Fond Memories

Thanks for the Palisades DVD...

Dear Vince,

I just wanted to write to you to let you know that I received your email regarding my order for the DVD about Palisades Amusement Park and to thank you for responding to my order so fast and for also mailing the DVD to me so quickly. I can not tell you how thrilled I was to go to my mailbox today just a few days after ordering the DVD and finding the DVD in my mailbox. I was so excited and I could not wait to open it up and watch it which I did immediately. This was the very first time I had ever seen this documentary on Palisades and I can not tell you how wonderful it was to see the park after all of these years. It really brought back some fond and happy memories for me just like the title of the DVD says. Seeing the park, my favorite rides, the old footage of some of the many famous rock bands that performed there on the stage as at the park and my mother Mickey also happened to have been a contestant once in the Mrs. America Pageant where she came in third place, not to mention the many other wonderful film clips from the many events that went on at the park over the years and hearing the Little Miss America Pageant song which I sang along with as I watched the DVD plus hearing the the old radio jingle for the park which I also sang along with and the many other wonderful songs written about the park especially Boom Boom Freddie Cannon singing his great hit Palisades Park which I also sang along with was just wonderful to see and hear because it was just like reliving my childhood all over again way back in the 1960's. When I was watching the DVD it made me wish that I could turn back the hands of time again and be right back there at Palisades Amusement Park again with my family enjoying ourselves and having fun just like we always used to do. Watching the DVD , I also learned many interesting facts about Palisades history that I had never known before which I found to be wonderful and very interesting and I also loved seeing the film clips and old photos of the many people and famous celebrities that had gone to Palisades that I had never seen before. Seeing the famous faces of the many celebrities that were also interviewed for this biography was so wonderful and seeing Cousin Brucie after all of these years was great. I can remember once meeting him years ago when I was a teenager growing up in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey but today. I now live in South Florida where I moved in 1977. I also was happy to see Sonny Fox being interviewed also because I remember always watching his tv show Wonderama . In fact back in the 1960's my brother Michael had a rock and roll band named The Splynters which were sort of like The Beatles at that time and they once appeared performing live on Wonderama. I also enjoyed seeing Soupy Sales being interviewed. I can remember always watching his tv show when I was a kid to and I even had a magazine back then with his photo on the front cover which today I still have a photo showing me holding up that magazine. And I was very surprised to find out that the famous comic/actor Buddy Hackett once worked as a security guard at Palisades which I never knew. I also think it was wonderful that John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful also shared his fun memories of the park. The Loving Spoonful was a wonderful band and they had some great hits back then but I don't really recall ever seeing them perform at Palisades but like I told you in a letter that I wrote to you on September 6, 2004 about my fond memories of the park which I titled "The Best Park Ever!" which I also happened to notice that you still have my letter on the website for Palisades under the Memories section and I want to thank you for that and for allowing me to still share my fond memories with everyone like I enjoy reading all of their memories to, but I do remember seeing Felix Cavalarie and The Young Rascals performing at Palisades and Bozo The Clown opened up for them and it was great to see Bozo again because I used to always watch his tv show to. In my original letter that I sent to you in 2004 I had sent you a photo that was taken of me in way back in 1964 on a ride at Palisades which you included with my letter that you put on the website. Therefore I am now going to also send you a recent photo of me and what I look like today to go along with the photo that is with my original letter on the site so you can put it right next to the photo of me as a kid at Palisades if you would like to and if it is possible . I had forgotten to send a recent photo to you back then when I sent you the one of me at the park so I am sending it to you now because I think it would be cool to show a photo of me back then as a child at the park and to have one of me right next to it showing what I look like today at 45 years old soon to be 46 in October. So I hope you will consider adding it in with my original letter as well as including both of them with this letter if you post this one on the site also if at all possible and if you like you can also post this letter on the site with the first letter I sent to you so everyone can read both of them together because again I always love sharing all of my fond memories and feelings about this wonderful park with everyone else who used to go there. By the way, I was talking on the phone tonight to my mother Mickey about the dvd and she informed me that her and my dad Frank have old 8mm silent home movies that they had transferred over to video a while back. So I will have to ask her to make a copy of those home movies for me so I can also have them to go along with the wonderful DVD that you sent to me and the book. I am sure the home movies will also bring back some great memories of my times at Palisades for me also. Like the many people interviewed in the documentary said, Palisades was and it always will be a Magical Wonderland and that it surely is, it was a great and very fun place to go and it will always live on in my heart and mind. Anyway Vince, I just wanted to thank you and the Palisades Amusement Park Historical Society so very much for sharing all of these wonderful memories of Palisades with me and all of the many other adults who grew up going to Palisades such as myself. By the way, the other day I also ordered the book that goes along with the DVD through Amazon.Com and I can not wait to receive that either so I can sit down and relax and read it and share it with my 20 year old son Doug also. I shared my fond memories of Palisades with my son tonight and we sat down together and watched the documentary together so he could see why I loved going to Palisades so much. When the documentary ended he turned to me and and said mom Palisades really looked like a cool and fun place to go, it looked like a great park and I said to him it certainly was a lot of fun Doug and I only wish it was still around when you were a child so I could have taken you there also to experience the wonderful fun times that I had, And believe me Vince I really wish it was still here so I could have taken him there because I know he would have loved it as much I did and everyone else did but sadly it isn't. In fact, I didn't realize until I watched the DVD tonight that Palisades had closed in 1971 because in my memory and mind I guess I had always thought it stayed open longer then that into the 1970's but I guess as time went on I just wanted to hold onto the wonderful memories of the park and not face up to the fact that it closed down after all of those years and I was only 12 years old when it closed for the last time which like Cousin Brucie and the many other people interviewed in the DVD said in the documentary, that day was a very sad day for everyone who had ever gone to Palisades Amusement Park and believe me, even though I had forgotten it closed in 1971, I do remember being very sad when I found out that Palisades was no longer around anymore and that the days of my family and I going there for a wonderful day of fun together was gone forever and that day was also truly a very sad day for me to because today I can honestly say that I feel like a great part of my childhood is gone today but I thank God the memories of Palisades still linger on in my mind today. 

Well Vince, I am going to close my letter now but once again I want to thank you for keeping the truly wonderful memories of Palisades Amusement Park alive all of these years later after its sad demise for the many people all around the world who enjoyed many happy times there including myself. Again from the bottom of my heart I want to say thank you to both you and Palisades Amusement Park Historical society for keeping Palisades alive for everyone in our hearts and minds. You don't know how much I appreciate it and I know that everyone else does to. So Vince for now take care of yourself and always remember that even though today we may have the spectacular amusement parks like Disney World and Disneyland with all of their spectacular rides , there truly was only one Palisades Amusement Park and even though the rides there to some people may not seem as spectacular as the ones today at Disneyland and Disney World there truly will never ever be another park like Palisades Amusement Park or rides like the ones they had there because Palisades truly was in my opinion, The Greatest Amusement Park To Ever Exist! And to me it had the funnest rides on this planet to go on to. And Palisades will always live on for many more years to come into the future in the hearts and minds of the thousands or I should say millions of people all around the world today who went there back when it was open to spend time there with their families for the day having fun and it will also truly live on in my heart and mind forever to. So the last words and the best words that I can think of right now to close my letter with is...

Long Live Palisades Amusement Park May It Always Live On In Our Hearts And Minds Forever!

Sincerely, Mrs. Gigi Dixon Pembroke Pines, Florida