Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Stuck in the 1940s- Denver Lakeside Amusment Park

Having recently moved from Orange County to Denver, I have had the chance to explore and discover new amusement parks. Most people know about the Six Flags amusement park located downtown, which took over a classic amusement park's name Elitch Gardens. The Six Flags is a coaster park dominated with the latest version of the fastest steel coaster but having no charm. However, there is an amusement park located slightly west of downtown called the Lakeside Amusement Park boasting a classic wooden coaster, carousel, and other rides from the 1920s to the 1950s. It has been one of my best finds as the park appears to be stuck in the 1940s with classic neon and classic rides, and not one ride newer than 1955. The park is famous for its lights and neon and it is quite spectacular to see during the night. Some of the highlights are its original 1920s wooden roller coaster, a great and fast version of the wild mouse called the Wild Chipmunk, a house of mirrors, a great 1910s carousel and a pretty decent version of bumper cars. If only California Adventure had such rides in the boardwalk section, it may have succeeded. So please forgive me as I show some images I took this year of this amazing time warp park.

7 comments:

Daveland said...

Naturally I miss the Disneyland posts, but wow! These are great! Love the classic neon. Reminds me of the amusement park from the Hitchcock classic, “Strangers on a Train.”

Dan Goodsell said...

I can't believe that WIld Chipmunk sign - WOW - great stuff

Major Pepperidge said...

Yes, if only DCA had managed to capture some of this charm. As pretty as it looks when the sun goes down, DCA feels sterile somehow. When you see pictures of the old Venice Pier or Long Beach Pike, there is an edgy quality that Disney is not willing to try to emulate (understandable, really)...

I have been enjoying the non-Disney stuff as a change of pace, one of these days I'm going to scan some of my other SoCal attraction slides and post 'em.

thepicklebarrel said...

holy frozen mammoth, batman!

what a find! honestly, very hard to believe...

Matterhorn1959 said...

All- if you come to Denver this is a definite must see. However it is open only during summer!

Chris Merritt said...

Beautiful stuff PJ! Keep posting other parks! Like I mentioned, I'm going to post some vintage Knott's stuff next week...

Todd Franklin said...

Wow this will be a must visit someday in the future. As much as I love your Disneyland posts I'm also enjoying the non-DL posts too! Good stuff!!