Palisades Amusement Park: An Inside Look
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
- It has been a half century since Palisades Amusement Park closed its gates for the last time. But the memories of the legendary fun center are still as vivid today in the minds of the over-50 crowd as they were back in the park’s heyday.
This Zoom event was recorded on October 5, 2020 through an arrangement with the Mahwah Museum.
Moderating the event is park historian, Vince Gargiulo. Since 1995, Mr. Gargiulo has been traveling around the state, speaking about this classic amusement park. Vince is the author of the book Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories, and Producer of the PBS documentary of the same name.
His guests in this show include Gene Focarelli, who worked at the park making that famous ice-cold lemonade; Donald Jacoby, grand nephew of Jack and Irving Rosenthal, the park owners from 1934 until 1971; Chris Page, whose great great grandfather opened the original penny arcade in 1915; and Alan Brennert, television producer, screenwriter and author of many best-selling books including “Honolulu,” “Moloka’I” and “Palisades Park,” a spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park.
The event proved to be an evening filled with fun, nostalgia and fond memories.
Who Remembers Palisades Amusement Park in NJ? I had lots of fond memories at the park. I was so sad when they closed it down for condos. Right now that park would be so active because it would be one of the few Amusement Parks on the East Coast.
My sweet Polish grandmother took my brother Gary & I to Palisades Amusement Park when I was maybe 12 & he was 10. We took a bus from Cliffside Park & when we saw the sign for a “freak show” we begged her to let us go in. We were fascinated by the creepy deformed animals in jars & the cow with an extra leg on its back!!!
We heard the screams from the Cyclone that both terrified & thrilled us. We saw 2 nuns in line to go on this roller coaster & decided that we would go on it! We screamed when it looked like we were flying downward into the Hudson River!! What an amazing sensation we’ll never forget!
My mother claims she worked at the park after school testing the roller coaster for safety.
my parents and aunt's and uncle's
worked there. they all lived close by. My dad lived on Park Ave. and my mom a little bit further down .my father worked with the rides and every morning before the park opened he would ride them to check them for operation to see if there were any issues. My mom worked a food stand , uncle worked the fun house and 1 Aunt worked at the pool. they all lived there in Cliffside off of Anderson Ave . and in Edgewater.
when my parents married and moved to Long Branch , we were constantly going back up north to visit family and I remember passing by the Park. I remember all the radio and tv commercials but never made it there to go in as I reached my teens . and then it closed and I remember the condo's being built. I have heard so many stories about the park from all my relatives when we would get together , about them going there and working there. that was a great time for them. my parents both graduated from Cliffside High . there many wonderful bakeries there we always visited and when relatives came to Long Branch to visit would bring so much bakery goods with them. I have 2 older sisters who got to experience the park , but I missed out unfortunately .
I am so pleased to say, I have met you before.Your book had been out for a bit and you came to our Secaucus, NJ Library to discuss the Wonderful Memories of PP. Even though I was born in '64, I was literally at the Park every year since birth. I learned how to swim in the Salt Water Pool, my 1st Roller Coaster Ride was at PP, AND YES the Wild Mouse was literally the very last ride I ever rode on before the Park's said closing. I also remember being put to task before going to PP to look through all of our kitchen match books to look for the little secret Pop-Eye logo on hiding on the inside of the match book.
Also, if you ever do another video, please tell people how they drained the swimming pool every night and then pumped up fresh water every morning (filtered of course) to await a new bathers every day.
The Carousel you spoke of, early one season, it was still closed for painting. Thank goodness my Aunt Joanie knew so many people that worked at the Park and we were invited in to see the painters work on the horses. I was still crying and one of the men held my hand, with a paint brush and allowed me to take a few strokes. He told me, "See now, this is your horse, you took great care of him. He'll be ready for you to ride the next time you come...promise". And with out a doubt, that was the first ride every single visit.
