The West County Times

Posted on Friday, October 14, 2005

Muralists bring faded carnivals to life
By Alan Lopez
STAFF WRITER

EL CERRITO - Take a stroll down memory lane Saturday -- in the back of a San Pablo Avenue office building.

It's Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, one El Cerrito man's tribute to the amusement parks and circuses of the past, particularly San Francisco's lost, lamented Playland at the Beach. The museum and family fun center will hold a free preview fund-raiser event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

"I think it will be a really exciting opportunity for people to view so many artifacts all collected in one place," said Richard Tuck, the proprietor of the museum, whose business card reads "Master of Fun." "These pieces have come from all over the world."

While not all of the attractions are complete, the preview will offer an intriguing glimpse of what Tuck, an army of volunteers and a couple of contractors have been working on. He expects it to open officially in spring.

The attraction is in the back of the building housing Tuck's executive search firm, Lander International. Visitors will be greeted by a 10-foot-tall, 32-foot-long mural celebrating such Great Highway attractions as Playland at the Beach, Sutro's Baths and Museum, the Cliff House and Doggie Diner.

Marin-based artists Dan Fontes and Ed Cassel spent nearly a year creating the mural, titled "A Playland for All."

In another room is the Marcks' miniature circus, which offers a detailed scene of the 1930s-era Sells-Floto circus. The sideshow, the menagerie, the big top, the cookhouse, the dressing room tents and the horse farm are reproduced.

It's comprised of hundreds of pieces, hand-carved in wood by the late El Cerrito resident and Circus Magazine publisher Don Marcks, over 50 years. It was originally started by his father, Isaac.

Another room resembles a home-theater screening area, where patrons will see archival footage of Playland and Northern California and the carving of the miniature circus.

In that room are poster-size photographs of Playland's fun house, with attractions such as the Joy Wheel, floating bridges, the mirror maze and the world's tallest slide, four stories high.

Lovingly displayed is the wooden hat that topped the clown face that loomed over the exterior of the fun house.

The hat appears weathered from 50 years in the elements and is one of the oldest artifacts in the museum.

The other attraction that may bring back memories of eating corn dogs and spending the day at Playland is the walking trolley Tuck managed to get -- one of the mannequins that encircled the roof of the fun house.

Then there's Laughing Sal. The electronic laughing mannequin that terrorized and attracted children when they walked into the fun house is featured prominently in the museum. Sal is on the mural and in close-up photos in the theater room. There's also a full-size replica.

The haunting laugh is replicated on a CD, and the mannequin does the same jerky movements in the same type of red-and-white checkered-framed glass case it was in when Playland operated.

"You could go to a catalogue and buy Laughing Sal from the Funny Frite Factory," said Tuck, a veritable encyclopedia on Playland and other amusement parks.

Tuck happens to have those catalogues in a locked glass case. The cost for a Laughing Sal in the catalogue? $300. The Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk bid $50,000 for the original.

Among the memorabilia are original wool bathing suits from Sutro Baths (another defunct San Francisco attraction located near Playland), framed and placed on a wall, along with the original opening-day 1897 Sutro playbill.

The museum is awash in other memorabilia, including postcards, ribbons and decals from Playland's Model Car Raceway, which Tuck said was the largest operating model raceway in the world; plus original Playland ticket stubs.

Tuck has an original mallet from the High Striker game and an original "Dodger" bumper car refurbished by Rose Autobody in Richmond.

"It probably looks better now than it ever did brand-new," Tuck said.

There's also a 1935 Christmas card from Leo and George Whitney, the brothers who owned Playland from 1928 until its demise in 1972.

In the kitchen are original menu signs from Playland's Hot House and Bull Pupp featuring such amusement park delicacies as spaghetti for 55 cents or an enchilada for 50 cents. Tuck even has a few original doors from Playland but hasn't installed them yet.

Spread throughout the museum are a number of working pinball machines, video games and nickelodeons, but they won't cost visitors a cent to try.

Tuck, an avid amusement park and circus fan who offers a similar gee-whiz tour experience with memorabilia and other surprises at his home in the El Cerrito hills, has been working on the amusement park project for five years.

Much of it is now complete, minus a few attractions, including a tribute to Walt Disney.

Tuck said he expects to have them complete by next year, along with a ramp in the parking lot for the disabled.

He intends to keep the museum free and expand in the future to a location in San Francisco first before moving to other cities.

For a glimpse of what now exists in El Cerrito, the public is invited to step right up to a free preview Saturday. And like Tuck's commitment to keeping his museum free, the event, which will include a silent auction for trips and gift baskets, will be free as well.

"I think it's going to be fun," Tuck said. "I think it's going to bring a lot of visitors to El Cerrito."