<p>Oh wow-- all these memories! Yes that restaurant is one of the memories by the water! I also remember the boat docks, for some reason. Interesting how many of teh rides then migrated to Disney/Epcot. More interesting (well to me) is that the Disney/Small World exhibit was sponsored by Pepsi. And the Worlds Fair had both Pepsi and Coca Cola venues. Disney now has exclusivity with Coca Cola, IIRC.</p>
<p>2/3/11
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<p>[Feminist</a> Wire Daily Newsbriefs: U.S. and Global News Coverage](<a href=“News & Opinion Archives - Ms. Magazine”>News & Opinion Archives - Ms. Magazine)</p>
<p>There was a whole lot about this case in the news at the time.
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<p>1950s
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<p>[History</a> Engine: Tools for Collaborative Education and Research | Episodes](<a href=“http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5272]History”>http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/5272)
…</p>
<p>excerpt from interesting article on race relations in PA</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/events/4279/civil_rights_movement/532945[/url]”>http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/events/4279/civil_rights_movement/532945</a></p>
<p>As Seattle was preparing to host the Worlds Fair, MLKjr spoke at my daughters high school the previous November in 1961 .
King also lectured at the Eagles hall, & at Temple de Hirsch, it was his only visit to Seattle.
This is the only Worlds fair I’ve attended.
[i</a> miss the Bubbleator](<a href=“http://kcts9.org/when-seattle-invented-future-1962-worlds-fair]i”>http://kcts9.org/when-seattle-invented-future-1962-worlds-fair)</p>
<p>I went to the Hemisfair in San Antonio on Spring Break in 1968. It opened April 6, 2 days after MLK Jr. was assassinated.</p>
<p>I lost an entire group of friends when one insisted that there was no need to teach our kids about racial discrimination, segregation, etc. because it was “ancient history” and I took offense. </p>
<p>Seeing as I have living in-laws who experienced segregation first hand, it most certainly is NOT ancient history. It is, however, played down in many schools-when my older D was in about 4th grade back east, her entire study of MLK that year was a crossword puzzle. </p>
<p>It’s easy to find the history of minorities unimaginable if we’ve never learned about it in the first place.</p>
<p>What a coincidence-Cedar Point was just on the CBS evening news! They were profiling a 64 year old guy who is supposedly the best guy in the world at winning carnival games. He has won thousands and thousands of toys over the years (I think they said actually 1/4 million but I could be wrong on that) and gives them all to numerous charities.
Also, growing up in Pennsylvania, there certainly was self segregation(via neighborhood) and racial issues.</p>
<p>I’m coming late to this thread, but I just had to share what our family considers one of our greatest accomplishments. On my oldest’s 18th bday we all went to Disneyland. In one day, on a Thursday in June, we went on 30 rides! Never have come close before or since, but she had it planned, we took along a cousin who was a fast pass expert, and we even ate lunch at the Pirate’s of the Caribbean restaurant. It was a magical day.</p>
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<p>I was born in 1964, not 1950. I still remember my parents and grandparents discussing their travels to the south and the segregated facilities, water fountains, lunch counters, and so forth, and how disgusted they were by how backwards it was. My white grandfather worked side by side at a steel factory with black men. They rode the buses together, they worked together, ate lunch together, and so forth. Yes, there were riots in northern cities at time, which was shameful, but don’t EVEN try to give me some made-up story that that’s just as bad as a system that treated black people as sub-human where they couldn’t even sit where they wanted to on a bus or a restaurant or drink from the same water fountain. These things aren’t morally equivalent, at all.</p>
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<p>It’s funny you should say that, because I actually used to swim at the Valley Club growing up. And of course that incident was ridiculous and shameful. But again, it also falls under isolated incident by a bunch of loudmouths, which is not the same thing as widespread blacks-can’t-eat-at-the-lunch-counter.</p>
<p>My mother has a close friend who grew up in San Antonio. They went down to SA for a visit and were enjoying a lunch along the Riverwalk. It so happened that a black family sat next to them. The friend said to my mother, “Isn’t it nice that they can eat here?” My mother was perplexed and said, “They? What do you mean by they? What are you talking about?” Her friend motioned to the black family and said, “You know, them. When I was growing up, they couldn’t have come and eaten in a restaurant alongside us.” My mother - having grown up in a normal part of the country - was appalled, because in her normal part of the country, people ate wherever the heck they wanted to. </p>
<p>Oh, but I forgot, it’s politically incorrect to suggest that certain parts of the country were a lot more backwards than others when it comes to these things.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - so glad you grew up in a “normal” part of the country. Very happy for you.</p>
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Maybe … but I bet I can take him at “Whack a Mole”. For my kids one of their favorite memories of trips to Canobie Lake Park (in southern NH) is Dad winning at WTM all the time … they don’t remember the winning so much but how goofy I look playing.</p>
<p>PizzaGirl, we must have grown up near each other if you were able to swim at the Valley Club. I did not know of it when I was a kid (I lived on the other side of the tracks 
