Playland's 'Sleigh Ride' EXPOSED!

The Sleigh Ride is one of the biggest "Playland Geek Mysteries" of Playland's History... Actually, the park was Chutes at the Beach at the time. For years it's been a question of What, Where and When? What kind of ride was it? Where was it? When was it actually there? Playland Historians know it was a roller coaster type ride, but information on the ride has been elusive. With the posting of new photos from the “Private Collector” on the Western Neighborhoods Project website, we may now be able to expose the Sleigh Ride's history.

James R Smith, author of Playland: The Early Years and Playland: The Golden Years, set me on a course to research this mysterious ride. Jim has generously shared some of his SLEIGH RIDE photos, many are used in this article. In Jim's "Early Years" book, he has a few pages dedicated to the Sleigh Ride, which gives us a basic description and photos of the Sleigh Ride. Hopefully, my research has added some new insite to the Sleigh Ride.

Lets' start by saying, historical records of the Sleigh Ride don't really exist. John Feidle's 1927 Business card was made into gift ink blotters for the 1927 Holiday Season. This business card is one of the only documented clues we've have that proved the ride even existed. Photographic discovery of the Sleigh Ride came almost purely by accident. The Sleigh Rides 'coaster cars' were often thought to belong to the Figure 8 Gravity Coaster (1919-1922) or the Bob Sled Dipper (1921-1929). But, the cars and surrounding environments didn't seem to match up with other known rides. Since then, the Sleigh Ride's existence has slowly unfolded.

My research has consisted mostly of comparing photos to create a time-line and layout of the Sleigh Ride. Most of the photos available are NOT dated. At times dating the photos is half the battle. The few photos that are dated have added slight confusion, but have assisted in completing the puzzle. It's all about the details.....

Chutes at the Beach 1922

Note Location of (1) Aeroplane Swing, (2) Noah's Ark and (3) Chutes. The Sleigh Ride will occupy this area.

-James R Smith Collection

Origins

Lets start back at the beginning, the beginning of Chutes at the Beach.

Chutes at the Beach officially opened Oct 31, 1921 on Halloween. That must have been fun! Chutes at the Beach opened with 10 rides...... Bob Sled Dipper, Chutes, Looff's Merry-Go-Round, Aeroplane Swing, the Whip, Dodg- Em, Ship of Joy, Ferris wheel, Noah's Ark and the Figure 8 Coaster. The Sleigh Ride is not listed, nor visually seen as any “Opening Day” ride.

Dating photos at Playland is a “What's There?' and “What's Not?” kinda job. Rides came and went in the early days. The Big Dipper and Fun House had long life in the Park, while others like The Whirlpool or The Whip had much shorter appearances. In addition, as we look through the many years of Playland photos we notice, Rides were moved around quite often. This happened More so in later years than these early years.

It became obvious that the Sleigh Ride couldn't be found within any of the Chutes at the Beach photos dated 1921-1925.

The few photos of the Sleigh Ride that aer currently available showed us a Loading Station, Lift Hill and Return Track. One could say, we had proof of a beginning and end of the ride, but that's about it.

In search of a Sleigh Ride

Surrounding attractions and rides seem to hold the key to the Sleigh rides time line.

The Ocean Beach Pavilion was a mainstay on the North end of Great Highway since 1884. We can see the venue change to Bagdad/Sahara Club around 1918, then change hands again around 1927 to Hawai'land. Topsy's Roost originally opened in February of 1927 on the SOUTH end of Chutes at the Beach on Sheehans Corner (Fulton @ Great Highway). Topsy's moved to the Beach Pavilion building (Hawai'Land) in 1929. These are key time-line identifier.

The major "Aha!" moment comes with focusing on the existence and movement of the Aeroplane swing and Administration Building. Noah's Ark and the Aeroplane swing are both original "Opening Day" rides. Pre-Existing photos show the Sleigh Ride Lift Hill behind Noah's Ark and located in back of the Admin Building. But, The Aeroplane Swing becomes the pivotal clue in the origin of the Sleigh Ride. When the Administration Building (la Playa @ Cabrillo) is built in 1926, the Aeroplane Swing is moved. The timing is perfect! In 1926, Harry Traver (ride and Coaster designer) has just released an updated version of the Aeroplane Swing called, the Seaplane Deluxe Circle Swing. Construction of the Administration building can be dated to 1926 through historical records too. The New Seaplane Swing is built on the West Side of Chutes lot, being moved from East side to West side of the block.

We can see the Seaplanes being constructed in it's East Side location in the photo to the left. Photographically, we have a photo of the ICY Sleigh Ride Station and the construction of the Seaplane Swing. Is the Sleigh Ride operational? We have to assume so... There is a sign and price for the Sleigh ride. We can narrow the Sleigh Rides opening to about 1926. The Sleigh Ride is born!

Seaplane Construction 1926-27

-Marilyn Blasidell

The Nuts and Bolts

Visually, the Sleigh Rides construction brings about a description... Simple and Crude!

