May 11, 2012

Salem Willows

Skipping out on the standard Friday post to bring you some photos from a favorite spot of mine in Salem: the Salem Willows "amusement park." That's what they call it on the signs leading you there, but once you get there it's just Salem Willows Park. I think if this was my first time (far from it!) going here I would be seriously disappointed at the use of the phrase "amusement park" to describe this small area. It's bigger than it looks below though. Off to the right is a large grassy area right on the water perfect for picnics and other outdoorsy family activity, there are even a few tables.


I didn't grab individual photos of the food stands because they're not visually noteworthy. However, there is a decent variety of junk food: burgers, a pizza place, ice cream, a Chinese place that's popular with the locals for its chop suey sandwiches and a stand that sells popcorn and a multitude of flavored taffy. I think it's required if you have any kind of park near the water on the East Coast, you must sell taffy somewhere.


Aside from needing to get out of the house, the inspiration for this photo shoot was a recent post over at Lair of the Dork Horde about finding a retro game haven. The arcade here isn't bad considering how hard it is to find 80s' video games around here. They have more games that I didn't take pictures of including a few more recent shooting and racing games and about 8 pinball machines. There was one that I forget the name of but it had a ton of classics built into it and you can select which game you want to play. In addition to the "big kids" arcade, there is a place next to it with ticket redemption games.

There is also a run down, "blink and you'll walk right by it" mini-golf course and the "kiddie" area with rides and a very cool carousel which was built in 1866. I don't know what it is about these car carousels but I can't get enough photos of it!
Watch out for that shifty mouse in the back corner
You can check out the entire gallery of Salem Willows photos on Flickr.
and here's a couple of bonus photos from my Twitter feed in case you missed them
Galaga high score!
Down by the water

9 comments:

  1. I would love to walk around this place. : )

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    Replies
    1. It's a great place to kill a couple hours in the summer when it's not 60, cloudy and windy.

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  2. Replies
    1. Oddly enough, that sign is located in a small restaurant a few buildings down from the actual carousel.

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  3. I like the photo of the Salem Willows Arcade sign. Neon signs can be fun. I took a look through your Flickr photos. The Ticket Booth Closeup Face is just freaky! The photo of Zoltan is cool too. It looks like that machine was out of order. Too bad! I got a fortune out of one of those old machines once. I think it was at The House on the Rock.

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    1. That Zoltan is one of the odd fortune tellers where you press a button on the front for your horoscope and pick up a phone receiver on the side to hear what he has to say. There is another one of the more traditional machines there that givers out a printed card too. I love all the old timey things like that especially fortune tellers. I have to photograph them every time I find one.

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  4. Looks like a nice place to visit.

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  5. Oh, the fortune telling machine I tried gave me a little printed out card. It was about the size of a business card. I didn't know there were machines that involved picking up a phone receiver! I'd love to try one of those.

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  6. I gotta seek out something like this by me !! That would be sooo much fun to relive those old games again !!

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