Be My Guest
Anyone who’s perused Silver Age DC books has sooner or later come across an ad where Superman promotes Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey (sometimes with an assist from Batman). Somehow for me those ads always made the comics seem more NY-centric; I mean sure, a kid from Manhattan could pop over on a Saturday afternoon, but did they really expect my folks to drive me all the way up from Virginia for a corn dog and a roller coaster ride?
Recently I came across this ad in a 1964 issue of Adventure Comics, which spreads the love to amusement parks scattered throughout the U.S. (though still nothing close to me).
One of the things that made the Palisades Parks ads so intriguing was the fact that I was reading them in the mid-70s (in vintage comics owned by my friends’ older brothers, usually), so I was left to wonder if the place was even still in business. Was it a major attraction or just rinky-dink? Did I miss out on something really cool? This ad raises the same questions: Did any of these parks endure? Were they puny, glorified roadside carnivals or something more grand?
If anyone out there has heard of these parks and knows their fate or better yet actually visited one, I’d love to hear your experiences. Free admission, free parking and 2 free rides is a pretty good deal, though it might not seem worth it compared to the value of your old comics had you not taken the scissors to them.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s in northern New Jersey, reading DC comics and seeing those ads. Ironically, I think I only went to Palisades Amusement Park once during all that time as part of a summer day camp outing to the kiddie park portion. The Park closed some time in the 70s and is now a series of high rise condos that have tremendous views of Manhattan.
Here are a couple of links to sites related to PAP:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=palisades+amusement+park&x=12&y=23
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Amusement_Park
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Dorney Park is a famous parkl in PA, see the website below:
http://www.dorneypark.com/
Hersey Park is also famous as well:
http://www.hersheypark.com/
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Hershey Park in Hershey, PA is definitely still around: web site I haven’t been there, but my daughter has. It’s pretty big.
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I can speak to Paragon Park in MA. They even had a Batman Slide in the 1960’s. It was on the beach, south of Boston. The land was sold in the 90’s and became beachside condos.
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Paragon Park was totally awesome!!!!! and now its lame condos I think.
Six flags is pretty close though and it has the superman ride of steel roller coaster!
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Riverside Park in Agawam Mass was operating up until about 10 years ago, when it was taken over by Six Flags — it was still a small amusement park up to that time, and pretty much the way it had been at the time of the comic offer. Now, it’s completely generic Six Flags fare. Too bad…
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It’s great to get this information, guys, thanks! Someone ought to do a book on these parks that are lost to us now, and as you say had a lot of local flavor compared to the homogenized theme parks of today.
I notice a high concentration of parks in Massachusetts. Wonder what that was about?
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This Australian would like to know what a “corn dog” is.
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Impale a hot dog on a stick (at one end, not cross-ways like a cocktail weiner), roll it in cornbread batter, deep fry it and serve (preferably with mustard). Also, a side-order of Pepto Bismol would not go amiss.
More info and pics.
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Hey guys anyone wanna go to whalom park? For a whale of a time!!
Is canobie lake th last of the small time MA parks?
I remeber being a little kid and going to paragon park with my parents and my sister and being to little to go on the roller coaster and my mother said we could go back when I get older….and they closed the place down!!! Also I still remember my mother telling me she was there when the girl killed herself on the roller coaster and they had to shut the park down. Haha thanks Ma !
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Palisades Park closed for good after the summer of 1971. According to this tribute website, the park was a victim of its own success, as the clogged streets and lack of parking caused the town where it was located to change the zoning for the park to high-rise residential. This resulted in lucrative offers and the owner eventually sold out for $12 million.
I went to Palisades Park in the summer of 1968. It is my recollection that it was a pretty good park, with several terrific rides, although the roller coaster was not as great as the famous one in Rye, NY. There was also a 1962 hit tune called Palisades Park recorded by Freddie Cannon and written by Mr Gong Show himself, Chuck Barris, about the park.
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That’s what Kiwis (and, I’m pretty sure, Aussies..?) call a hotdog, although you would never eat it with mustard here — only tomato sauce (ketchup). Not to be confused with an “American” hotdog, which is the dog laid lengthways in a split bread roll complete with optional onions, mustard, tomato sauce, etc. Hotdogs (the battered ones on a stick) are VERY popular Downunder, and yes, will be found at EVERY fair, race meeting, agricultural show, circus and church fete.
You said that on purpose. Now I’m REALLY stumped.
You know, Nightwing, every time you bring up how far it was to drive to some great place in the U.S. of A., I roll my eyes and hum “Cry me a river…”
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Well, as I said, I am Australian, and I’ve never seen corn dogs or hot dogs on sticks, but then I never go to “fairs, race meetings, agricultural shows, circuses and church fetes.”
However, sausages or hot dogs in batter (minus the stick) are very common here. I wouldn’t touch them though, if they had mustard (which I hate) or sauce on them.
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Some vintage Palisades Park commercials can be found on Youtube with a catchy theme all its own.
Growing up I lived in the NY area and never made it to Palisades Park once. No car.
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