The Lift Hill appears to be simply built in wooden support tiers with narrow gauge track. It almost appears flimsy in appearance when compared to the sturdy timbers of the Big Dipper.

The Sleigh Ride cars. Without getting into lengthy and technical comparisons of known patents of the time, lets just say these were far from modern coaster technology of the time. Comparing the Big Dipper Cars to the Sleigh Ride would like comparing a 1927 LaSalle sedan to a soap box derby Racer! Actually, the Soap Box Racer probably would have been safer.... Three cars were linked. Each car looking basically like a large wooden soap box with a few galvanized pipes and fittings used as siding. A large metal hoop attached to the back of each car would be swung over the top of the passengers. This bar was your safety rail and arm rest. It probably bent up and down with the movement of the car. The bar seems to only be supported from the rear connection and by the passengers arms. The cars were narrow with tandem seating. Very CLOSE tandem seating. I'm sure this was appealing to those wild 1920's revelers. The Photo to the left shows most seated with man in back, except for the the guy in the first car! Hmmm?

While the track appears crude, so does the first lift hill. Mechanically, it appears to be a simple motor driven cable lift, not a chain lift. We'll find a little more ingenuity used in the SECOND lift hill later. A ride with two lift hills might have been an interesting attraction at the time....

The Layout and Design

Who designed the Sleigh Ride is unknown. Arthur Looff had broken off his partnership with John Friedle around 1924, selling many of his holdings to Freidle. By 1926-27, John and his brother Willian Freidle are clearly the major stockholders of Chutes at the Beach. John is the president and William, General Manager. Both were calling the shots. It would of had to be the Freidle's who commissioned the building of the Sleigh Ride.

-Gary Stark Collection (Cliff House Project)

Photographic visualization of the Sleigh Ride proves difficult at best. Photos from Sutro Heights appears to be the best vantage point.... But, Between being buried or hidden by the Bob Sled Dipper which sits in front of the Sleigh Ride or that photos taken from this vantage have a tendency to mask the Ride with a tree branch or that darn Olympic Saltwater Pump house Smoke Stack. We can see that the Loading Station is a rectangular building that sits just East of the Seaplanes. The Lift Hill is right behind Noah's Ark. Off the Lift Hill, the track makes an angled and steep turn down, over the Midway and onto the Bobs side of the Midway. Then it's lost in the Bobs structure.

The Sleigh ride can't be seen well from the Great Highway, nor from La Playa with the exception of the Sleigh Rides Lift hill. Clearly, the best view is from the Midway, photos of which are far and few between. In a comical way, this ride doesn't want to be found!

1927-28 Views of the Lift Hill and Drop Hill

- Dennis O'Rorke (LT) and SFPL (RT) Collections

Two similar views of the Sleigh Ride Lift Hill, seen through the Midway entrance at Great Highway and Cabrillo. (Left) a 1930 photo during Whitney's time with a small concession underneath. (Right) An earlier photo shows the Sleigh Ride blocked by the Original CHUTES sign and the Skooter (Bumper Cars) at the base of the Seaplanes... That's another mystery solved.. ;-)

- "Private Collector" Photos from the Western Neighborhood Project

Some of our best views of the Sleigh Ride come from one tiny corner of the Chutes lot... The South East corner. This corner held Noah's Ark. Luckily, it was a photographable attraction. Even within this view, we only see the lift hill and usually the photos showing the Sleigh Ride being demolished..

Sleigh Ride Lift Hill running behind the Noah's Ark Attraction, 1926-29

- "Private Collector" Photo from the Western Neighborhood Project

Even the Loading Station is often obscured by the Bobs. One of of our few identifiers of the the Sleigh Ride is it's Lift Hills Appearance.

1929 Photo showing the Sleigh Ride lift and Drop hills

Going to the North end of the Chutes, we find a single time-line icon. We find a fenced in area wrapping around the outside of the Chutes Structure. At first, we think this may be park of the Sleigh Ride, but photographs show it to part of the Bobs track which interweaves with the Chutes structure. What purpose the fencing has, we'll never know, but it is removed within a few years. Since it exists during the Sleigh Rides life, it is a useful identifier to the Sleigh Ride. XXXXXXXX THIS HAS SINCE BEEN PROVEN TO BE THE BOB SLED DIPPER TRACK AS IT INTERACTED WITH THE CHUTES SUPER STRUCTURE.... MW

Of all the photos of Chutes at the Beach in the 20's, only "TWO" really tell us the story of the Sleigh Rides track layout!

<Looking North. The (RED Arrows) show the Sleigh ride track above the Midway over the concessions. It's an almost flat track with a slow gradual grade that ascends up the Chutes Structure. Right of the photo we see the Sleigh Ride track descending (Blue Arrows) parallel with the Chutes ramp.

- James R Smith Collection

Looking South (photo right) over and down the Midway. We can see the Sleigh Ride track crossing over the Midway (Pink arrow) and coming towards the Chutes Structure. Left side of the photo shows the Rides drop hill which ended in a pair of camel hump hills and back to station.

- James R Smith Collection

When we put all of our views together, we get a track layout like this.