Saturday, April 24, 2010

Some Freedomland Publicity Photographs

Two neat publicity photographs from Freedomland in New York City. First up is everyone's second favorite burning building- the Old Chicago Fire. The attraction was a guest experience. The fire men would come rushing up and conscript volunteers to man the fire pumps and put out the fire. This was repeated several times a day. Judging from the photo, this was quite a draw.

(Of course everyone's favorite burning building is the settler's cabin on Tom Sawyer's Island.)
It would not be New York City without some politics and a rally. The photograph shows a rally for Gubernatorial candidate Frank O'Connor parading through Old New York City. Mr. O'Connor was a candidate in 1966. This photo documents the final year of this amazing theme park. Unfortunately like Freedomland, Mr. O'Connor was not successful.

I want to let you know of a new blog focusing on Tiki architecture. Mike is a fantastic historian of vintage Tiki establishments and a good friend.

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4 comments:

  1. Major Pepperidge8:02 AM

    Jeez, talk about letting the "outside world" in to ruin the magic! If I go to an amusement park, the last thing I want is political campaigns to intrude. I wonder if the thinking was kind of like what you wrote: "Hey, it's New York!".

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  2. Vintage Disneyland Tickets9:13 AM

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  3. Vintage Disneyland Tickets9:13 AM

    Totally agree with Major, so wrong in an amusement park, no wonder it failed! At first glance it looks like a they are on strike and holding picked signs!

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  4. Katella Gate11:17 AM

    For what it's worth, the political rally probably paid to use Freedomland as a venue, and the park probably needed the money.

    Somebody's already mentioned that the burning building "attraction" may have been briefly considered for Disneyland because it shows up in some very early casual art for the park. Maybe Mr. Stickyfingers who designed Freedomland took it and ran.

    I welcome the "new to me" Tiki Architecture blog, and will be offering my patented know-it-all comments under the sign of the Yellow Dog.

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