Remembering the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

If you lived in the Bay Area growing up, there’s a 99 percent chance that the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was your go-to destination in the summer.

The Boardwalk is set a ways from downtown Santa Cruz on Highway 17, right on the water. It’s a strip of ancient rollercoasters, garlic fry stands and pre-teens walking around in bikinis. Most of the rides are questionable at best – The Giant Dipper rollercoaster is the park’s main attraction and is entirely made of wood.

Other notable rides include “The Fireball” which essentially is designed to make you throw up.

I had my first experience at the Boardwalk when I was quite young and still terrified of rides. If I remember correctly, I spent the entire day screaming and crying, comforted only by a caramel apple.

The next experience I have clear memories of is going to the Boardwalk for a friend’s birthday when I was about 13. It took all day, but my friends finally convinced me to go on the afore mentioned Giant Dipper, and what do you know, I LOVED it.

I rode it about 5 more times, which annoyed the hell out of the girls I was with since I’d had all day and they were trying to leave.

After that, the Boardwalk became a pretty big part of my life.

One of my good friends in high school had a beach house right on the water and we started spending time there on our own, because we were devastatingly mature.

Some really cool sophomores

We would spend the day on the Boardwalk trying to meet boys and then admit defeat at night and head home to soak in the hot tub.

A huge part of being at the Boardwalk is the palpable excitement in the air. All the teens and tweens are desperately trying to hook up with one another, parents are trying to contain their small children, small children are trying to get on rides, and grandparents just want to sit in the damn shade.

The Boardwalk has also been the site of a few more dramatic moments. A high school boyfriend took me there and uttered the three words every junior wants to hear the most, “I love you,” while we were hanging upside down on the spinning ferris wheel.

A friend and I sat on the beach and she told me about struggling with depression. Most recently, I visited the Boardwalk with my sister and one of her friends while on vacation from boarding school. It was the first time my sister and I had spent time together in months, and there was nowhere more perfect to spend it.

Getting on the gondola that flies high over the whole Boardwalk never fails to make me choke up as I realize how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place. The smell of fried dough and the sound of seagulls will always bring me back to this childhood haunt of mine.

It may be a long time before I dare to take on The Fireball again, but I’ll never forget the times, both good and bad, that I spent on that strip of wood and sand.