Trailer Park Casanova
10-07-2003, 04:49 PM
We used to boat in San Diego around Ski Island. Nice place.
Staying at the Bahia Hotel with it's own beach, ya felt like you were the only guests there. At night,, romantic,, fun,, a great place ya never read about.
The PWC's ran us off.
You could all tell me the same PWC stories so I'll spare you mine.
When there, after a day of boating, we loved to visit Pacific Beach watering holes.
The Coaster Saloon, and the Pennant my favorite (gotta mention the ol Tugs too).
We'd always pass an abandon, delapidating, seaside wooden roller coaster, The Giant Dipper.
It hadn't seen any riders in years, maybe decades, was fenced off,,, falling apart, winos starting fires and almost burning it down. Sad site.
The same thoughts went through my head every time we passed it; Man, it would be so cool to restore it and get it running again.
I caught a little story in the local fishrap mentioning a group determined to buy the Giant Dipper, and restore it.
That was it,, I was in.
The people leading this effort were awsum charismatic leaders. Ya just fell into lock step and we steamrolled any effort to defeat us.
The rollercoaster was owned by a guy that owed the City of San Diego $100,000 in back rent. The city attny shut down any business adventure this guy got into until they recieved their 100G's.
The leaders of the effort to restore the coaster convinced the city to forgive the rent if the owner would sign the coaster over to the group for restoration, and the City would own the end result. They also secured 2 million in historical site restoration funds from some backwater, unknown to most, gov't agency.
The city, and the dead beat owner jumped on the deal.
I can't take any credit other than being a volunteer laborer and helping out with some fund raising before the big money was secured. I wrote some stories for their newsletter that amazingly got me marriage proposals in the mail. I had fun.
When things wern't looking to bright,, we all had a picnic at the coaster, and started to clean it up.
We went into the first tunnel, and found a door that we got opened and there were the coaster trains, sitting on moveable track.
Did we push them out and up a hill on the track and ride them???? Hell yes,, and what a blast.
Bunch of drunks riding a beat up coaster in the night. No seat belts, no lap bars, just beer, sandwitches and cigarettes in our hands.
Amazing we survived it.
Once restoration began,, it was decided to build a little museum alongside the coaster.
The coaster was built in the mid 1920's by two guys named Prior and Church. Prior the designer and engineer, Church the builder.
These guys were sharp,, and wooden roller coasters today used their innovations that were first used in San Diego.
I did a search and found who the construction foreman on the job was. In 1925 he pulled the $188 dollar building permit. He was a guy named Fred C. Koth, from Van Nuys Calif.
I thought,, Hummmm, maybe Koth had some surviving kin that may have a picture or two,, or some knowledge of the coasters construction.
I picked up the phone book,, and found a Fred Koth jr. in Van Nuys. Long shot,,, maybe a son.
I dialed the number and a little ladys voice came on the phone and I asked for Fred. She asked what it was about. I asked if he was the son of the guy that built roller coasters along the Calif coast in the 1920's?
She said: "No,, he IS the guy,, they had no sons."
She put him on the phone,, I told him my tale and he invited me over to talk.
What a character. When I arrived,, he was with a neighbor his age (mid 90's), and they were splitting shingles,, soaking them in some solution,, drying them,, then fixing their roofs.
The neighbor was a bit part actor that used to appear in WC Fields movies. He played the bank clerk in the movie " The Bank Dick", and the ships engineer in the WC Fields movie; "The Big Broadcast".
These ol Jaspers were fixing their own roofs.
Koth went on to the studios to be in charge of the Universal Studios Special Effects Dept after his coaster gig and was one of the funniest guys I've ever met.
A wealth of knowledge on the coaster.
Sharp as a new razor with info,,, like he just finished building it. (It was built in 60 days).
[ October 08, 2003, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: Trailer Park Casanova ]
Staying at the Bahia Hotel with it's own beach, ya felt like you were the only guests there. At night,, romantic,, fun,, a great place ya never read about.
The PWC's ran us off.
You could all tell me the same PWC stories so I'll spare you mine.
When there, after a day of boating, we loved to visit Pacific Beach watering holes.
The Coaster Saloon, and the Pennant my favorite (gotta mention the ol Tugs too).
We'd always pass an abandon, delapidating, seaside wooden roller coaster, The Giant Dipper.
It hadn't seen any riders in years, maybe decades, was fenced off,,, falling apart, winos starting fires and almost burning it down. Sad site.
The same thoughts went through my head every time we passed it; Man, it would be so cool to restore it and get it running again.
I caught a little story in the local fishrap mentioning a group determined to buy the Giant Dipper, and restore it.
That was it,, I was in.
The people leading this effort were awsum charismatic leaders. Ya just fell into lock step and we steamrolled any effort to defeat us.
The rollercoaster was owned by a guy that owed the City of San Diego $100,000 in back rent. The city attny shut down any business adventure this guy got into until they recieved their 100G's.
The leaders of the effort to restore the coaster convinced the city to forgive the rent if the owner would sign the coaster over to the group for restoration, and the City would own the end result. They also secured 2 million in historical site restoration funds from some backwater, unknown to most, gov't agency.
The city, and the dead beat owner jumped on the deal.
I can't take any credit other than being a volunteer laborer and helping out with some fund raising before the big money was secured. I wrote some stories for their newsletter that amazingly got me marriage proposals in the mail. I had fun.
When things wern't looking to bright,, we all had a picnic at the coaster, and started to clean it up.
We went into the first tunnel, and found a door that we got opened and there were the coaster trains, sitting on moveable track.
Did we push them out and up a hill on the track and ride them???? Hell yes,, and what a blast.
Bunch of drunks riding a beat up coaster in the night. No seat belts, no lap bars, just beer, sandwitches and cigarettes in our hands.
Amazing we survived it.
Once restoration began,, it was decided to build a little museum alongside the coaster.
The coaster was built in the mid 1920's by two guys named Prior and Church. Prior the designer and engineer, Church the builder.
These guys were sharp,, and wooden roller coasters today used their innovations that were first used in San Diego.
I did a search and found who the construction foreman on the job was. In 1925 he pulled the $188 dollar building permit. He was a guy named Fred C. Koth, from Van Nuys Calif.
I thought,, Hummmm, maybe Koth had some surviving kin that may have a picture or two,, or some knowledge of the coasters construction.
I picked up the phone book,, and found a Fred Koth jr. in Van Nuys. Long shot,,, maybe a son.
I dialed the number and a little ladys voice came on the phone and I asked for Fred. She asked what it was about. I asked if he was the son of the guy that built roller coasters along the Calif coast in the 1920's?
She said: "No,, he IS the guy,, they had no sons."
She put him on the phone,, I told him my tale and he invited me over to talk.
What a character. When I arrived,, he was with a neighbor his age (mid 90's), and they were splitting shingles,, soaking them in some solution,, drying them,, then fixing their roofs.
The neighbor was a bit part actor that used to appear in WC Fields movies. He played the bank clerk in the movie " The Bank Dick", and the ships engineer in the WC Fields movie; "The Big Broadcast".
These ol Jaspers were fixing their own roofs.
Koth went on to the studios to be in charge of the Universal Studios Special Effects Dept after his coaster gig and was one of the funniest guys I've ever met.
A wealth of knowledge on the coaster.
Sharp as a new razor with info,,, like he just finished building it. (It was built in 60 days).
[ October 08, 2003, 01:17 PM: Message edited by: Trailer Park Casanova ]