"Boardwalk Fun Facts" Boardwalk Memories

Apparently the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf didn’t always have guard rails to protect visitors and cars from taking a plunge! Here’s the scene in 1948.

Many people in Santa Cruz learned to swim at the Boardwalk’s indoor, salt-water pool (the Plunge) in classes taught by the Red Cross. The pool became a mini-golf course in

The beach bandstand has changed a lot over the years. This 1936 photo of the Miss California beauty pageant shows a runway for contestants extending out into the crowd.

Popeye, Olive Oil and Brutus became official Boardwalk mascots in 1986. The characters could be seen around the park through the early 1990s

The L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway was the Boardwalk’s first thrill ride. It opened in 1908 and cost ten cents to ride, five cents for kids. Riders traveled at 25mph, which

87-year old Thelma Dalman says, “You are never too old to enjoy the roller coaster.” In the 1970s Thelma owned The Pie Shop on the Boardwalk. Chris Dalman, her grandson,

Yetta Haber was crowned “Miss Santa Cruz” in 1925 when she was just 16. Yetta also competed in the state’s second “Miss California” beauty pageant; the popular contest was held

The Boardwalk’s Fun House was a wild and crazy place for kids from 1925 to 1971. The Fun House included a large wooden slide, a turning barrell, a spinning disk,

The Wild Mouse (1958 – 1976) was a popular and scary Boardwalk ride. With really sharp turns and no railings, it felt like you were going to shoot right off

Remember the Jet Star? The metal coaster opened in 1972 and closed in 1991, located where the Hurricane roller coaster is now. Seating was pretty cozy, great for dates!

Was this your first ride? Bulgy is a classic ride for small kids. Bulgy opened in 1973 and is still going strong. It used to be in a different Boardwalk

In the 1960s, the Flying Cages gave riders a real work out… you used your weight to rock the cage to make it move. If you were big and strong

The Boardwalk’s annual Easter Egg Hunt became a little TOO popular and was eventually discontinued. In this 1947 photo, thousands of kids scramble to find tiny treasures buried in the

The Beach Street Revival had street rod outings, car shows, surf music, fifties costume balls, hula hoop contests, and classic car parades. Traffic went both directions in this 1983 photo.

The 1987 vampire movie The Lost Boys has many great Boardwalk scenes! Actors and friends Corey Haim and Corey Feldman “The Two Coreys” get a lot of laughs with their

The Slide for Life was big in the ’40s. Performers dove into the ocean from a cable that stretched from the roof of the Cocoanut Grove to the old Pleasure