An Evening at Playland

Not long ago the amazing little theater that could, The Balboa, hosted the premiere of a documentary about an amusement park on Ocean Beach in San Francisco called Remembering Playland at the Beach. Long before I was born, the amusement park had been torn down to make way for housing. Being raised in the small coastal town of Pacifica, about 15 miles down the coast from the city, I always dreamed of the perfect palace of dreams where heavenly inventions like It's-Its were born and where Laughing Sal would greet and terrify children.




It was a sold out show on a Tuesday at 7:00pm. To celebrate the opening, the theater sold It's-Its treats, showed a Donald Duck cartoon and then clips of old movies that had been filmed at Playland by the Beach. The crowd was also treated to a mentalist reading cards and sharing secrets of why it is so hard to win at carnival games. The documentary wasn't anything special, but the footage of the old rides, children giggling in the old Funhouse and tiny twinkling lights in the wet damp fog made it worthwhile. As we were leaving the theater, the It's-It truck pulled up and gave everyone a free ice cream! Two It's-Its in one night?! Oh yes I said.

After our dessert, we headed over to the whole-in-the-wall bar across the street called Hockey Haven. They were having Playland drink specials so I of course ordered the Laughing Sal, which was nothing more than a vodka cranberry with a splash of something else. It tasted good though and added to my to my jolliness.


Then low and behold! Four Laughing Sals came in for a drink before the next show. They even had a boom box playing recordings of the eerie laughing. Seeing these "ladies," was the perfect ending to an evening of homage to the long lost Playland at the Beach.


The Balboa is going to start showing this film again on April 23rd if you're interested in checking it out!