Chutes

Greetings family, friends and Disney buddies!  Two decades before Knott's Berry Farm and five decades before Disneyland there was an amusement park in San Francisco that featured a thrilling water ride that cost just a dime (a nickle for kids!). I hope that you enjoy this little vignette about the classic "Chutes"! Bill

MUSINGS OF A THEME PARK FAN

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THE CHUTES, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

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“Shooting the Chutes” was a popular San Francisco pastime at the turn of the last century. The aquatic thrill ride’s first location in 1895 was on Haight Street between Clayton and Cole. For just a dime (a nickle for kids) brave passengers slid down a 300 foot chute at an unheard of sixty miles on a flat bottomed boat that then skipped wildly across an artificial lake. The Chutes park prospered and added concerts, balloon ascensions, a small zoo, scenic railway, camera obscura and midway games, however their lease expired in 1902 and were forced to relocate. The Chutes reopened later in the year on 10th Avenue and Fulton Street, survived the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, and remained at this location until 1909. The next year the park reopened on Fillmore Street near Ellis but unfortunately was destroyed by a fire in 1911. The final location of the well traveled attraction was at Playland at the Beach, the new sea side amusement park that opened near Sutro Baths and the Cliff House at Ocean Beach in 1921. Due to raising coasts, safety concerns and the ride taking up too much valuable space, The Chutes attraction was demolished in 1950 after more than a half century of thrilling thousands of fun seeking San Franciscans. 

1910 postcard from the collection of Bill Ralph