The Riverview Pavilion

Hole-In-None

2007-02-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

The remains of the Riverview miniature golf course, as seen on a sunbleached summer day in the early 1990s.

More Mutoscope Fun

2007-02-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Yet another charming slice of cheesecake from the Riverview mutoscopes.

One Abe Left

2007-02-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Riverview magnate Abe Frankle's obituary from 1944--fans of "Lost Cinemas of Greater Des Moines" will also recognize him as one of the Two Abes (A.H. Blank being the other) who together ran a number of Des Moines area movie theaters at the time. (Click on the clipping to view at a legible size.)

The Himalaya in the 1960s

2007-02-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

This was being sold on eBay as an original slide--without even being identified as Riverview! The big giveaway is that you can see the Wild Mouse just to the right of it--with its sign visible in reverse. (I corrected the color and spruced up the general quality a bit. And Bill--did you win the bid?)

The Fabulous Coaster

2007-02-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

A postcard view of that fabulous wooden Coaster.

Speedboat Fun

2007-02-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

An inboard speedboat heads east, next to the park, on this ancient postcard.

A World Overgrown

2006-07-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

The hotrod track, long since driven on, becomes slowly overgrown with beautiful flowers.

"Take a packet of seeds, take yourself out to play
I want to see a river of orchids where we had a motorway
Push your car off of the road...

The grass is always greener when it bursts up through concrete..."
- "River of Orchids", Andy Partridge

The Chutes: shot!

2006-07-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is what was left of the Chute the Chutes in the early 1990s: just part of the tower, and the water track.

One from the Monochrome Set

2006-07-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Another delightfully naughty Mutoscope card from the part--this one dates from 1945. (They must have saved all the color ink for the war effort!)

Swimming and Coasting

2006-07-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

The coaster and the old bathing beach, seen in postcard view.

Tickets from 1932

2006-07-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Tickets to a Grandstand show (might this be the State Fair instead?), and to the House of Trouble!

The Park, in 1922

2006-05-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

A nice, if fairly common, postcard view of the park, with the towers still in place.

An Early Ad

2006-04-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

An ad from the Frankel era--"Lost Cinemas" fans will recall that Abe Frankel and Abe Blank also owned and operated a number of early movie theatres in the Des Moines area.

Mutoscope Beauty

2006-04-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

This is but one of several Mutoscope cards I have that were dispensed at the park--most of them with 'racy' themes or pictures on them. When I say "Mutoscope", this is not the kind that was the coin-operated viewer that showed paper movie rolls or still pictures, but more of a dispenser (similar to those for fortune-telling cards) that was manufactured by the Mutoscope company.

Race for the Roses

2006-04-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here's what was left of the racecar track in the early 1990's, reincarnated as a garden. (Is the layout still there now?)

Welcome to the Riverview Pavilion!

2006-04-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Riverview Pavilion, a place to look back on what once was Riverview Amusement Park, before it was bought and shut down by those powers-that-be. As you probably already know, Riverview began as a lovely riverside fixture early in the 20th century, funded by Abe Frankle, who you'll recall partnered with that other Abe, A.H. Blank, in numerous other entertainment ventures around town, including some of the earliest movie theater chains. (Central States survives to this day--Myron "Mike" Blank is said to have frequented the office nearly up to the end.)

As the years went by, Riverview got a bit worse for wear, but was still a summertime staple for nearly everyone in town until the mid-1970s, when it was closed forever. As some sort of "consolation prize", a couple of the lesser rides were moved to a small section of Adventureland in Altoona and framed under a "Riverview" entry sign. But that ain't Riverview, of course.

I don't have a huge collection of Riverview materials, and I don't have a film project in the works (yet)--for now, I just want to post what I have in the hopes that there are others who'd like to remember Riverview as it was. So send in your stories, scans of snapshots, postcards, digitized home movies, ticket stubs, Mutoscope cards, railroad spikes, whatever--and I'll put 'em up.

The photos above are the old carousel pavilion around 1991 or so, shortly before it was torn down. (Floppy fans will recall seeing footage of one of the female hostesses riding the carousel circa 1965 or so in the retrospective "Floppy: 30 Years of Fun".) Spooky, eh? As if silently waiting for Mr. Dark to materialize and offer us free carousel rides, in reverse. Which would of course make us younger, take us back in time.

If only.