arcade photographs from the collection of James R. Smith

James. R. Smith is a historian who has published 4 books about San Francisco, including 2 about Playland At The Beach.

I have ordered both of his Playland books, and the pair is currently available for $35 on his web site.

I approached James about photographs from his collection which depict Skeeball and Fascination parlors at Playland circa the 1920s and 1930s, and he agreed to let me share the original scans of his photographs with the world.  I use his photos in the "Beyond Japanese Rolling Ball" section of my Tamakorogashi post.

These are incredibly valuable photos for arcade research and I want to thank James again for what he is doing.  All of the photos are available in their full resolution through a downloadable ZIP file.  Below are the photos, just resized.  (The originals are 5-17 MB each)

To help add one extra layer of barrier for the bots that scrape photos (an inevitability that will never deter me from sharing whatever I can when I can,) the password on the ZIP file is 'jamesrsmith'.

Download the photos archive (password: jamesrsmith)  (If your browser doesn't like HTTP links, try copying the ZIP file's url and pasting it into a new window)

You can find James over on his website, HistorySmith.  He also has two other books, The California Snatch Racket, and San Francisco's Lost Landmarks.

HistorySmith: Tales of California and San Francisco by James R. Smith

On with the pictures!  We have shooting gallery ranges, Spill The Milk, Skee Ball, Whirl O Ball, Fascination, Keeno, The Cony Race, and my favourite: The Monkey Pinball Race.  Most of these photos seem to be from the 1930s.  Some might be earlier, but hard to verify.  If you spot any tell-tale clues that help discern dates in any of the photos, please comment below.

"The Arcades proved to be the big money makers at the Chutes and later at Playland. A patron standing in line to pay a dime for a ride might pay fifty cents an hour if they were serious riders.  A person standing at an arcade could pay that dime every few minutes, placing up to a buck or more an hour on the mark with multiple people playing concurrently. It was all done in fun but it was serious business as well." - James R. Smith

 

Whitney's Shooting Gallery - The skunk and Bob Cat above were taxidermy specimens
I am told this gallery is made by W.F. Mangels

The Whitney Brothers took over Chutes At The Beach circa 1929, so all the Whitney signage points to 1929 or later.  The Whitney Bros. renamed it Playland, and it was called Playland At The Beach.

dapper

Skee-Ball Scoring tables and Prizes
I love being able to read the wall signs and examine the redemption prizes

Sadly I cannot read the sign just above the windmill.  It appears to be an electric gimmick, with a bulb on each of the 4 windmill blades.
I guess it was a novelty to have your name painted on a light bulb?

Another great opportunity to read the wall signs and scan the redemption prizes on the other side of the Skee-Ball parlor.   You can really see the drastic difference in length compared to the contemporary skee-ball games we all play.
The NRA + Eagle symbol to the left of the prizes is a sign for the National Recovery Act, placing this photo in 1933 at the earliest.

Whirl-O-Ball (far left) - a variation on Skee-Ball with the ball making a vertical loop-the-loop then dropping into scoring pockets

Spill The Milk - Knock over the bottles, Win a Kewpie Doll
the conceit of the Milk games is that you have to knock the bottles OFF the table, not just knock them down.  By bottom-loading some of them, it makes the knockable, but very difficult to dislodge from the table.

Spill The Milk brought out the Joe DiMaggio in men - 10₵ for 3 balls – 1930s

sign says: "Patented THE CONY RACE May 15 1923"
The Cony Race – keep hitting the lever to advance your coney (rabbit). The signage called the arcade a CONY RACE. It may have been purposely misspelled from Coney due to copyright or it may have been a mistake.

I am told this was made by Chester Pollard Co of NY
each player gets a hammer mechanism which seems to cause a ball to get popped up in the box immediately in front of each player.  The ball through the hole would propel your correlated rabbit forward.

I am unsure as to the nature of these concessions

spatial illusions similar to the various "Mystery Spots".
ROOM FULL OF JAZZ!  It has the least to do with arcade stuff, but this is probably my favourite photograph of the lot.
Me and those 3 would totally be best friends.

an old ruse: a ladder/bridge with singular pivots on each end quickly teaches people about physics.

Shooting Gallery Targets - they were much harder to hit than they looked, especially the moving targets.

I am told this gallery is made by W.F. Mangels

Skee-Ball and Whirl-O-Ball Galleries next to Topsy's
Having sifted through so many street photos that just show the road, it's refreshing to get a nice shot of the store frontage.   Don't miss the sign at the very left that says "YUM YUM SANDWICHES"

Skee-Ball Barker - 5₵ a game
what a pose!

Bowl for the Bull's Eye!
Roll the balls up an incline and into the designated point value holes to collect as many points as possible.

Arcade Row at Chutes/Playland at the Beach

Arcade Row ran between and under Shoot the Chutes and the Bob Sled Dipper roller coaster.

East side of the Chutes Arcades. The arcades were too narrow, slowing traffic flow. They learned over time.

"Housie Housie Keeno
As Played In France"
Noah’s Ark and the Chutes Lagoon are under construction behind the stand.
Does anyone know the specific rules here?  The stand has a ring of men around it tending to bingo-style cards

Keeno Kiosk – crowds gambling for trinkets
One attendant working a crowd 3-people deep

Windmill game of chance - playing for groceries like hams, flour, coffee and rice

beautiful Fascination parlor frontage

another choice photo, letting us examine the wall signs and redemption prizes available for Fascination.
The Skee-Ball and Fascination signs say their coupons are redeemable at the other stores run by the Whitney Bros.  The economy is that 1 point is equal to 1 cent, so a straightforward exchange of pseudo-money.
Players roll a ball across the table into one of twenty-five holes in the board, lighting up the corresponding light on the display. The ball is then rolled back to the player. The first player who completes a row in any direction wins.

Monkey Pinball!  Use the lever on the side of your little machine to (I presume) pop the ball up and if it goes in to the proper channel your monkey advances.  
Playing for ceramic dishes and figurines.  The monkeys climbed their poles per the scores earned on the respective pinball devices. First monkey to the top won!

Bonus photo:  this is a rifle from the Playland Shooting Gallery, pre 1960.  James purchased at after they upgraded to semi-automatic rifles. (restored to like-new condition)