Friday, February 5, 2016

Cedar Point Totem Pole

I saw this 1965 Cedar Point postcard on Ebay recently, and thought I’d post it here as a nice reminder that spring – and the opening of Cedar Point – is getting closer every day. It’s also a quaint reminder of the Cedar Point of my youth.

Here’s another shot of the totem pole, courtesy of the Retro Postcard Gallery on tumblr.com.

Seeing these two postcards reminded me of something (rather conveniently) that I hadn’t thought of for decades. It happened during one of my family’s visits to Cedar Point in the 1960s.

It was late in the day, and we were walking along the Midway. Suddenly, a dollar bill blew into my field of vision, and I quickly snatched it off the ground.

Now, a dollar bill is a lot of money to a little kid who is too young to earn an allowance. Did I bring it home so I could think about what I was going to do with it?

Naw.

That dollar immediately burned a hole in my pocket. I bought a small wooden totem pole with "Made in Japan" stamped on the bottom of it.

I had that thing for a couple of years, until we made one of our 60’s Western camping trips, and I came home with an souvenir totem pole made by a real Indian. Then, the Cedar Point one seemed kinda chintzy, so I got rid of it. I still have the other one.

Anyway, you can also see the Scamper ride in the postcard at the top of this post. That was such a great ride for a little kid.

Courtesy Cedar Point History Facebook page
Click here to visit a Wiki page with a list of former Cedar Point attractions, along with the years of their opening and closing.

4 comments:

Ken said...

I remember that dollar, and my chagrin and envy at your luck. It had me looking down at the ground the rest of the afternoon. A nice memory.

Ken

Anonymous said...

What happened to the bushes in the 2nd picture?

Dan Brady said...

I wonder if the second shot is the older of the two postcards. The Sky Ride depot (and its overhead lines) are also missing from the shot.

By the way, I just looked at a Bing Maps aerial of the park and it appears the circular 'green space' is still there - but I don't think the totem pole is.

-Alan D Hopewell said...

I haven't been to Cedar Point since the late Sixties, but I remember so well going there, and the cool rides, the Scrambler, the Sky Ride, the train and the riverboat, visiting Safari Island and Sea Land, and the great munchies.