It’s been 40 years since Playland at the Beach closed down, but many of the colorful artifacts from the amusement park often resurface around the neighborhood.
Several weeks ago, this Playland clown head appeared, eerily lit, in the window of the old Busvan for Bargains store on Clement Street near 4th Avenue, with this sign accompanying it:
One of the nine heads suspended from the ceiling of the main building in San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach, this clown reflects the Fun House’s theme and admonition: “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; cry – and you cry alone”. It was removed when Playland was demolished in 1972 to make room for progress. We are still waiting.* In the 1980’s, the mechanism and detailing of the figure was restored. This is the first time since Playland’s closing that it is again able to enjoy distressing children in the Richmond.
The distressing part may be that the clown’s eyes actually move back and forth (watch the quick clip below). I can almost hear Laughing Sal in the background…
Sarah B.
*I find this statement a little rich considering that the Busvan for Bargains space has been empty for how many years now? 10? 15? How about making some progress to find a tenant…
Thank you Sarah, I am now under my bed trembling with fear, eyes darting all over the place, jumping at every little noise….
^ Lol creepy, right?!
Sarah – that clown is SCARY for adults too! And I totally agree about the “progress” comment, since that storefront has been empty for years & years….. it’s too bad they won’t even do some pop-up stores in there for holidays! I’d much rather be able to walk to Clement to shop for things then leave the area to spend my money…..
Well, there have been a few pop-up stores in at least part of the Busvan site. There was the Green Apple Annex a few years ago, and the temporarily relocated art gallery. Grain d’Or and Park Life have taken much of Busvan’s space. So you can’t blame them for complete dereliction of duty. But yes, it’s still pretty crummy.
Someone was talking about a bike maintenance co-op… but that probably wouldn’t pay much rent.
Good on @Alai for mentioning all the excellent post-Busvan tenants. I’ve lived here since Churchill (the pub, not the PM) and I simply do not get the Busvan (“Thriftstore Quality at Boutique Prices”) love. Does anyone else remember the $40 Cardboard Chair?
Um, Alyxandr, when my family first moved here we wouldn’t have survived without Busvan. It was a lifesaver. We were broke. Ran away from abuse with little. And had no car, I personally LUGGED much of the furniture home and busvan allowed me to do it with their dolly. The salespeople also genuinely got to know & like my family.
They had used furniture as well as new, and certainly all of it was not cardboard. I still have much of it.
That being said, GREAT ARTICLE.
@fiddles, I agree the staff was great, and I wasn’t suggesting that “all of it was cardboard” — I’m referring to a specific window display that ran for quite a while in the early ’90’s. Just wasn’t as unreservedly awesome as some people remember, is all I’m saying.
I would like this in my home.
Now distressing children AND adults from the Richmond to the East Coast! I can’t wait for this post to slip off of the opening pages so I can avoid seeing it anymore…that clown is, like mentioned above, indeed creepy! 😉
From what I know, the Busvan buildings are not seismically safe. The property owner is probably waiting for the Supes to try to float a bond issue (again, third time might be a charm) making taxpayers pick up the tab for improvements to privately owned commercial properties.
I stopped shopping Busvan by the late 80s as their selection was not what it had been, not sure if the estate buyer left/retired but the prices went up sharply as compared to the 70s and early 80s and the pickings just weren’t as nice as they had been.
I miss Playland, the Fun House and the tamales.
It’s not vacant, it’s an art gallery!
It’s a tragedy they closed Playland. No one is happy about it. How could they have been so stupid to let such a great place close for a bunch of apartments. They should admit their mistake and tear those apartments down and reopen Playland, or take over part of the Park for it. It was wonderful. I alway shope one day they’ll be big enough to acknowledge they made a huge mistake. Ed Lee and Eric Mar should work to reopen Playland.
I seem to recall a proposed mixed-use project (three stories of residential above ground commercial) planned for the main Busvan building that may have been sidelined by NIMBY’s, the merchant’s association or the City. The owner originally had plans for “progress” — build residential housing (customers for Clement) with parking and provide modern, up-to-code commercial space — but the plans may have been shelved for a variety of reasons.
Found this archived article from “The Sunset Beacon” :
http://www.sunsetbeacon.com/archives/richmondreview/2002editions/April02/busvan.html
Gotta love the quotes from the shortsighted merchants in the article.
@C.P. – Very interesting, thanks for finding that. Yes, I would say that was pretty short-sighted and knee-jerky, but hindsight is always 20-20. A mixed use complex, like what they want to do on the back lot of the Alexandria, would probably have worked well there. As it is now, finding an appropriate retailer for that large, dark space is pretty near impossible.
One friend of mine suggested a gym which could be great, but I imagine parking would be an obstacle to that as well…
Sarah B.