winter fishing

 

Lubbock doesn't have ice fishing like Minnesota but these guys braved a winter afternoon to cast a line at Mackenzie Park.  Their favorite spot is the bridge spanning the waters of the Yellow House Canyon where the Blackwater Draw and Yellow House Draw, tributaries of the Brazos River, merge.  This bridge was built in the late 1930s as part of a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) project.  I bet it is featured in tons of old photographs as Mackenzie Park was a popular gathering spot for local youth, glider pilots and airmen.  This is my mother, about age 18 in her career days working at the Avalanche-Journal and Lubbock National Bank, posed at the same bridge.

 

Jean Smith Fortenberry

 

Mackenzie Park

Lubbock, Texas





gaggle of geese

 

These visitors from Canada are enjoying today's mild weather.  They seem unaware that the forecast for this weekend is "blizzard!"

 

Mackenzie Park

Lubbock, Texas



park view

 

Lubbock's Cliff House Restaurant, not to be confused with San Francisco's Cliff House overlooking the Pacific Ocean, had a view of Mackenzie Park.  In the 1950s it was situated on busy Highway 62/82.  Travelers could dine, admire the view and stay over night in the nearby Park View Motel.  Today only a shell remains.  The place is popular with spray paint artists and photographers.  I had to wait until an urban portrait session was over before taking my turn.

 

Cliff House Restaurant

510 East Broadway

Lubbock, Texas

carousel

 

The merry-go-round is one of the original rides at Joyland Amusement Park dating from the 1940s. The modern carousel emerged from early jousting traditions in Europe and the Middle East and by the early 18th century carousels were being built and operated at various fairs and gatherings in central Europe and England.  The Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts is the oldest platform carousel in the U.S. and has been designated a national landmark. Constructed in 1876, it originally operated as a Coney Island, NY amusement park and was moved to Oak Bluffs in 1884.  In 1884 the only horses in Lubbock were Indian ponies.

 

Joyland Amusement Park

Mackenzie Park

Lubbock, Texas

hiatus

 

Its empty parking lot dotted with puddles from the recent weather, the amusement park silently waits for opening of the spring season in March. Shuttered and sometimes disassembled, the rides rest for the upcoming onslaught.  Joyland Amusement Park started out in the late 1940s as the Mackenzie Park Playground.  When I was in grade school, the spring highlight was the school picnic at the park followed by an afternoon at the amusement park.  When purchased by Jimmy Dean (not THAT Jimmy Dean) in 1973, the amusement park had 13 rides -- including the carousel, the bumper cars, the Tilt-a-Whirl, and the Hammer (which was too fearsome to ride).  Today the attractions have expanded to more than 30 with a log flume, gondola, and a roller coaster.  The carousel is advertised as "antique" and  I think the Tilt-a-Whirl of my day is still operating!  But I bet the kids are still as excited as we were to ride!

 

Joyland Amusement Park

Mackenzie Park

Lubbock, Texas

1.25.2015

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Merry Christmas