West View Park Pt. 1

West View, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, once had an amazing traditional amusement park called West View Park.  It had some memorable wooden roller coasters, classic flat rides, and even a handful of darkrides. West View operated from 1906-1977; I wish it was still open, as I would've been practically able to bike there from where I live! The area where the park was is a very plain-looking shopping center today, but the memory of the place lives on.

What's now a parking lot was once a wonderland of fun...

One of the things that help people remember this amusement park that closed over 40 years ago can be found in this neighborhood diner and deli shop, Isaly's. All along the wall are pictures of the park when it was in its heyday as well as the roughly decade of abandonment it had after its closure.

 One of the things that West View did to try to drum up some attention in its later years was to add an antique car ride, seen here. However, in the end, they realized that they just couldn't compete with parks such as Kennywood and Cedar Point, which were adding million-dollar attractions.

Here's a news story of the park in its final (non-operable) years. Vandals burned some structures down, but early coaster fan clubs still went and checked things out. They even took one last ride on the kiddie coaster by pushing the car to the top of its hill and letting it go!

There's a community center right across the street from here that has some more artifacts of the park. We'll be taking a look at that tomorrow.