In researching a Then and Now about Playland Pier in Coeur d'Alene, I came across this advertisement in the North Idaho College yearbook of 1948. A store called The Gay Shop operated at 515 W. Sherman, which is now Fire Artisan Pizza. I'm sure it was a happy place. I don't think anyone would have a shop with that name today.
Bathers throng to the beach in Coeur d'Alene in 1949 with Playland in the background. Spokesman-Review photo archive.
For Monday's Then and Now Column: Does anyone remember Playland Pier? Fromt he 1940s to the mid-70s, it was a place to hangout, ride the rides and get a hotdog. Mike Bolan, part of the Fabulous Shadows band that formed in Coeur d'Alene in the mid-60s, told the Coeur d'Alene Press about playing at the Playland:
"They used to have dances on Friday and Saturday nights because down on Independence Point, Playland Pier was there. There'd be a huge dance and all the teenagers would drive their hot rods downtown and dance and hang-out by the lake and listen to The Shadows. It was just like in the movies. When I was in high school, Coeur d'Alene was like 'American Graffiti' or 'Grease.' We used to cruise up and down Sherman listenin' to Wolfman Jack."
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