I remember going through the Horror House and going through the turning cylinder 8:22 to 8:33 was crazy!
@ElleCee62978Ай бұрын
My aunt and uncle live in Willow Grove. This closed a year or two before I was born.
@AbandonedMines112 ай бұрын
These old home videos are priceless! Thanks for sharing.
@dananderson30772 ай бұрын
All I can add is great installment...nice job!
@tinaandre99056 ай бұрын
I grew up in Willow Grove. I was at the park with a high-school friend, right before it closed!
@evelynaviles66298 ай бұрын
I didn't see one color person in this video crazy 😧
@bartonpercival321611 ай бұрын
Its sad that almost all these trolley parks from the early 30's & 40's didn't survive. There were so many throughout the US. When i grew up in the 50's San Francisco had a trolley park out by the Pacific ocean called Playland at the beach. Sadly it was demolished in 1972 for condos. 😡
@pjuggle Жыл бұрын
Been there in 1950s !
@scoot4763 Жыл бұрын
I have such great memories of Willow Grove Amusement Park in the 1950's
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
This film is mid 1950’s. I can tell by the crew cut hair on boys and the rolled up T shirt sleeves on the teen guys.
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
It became six gun territory
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
I remember the WIBG record hops on Wednesday night in the Summer.
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
The PTC built the park just to get revenue and fat easy profits from the public to use the trolley line. It was all about $$$$$
@rhodamiller7338 Жыл бұрын
Our 8th grade graduation class trip..1950. Went by trolley starting on Rising Sun and Adam’s Avenue. Sad when I heard it was torn down.
@christopherneapolitan75482 жыл бұрын
This was a promo for the park filmed in 1956.
@fwright762 жыл бұрын
My two brothers (who are between 11 and 14 years older than me) got to see Willow Grove Park amusement park when they were kids. Sadly, by the time I came around and became aware of things, I never saw the amusement park. I only knew it as the mall. I would have loved to go here because we only lived 10 minutes away.
@joannemadorno2 жыл бұрын
great and happy memories
@timmyn85752 жыл бұрын
I wish it was still around today. My mom would tell us stories of it. Also, one that was in Fairmount park
@bobgute2 жыл бұрын
My parents use to take us by trolley. We were use to trolleys in the city so when we got near the park, the sudden change to becoming surrounded by trees & grass was a magical feeling. One of my favorite things was the coin toss onto a plate & winning these huge stuffed animals. So many great memories. The video was awesome & I remember everything on it.
@MAxFabry2 жыл бұрын
Not to be confused with WILLOW PARK in Butztown, PA
@mikekilgannonsr.11482 жыл бұрын
I grew up with the park only 4 miles from my home. Spent many a summer in the park from 1959 to 1971. Was on a Saturday dance program in the park 1965 to 1969. What a wonderful place and cried when it was torn down whice I watched parts of.
@longreeno123 жыл бұрын
Was this amusement park later known as Six Gun Territory? Or was that a different place?
@zacharylunsford22 жыл бұрын
Yes.
@seeburgm100a2 жыл бұрын
yes it was and when they tried it as Six Gun Territory it was a fail. I can remember going there as a boy with my folks and seeing city kids that were apparently bussed in from bad neighborhoods urinating in and around the fun house. It smelled like the broad street subway. Much of the old rides left over and repurposed were worn and used hard as I remember.. these things stuck out in my head.. I don't think it was too long after that it was closed permanently.
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
You got it
@emmyrodriguez52283 жыл бұрын
No black or hispanic people!🤔 Wow, how time's have changed😊
@erin19030 Жыл бұрын
Correction , the park was is a black hood and busses were vandalized. It was,sketchy after dark as well.
@clara13473 жыл бұрын
Loved the park. We spent our class picnics there. Went with our parents and later by ourselves. It was great!!
@clara13473 жыл бұрын
Loved the park. We spent our class picnics there. Went with our parents and later by ourselves. It was great!!
@davehibbs91113 жыл бұрын
I was a ride operator from 57' to 1977.... saw a lot of changes over the years...
@thepakidd56473 жыл бұрын
I lived less than a mile away from the Park. All summer long we'd hear the screams from the Thunderbolt roller coaster ride from morning until dark. It got to the point that you didn't even notice it after a while.
@ValerieSteinizzi3 жыл бұрын
Anyone remember the thunderbolt. And I love the tunnel of Love
@davehibbs91113 жыл бұрын
Uppermoreland township
@instaglam75084 жыл бұрын
So what year was the mall built ??
@zacharylunsford24 жыл бұрын
This is was from 1956 not 1960. Because Wild Mouse was not there at this park until 1958.
@shawnamelva5834 жыл бұрын
"Folks, I couldn't believe my eyes what I saw right here in the Ghoul's Eye. It's real dark, there's a storm; the wind howls, and a witch screams! You see this,and you see that...and then you'll see the Ghoul's Eye...that is, if you don't cover your face! This is it folks. The Ghoul's Eye. Right across from the Twist. I dare you to ride The Ghoul's Eye!"
