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@Craftech posted:

I lived right near there on City Island.  Freedomland was right where Co-op City is now in Baychester.  It was shaped and set up like each of the states and ran into financial trouble right from the get go.  Plans to expand it never happened.

John

There have been some good books written on Freedomland, It closed when I was like a year old.  I have read several books about it, and I have heard different theories about why it didn't make it. The initial construction ran long and the pavement from what I hear was still soft on opening day,was one of the funnier stories.

.Part of the problem it had was for a city attraction, it was relatively hard to get to, you had to take a subway and then a bus to get there, unlike with the world's fair where the city built extensions to the site, there was no attempt to do this (whether it would have been practical, I leave to the experts, I don't think you could have expanded the number 6 there, and building a branch off of the 5 train would likely have been impossible to justify). Maybe a train station on what is now Amtrak and a shuttle bus would have worked, could ride from Penn Station to there.

The other thing I heard was that Moses used his clout to try and keep the park from getting financing and that caused problems with the construction of it, he didn't want a rival to the world's fair (sad how both of them ended up busts).

My guess is what did it in was changing demographics, the middle class were leaving NYC by then, the area around it (Baychester) was changing, and that likely took away a significant part of what could of been their audience.

Lot of Nostalgia here, many of the parks have been gone a long time. Coney Island kind of hung on as a shadow of itself, it still is nowhere near what it was in its heyday but is still fun, and as a train watcher it is fun to look at the subways and recall the history of how they were built, the hotel that was put too close to the sea and had to be dragged across the street and so forth. Palisades park was one of those ironies, it actually did well financially from what I hear but fell value to the land being worth a lot more than the business, which is what happened to Rockaway Park as well (ah, the Cinerama coaster, guaranteed headache!). Most of the amusement parks that fell ended up dying for that reason, the land just became too valuable. I believe Rye Playland is now a county park, so it isn't likely to fall to a developer.

By "quadrangle" I think he means the diamond - shaped linkage like on top of this boat:

FerryBoatArctic

That was part of the linkage driving the paddle wheels. But I don't think the Alexander Hamilton had that.

From the photos, I'm sure you are right about the Hamilton.  I wouldn't have noticed it when I was on the boat.  I did notice them on some boats and definitely recall wondering what they were.

@bigkid posted:

Lot of Nostalgia here, many of the parks have been gone a long time. Coney Island kind of hung on as a shadow of itself, it still is nowhere near what it was in its heyday but is still fun, and as a train watcher it is fun to look at the subways and recall the history of how they were built, the hotel that was put too close to the sea and had to be dragged across the street and so forth. Palisades park was one of those ironies, it actually did well financially from what I hear but fell value to the land being worth a lot more than the business, which is what happened to Rockaway Park as well (ah, the Cinerama coaster, guaranteed headache!). Most of the amusement parks that fell ended up dying for that reason, the land just became too valuable. I believe Rye Playland is now a county park, so it isn't likely to fall to a developer.

The coaster on Cinerama was one of the best that I've ridden.  Wikipedia says "The film includes POV scenes of the Atom Smasher roller coaster from Rockaways' Playland, "

Almost 60 years later the TV & radio jingle is still burned into my mind.

Palisades has the rides
Palisades has the fun
Come on over
Shows and dancing are free
So's the parking, so gee,
Come on over
Palisades coast to coast
Where a dime buys the most
Palisades Amusement Park
Swings all day and after dark
Ride the coaster
Get cool in the waves of the pool
You'll have fun
So Come on over.

This Wikipedia link has a short, yet interesting account of the park's history.

As a young man fresh out of college and working as a 9-to-5 professional,  I also ran the weekend life guard staff  for the Winston Towers pool - the high rise condominiums built on the site. I had more fun there that at the former amusement park 

Last edited by Millstonemike

I have a recollection of my mother and grandmother taking me to the circus - I believe it was at Palisades Amusement Park in the early 1950's. I don't remember anything about the circus, but I do recall walking alongside a train car right outside the Park lettered "Circus Train" on the side. That was the first circus train I ever saw.......and regretfully the last circus train I saw.

Anyone recall seeing a "circus train" at PAP?

Geez, you guys are lucky.

I grew up in a sterile, upper middle- class suburban housing development, and all I had was a cul-de-sac and a bicycle.  That was it.  There was no "town" or "downtown."  Just 1950s and 60s strip shopping malls, five miles away.  Oh yea, and about six miles away, . . . there was a bowling alley.  :-( 

There was no such thing as public transportation.

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Geez, you guys are lucky.

I grew up in a sterile, upper middle- class suburban housing development, and all I had was a cul-de-sac and a bicycle.  That was it.  There was no "town" or "downtown."  Just 1950s and 60s strip shopping malls, five miles away.  Oh yea, and about six miles away, . . . there was a bowling alley.  :-(

There was no such thing as public transportation.

Mannyrock

Same here.  Almost an identical description of childhood.  Life was terrific.  And 15 miles away was PAP.

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