Take a Last Ride on the Slide Before it Chutes into History

August 13, 2010

The Giant Slide – that big, huge wavy banana-like structure near the Flower & Garden Pavilion where you get potato-sack burns on your…well, where you get potato sack burns – is celebrating its 45th anniversary at the L.A. County Fair – and it’s last.
After nearly half a century at the Fair, the Giant Slide is retiring. It’s going to spend the rest of its days with the metal slide with sharp edges that I played on when I was a kid, the one that gave me third-degree burns sliding under the Inland Valley heat, and the twisty pool slide my cousins had that usually landed us on the cement edge of the pool rather than in the pool. Retirement homes for slides – Slideview Farms, Chute Chateau, The Swoosh Inn. Who knew?
With the Giant Slide headed for social security, that means you must take one last ride during this year’s Fair! Grab a bunch of friends. Wear silly hats. Make faces as you whoosh over each bump. Enjoy the last thrills of an old Fair friend.
What are you memories of riding the Giant Slide?

15 Comments

  1. I can’t believe it’s going away! I am just a couple years younger than the slide. I remember it was always my favorite thing to do. When I was little I had to ride with my father and as I got older I began going on by myself and then by teenage friends and I would race to see who would win going down. I feel sad that new generations will not experience such a fun simple ride. Farewell my friend.

  2. No……Why, Why, Why???
    Not our Giant Slide…That I and my children have had the pleasure of going down for the last…well for a long time, anyway.
    Sad to see anouther child/adult memory bite the dust !!
    P.s. What’s going to take it’s place???

  3. Hopefully, Fair-Fairy, whatever goes in that sacred place, will be just as awesome and give generations to come very fond memories !!

  4. How sad, I guess our beloved fair is turning into just another fair.

  5. This is terrible news. My parents took me on it as a child, my kids can’t wait to ride it every year. If you’re 3 or 63, its still one of the best attractions. Its a fair tradition since 1965. Those portable slides with the walls just aren’t as fun.
    Is it because it doesn’t make a lot of money like the other carnival ride? That’s no reason to get rid of it. Why can’t you move it to a new location? It is so crowded this year with the fun zone moved up. Get rid of some of those silly rides and games and you’ll have room for the Big Slide! What’s next to go? The model trains? The Animals? Don’t go all commercial, keep some traditions: keep the Big Slide.

  6. Is there a petition to save the slide? You’d get a few thousand every week. Why can’t they move it somewhere else? There are plenty of locations where it wouldn’t be in the way of the year round programs. Come on Fair directors: Save The Slide!!!!

  7. SOS!!! Save our Slide!!! This just can’t be happening!!!!!The giant slide is my most favorite thing at the fair…forget all the fried food…keep the slide. The portable sildes are not special like the giant slide is! It is a STAPLE to the LA Fair. This is so wrong on so many levels, please don’t ruin this Fair Tradition!!

  8. What a Shame to see such an “ICON” as the Giant Slide be taken away! I was born in Pomona in 1957. I’m just 8yrs older than the Ole’ Giant Slide, so it’s been in my life as far back as I can remember. I’ve attended the Los Angeles County Fair there at the Pomona Fairgrounds many of my 52 yrs in some capacity or another! From an exibitor, to an employee. It has always been such a ‘Comfort’ to see my Ole’ Friend just sitting there where it’s always been. Hard to belive that it is being ‘Retired’ in sted of being ‘Relocated’. I say: “To Heck w/technology, and any newfangled ‘portable’ slides… just keep the Good Ole’ Giant Slide, and Relocate it if its space is needed… I feel as many do, it’s being discarded because it’s not a money maker… I challenge those powers to be to put it to a vote, the majority would say that we want to keep our Beloved Giant Slide… can’t it just be relocated???

  9. Thats what the Fair needs, an Auto Row. (sarcasm)
    They got rid of the food court from the 30s. They got rid of the
    central clock where you could wait for friends. They are getting rid of the slide. What is left to remove? Hmm.. the grand stand that’s historic, remove that it likely has termites.
    Maybe if the giant slide was digital they would keep it.

  10. SAVE THE GIANT SLIDE!
    I’ve been riding that slide since I was a baby.
    No other slide can compare to the Giant Slide. It’s just epic.
    I don’t care that it’s in the way; it needs to stay. 🙁

  11. Sign the petition! Let’s try to save our slide! Even if it doesn’t work, at least we can say we tried! 🙂
    http://www.petitiononline.com/TheSlide/petition.html

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