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Rye Playland
Growing up in the Bronx our nearest amusement park was Rye Playland on Long Island Sound north of the city in Westchester County.
As a kid I was often taken there by my parents, but my memories of those childhood trips are vague. As a teenager however, I remember Rye as a favorite summer destination.
On balmy nights the guys in our crowd who’d recently gotten their licenses and had been entrusted with the keys to the family car, would drive us up there – usually with a little hanky-panky going on in the back seat.
We felt we were much too old and sophisticated for most of the rides and amusements, but I remember we still rode the bumper cars. And I remember how the guys vied to impress us with their skill knocking over rows of wooden ducks to win the tacky prizes we girls proudly took home.
And I remember how we walked around the park on those magical summer nights, eating greasy hot dogs and sticky cotton candy, and with our teenage bravado I remember how invincible we felt!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Thanks for the memories …
Thanx Kevin!
Sweet memories of those teen years when the amusement park offered adventure of many varieties.
Yes Khati, exactly!
What, no roller coaster? No ferris wheel? The ferris wheels were (and still are) my favorite rides, and the one in your picture looks great!
Thanx Suzy!
I surely rode those thrillers when I was a gutsy kid, but here I was remembering Rye as a teenager’s paradise for more than the rides!
But check Retro again in a few days for a new story about another amusement park of my youth – Rockaways Playland!