Scenic Railway roller coaster
Haight Street Chutes
On November 2, 1895, a Chutes park opens on Haight Street with a 350-foot
Shoot the Chutes and a refreshment stand, and, soon, a
Scenic Railway roller coaster, a carousel, shooting gallery,
penny arcade and 3,000 seat theater to showcase vaudeville acts.
Charles Ackerman, an attorney for several City railways, has two trolley
lines at the gates of his new Fulton Street Chutes in 1902. The Fulton
Chutes has a zoo, a Ferris wheel and a 4,000 seat theater and remains
popular through the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Cover of "Chutes San Francisco"
Fulton Street Chutes
Fillmore Street Chutes with Devil's Slide
Coney Island Park opens in the Fillmore in 1907 with 40 concessions that
embrace everything from musical pleasures to snake taming. After Charles
Ackerman dies, his son Irving moves the Chutes to the Coney Island Park
site in 1909. The Fillmore Chutes adds rides like the Devil’s Slide, a
zoo, an aquarium, a dance pavilion and a theater for motion pictures and
vaudeville.
Image courtesy of Ink Mendelsohn
"Out in San Francisco, where the weather’s fair
They have a dance out there, they call the Grizzly Bear."
“Sophie Tucker at the Chutes theater creates a genuine furore with her
rendition of ‘The Dance of the Grizzly Bear,’ ‘Casey Jones’ and other ditties.”
-- SAN FRANCISCO DAILY NEWS
A serious fire and changing times close the last Chutes in 1911.
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