If you were looking for the 7-14 year old demographic for advertising purposes in the 1960's, all you needed to do was place an ad in a DC comic book.
The items I saw advertised there were bewildering in their numbers. And they are also firmly lodged in my now forty-seven year old memory banks. Today's piece is about a place that was too magical for me to imagine as a child (and, sadly, a place I never actually visited): Palisades Park in New Jersey.
How great was this place? SUPERMAN HIMSELF endorsed it! He even offered you a free ticket to go visit it for yourself!
There were many advantages to growing up in Small Town America. There was no need to lock the house. The neighbors would keep an eye on things for you. You could walk to school, or anywhere else in town your young legs could take you, with no fear (or even any concept) of the possibility of violent crime. And you knew every single family who lived on your street, and many others in the area as well. 
But we had to sit and read about magical places like Palisades Park in New Jersey with no hope of ever going there ourselves.
Palisades Park was born in 1898. Its original incarnation was as a trolley park. Are you as confused by that term as I was? Well, to clarify things, here's Wikipedia's definition:
In the United States, trolley parks, which started in the 19th century, were picnic and recreation areas at the ends of streetcar lines, created by the streetcar companies to give people a reason to use their services on weekends. These parks consisted of picnic groves and pavilions, and often held events such as dances, concerts, and fireworks. Many eventually added features such as carousels, ferris wheels, and other rides. However, with the increasing number of automobiles in use, trolley parks gradually declined and some disappeared. Others survived and developed into amusement parks.
And Palisades Park was perhaps the most shining example of the latter in the country, at least in the 1960's.
Sitting on a mere 38 acres, this piece of real estate was visited by untold millions of delighted customers from its birth to its closing in 1971. Home to some of the most magnificent roller coasters ever created, these included several versions of the Cyclone (one, being built prior to 1920, was so frightening that it was demolished due to low usage), the Lake Placid Bobsleds, the Jetstar, the Wildcat, and the giant wooden coaster that was pictured in the comic book ads.
Palisades had lots of other stuff going on, too. It was the home of the Little Miss America contest, the largest saltwater pool in the world, and loads of barkers at games designed to separate your quarters from your pocket.
When I was researching this article, I found this site full of the memories of those who visited the wonderful piece of heaven on earth. It's a bittersweet read, for, alas, the park is no more.
Hugely successful until its closing day, it was a victim of its prime location. It turns out that Palisades Park, like so many of the drive-in movies we grew up with, sat on some primo real estate. When rezoning allowed condominium development, Palisades was sold in 1971 to a company which chopped up the immortal rides, sold them a piece at a time, and bulldozed everything down for multifamily dwellings.
And, BTW, they DON'T advertise in DC comic books.
OK, readers, I want to see comments from you who were fortunate enough to take Superman up on his invitation to pay a visit to Palisades Park!
Comments (7)
When I was in elementary school back in the late 50's / early 60's, We lived justa few blcoks from Palisades Amusement Park. Once each year in the spring, all the local schools would march to the park with the students wearing the school T-shirt and beanie. They and their families would be admitted to the park free and given sheets of ride tickets. The park probably made some of it back in refreshments and concessions.
The park also had a stage where they would have occasional concerts by rock/pop bands each summer, hosted by local deejays.
Posted by David S Paleg | April 21, 2007 1:56 AM
Posted on April 21, 2007 01:56
My family and I went here, but my memories of it are gone. I remember Asbury Park much better. I guess growing up in New Jersey had its advantages.
Posted by Rhea | April 23, 2007 10:12 AM
Posted on April 23, 2007 10:12
I know baby boomers will benefit from this.A newly launched global club is on the market and I would like for you to check out this unique and awesome business opportunity. I know that once you caught the vision of the great potentials to create alot of wealth you will join the family. There are also alot of health products that you can benefit from. This club is growing like wildfire and there is a lot of excitement worldwide about this company. Please visit this site: http://gwbopc.com/cakes.
