I have great memories of the Boardwalk, especially involving my Mom who died from Alzheimers 3 years ago. I remember riding the bus from Watsonville to downtown Santa Cruz and walking up that long hill to the Boardwalk with my Mom and Dad picking us up after work.
I remember the Fun House and trying to walk through the rolling entry. My Mom always buying salt water taffy and those red and black raspberry candies. I remember her always wanting to play the “shoot the clown in the mouth with the water gun” game and the “throw a coin in the glass” game. (We had so many of those mismatched glasses from the Boardwalk.)
As I grew up I remember going on a night fieldtrip in junior high to the Boardwalk with my best friend Yvonne, playing video games and my first boyfriend Frank and then Monday nights after work heading there for $.25 corndogs and a few beers.
The Boardwalk always brings back great memories just as it did for my Mom. She would tell me how she would go there when the Arcade was “the Plunge” and how they would cruise the street in front and push their boyfriends heads down everytime a goodlooking guy would go by so they could flirt. Now I feel like her, reminiscing and knowing that everytime I go back to ride the Giant Dipper a part of my Mom will be with me.