Is there anybody out there as old as me? I graduated from PS 115 in 1942, just a month or so after Pearl Harbor. In looking through the names I saw a few I know and a number of others with the same surname as people I knew. Does anybody remember Miss McKenna, Mrs. Dolan, Mr. Finkel, Mrs. Johnson all from PS 115? How about Fortmyers, or Forties as we called it then? Golden City amusement park? I was back in "the old country" about 5 years ago and was shocked by how much it has changed.....
As you walked into the park on the left, the first to get your eye was the Whip Ride and to the left of it the office where the various girls who cashiered had to bring in their receipts of the day.
In the office, with its surrounding shrubs and trees right near the dock where the fishing boats tied up, Chas. Bunche had his three mile sail around the bay boats there. Also, the Whin Ride and in the center the Airplane Ride, which sailed around just like a real plane ride in those days.
The Fun House and the Boat Ride took you through the dark tunnels where all sorts of spooks and devils almost scared you out of your wits. In back of the Airplane Ride was the hot dog stand owned by Murary, who had delicious franks to eat.
Murphy's Carousel, one of the staples of Canarsie's Golden City Park.
As the years went by, other attractions came in, such as Al Camin and his Wall of Death Ride where they rode their mo-torcycles on a flat wall and that thing shook when they went around and around!
They also built a Fight Arena on the right side of the park where many great amateur and professional boys of the day came to appear in the ring. Canarsie's own Buck O'Brien brought many of the boys he trained down there for the amateur nights and in the pro nights we saw Canarsie's own Casper (Geppy) La Rosa. Vincent Pimpinella from Bay Ridge and Harold Green from Brownsville and many more great fighters from there. The park was torn down in 1939 to make room for the Belt Pkway and was supposed to be relocated over where the Seaview shopping center is now, but the Civic Assn's protested that they didn't want it anymore. In its late years it was drawing a bad element to good old Canarsie and so they had park Commissioner Moses get behind it and they had an injunction issued.
Murphy-Stein & Goldstein, 1910-12, 3 row, Park, 30 j, 11 s, 1 m, (1LIO), 2 ch; NO, b/o Wurl 153; Carousel is in storage and is scheduled to operate at the Cradle of Aviation Museum; History: Canarsie; Brooklyn, NY, 1912 to 1939; Nunley's Amusement Park, Baldwin, NY, 1939 to 1996; Storage, Garden City, NY, 1996 to present.