Sadly, we all heard the Park would not be there for any of us the following Summer. My Aunt asked if I wanted to go see it. She was worried it might be too devastating for me to see, well it was devastating. Looking back I am glad I went to see the huge piles of rubble but seeing the greatest coaster in a pile of timbers was so hard. But the hardest sight for me was seeing the tall masts that used to be in the center of the motor boats in kiddy land. You know, the ship masts, tall and yellow that set the tone of a navel setting. There they were, laying on their sides, all finished. All very heart breaking.
Palisades Park was such an important place for me growing up. Those beautiful memories rest in my heart like an Old Member of the Family that is no longer with us. Kid's today only have Mega Parks to go to where every ride has a 2 hr wait, is sponsored by some Corp. Comp, and all so costly. The younger generation has no idea of the level of class Palisades had. Boy do I miss her.
I had the most wonderful times at Palisades. The pool was fabulous. I remember the key to locker we wore around our ankle! We would go on the rides after the pool and I remember seeing the Count Basie orchestra who were performing! Amazing place!!
I was nine when the park closed, We LOVED going as kids! It was the Best place to be a kid.
I'm in the UK. Early '60's the record "Palisades Park" was released, I absolutely loved it. We had two travelling Fairgrounds a year at that time in my neighbourhood and that record was played on nearly EVERY ride !!! I had no idea there was an actual park of that name, I just googled it and I'm really enjoying finding out the history of it.
I worked opporrated the giant ferris wheel which was next to the live acts stage which i believe is the reason I became a stagehand I loved watching the acts on the weekend they were Great mostly top Mo-town artists,...Fantastic...
In 1968, (I was 9)our poor family was going to go to Palisades Park for a day out.
We all piled in our “ hand paint brushed” station wagon to make that trip from South Jersey.
We got halfway there and the radiator blew!
By the time it got repaired, the park was closed.
We never made it back.
I fondly remember Palisades Park. It was my first Great Adventure Amusement Park. I was born and raised in Washington Heights where I could see the ferris wheel along the Hudson River. My parents would drive us in our blue Impala in the early 70's. My first ride was the green caterpillar rollercoaster. It will always be in my memories. It was sad to see it go.
I was there once in 1971 and the only memory I have left was that the steps to enter the 'funhouse' vibrated rapidly and seemed like a lawsuit in the making lol.
I lived in the Bronx161 street across from old Yankees Stadium in the early 1960’s I remember going to palisades park by bus as a little boy I can still smell the diesel fumes on those old buses pulling out of the port authority bus station in Washington heights , do any of you folks remember a place in the Bronx I think it was called kiddy land across from the Howard Johnson’s Restaurant and Bronx park motel off fordham road the Bronx Zoo was across Bruckner Blvd.
So nice to see this! My family used to go to Palisades Park once a year and I remember those trips very fondly. I even shot a commercial there once, but I can’t for the life of me remember what the commercial was for! Several other kids were also on the shoot, and we were all on that carousel for hours on end doing retake after retake! I never got on another carousel again!
This was great! It brought back a lot of memories. To this day, it was the best amusement park experience I’ve ever had.
I stay in Los Angeles n I've never heard about this park till I was given 2 tokens from the park as change ! Which is weird amazing it made it all the way to the west coast !
Remember the park in 1957 and driving south down the Palisades afterwards and taking a ferry across the Hudson to 125th St NY
As a child attending with my father and sister wearing our bathing suits under our clothing, I remember the sign on the palisade’s Pool that read “No Colored People Allowed “!! So the following weekends, my Dad took us to Coney Island Brooklyn or Freedom Land Bronx (aka Coop City), where we were treated like everyone else!!
I'm so sorry to read that apologies on behalf of everyone decent I hope that didn't last forever
I lived in Cliffside Park remember going to the Saltwater pool at Palisades Amusement park seems like a lifetime ago.
