The Giant Dipper is a historic wooden roller coaster located at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, an amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. It took 47 days to build at a cost of $50,000. It opened on May 17, 1924, and replaced the Thompson's Scenic Railway. With a height of 70ft and a speed of, it is one of the most popular wooden roller coasters in the world. As of 2012, over 60 million people have ridden the Giant Dipper since its opening. The ride has received several awards such as being named a National Historic Landmark, a Golden Age Coaster award, and a Coaster Landmark award; it has been ranked annually in Mitch Hawker's Best Wooden roller coaster poll.HistoryThe Thompson's Scenic Railway was built on the site of the Giant Dipper in 1908 as the longest roller coaster in the United States. In October 1923, manager R.L. Cardiff and Walter Looff began negotiations to build a new ride to replace the Scenic Railway. The price was set at $50,000, $15,000 more than the Scenic Railway. In January 1924, the permit to build the Giant Dipper was granted to Arthur Looff. He wanted to create a ride that had "the thrill of a plunge down a mine shaft, a balloon ascent, a parachute jump, airplane acrobatics, a cyclone, a toboggan ride, and a ship in a storm." The Scenic Railway began to be demolished in January 1924 to make room for the Giant Dipper. It took 5 months to demolish the Scenic Railway and construct the Giant Dipper. The actual construction of the Giant Dipper took 47 days. The ride opened to the public for the first time on May 17, 1924. The ride had a few incidents over the years in which three people have died.
In its heyday, Santa's Village in San Bernardino County, California was one of Southern California's biggest tourist attractions — a place to catch the holiday spirit even in July. It opened on Memorial Day weekend 1955, more than a month before Disneyland. Santa's Village (Scotts Valley) Santa Cruz County, California opened to the public in 1957 and closed in 1979. Santa’s Village in Dundee Park, Illinois opened to the public on Memorial Day weekend 1959. While it has changed owners and locations, it is still open today. To learn more about Santa's Village visit http://www.santasvillage.net.
The Boardwalk's Casino Arcade houses the largest selection of video games in the area. More than 300 games in all! Plus LASER TAG!! Whether you’re looking for the latest games like Dance Dance Revolution, Sky Target Flight Simulator, San Francisco Rush Driving or the interactive experience of the new NASCAR 4 player race game, we’ve got you covered. Plus… a Classic Corner full of your old favorites like Space Invaders, Pac Man and Centipede. Plus… win tickets playing Skee Ball and other games of skill. Redeem your tickets for great prizes at the Boardwalk redemption center.
Online menus, items, descriptions and prices for Beach Street Cafe - Restaurant - Santa Cruz, CA 95060
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The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States.OverviewThe Boardwalk extends along the coast of the Monterey Bay, from just east of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf to the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. At the western edge of the park lies a large building originally known as The Plunge, Now Neptune's Kingdom, which contains a video arcade, and indoor miniature golf course. Next to this is The Casino Fun Center which includes a laser tag arena and next to that (To the Right) is The Cocoanut Grove banquet room and conference center. A Laffing Sal automated character, from San Francisco's Playland, is viewable near the miniature golf course.East of the Casino, the boardwalk portion of the park stretches along a wide, sandy beach visitors can access easily from the park. The eastern end of the boardwalk is dominated by the Giant Dipper roller coaster, one of the best-known wooden coasters in the world and one of the most visible landmarks in Santa Cruz. The Dipper and the Looff Carousel, which still contains its original 342-pipe organ built in 1894, are both on the US National Register of Historic Places. They were, together, declared to be a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and the park is California Historical Landmark number 983.
Our company's beginnings date back to 1953 as a small scale family business. The company has been passed down through many generations and has grown to the size of 20+ locations and hundreds of Seasonal Crew Members! Beginning in 2012, we were proud to be selected to serve the Santa Cruz Warriors, Santa Cruz's first professional sports team! Addionally we have a division known as W.O.W. (Whiting's On Wheels) that takes some of our tasty treats to festivals all over the state!