Photos

A photo of the famous boardwalk from the pier in winter, when most of it is closed. It's a unique oceanfront amusement park that was founded in 1907 and thus California's oldest surviving amusement parks. The other oceanfront one is at the Santa Monica pier, which underwent renovation recently. There were quite a few more in previous years, including the Pike in Long Beach, Neptune Beach in Alameda and PlayLand at San Francisco's Ocean Beach, all of which have been closed. The boardwalk was founded by Santa Cruz businessman Fred Swanton who was attempting to create a West Coast Coney Island. He first opeend a casino in 1904, but it was destroyed by fire 22 months after opening. The wooden roller coaster was opened in 1924. Business slowed during the Depression and WWII, but the boardwalk survived. It's changed little fron its turn-of-the-century origins, and is on the list of California State Historic Landmarks.