The first amusement park I have ever been to. My grandparents lived in Cliffside Park within walking distance. The last time I was there was about a year before it closed. My family had moved to Ohio by that time, but we were in New Jersey on vacation visiting relatives, the year before it shut down. When it did close permanently, being back in Ohio at the time of closing, it was a letter we received from our grandparents that we heard about it closing, and being replaced by high rise apartments. My family did eventually move back to New Jersey, and I have taken many drives up that way, driving past the apartments that now occupy the former park, and I can feel the sense if the amusement park that once occupied the area.
We would go there for years my sisters were always in the little miss Palisades beauty pageants. So much fun 🤩
I had great fun and cherished memories shared with my dear family and friends! God bless you!
The Daily News had coupons for free rides. The only way us poor kids could get on the rides. We went to barber shops and got the day old papers for the coupon. We toke New York City bus to George Washington bridge. We walked over the bridge and down to the park.
Hubby and I just finished watching this. How delightful! He went, with his family, as a kid. I was a military brat, traveling the world.
Hubby does have a copy of the AUTOGRAPHED book..a gift from his sister.
Has anyone ever come forward with photos of Sportland right under the jet plane ? I used to work for a German man in the 60,s there his name was Heinz . But even when we weren’t working we would hang out there even our day off just to play the pinball machines . Also I’ve never seen any photos of the batting cages , my uncle Tony Colagreco ran them and I worked for him for a while until he fired me 😀. I remember working for Pat and Gary . On the huge food stand next to their office and also making pizzas with black pat and some guy named Tony . For a few weeks I worked on the truck that supplied all the food for all the stands .I remember having to be at work at 6 AM and after delivery I’d work on the luncheonette the only stand open in the morning to catch all the people going to the pool . I believe I was in Gene Foccarellis class . Great memories 😌
I especially remember the salt water swimming pool! With waves!
A road trip down to Palisades Park (I'm originally from New England) in the 1960s and watch a live performance of the Supremes❤would have been heaven. In other words, visiting a beautiful amusement park and attending a revue by my all time lifelong favorite music group would have been extremely worth the excursion.
I do know of an ABC-TV Special that was partially filmed there in 1966.
(The book interests me.)
What year was the ABC special?
Love it. Hey I could contribute. Many memories thanks and HI Vince and Gene.
Went there many times as a kid, aunt lived just down st from it, was heartbroken when they closed it to build those eyesores Winston Towers.
Loved it there when I was a kid. Went there a lot as kids in the 1960s
I distinctly remember driving to the park for our last outing of the summer on Aug 14, 1944 with my mother, father and sister from our apartment in Jersey City. Naturally, it was going to be fun-filled day for a very obedient 6 year old little boy but we ended up stuck in a BIG traffic jam for a long time. Eventually we were told the park was on fire and closed. Disappointed doesn't begin to describe my despair but today, a mere 77 years later, I still have fond memories of our visiting to that fantasy land. What a place. Thanks for the great video.
1944!!! You remember the end of world war II 😮
@@ralphedelbach Where in Jersey City? Been back lately?
@@picometer472 St Paul's Ave a few houses down from the firehouse. We moved to Egg Harbor City when my grandmother died in 1945. My dad worked at the Staten Island Navy Yard during the war and when it ended he lost the job and couldn't find anything in JC, where he grew up. My mother grew up in Lower Bank, a tiny village at the northern end of EHC. I lived there until I went in the miliary, got a few degrees after that, and retired to Texas after living in NJ for many years. I miss the seasons but not the ice, snow and cold weather. Went back to JC about 20 years ago and very glad we moved to South Jersey, You a JC boy too?
@@picometer472 We lived in an apartment on St. Paul's Ave a few houses down from the fire house. Moved to Egg Harbor City in 1945 when WWII ended and my father lost his job at the Staten Island Navy Yard. Went back to check out the old neighborhood about 20 or so years ago. Made me glad to have grown up in a small town with a population of 5,000 people. Did you live in JC during those days in the distant past?
