Beverly Park

Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, California, United States

Defunct, Operated from to

Defunct Roller Coasters: 2

NameTypeDesignScaleOpenedClosed
Little DipperSteelSit DownKiddie
unknownSteelSit DownKiddie

Details

Former statusSBNO from to
Operated from to

Location

Beverly Park was located on the southwest corner of LaCienega Boulevard and Beverly Boulevard. The Beverly Center was built in its place in 1979.

History

Bud Hurlbut reports that Walt Disney visited Bradley's Beverly Park well before earth broke for Disneyland.
The park was owned by David Bradley whose primary business was building amusement rides - Beverly Park was to some extent a demo for prospective customers.
The following list of attractions is thanks to Abraham M. Rudy who visited the park countless times from the late 1950s to the closing of the park.
- Train - that more or less circled a portion of the Park (individual "locomotive" type yellow and black cars that sat 2 to 3). The train ride had a "pay off" (a short and mild roller coaster-ish type ending that had you nearly running down a mannequin dressed as a engineer that swung out of harm's way at the last minute).
- Autopia - Mini cars in bright colors that took a winding course around a portion of the Park but without any real control.
- Carousel - Parker Carousel #316.
- Boat ride - A very narrow boat ride that wound through a simple FantasyLand that was available for birthday parties. The area remained open for Birthdays through park's closing, but the boat ride ceased operating some years before.
- Pony Rides - A stable of sorts was west of the Park, same side of the street, sharing the parking lot to the West, around where the Hard Rock Café is today. The Pony Rides (nearly identical to those offered at the Griffith Park pony rides today) were open on the weekends, offered fast, medium and slow horses that would do two laps around a track of sorts (white wooden fences separated the concentric circles of track . . . innermost for slow, middle for medium, and the outside track for the fast horses). They gave you a short whip or crop for fast. (Editor's note: Ponyland was adjacent to Beverly Park, but was not owned by David Bradley.)
- Ferris Wheel - There was a Ferris Wheel right next to the ticket booth, with its back to LaCienega and circling E to W or W to E (depending on the direction). The cars was not enclosed, a simple bench seat with a rail in front of you.
- Fun House - A "Fun House" (mobile as opposed to walk through. 2 riders in a car, side by side) that came with its own legend (or urban legend) -- this may actually have been confirmed -- about a famous dead body being used as one of the props. The old Long Beach Pike fun house may share this story . . . I'm not sure which, if any, is actually the proud owner of the corpse.
- Carousel - A small kiddie carousel with roundish fishes that 1 or 2 very small children could sit in. I don't recall if the fish went up and down or simply around.
- Food - A Hot Dog stand and the best roasted peanuts in red and white stripped I can ever recall tasting. Popcorn and cotton candy.
- Goldfish - At one time, goldfish in the little cement canal that carried the small boat. Whether for the taking or not, they were often taken.
- Grounds - The ground of the Park and of the parking lot was made up of gravel atop earth. Always clean, always raked, always light gray to off-white. And a chain link fence surrounding.
Editor's note: the "Fun House" mentioned above was actually called the "Haunted Castle".

Owner / Operator

The Frock & Meyer Amusement Company was the original owner of Beverly Park before selling to David Bradley in 1945.

Pop Culture

Appeared in the 1968 movie With Six You Get Eggroll.

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