Overview

"Grab your ticket and step into Playland, Earl Shores' love letter to an amusement park and an Ocean City that no longer exist. The long-lost Playland Amusement Park comes back to life in Playland: Greetings From Ocean City, Maryland. All the sights, sounds, and smells of this defunct, yet still beloved Eastern Shore landmark can be experienced in Earl Shores' intimate on-the-ground account of the park's final summer. ""PLAYLAND takes you back to a time when Ernie's Donuts were always hot and delicious, the Admirals played at the Pier Ballroom, and a great amusement park existed on 65th Street. It's a great beach read!"" - Hunter ""Bunk"" Mann, author, Vanishing Ocean City and Ghosts in the Surf But Playland: Greetings From Ocean City, Maryland is more than just a summer story. It's about people. It's about dreams. And it's also history, capturing the sights and sounds of a time and a place that no longer exists. ""Weaving two stories together, one from his childhood, the other as a young man working during the summer, Earl Shores brings Ocean City, Maryland to life, vividly, as it was during the 60s, 70s, and 80s."" - Sandy Hurley, Curator, Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum Playland Amusement Park was a real place. It sat on a westward pointing finger of land at 65th Street in Ocean City, Maryland. The park first opened in 1965, and over the next 15 years became a playground for millions of beachgoers. Author Earl Shores was lucky enough to land a job in the park for the summer of 1980. At first, this position seemed like the most perfect job in the world. Running the rides on warm summer nights as the park's flashing lights and the squeals of happy children filled the air was a world of pure fantasy. But little did Shores realize that his Playland summer would turn out to be the roller coaster ride of his life."

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9780989236362

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PLAYLAND takes you back to an earlier time. A time when Ernie's Donuts were always hot and delicious, the Admirals played at the Pier Ballroom, and a great amusement park existed on 65th Street. Earl Shores has captured a part of old Ocean City that exists today only as a splendid memory. It's a great beach read! - Bunk Mann, author, Vanishing Ocean City and Ghosts in the Surf (2019) Weaving two stories together, one from his childhood, the other as a young man working during the summer, Earl Shores brings Ocean City, Maryland to life, vividly, as it was during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. - Sandy Hurley, Curator, Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum PLAYLAND far exceeds all expectations by transporting readers to a simpler time in OC history, and our society in general. Earl's storytelling is on point and he does an incredible job of painting an accurate picture of the way things were back in yesteryear, particularly as they relate to his first-hand accounts of the amusement and hospitality industries. Ocean Playland helped shape the uptown amusement industry in the early days of Ocean City development, and the book proves to be a time capsule in support of that. All OCMD local residents and tourists alike will get a kick out of reminiscing while enjoying this truly great body of work. - Brandon Seidl, founder, Trimper's Haunted House Online, co-founder, The Bill Tracy Project, co-author, Trimper's Rides and Ocean City Oddities (2020) Most of us have a defining summer of our youth. Earl Shores takes us back to his special summer in 1980 when he lived in the seaside resort of Ocean City, Maryland and worked as a ride operator at Playland, a long-defunct amusement park. It turned out that this would be the final summer that Playland operated and Shores takes us back to the park with his vividly descriptive style of storytelling. The rides, the co-workers, and the customers provide a rich tapestry of a long-gone place that provided so many memories and shaped a person's life forever. - Jim Futrell, historian, National Amusement Park Historical Association Not many kids get a chance to live out a dream of working at the beach. Getting that chance for 5 summers in Ocean City was like hitting the lottery. If only back then we had cell phone cameras and social media, we could relive all the memories all the time. PLAYLAND captures the next best thing. It transports us back to a time when summers were magical, friendships were made and renewed year after year; lifetime memories. The written words put into motion an emotional ride and without knowing it allowed us to check off one bucket list item that now only exists in a time many summers ago. Read the book, close your eyes and realize that Playland still exists. - Rick Machado, Playland alumnus 1976-80 Anyone who has ever worked at or visited an amusement park will appreciate Playland. As a former ride operator, I quickly related to the stories Earl had at each ride. the difficulty operating the Spider, knowing the best rides to run, and arguing with parents when their child wasn't tall enough to ride. Upon completion of the book, I quickly wanted to know how the next chapter of Earl's life unfolded as he returned to school and reflected on his Ocean City summer. - Joshua Litvik, National Amusement Park Historical Association

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