I was born in Santa Cruz and spent most of my childhood there. At one point in my life we lived only two blocks up the hill from the beach and Boardwalk. We spent everyday after school hanging around with friends at the Boardwalk and most every summer day. We did everything we could to earn or beg money from our parents to buy tickets for the rides. I remember rides such as ‘The Wild Mouse’, ‘The Jet Star’ and ‘The Black Widow’ which I got sick on once.
We came to know a lot of the workers and management, and once, after closing, they let us walk through the Haunted House ride and collect all the brass rings that people had pocketed and used to throw and try to hit the ghosts and such. We would have every finger full and would turn them into the office in exchange for some free tickets.
Honestly though, my favorite part of any given day was drinking lemonaide and finding a cool spot to watch all the people play all the tossing games,to ride the carousel and make a ring into the clowns mouth, and to get a few pieces of the best salt water taffy on earth.
I loved that place so much and hope to bring my own kids there real soon.