Posted by Francell Pratt | July 5, 2007 1:52 AM
Posted on July 5, 2007 01:52
I could never figure out why comic books in the 60's, which what I would imagine was a national circulation, would advertising local
places like Palisades Park(bit of trivia, Chuck barris wrote the hit song). Why would they spend good money
advertising in a national comic where maybe 20% of the readers lived close enough to attend? Did that high of a % of people live on the east coast in those days, or at least buy comic books? It looked as if it was a poor man's coney island...but child's imaginations like mine of course elevated it to mythic
proportions.....
Posted by scott | July 17, 2007 4:09 AM
Posted on July 17, 2007 04:09
Never made it to Palisades Park? How did we miss this one. The only thing I remember about. New Jersey was refineries and factories. Of course I know that Jersey has a lot of lush nature. Who was it who sang? That's when I fell in love at Palisades Park! Always liked that song! Most of the good amusement parks are long gone and that is sad! We use to go to place new Washington DC called Marshall Hall amusement Park. It is long gone now and is a big shopping center. Old Glen Echo Park is one of those old amuement places that is still around and is a National Park. So I guess I will never have the experience of going on the loop de loop at Palisades Park?
Posted by Rivers End | June 12, 2009 8:39 AM
Posted on June 12, 2009 08:39
Ron points out the following:
There was no need to lock the house.
The neighbors would keep an eye on things for you.
You could walk to school, or anywhere else in town your young legs could take you, with no fear (or even any concept) of the possibility of violent crime.
And you knew every single family who lived on your street, and many others in the area as well.
End of Ron points
I should point out that even in many places in the Greater Portland area of Maine, you could neglect your home and property without worry in the 60s. We were indeed, without fear. There was fellow feeling and compassion.
I went to work at the Portland International Jetport, a city of 65,000 but with many more in the surrounding towns so that that number is really much higher, in Feb. 2001. I transferred to the parking area in 2002 and it was fascinating. Everyone was mean, nasty, impatient, deceptive, lying, cheating, treacherous. The very worst of Maine could be found right there at the Jetport. The 90s brought the middle dregs in. These people, often from Mass, thought they owned the world and that they were the only ones that mattered.
They tried to run our schools, change our zoning, do whatever they wanted, even though they are a minority. I don’t think they are a minority anymore.
But we lost everything that was good, or decent. How did we go from the 70s to the 90s? That is, in the span of 30 years, how did we lose everything we had?
We grew in population density. I do not object to immigration except that it is a ploy by the elite to keep labor in great supply so that it is worth very little and labor is cheap and paid poorly. I am not in favor of low wages. Call me a jerk. We grew a lot in population.
And we let the world get to us. We gave in and we gave up. We stopped trying! We stopped caring. To hell with everyone and everything. That is why the world is crap now. Caring requires vigilance, continual effort, long suffering, a willingness to remain caring, no mater what, no excuses.
Portland received a shock back in the 90s one time. A homeless SOB grabbed a woman near 8 AM in the outskirts of intown, dragged her past all sorts for traffic and lights to a secluded place near a highway ramp, and raped her. We thought this only happened in NYC. But Now we were NYC. It really should not have surprised us. We didn’t want to make the effort anymore. We didn’t want to take a chance anymore. We didn’t want to have to deal with anything personally. Let the police use their psychic powers and do something. Its not my job or responsibility. Well, actually, it still is.
When we look at the world around us today, and wonder why its not the 60s anymore, go find the nearest mirror you can find, and take a good long look in it. There is your problem. Its all of us who let ourselves down time and again.
On a lighter note, I also drooled over Palisades Park. Disney Land and later World as well. Never got to any of them and I don’t care about it now. Paying $14 for a hot dog and maybe $20 for a burger does not sound like fun to me. We didn’t pay those prices in 65! We had some sense and had limits as to how far we would go. Not anymore.
Posted by Scott Irv | June 12, 2009 1:45 PM
Posted on June 12, 2009 13:45
i always wanted to go to this place, but back then they didnt want african americans in the park. so we had coney island. but later on in the mid 60s, we were allowed.
Posted by vera | January 30, 2010 6:30 PM
Posted on January 30, 2010 18:30