Location | Ocean Beach, San Diego, California |
---|---|
Status | Defunct |
Opened | July 14, 1913 |
Closed | January 1916 |
Owner | Herbert P. Snow |
General manager | Bert Snow |
Wonderland was a beachfront amusement park in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California, from 1913 to 1916. It was the first amusement park in San Diego. [1]
The 8-acre (3.2 ha) amusement park was built on or near the Pacific Ocean beach by the Ocean Bay Beach Amusement Center, owned by Herbert P. Snow and managed by Bert Snow. It opened on July 4, 1913 [2] to a crowd of more than 20,000. [3] It featured the largest roller coaster on the West Coast, called the Blue Streak Racer, as well as a carousel, water slide, and carnival games. A menagerie featured "lions, bears, leopards, wolves, mountain lions, a hyena, and 56 varieties of monkeys". [3] Additional amusements were a dance hall, bowling alley, roller skating rink, and salt-water bathing plunge. There were 22,000 tungsten lights which illuminated the park and by the entrance gate with its towering minarets. [3]
The amusement park helped to put the community of Ocean Beach on the map for San Diegans. The formerly 2+1⁄2-hour trip to the beach from central San Diego had been reduced to a 40-minute trolley ride in 1909 by the construction of the Point Loma Railroad by developer D. C. Collier. [4]
The park thrived for two seasons, but saw a massive drop-off in attendance in 1915 due to the opening of the Panama–California Exposition in Balboa Park. The park fell into foreclosure and was sold at auction in March 1915. In January 1916, storm tides undermined the roller coaster, which had to be closed. It was dismantled and eventually shipped to Santa Monica's Pleasure Pier. [3] The rest of the park was also destroyed by winter storms and was eventually demolished. [1]
The menagerie was rented to the Panama–California Exposition in Balboa Park during its run (1915–16); the animals were eventually sold to the fledgling San Diego Zoo. [5]
A KPBS-TV public television series about the history and neighborhoods of San Diego is called Wonderland after the amusement park. [6]
In 2013, to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the amusement park, the annual Ocean Beach Street Fair featured a "Wonderland" theme, [7] and a restaurant called "Wonderland" opened in Ocean Beach, with decor focusing on local history. [8]
Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a 330-acre (130 ha) amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Great-West Life Assurance Company, it was the first major theme park in Canada and remains the country's largest. Cedar Fair purchased the park from Paramount Parks in 2006, and they have owned and operated the park since then. In 2019, it was the most-visited seasonal amusement park in North America with an estimated 3.9 million guests. The park still retains this record, with an estimated 3.8 million guests in 2022 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Panama–California Exposition was a world exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first United States port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the canal. The fair was held in San Diego's large urban Balboa Park. The park held a second Panama-California exposition in 1935.
Ocean Beach is a beachfront neighborhood in San Diego, California.
Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (1946–1981) and Arrow Huss (1981–1986), which were responsible for several influential advancements in the amusement and theme park industries. Among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, built in 1959, was Arrow's first roller coaster project.
The Giant Dipper, also known as the Mission Beach Roller Coaster, and historically by other names, is a historical wooden roller coaster located in Belmont Park, a small amusement park in the Mission Beach area of San Diego, California. Built in 1925, it and its namesake at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk are the only remaining wooden roller coasters on the West Coast designed by noted roller coaster designers Frank Prior and Frederick Church, and the only one whose construction they supervised. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Belmont Park is an oceanfront historic amusement park in the Mission Beach community of San Diego, California. The park was developed by sugar magnate John D. Spreckels and opened on July 4, 1925 as the Mission Beach Amusement Center. In addition to providing recreation and amusement, it was intended as a way to help Spreckels sell land in Mission Beach. Located on the beach, it attracts millions of people each year.
The California Pacific International Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California, during May 29, 1935–November 11, 1935 and February 12, 1936–September 9, 1936. The exposition was held in Balboa Park, San Diego's large central urban park, which had also been the site of the earlier Panama–California Exposition in 1915.
South Park is a neighborhood in San Diego, California, adjacent to the southeast corner of Balboa Park. It stands out in San Diego for its tree-lined streets and walkable business district.
The Spreckels Organ Pavilion is an outdoor venue that houses the open-air Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. With more than 5,000 pipes, the Spreckels Organ is the world's largest pipe organ in a fully outdoor venue. Constructed for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition, it is located at the corner of President's Way and Pan American Road East in the park.
Playland was a 10-acre (40,000-square-meter) seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, in the Richmond District at the western edge of San Francisco, California, along Great Highway, bounded by Balboa and Fulton streets. It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century, and was preceded by Chutes at the Beach, opened in 1921. Playland closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.
The Museum of Us is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The museum is housed in the historic landmark buildings of the California Quadrangle.
Sunset Cliffs is an affluent coastal community in the Point Loma community of San Diego, California. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, Ocean Beach to the north, Catalina Blvd. and Santa Barbara St. to the east, and Sunset Cliffs Natural Park to the south.
The San Diego Class 1 streetcar was a fleet of twenty-four unique streetcars that were originally built to provide transportation for the Panama–California Exposition in Balboa Park. The cars were designed by the San Diego Electric Railway Company (SDERy) under the leadership of John D. Spreckels and built by the St. Louis Car Company. These cars, which took the best elements from preceding models and integrated them into a new, modern streetcar design, went on to serve the many neighborhoods of San Diego until they were retired in 1939.
Balboa Park is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) historic urban cultural park in San Diego, California. Placed in reserve in 1835, the park's site is one of the oldest in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. The park hosts various museums, theaters, restaurants, and the San Diego Zoo. It is managed and maintained by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.
This is a list of events and openings related to amusement parks that have occurred in 2012. These various lists are not exhaustive.
The California Quadrangle, California Building, and California Tower are historic structures located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. They were built for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition and served as the grand entry to the event. The buildings and courtyard were designed by architect Bertram Goodhue. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 17, 1974. They now house the Museum of Us.
David Charles Collier, commonly known as D. C. Collier or as "Charlie" and sometimes given the honorary title of "Colonel", was an American real estate developer, civic leader, and philanthropist in San Diego, California, during the early years of the 20th century. He is best known as the organizer and director of San Diego's Panama–California Exposition (1915–16). He was also a prime developer of several areas of San Diego as well as La Mesa and Ramona. In his day he was described as "San Diego's foremost citizen."
The Botanical Building is a historic building in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Built for the 1915–16 Panama–California Exposition, it remains one of the largest lath structures in the world. Alfred D. Robinson (1867–1942), founder and president of the San Diego Floral Society, suggested the construction of a lath house as a feature of the Panama–California Exposition, which was to open in the City of San Diego on January 1, 1915.