I'm currently involved with a project called HOLLOWPOINT, with John Kewley, my co-writer on @JOYMOTEL. Set in 1965 LA and Chicago, I have to dredge up some period photos for reference. We used to have this massive amusement park called Riverview right in the middle of the north side. I have memories of the joint, thought it was demolished when I was eight. We never had a lot of dough, but it was a cheap day just to walk around. The highlight for almost everyone was Aladdin's Castle, with a maze of oddities, a rolling floor, a hall of mirrors, and such. But I came across the damnedest photo of the ruins. Aladdin himself was dismantled just about last, the front of it was simply wood, maybe acting as a sound baffler for the people who lived in the two flats across the street. The last ride I was aware of that was dismantled was the parachute ride, because in the early 70s you could still see the black monolith from the Tri-State Tollway. Didn't expect to be writing about Riverview tonight, but that one photo really did it for me...
4 comments:
Very surreal seeing Aladdin through the ruins.
Wow! -- I don't think I've ever seen that Aladdin through the ruins photo before, or if I did it was ages and ages ago. Incredible photo -- Aladdin's Castle is one of the city's great ghosts still haunting me.
"Wow!" was my first reaction to Aladdin thru the ruins as well! What a shot.
Man, modern civ has traded in amusement parks for ipods. What a travesty.
Some of my creepiest childhood memories are from low-rent amusement parks and carnivals that my parents would visit from time to time. One that really creeped me out was on the boardwalk in Jersey. Probably Asbury Park, but I'm not sure. I would have been really little...but I do recall a rotating head peeking out from behind a curtain as the ride jangled past it into the dark.
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