As the sun sets for the night on Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, owner Joel Golder says, “Once this amusement park is gone . . . it’s gone. We’re the only beachfront amusement park left in New England.” He says he loves his family’s business. “I’ve been doing this all my life. The smells, the sounds, there’s nothing like it.” It’s said that the boardwalk atmosphere and these nostalgic slices of Americana are disappearing. But if one looks closely, remnants of the past can still be found on the shores of New England. As Fran Amero drives his 1927 Model T four-door Roadster up Ocean Boulevard, he says the car makes him feel connected to New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach. “It’s like I’ve been here before at a different time. I feel like I’m back in the day.” There are still places that allow us to feel safe and share our own childhood with our children. As Alicia Mullings cradles a pile of tickets for her son Marc, 10, at the Dream Machine arcade at Nantasket Beach in Hull, Mass., she says, “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid; it’s fun to see him having fun doing the same things I did as a kid. We don’t go to the arcade all the time, it’s special.” Golder encourages people to take advantage of this history, “We’re not going to be here forever. . . . This is a place filled with good memories of happier times. . . . We like to deliver happiness.” -- By Craig F. Walker
With Palace Playland in the background, Jenny Gouthro, 12, of Salem, N.H., works her back handspring at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. “She could do that all day. She has to get her practice in; she does gymnastics five hours every day,” says her mother, Melissa Gouthro. “I’ve been coming here since I was probably her age.” (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff)
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