page_title: Playland (San Francisco)
section_title: Before Playland
hierarchical_section_title: Playland (San Francisco) / History / Before Playland
caption_attribution_description: English: ca 1920's photo of San Francisco's Big Dipper Roller Coaster — at Playland at the Beach, western coast of San Francisco. The Early Years; Smith, James R.; 2010. page 63.
context_page_description: Playland was a 10-acre seaside amusement park located next to Ocean Beach, in the Richmond District at the western edge of San Francisco, California along Great Highway where Cabrillo and Balboa streets are now. It began as a collection of amusement rides and concessions in the late 19th century and was known as Chutes at the Beach as early as 1913. It closed Labor Day weekend in 1972.
context_section_description: The area that was Playland began as a 19th-century squatter's settlement, "Mooneysville-by-the-Sea".  By 1884, a steam railroad was in place to bring people to the first amusement ride at the City’s ocean side — a "Gravity Railroad" roller coaster, and to the Ocean Beach Pavilion for concerts and dancing. By 1890, trolley lines reached Ocean Beach — the Ferries and Cliff House Railroad, the Park & Ocean Railroad, and the Sutro Railroad — that encouraged commercial amusement development as a trolley park. The Cliff House, which opened in 1863, and Sutro Baths, which opened in 1896, drew thousands of visitors.
  The various rides and attractions that began to spring up along the beach were separately owned by various concessionaires. For example, John Friedle owned a shooting gallery and baseball-throwing concession. All of the rides at Chutes at the Beach were purchased new or built there, including the Shoot-the-Chutes, which inspired the first official name for the amusement area — Chutes at the Beach. 
  
  Around 1913, Arthur Looff leased a piece of land for a carousel and its house — the Looff Hippodrome, located next to John Friedle's concessions. Friedle and Looff become partners in Looff’s Hippodrome and began to buy other concessions to realize their vision of creating "the grandest amusement park on the Pacific coast."  By 1921, they had ten rides, including the Shoot-the-Chutes.  A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1922 reported that “by 1921 the owners had spent $150,000 to produce ten spectacular new rides ("clean, safe, moral attractions") which were open from noon to midnight, everyday.”  Attractions included Arthur Looff’s roller coaster the "Bob Sled Dipper" (also known as "the Bobs") (1921), the Looff-designed Big Dipper roller coaster (1922), Shoot-the-Chutes, the carousel, Aeroplane Swing, the Whip, Dodg 'Em, the Ship of Joy, the Ferris wheel, Noah’s Ark, and almost a hundred concessionaires.
  In 1923, George and Leo Whitney hit town.  The Whitney brothers opened a photographic concession that year, pioneering a fast photo-finishing process that allowed people to take pictures home rather than having to wait days for the film to be developed and images printed. By 1924, the Whitney brothers owned four shooting galleries and a souvenir shop in addition to the quick-photo studio.
caption: Playland's big Dipper [7]:63
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