) but I know where it is now.</p>
<p>As far as it being a “normal” part of the country, well, unfortunately very often people learn what they see. I grew up in an integrated community, with parents who taught me that skin color doesn’t matter. I don’t mean just giving lip service, but my dad won an award from the NAACP for his work on race relations. A lot of people’s parents may have said that skin color didn’t matter, but kids learn what they see and learn from how their parents treat other people.</p>
<p>Similarly, if you grew up in the South and everyone around you treated blacks like second class citizens, it would be harder for you to realize that that behavior was wrong. Like the story above from San antonio. I was shocked the first time I was in Charlotte and a grocery store customer referred to the check-out bagger, an older black man, as “boy.” It made my skin crawl. But that person had probably grown up hearing virtually everyone use that reference. It doesn’t, however, make it right, back then nor especially today!</p>
<p>Ahh . . Cape May!</p>
<p>RobD, I am a kindred spirit. I am an only child too and we went to CM on vacation. My dad could not take the sun, but mom and I would hang out on our blanket, no other kids. Not very exciting. We NEVER went to Wildwood, only Frank’s Arcade, which I loved. Skee-ball and pinball. Morrow’s Nut House, the COnvention Center, and the restaurant which overlooked the beach - what was it called?</p>
<p>Mom and Dad’s idea of a good time on vacation was to dress us up and go to Watson’s Merion Inn. Always an hour wait and I got one SHirley Temple to occupy myself with for that interminable time! </p>
<p>Our kids have had many trips to HersheyPark and Dutch Wonderland and we have many happy memories of those days. I do find myself now and again wondering if I have provided enough family memories. (i.e. waking up in a cold sweat at night regretting that we never got to the Grand Canyon, or any wester National Parks, etc. Where did I go wrong?? 
)</p>
<p>Anyone been to Wonderland on the Ocean City NJ boardwalk? It was the first amusement park our kids went to. We bought a TON of tickets for them. The rides were very kid friendly. We were back there last summer too…so much fun.</p>
<p>I grew up in Asbury Park, NJ, so every summer day was a carnival. I would hoard quarters to play pinball, and spent many hours just wandering around with my friends, trying to grab the golden ring at the Palace, goofing around in the funhouses in either the Palace or the Casino, and spending each sunny day at the beach. Ocean City and Wildwood were fun for a change of pace, but my parents had no need to take us there often.</p>
<p>DH and I used to take our kids on an annual “Weird NJ” trip at the end of every summer. We went to Margate to see Lucy the Elephant, and to Northlandz (an elaborate miniature railway town). Our favorite of these trips was when we combined “Space Farms” with “Wild West City.” We felt like the Griswolds in “Vacation,” and we have great pictures and memories of a totally ridiculous vacation. These were the most stress-free “mini vacations” we’ve ever spent together, and we have a lifetime of inside jokes to bind us together.</p>
<p>Wow. HotCanary! Pretty impressive that you’ve been a member since 2008, and chose this as your second post!</p>
<p>Grew up going to Ocean City, NJ every summer and know Wonderland well. Buy your tix at Xmas or Easter for discounts. I think you can do this online now.</p>
<p>There used to be one weekend prior to the start of the season when you could get Wonderland tickets for 1/2 price. We would get each kid a certain number of tickets that day. </p>
<p>We love that OC boardwalk with all of the goodies…yum…salt water taffy, frozen custard, fudge, and really good pizza!</p>
<p>We went to the New York world’s fair during what I think was a long layover on our way to a posting to Somalia. I remember two things: the touch tone telephone and the computer that played tic-tac-toe.</p>
<p>OC was our go-to family beach visit with the kids for several years. My middle D still wants a hermit crab!</p>
<p>Did Wildwood/Cape May for the first time this year - meh on the first, loved the second.</p>
<p><as far="" as="" it="" being="" a="" “normal”="" part="" of="" the="" country,="" well,="" unfortunately="" very="" often="" people="" learn="" what="" they="" see.="">></as></p>
<p>Very true. It is really unfair to make sweeping generalizations. </p>
<p>My father-in-law (my husband’s step-father) lived his entire life in PA. And he was the most horrifically bigoted, chauvinistic, racist person I have ever encountered. He was so bad that I eventually refused to have my young sons anywhere near him. Yes, it made things rather strained, but DH supported and agreed with me completely. </p>
<p>On the flip side, my maternal grandmother (born and raised in Arkansas) ran a grocery store in Natchez, Miss in the mid-late '40s, and a majority of her customers were black because my grandmother insisted that my mother (and her sister) deliver groceries to ALL their customers, black and white alike. This was something other shopkeepers refused to do. My grandmother also extended credit to her ALL customers when times were tough and accepted items from her customer’s gardens for payments when that was the only option people had. </p>
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<p>Back to amusement parks - I loved going to Pontchartrain Beach in New Orleans in my youth. There was a POP (Pay One Price) deal that let my brother and I go all day for a single entry ticket in the summer. Not a roller coaster fan, but I loved rides that go around in circles. My children (now college age) have never been to Disney World, but my oldest went to Disneyland on a high school band trip and both went to Disney Paris when they were in elementary school.</p>