Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: amusement piers

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A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.

"A barrel of fun at the Steeplechase Pier, Atlantic City."

A red-border Kodachrome slide, circa 1959. Hot Rods zoom around the track while Satellite Jets fly through the air at Hunt's Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey. For additional photos, see the Hot Rods page and the Miscellaneous page (for Satellite Jets) on Ralph Grassi's Funchase site.

A red-border Kodachrome slide, circa 1959. A couple poses for a photo as Satellite Jets whiz through the air and the Merry-Go-Round revolves around and around at Hunt's Pier in Wildwood, New Jersey. For additional photos of the the Satellite Jets and Merry-Go-Round, see the Miscellaneous page on Ralph Grassi's Funchase site.

A Guild Color Processing slide, circa 1959. The Flyer roller coaster promises "A Thrilling Ride Over the Ocean" (the words are only partially visible beneath the sign) at Hunt's Pier , an amusement pier located along the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. For additional views of this roller coaster, see The Flyer page on Ralph Grassi's Funchase site.

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "J. A. Walk Studios, Philadelphia, Pa., Atlantic City, N.J. Opp. Million Dollar Pier entrance." For a similar souvenir photo, see The Jolly Crew of Atlantic City Life Boat No. 5 .