Playland (San Francisco)

You are standing on the edge of what was once a coastal epicenter of grit and joy. For over half a century, this ten-acre stretch along the Great Highway served as the city’s premier seaside amusement park. It began as an informal collection of waffle stands, shooting galleries, and carnival games that sprang up in the late nineteenth century. By the 1920s, it transformed into a permanent fixture known as Playland at the Beach, a place that drew crowds from across the region to experience a midway of mechanical thrills right beside the freezing Pacific surf.