As a child I loved to go to Gwynn Oak Park, a local amusement park with all the rides and games and cotton candy imaginable, and as a an older kid it was available by bike.
I was able, within a half an hour, to arrive for such spectacular events as Nickel Day, where all rides were five cents and Report Card Day, where you could ride for free with a passing report card.
Gwynn Oak went down in infamy as the famous site of racial tension described in John Waters “Hairspray”. It had the Dixie Ballroom, described in an earlier posting where we were able, with my fraternity, to showcase Bill Haley and the Comets and Fats Domino.
In a kinder, gentler time, before the racial tensions of the 60’s, it was mostly an amusement park full of fun and dreams for us kids.
I had planned to go with my parents on a road trip, a trip going all the way to Detroit, a business trip for my father and an adventure to the big city for us. Everything was arranged.
This was the early 50’s, and I had taken off on my bike for Gwynn Oak. It must have been the beginning of summer (the trip being in an off school time) and I took myself down for some rides.
Among the things I did that day was to go on the plane ride, an airplane contraption with a big air foil in front with a large handle to hold on to with two hands that you steered. It went round and round on chains and you controlled it’s movement kind of up and down with this very large handle.
I went on a it number of times that day, and I was at the end of my last ride when I jumped off before the ride was over. There were no safe guards in those times to prevent one from jumping out, no big bars barring your exit. I jumped before it stopped spinning, although it was almost ended, and caught my left foot in the doorway of my plane. This dragged me around by my left ankle while I hopped on my right one, holding on with both hands.
This was not a disaster; in fact it would have been erased from my memory under normal circumstances. I got undone at the end, laughed at my clumsiness and no one even came over to see if anything was wrong. I went out to the parking lot and rode my bike all the way home.
It was forgotten until the next morning, when I tried to get out of bed and couldn’t put my foot down! It hurt!
After a hospital visit, and a cast and crutches, my parents left for Detroit and I spent a week in the care of my grandparents!
When they returned, I learned all about the fantastic Hudson’s Department Store, a huge monolith in downtown Detroit and Northland Shopping Center, the first giant covered shopping mall in America.
I guess I could never have imagined at that time that I’d spend 12 years living in Detroit and knowing all these places so well.
I was able, within a half an hour, to arrive for such spectacular events as Nickel Day, where all rides were five cents and Report Card Day, where you could ride for free with a passing report card.
Gwynn Oak went down in infamy as the famous site of racial tension described in John Waters “Hairspray”. It had the Dixie Ballroom, described in an earlier posting where we were able, with my fraternity, to showcase Bill Haley and the Comets and Fats Domino.
In a kinder, gentler time, before the racial tensions of the 60’s, it was mostly an amusement park full of fun and dreams for us kids.
I had planned to go with my parents on a road trip, a trip going all the way to Detroit, a business trip for my father and an adventure to the big city for us. Everything was arranged.
This was the early 50’s, and I had taken off on my bike for Gwynn Oak. It must have been the beginning of summer (the trip being in an off school time) and I took myself down for some rides.
Among the things I did that day was to go on the plane ride, an airplane contraption with a big air foil in front with a large handle to hold on to with two hands that you steered. It went round and round on chains and you controlled it’s movement kind of up and down with this very large handle.
I went on a it number of times that day, and I was at the end of my last ride when I jumped off before the ride was over. There were no safe guards in those times to prevent one from jumping out, no big bars barring your exit. I jumped before it stopped spinning, although it was almost ended, and caught my left foot in the doorway of my plane. This dragged me around by my left ankle while I hopped on my right one, holding on with both hands.
This was not a disaster; in fact it would have been erased from my memory under normal circumstances. I got undone at the end, laughed at my clumsiness and no one even came over to see if anything was wrong. I went out to the parking lot and rode my bike all the way home.
It was forgotten until the next morning, when I tried to get out of bed and couldn’t put my foot down! It hurt!
After a hospital visit, and a cast and crutches, my parents left for Detroit and I spent a week in the care of my grandparents!
When they returned, I learned all about the fantastic Hudson’s Department Store, a huge monolith in downtown Detroit and Northland Shopping Center, the first giant covered shopping mall in America.
I guess I could never have imagined at that time that I’d spend 12 years living in Detroit and knowing all these places so well.
I think my living there brought back the memory of my chipped ankle and the trip I’d never taken.
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