In 1865, John Leibrandt opened a public bath house near the mouth of the San Lorenzo River. The craze started; folks began streaming to the beach in search of its therapeutic salt-water powers. Seeing the potential in this sudden flood of interest, an entrepreneur by the name of Fred W. Swanton opened a boardwalk and casino patterned after the great Coney Island and Atlantic City locales; but it fell prey to fire on June 22, 1906. Not one to let such small matters stand in the way of a rip-roarin' good time, Swanton raised funds to debut the boardwalk again--exactly one year later.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk celebrates its 90th Anniversary with a summer season of new thrills and spectacular events. We met up with Public Relations Coordinator Jan Bollwinkel-Smith in the afternoon to pick up a press kit with the details. Jan was familiar with the Coast-2-Coast Coaster Tour already; we visited last year and explored the nuances of the Giant Dipper.

One reason that the Boardwalk is so successful stems from efforts to blend vintage and modern attractions. Witness the juxtapositioning of the classic wooden Dipper with the stunning new technological fright-fest Chaos.

Looking somewhat like the roulette wheel from hell, Chaos truly defies gravity by tumbling riders head over heels and back again while spinning 40 feet above the Boardwalk. We rode this first; it rocks. It actually does a lot more than rock--but you need to watch the video clips for proof.

Get a gander at CHAOS in action!! [989K (34 seconds)] chaos101.avi

We also happened to land in Santa Cruz on one of the hottest days of the year, prompting us to step off of the Boardwalk and onto the sands that were also a hot item those first summers at the turn of the century. With the cool ocean water lapping at our heels, we took in the beautiful scenery and wished the park a Happy 90th Birthday.

With time rushing along, we headed out to nearby Front Street where we dined at Positively Front Street, uploaded our digital pictures and made plans to head across the mountains to another event already in progress.