@thepakidd56478 ай бұрын
I gotta give you credit, that's a good take on the laughable audio tape they ran promoting the ride. I can still remember the "I dare you to ride The Ghoul's Eye!" finish to it. The ride was such a joke, sitting in one of those roller cars, moving on tracks through the dark ... until you ran next to a neon ghost, or witch, or, yes, a ghoul that lit up. VERY scary! 🤣
@davehibbs91114 жыл бұрын
I was 17 years old then and was a ride operator at the old hunts pier! Thanks for sharing
@ninapross33374 жыл бұрын
That was nice to see. Could watch it often
@davehibbs91114 жыл бұрын
I was born and raised about 3 miles away from here!
@weaverdamien000000004 жыл бұрын
How fast did the Thunderbolt go?
@mikekilgannonsr.11482 жыл бұрын
The talk was over 100, but the drop was some of the fastest I've ever been on.
@ElleCee629785 жыл бұрын
Hunt’s Pier was the best, right up until Bud Hunt sold it
@MatthewMcHale135 жыл бұрын
This was still around in the 70s remember it well
@phillydog175 жыл бұрын
James Michener wrote his first book about working there as a teenager. It's called "The Fires Of Spring".
@georgeschlaline60575 жыл бұрын
How about Willow Grove 2011?
@1stGeorgiaGirl4 жыл бұрын
It was torn down to make way for a mall which opened in 1982. Now that shopping malls are dead, I wish they had left it as an amusement park.
@DENNY122712106 жыл бұрын
I was on the dance show in the 60's....Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell performed .
@Rlotpir19726 жыл бұрын
Now, it's a three-floored shopping mall. Macys, Bloomingdales, Sears (1st floor), Primark (2nd and 3rd floor). R.I.P. Strawbridge's and JCPenney at the one end.
@egjacob13826 жыл бұрын
Fascinating footage. Liked and subscribed.
@simonrandall54716 жыл бұрын
All of this was 4 miles from where I grew up.
@CutthroatMcRage6 жыл бұрын
My father was WW2 Navy and was there at that park back during the war and I was active duty Navy stationed at N.A.S. Willow Grove and was there the day before they were about to start tearing it all down and also for a few days after they started. Me and my shipmate Paul went in walking around looking at all the abandoned stuff the cops rolled up and asked us wtf we think were doing and I said to the cops just snooping around how my Dad once was here and so forth we both showed them our Military ID as well as our regular and I told the cop he really will not be able to run anything more than a very very basic check on me and he said wanna bet I said sure and if you win we leave never to return if I win we get a 3 day play at the abandoned park get out of jail free right to be there free ride ... I knew I was gonna win as I carried a Top Secret Clearance and the FBI if anyone tried to go any more than basic on me info wise can not do it they get blocked and have to answer to them and well to make it short would be in a world of poop and they would get investigated by the FBI and Military intelligence as well if they tried to get any more info than a very basic check. So anyways Paul and I got a free 3 day pass to enjoy our self's as the park day by day was leveled and erased from sight. I got a bunch of different ride tickets and some of the different brochures I got from the abandoned parks main office building and pictures of the coasters with trees growing up thru the tracks and some of the coaster original 50's cars that I was told if I wanted them I could have them and man I wanted them. All I seen was vintage dollar signs in my head but to get them out of there and put them in storage and maybe send them back home to Chicago FORGET IT ... Cost me a small fortune...What a shame they were mint condition yet just the vinyl on the seats were cracked up from age. We walked up to the top of the coaster mountain I took some shots there as well I took shots all over the place in there it was so sad to see it being trashed to the ground...The Willow Grove Bowl at that time had some awesome pictures of the park over all the years it was there from start to end on the wall inside dedicated to the Park. It was awesome looking at some of them pictures. Oh and good thing I got them different ride tickets and such when I did as some punks 2 days later set that house on fire and burnt it to the ground . I hate lil destructive jerks like that there is and was no reason for them to do that. It truly was a shame as in the last days it seemed the cops didn't care if anyone wanted to walk around and snoop a bit and maybe could have got a few tickets mementos for themselves if the fools didn't torch it for no other reason than to be a jerk.
@pgwarner55477 жыл бұрын
Does anyone remember Luigi's restaurant right across the street? It's Papa John's now.
@edbarnes53274 жыл бұрын
Yes, and Tippy's Tacos!
@thepakidd56473 жыл бұрын
Yep, Luigi's had the best cheese steaks and hoagies around. Back in the late 50's, you could get "extra meat" on the steaks for $0.10. Loved that place.
@cherylbreeger-braun79317 жыл бұрын
Anyone else who had a parent work for Boeing remember family day every year??? Everything was free all day. Mom and Dad stayed behind at the picnic tables all day too. I think they partied !! lol
@JSOMERSETJSOMERSET7 жыл бұрын
you could get to the park from the 69th. street terminal.. maybe they were sabotaged by the car and oil companies ...for those who didn't drive or want to..it was an easy ride..yes im sure it was sasbotoged
@kennyfoster88448 жыл бұрын
man those were some good memories. i'm 50yr now and remember it was a great place for a kid.
@stevet21238 жыл бұрын
What was the name of the music track that was removed?