"Where in North America?" -- Section II

[AZBuck]

While there are actually several concrete ships littering America's shores, including the SS Atlantis in New Jersey and the SS Selma off Galveston, TX, I believe that the pier marks this one as the SS Palo Alto off Seacliff Beach (Santa Cruz), California. Most of these ships were built for the Emergency Fleet of WW-I.

AZBuck

[Foy]

......as the concrete ships, all 8 of 'em, forming the breakwater for the old Kiptopeake to Little Creek ferry from the Eastern Shore to Norfolk, VA, prior to the 1964 opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Now home to Kiptopeake State Park, the ships now form a protected fishing area available to kayakers and other small boat skippers

Any sailor ordered to cross the Atlantic on those vessels had very large, entirely solid brass accoutrements. I'd have thrown myself overboard instead of setting sail on those boats. Men, I guess, were men.

Foy

[Mark Sedenquist]

Yep, that is the Palo Alto, the concrete boat that was intended to be a supply ship, but never quite got "into the action."

Here's the short history from the Seacliff State Beach web site:

In 1910 a Norwegian civil engineer named Fougner thought of using concrete to build ships. It wasn't until 1917, when wartime steel shortages required the use of cement for construction that Fougner's idea was used. Three concrete ships were built at the U.S. Naval Shipyard in Oakland, California. These ships were the Faith, the Peralta, and the Palo Alto. The Peralta and the Palo Alto were built for wartime use as tankers, however World WarOne ended before ship construction was finished -- so they were never used.

The Palo Alto remained docked in Oakland until 1929, when the Cal-Nevada Company bought the ship with the idea of making her into an amusement and fishing ship. Her maiden voyage was made under tow to Seacliff State Beach. Once positioned at the beach, the sea cocks were opened and the Palo Alto settled to the ocean bottom. By the summer of 1930 a pier had been built leading to the ship, the ship was remodeled. A dance floor on the main deck was added, also a cafe in the superstructure was built, as was a fifty-four foot heated swimming pool, and a series of carnival type concessions were placed on the afterdeck. The Cal-Nevada Company went broke after two seasons -- then the Palo Alto was stripped, leaving the ship and the pier to be used only for fishing.

[CalOldBlue]

Anybody know this place?

(CalOldBlue)

(CalOldBlue)

[Mark Sedenquist]

It sorta looks like Precious Moments Park in Carthage, MO 64836?

[CalOldBlue]

Farther north, and it is a retail establishment (although a tourist mecca too). I'll post an interior I took if you think it won't put us on the wrong side of copyright issues.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Santa's Village in East Dundee, Illinois

I'll post an interior I took if you think it won't put us on the wrong side of copyright issues.

Technically, the copyright belongs to you if you took the photo....

Mark

[CalOldBlue]

Here's the interior... in theory, for commercial purposes, property owners MAY require prior approval for shooting in/on their property. Not sure it would ever become an issue, esp as this gives them some free publicity, but then I'm neither a lawyer nor a professional photog but as this is being used as a report on a travel destination and not being plastered on a tshirt for sale we'll just call this "editorial fair use":

[Mark Sedenquist]

It's true that commercial property owners can request that no photographs are taken on a property. But once the photograph is taken, 100% of the copyright belongs to the photographer unless he/she sells/grants/leases/etc. a portion of those rights to anyone else.

[Mark Sedenquist]

BRONNER'S CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

From the site:
Bronner's was founded in 1945 by Wally Bronner. When Wally painted his first sign over 50 years ago, little did he dream that his small business would one day become the world's largest Christmas store visited by millions of people. Open 361 days of the year, Bronner's features over 50,000 trims and gifts, including Christmas ornaments, artificial Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Nativity scenes, Christmas decorations, collectibles, and more.

Ye gads, that looks like way too much holiday stuff to me!

Mark