park masterpiece, but its spirit will seek you out and show up in the most unlikely of places. Sometimes over forty years later, right between the gourmet olives and the Mrs. Meyers' cleaning products.

I'm at a loss for words... I grabbed the brass ring.

I usually take out my trusty mini-notebook and start scribbling away on my impressions when I first set foot in a park.

Not today. I was too busy being blown away by the uniqueness, the history, the heart - not to mention the cotton candy ice cream.

Seriously. It took me hours before I could stop gawking at the wonderfulness of Knoebel's in Elysburg, PA. My dear friend Ari recommended this park, sang its praises, waxed rhapsodic about the funnel cake.

Miss Ari, you were playing small. But that's okay because it's hard to sum up this park and any praises I can muster right now will seem wee in comparison to how the entire place made my heart ZING.

I'll start with two words: hand cars. I came upon the hand cars almost by accident, when I glanced over at a kid gripping the tiny handles and spinning them furiously to make the little car move along the track ahead of him. Ladies and gents - I do believe these were the very hand cars I used to ride at my dear Fairyland Park back in the day. Or at least these were made during the same time period, at the same factory even. However, I wouldn't be surprised though if they were the exact ones.

That's how things go at Knoebel's. They've acquired rides from other parks and given them a fresh start here. Like the aptly-named Phoenix rollercoaster, which was brought here to live another day, and went on to become the park's signature coaster.

There's, oh man, there's SO much more. The chapter on Knoebel's will be ginormous in my book because there's SO much to write about. So many things just reach out and touch you in a way that few other parks can do consistently -- and repeatedly. And I'm not just talking about the ghosties in the Haunted Mansion.

And any Chicagoan who's of a certain age will flip when I tell them this: the Flying Turns is being rebuilt right on the Knoebel's grounds.

The Flying Turns. You know - the one your parents told you about, that scared the puddin' outta them back in the '50s at Riverview. THAT Flying Turns.

Folks, I grabbed the brass ring, literally and figuratively, today at Knoebel's. My Cottoncandying is flying, turning, and deepening in meaning, by leaps, bounds, and an occasional funnel cake.

(SFX: thud, as Pam falls to floor due to sense memory of funnel cake)

"Riverview was a jewel."

Last September I had the honor to visit Denver's Lakeside Amusement Park on the final day of the 2009 season. Bustling, vibrant, hopping like a kid on a Pogo stick, the park brimmed with vitality and fun. Lakeside's a vintage park that honestly feels like it's popped out of a time capsule, with it's antique neon lighting, glorious rides, and quiet places for kanoodling still intact.

While strolling through the grounds, I visited with one of the owners. I told her I was from the Chicagoland area and immediately we dove into a conversation about Riverview. Turns out Lakeside is very similar to Riverview, from the fact that it's an urban park to the fact that many of the rides had sister rides running at Riverview. She went on to say the long-gone Chicago park was "a jewel" and that Lakeside as well as other vintage parks took their cue from Riverview.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a prettier park in the evening. The neon lighting casts a jewel box of colors on the water's surface. Enjoy.