Lost Parks of Northern California wins at the 2014 CreaTiVe Awards
Pardon us if you’ve already heard the news, but…we think it’s worth bragging about:
“Lost Parks of Northern California,” the series produced by ACE Northern California and Great American Thrills took home the award for “Best Community Access Television Series – Professional” on Saturday at the CreaTiVe Awards in downtown San Jose.
Accepting our CreaTiVe Award for Best Professional Community Access TV Series (Photo by: CreaTV San Jose)
The show airs on both CreaTV San Jose and Peninsula Television here in the Bay Area.
We could not have done this without everyone who we’ve met along the way, contributed a video or photo at a lost park they once visited, or simply shared their experiences with us. Thank you for the opportunity to live history vicariously through you! Here’s to many more awards and celebrations.
And yes, you’re allowed to say, “We knew them when…”
Berlin’s Abandoned Spreepark Amusement Park Burns Down
One of three things will happen to an amusement or theme park that’s been abandoned and left standing:
1.) It will eventually be resurrected (See: Kentucky Kingdom, Santa’s Village)
2.) It will be continued to be abandoned (See: Six Flags New Orleans)
3.) Someone (or something) will eventually burn it to the ground.
Such is the case in Berlin, at the infamous Spreepark – a place that saw so much history – and became a mecca for “rust porn” aficionados. The park burned this past weekend, in a suspected case of arson.
Photo by http://www.AbandonedBerlin.com
And you wonder why we do our “Lost Parks of Northern California” series? It’s because our history is far more fleeting than you think. As we saw with the recent demolition of the Popl Barn from the Scott’s Valley “Santa’s Village” – once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.
New Lost Parks Episode on 1915 Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco!
It was our most challenging “Lost Parks” episode – ever. More locations that we’ve ever done before. More money spent than ever before – but it was all worth it.
Presenting the first episode of SEASON TWO of the “Lost Parks of Northern California” – the Pan Pacific Exposition (World’s Fair) of 1915:
Be sure to LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE the video with all your friends, family and favorite cable networks – who knows, we might someday take the show national – but we’ll need your help to do it!
North Korea’s Great America?
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Well, sometimes it’s not flattering – it’s just blatantly ripping off. Case in point: Kaeson Youth park in North Korea. Now, I’m pretty familiar with both entrances to the two Great America’s here in the United States (they were built as twin parks after all, back in the mid 1970’s…) They both feature a unique, double-decker carousel, which is actually just one carousel with two individual decks.
Santa Clara’s (left) and Gurnee’s (right) nearly twin carousels. Santa Clara’s is a foot higher, but the perspective is off due to non-matching focal lengths. Photos © 2008 & 2013, Kris Rowberry.
And apparently, someone who was allowed to make decisions in North Korea was familiar with the (almost) twin carousels, too. So much so, they decided to pluck it . The similarities are just uncanny – and with the worn-down look of the Korean park, it’s downright EERIE:
This is why knock-offs are never better than the original – no matter what the price!
At least they got the staircases right – albeit, they put them in the front instead of the rear…wait – where IS the front?!?
This just goes to show the impact of Randall Duell’s design – a ride as iconic as Carousel Columbia was actually copied (albeit badly) thousands of miles away. Just don’t get me started on the abnormally long first drop of the coaster next to it – that’ll be for another post!
Great American Thrills® 