@@ralphedelbach I lived in Fort Lee near the park. My first trip to Jersey City was in 74 to see a concert at Roosevelt Stadium--it was like going to Mars. More recently, Jersey City Heights has become artsy and a favorite haunt
So weird I randomly wanted to see this park and you post this just a week ago. Hello! And thanks
My pleasure.
im so glad i love old music bc i find things like this from the song palisades park
Great video guys and the memories of the park
I worked there in 1967 for $1.05 an hour. The owner was the cheapest boss I ever had, in every way that is Rosenberg didn't care he paid you under minimum wage which at the time was $1.40 an hour
Rosenberg… 🤔
I loved the fun house! It was always my favorite.
Loved this place loved it
I'm a fan of history. My ignorance but where was this because as a kid it sounded like a I would have loved this place.
Winston Drive, Cliffside, NJ. There’s a condominium complex with two large towers where the park used to be.
I remember looking at those condos when the park ckised
I remember VIC TANNY had a display there
I'll never forget the day they started ripe her down...my Aunt Joanie asked me if I wanted to see it and I said yes. Thus she took me up to Fort Lee thus Paliside Park and I saw her in total dimisse. Oh my Lord, my home, where I learned how to swim, where I FIRST became a Bobsleder. Look at the big picture. Everyones family got us into the Olympics
This is so great...thank you
my dad used to work at the park i belive in the early to mid 30's, he was a hawker, a guesser and according to my older brother he also rode a motorcycle in the big barrel. if you happen to have access to any info i would love to hear from you about it. my fathers name was william hine.
The Wild Mouse was my favorite ride
I remember going on the boat ride with my older brother.
And no gang violence!
My husband told me about the hole in the fence. He learned how to shoot at the Park and showed mr the shooting gallery at the Tenafly shooting range. My Grandfather worked on the pool in the early days around 1925-30
What was his name?
PS - Everyone the USA Women's Bobsede Team now competing in 2022 in China just won a Bronze Metal. woo hoo everyone the girls are still rocking and it still is everylasting in my persona memories of Palisaids Park. Thank Goodness
I remember going to the park as a community trip sponsored by Roy Campella, what I remember most is we were not allowed in the pool! Blacks were prohibited!!
68my family always went to Palisades park the one thing I remember was the guy selling these lil lizards.saying they will grow 6feet tall and he had a portrait of a big green Godzilla like lizard on display and I beg my pops to get me one it came with a box of so-called special food to make him grow lol I was hook,
Thanks so much for the show. I missed it live. When I worked there in the late '60's there was a guy who would bring his baby son or grandson to the park and push him around on a flatbed cart. I think he owned some rides and I think his first name may have been Paulie. Do you remember him?
I think I remember hearing of someone whose nickname was Paulie "Apples", but I don't know anything else about him. Can anyone else add to this?
Paulie Walnuts?
@@picometer472 Was that a blond guy with glasses?
@@willstrong6801 ruclips.net/video/admV8aJ0b30/видео.html
What happened to the painting of Emmet Kelly in Irving's office?
Did Morgan Hughes buy the park towards the end?
No. He tried to lease the property from the new land owners but negotiations failed and the 1972 season never happened.
Thanks. I've heard many stories. Never knew the truth.
I Remember it
Is The Book Still Available?
Where did Jack and Irving live when they were kids?
New York's lower east side
@@palisadesamusementpark2199 Any pictures of them?
Anybody remember a guy named "Cowboy" who worked there in the early 60's. Was a karate nut.
Yes, I heard his name mentioned before
What about the belt thing in the fun house you rode on?
That was called The Magic Carpet. You sat down on a bench and then it would collapse and the floor became a conveyor belt that took you down to the lower level.
Hello my name is Kathryn. I begam a woman's Bobsleder because of Amusment Parks like Palisades Amument Park That and Coney Island. I helped get the girls into the Olymics in
Bobsleding because of your Rollar Coaster Please stay in touch Again. My name is Kathryn
YHVH Bless
My dad could fix that rifle game
Where is your dad located, Joy?
That stupid swimming pool