Sunday, March 1, 2015

Boardwalk Buddies............by Joyce Oroz



Last week it was burn pile--this week I upgraded to Boardwalk--the stars are the limit!
My nephew, Kelly, arrived for a visit, and like ants to a picnic, we headed to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We had fun remembering when we were young, when our kids were young and when my grand kids were young. Every summer we made a couple trips to the boardwalk. 


The bumper cars are still there, but with more style and color, and the laughs and screams are the same. 
The Big Dipper is in fine shape for its age--built by very clever dinosaurs. Even though it was a sprinkely day in winter, friendly crowds were everywhere. 

I probably gained ten pounds just smelling the saltwater taffy, pretzels and ice cream. But it's the sweet smells that bring back happy childhood memories. 


Another way, way-back memory was stirred when I heard music from the merry-go-round. Not only are the horses beautiful, but there are three antique organs supplying the music. The Boardwalk’s original Ruth & Sohn band organ has played alongside the carousel since 1911. The fully-restored antique received a beautiful new facade in 2009. In addition to the original Ruth organ, a rare Wurlitzer 165 band organ from the former Playland-at-the Beach amusement park in San Francisco now shares playing time with the Ruth. A smaller Wurlitzer 146 was added to the collection in 2011.


Moving along, I couldn't wait to see if the penny arcade was still there. Yep! But a penny won't help. Actually, we really got our money's worth of giggles from air hokey and ski ball. We even came home with made-in-China plastic prizes. Of course I immediately tucked them away, keeping them nice for future Christmas and birthday presents.What I want to know is, who stepped on my new green plastic pencil bank?


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