From K-QED.

Try to imagine the first time you saw the lights of an amusement park, twinkling in the night sky.

To me, those lights meant fun with my family, fried food, but most importantly, rides.

The scarier the better. Throughout the last hundred years or so, amusement parks like Marine World, Neptune's Beach,

Great America, and Discovery Kingdom have dotted the landscape here in the Bay Area.

A few are still around, but most have closed for good.

And actually in a few years, California's Great America in Santa Clara will become the next to close its gates.

But even after the lights of the Ferris wheel dim, something is left behind from these parks.

This week we remember two amusement parks that have etched themselves into the

imaginations of generations of Bay Area residents. Idora Park in Oakland and San Francisco's

playland at the beach.

I'm Olivia Allen Price, you're listening to Bay Curious.

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This week on Bay Curious, we look back at Bay Area Amusement Parks of Yesteryear. Here's reporter Christopher Beale.

In 1900, Oakland was bustling with activity.

The Model T was still a few years away so cars weren't super commonplace yet and the streets buzzed with bicycle and trolley traffic.

The main street car around Oakland in those days was the San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose

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