I especially enjoyed your appreciation of the Fun House (https://blog.beachboardwalk.com/nadm-fun-house). The author’s granular memories of what it was like to spend time there coincided exactly with my own.
One night in the 1960s, I became aware of another Fun House patron having the time of his life: a large German Shepherd. I presume the dog had paid his quarter to get in. He must have been a regular: he walked the ocean waves like a champ; he knew the trick to walking the barrel without falling down; he knew to get to the middle on the spinner. But his greatest thrill was the slide. He would come down it sitting on his gunny sack, loving the rush of the air!
Someone in my family owned one summer home or another in Santa Cruz for about 100 years (1910–2010). Six generations vacationed there. When my children were growing up in Boston, I brought them out every summer for a week in Santa Cruz, which always included a trip to the Boardwalk. I’m sorry that they never were able to enjoy the Fun House.
