Ocean Beach between Balboa and Fulton streets is lined with condominiums today. For about 50 years it was home to the Big Dipper, the Shoot-the-Chutes and a cackling mechanical woman named Laffing Sal.
From snack stands to Chutes at the Beach
The Western Neighborhoods Project says the area started with waffle stands, shooting galleries and other concessions. Crowds came after the Park and Ocean Railroad opened in 1883 and ended near today's La Playa and Balboa streets. In the 1910s a Looff carousel, the "Looff Hippodrome," arrived. Concession owner John Friedle then teamed with Arthur Looff to build a real amusement park. "Chutes at the Beach" opened in 1921 with no admission charge. Wikipedia quotes a 1922 Chronicle account saying the owners had spent $150,000 on ten new rides. The famous Big Dipper wooden roller coaster followed in 1922.
The Whitney years
Photo-studio operator George K. Whitney and his brother Leo began buying up concessions in the 1920s and renamed the park Playland at the Beach. Sources disagree on the year: the Western Neighborhoods Project gives 1928, and Wikipedia notes 1926 and 1928. The Whitneys turned the old Ocean Beach Pavilion into the restaurant and dance hall Topsy's Roost. They took over the Cliff House in 1936, and George later bought the Sutro Baths. The Western Neighborhoods Project calls World War II and the 1950s the park's heyday, when it was open from noon to midnight. It also notes that generations of San Franciscans grew up on Playland It's-Its, ice cream pressed between two oatmeal cookies.
Decline and closing
The Big Dipper came down in 1955 over safety and maintenance problems, and George Whitney died in 1958. As families went to suburban attractions, the park declined. Developers bought it, and it closed on Labor Day, Sept. 4, 1972. After an auction of rides and memorabilia, the park was torn down.
What survives
The Western Neighborhoods Project says Playland's carousel was saved and still runs at Yerba Buena Gardens.