escape from—here guests can wonder through,” he said. “The carnival area might be noisy with all the people and lights, but then you wonder into the handcarved circus and there may be just a few people there reading the information quietly with a little bit of the circus soundtrack in the background. There are no audio narratives at the exhibits so guests can hear others talk about their experiences going to Playland At The Beach or other roadside amusement parks.” Keeping Playland Not At The Beach low tech is something Biafore and his fellow volunteers maintain on purpose. “Coming here is a chance for kids to experience games and not just playing at a computer,” he shared. “Sometimes I’ll ask kids if they have ever played pinball and they will often tell me they have on their computer— but that is not actually playing pinball.” Touching the machine, feeling the vibrations as the ball rolls within, seeing the lights flash, and hearing the bells as you score points is all part of the experience of playing the authentic game, Biafore described. “It is a whole sensory experience that you just can’t get playing a simulated version on the computer.” This is the goal throughout the whole facility, to give people a place to slow down and experience hands-on fun from a simpler. In addition to their regular operating hours on the weekends and many holidays, private parties are very popular. From bar mitzvahs and baby showers to celebration of life parties and school field trips, Biafore said they’ve hosted a wide variety of events. “We’ve even had two actual weddings and a divorce party—I’d like to mention that the divorce party was not related to either of the weddings,” he laughed. With all the different parties, community groups and organizations they have hosted over the years, birthday parties are the most popular. “We’ve had a number of first birthdays, especially,” he added. “Families just love it cause we are great for family members of all ages.” Approaching their eighth year in operation, Playland Not At The Beach actually began nearly sixteen years ago as one man’s desire to display and enjoy mementoes from his childhood. The late Richard Tuck, founder and the creative mind behind Playland Not At The Beach who passed away in 2011 from cancer, had a childhood full of memories from the original Playland. “He had parties there when he was a kid,” Biafore shared. “We had this extra space in our building—we use to have a job placement company here—and Richard decided that he always wanted to have a space for fun.” Starting with a few pinball machines and a juke box, Biafore said Richard and his fellow colleagues would call the space Richard’s warehouse or play space. “One night a friend of ours said to Richard, ‘Well it’s not your play space; it’s your play land.’ Then Richard said that it was, but not at the beach,” Biafore described. “The name stuck and word started to spread about this mysterious place.” Once word of Playland Not At The Beach began to spread, Biafore said they started to receive calls and people showing up at the door wanting to give them Playland memorabilia. “That is when we got the idea to become a nonprofit museum and we kind of become a repository for all of this different Playland memorabilia,” he explained. “Becoming a nonprofit allowed people to take advantage of having a tax right off for the things
Contra Costa Marketplace - June 2016
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