If only we could put time in a bottle. I think of those days so long ago,it will always be a part of me.I consider myself very fortunate too have lived in those times.they were the best of times...
Amazing that we all come here to gaze longingly at memories of our childhood that have been turned into condos and apartments . . . I loved Paragon Park, and as I said on another post of photos like this: it may have been just an amusement park at a beach, but it was OUR amusement park at a beach and we loved it here. Kooky Kastle, the Wild Mouse, that awesome coaster, even the arcade and kiddie rides at Toy-a-Rama made you love the place.
It's so sad today's kids will never know what a amusement park was all of tbe local ones are long gone Rocky Point Crecent Park Jolly Charlies And this one
The boat ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never thought I would see them again! :) my favorite ride as a little girl. then the little hand crank railroad and the tiny train, and the .....I could go on forever.... thank you for posting this. I live in Hull now. I think I will take a walk this week, (after the snow) and just remember it all. Fascination is still there!!! and of course the Carousel!!
This is fantastic! Great photos. Thanks for the credit too. Has anyone else visited Six Flags in Maryland and ridden "our" coaster? Great that it was preserved. And still a great ride. So-- when are they going to tear down those ugly condos and rebuild the park? We can buy back the coaster and reassemble it.
nicely done, Scott. Thanks for the memories. I frequented the park in the late 60's... to mid 70's during visits to the Braintree area over the summer. It was always a favorite place of mine... and so nice to be able to "revisit" it thru your video!
This was great!! Brought back many happy memories. some super shots of the coaster! soundtrack was nice as well...love the AMC theme at the end. thanks!!
Fond memories. I worked at the park for 3 summers between 1957 - 1959. Looking through the photos brought recollections of the sounds of the park , rumbles and screams from the roller coaster, all sorts of mechanical clanks and whirs, etc.
Paragon Park to those who remember it well was the place to go on hot summer days, where young children could dream and families could spend time together. But it was also a place where young lovers would go to walk on the beach and spend time together. In a way which most today may never understand when Paragon Park was taken away Boston lost a part of itself. Not even those who reside there now can fully understand what I mean. Although they may have a ocean view they do not know the excitement that Paragon Park had brought. Yes it may have been at times a bit rough, but Paragon bound a community together and for miles around small businesses continued grow, until one day it closed. Now what stands there is not a dream that beckons children, only faceless buildings that in the end nobody truly wants.
I grew up in Hull. I worked as a young teen at Paragon Park. I fed Judy Garland a hot dog while working at Snackarama. I met Chubby Checker and Fats Domino. Those moments literally saved my life, stretched my imaginative world and made me feel part of a community. There will never be anything like it again. And I agree that when it was sold and torn down and horrid condos were put in its place, the town lost everything about it that made it unique. The Atlantic Ocean is an ocean, not a community. Nantasket Beach was the best place in Massachusetts to grow up because it was uniquely itself and now....well, it breaks my heart when I drive in to visit my niece and feel that sense of loss.
I was there as a kid I think around 1967 and remember the "Congo Cruise" and the wooden Roller Coaster. To my surprise in the mid 1990's I was at Six Flags in NJ and low and behold the original Paragon Park Roller Coaster!
Quite a place...once was a showplace...as a kid in the late '20's and into '30's, my dad spent summers on Atl. Ave....we still own a house there...Nantasket and Paragon were really jumping in the late '50's and well into the '60's...Grew up in Cohasset...left the area in '67...visit funerals and reunions...certainly not the same place, but the great memories remain...Loved Dick Summer doing WBZ remotes in the summers.
Some of those pictures could have been of my brothers and I. I remember my parents saving the matchbook covers for the discount tickets. My father would load everybody in the cat and we would go to Paragon Park. Thank you for bringing those memories back. I saw images of my mother and father with us walking down the fairway.
As a 'little' kid l hung out w/ the carousel (think l 'rode' every horse) and the "boat ride" was friggin awesome! I made my parents take me there FIRST! Then l was able to take the Sansone Bus from Norwood w/ my pals...Hey, we were COOL! From that point on, you couldn't get me off the "Himalaya"! "Do you want to go faasster?" Last time l rode it they played 'Get Down Tonite' by K.C. & the Sunshine Band. Oh the Memories! THX 4 the pics!
This is so fine. "Reflections" was the first recording released that had Moog Synthesizer so this is all historic. I wish I'd gotten to Paragon Park, closest I'd come was Revere Beach being a north-of-Boston boy, but I feel real lucky I saw a bit of that hey-day to get hooked on the wooden roller coasters at an early age. Thanks for this Jim Dorman and paragonpark79 - the famous carousel is still something to enjoy. Have either of you been on that more recently?
Thanks so much for creating this wonderful look back at my childhood. Our family was low-income but we still managed to spend many summer vacations there. We had the time of our lives. XOXO
Thank you for restoring wonderful & thrilling memories of this special amusement park,at nantasket Beach. Each summer, from 1944-1952,My parents would rent an apartment on the beach in no.cohasset,a 20 minute walk to the park,via a trail over high rock cliffs & formations. From 1944 season, till ww2`s end in 1945,we could hear the cannons practicing possible air raid attacks protecting Boston. The summer jewish residents, were located primarily in the Kenberma area alphabet streets.thank you for letting me share my thoughts-Bob LeBovidge,now 85+ ye ars old.
Hi Bob, I also grew up in Hull. My grandparents built their house right on Beach Ave. in the 40s where it still stands to this day. I have the memories of listening to the Atlantic ocean waves from my bedroom and going to elementary school there back in the early 70s. I'd love to visit again and live there, but it's so expensive now.
Thanks for posting! I used to LOVE going to Paragon Park! Loved it when I could finally get there by the T! Could you please tell me the name of the song before the them to "Newhart"?
It was called The Atlantic Aquarium and it was right at the beginning of the beach.I think it closed almost 40 years ago,somewhere in the mid to late 1970's.I was there and missed it alot.
1976 ? There was a game where you placed a dime on a color, throw a ball into different colored cups and if it landed on your color you'd win either 4 packs of cigarettes or a big bag of M&M's !
my uncle and my cousins would go there on fri. or saturday evenings i love that place very happy fun place for me ty for the wonderful vid brought back great and very happy memories
Great memories. At the end of this tribute, they show the Clock Tower House over, what used to be LaLahage’s Salt Water taffy.. Our family summered there in in 62 and 63. My dad was the Captain of the MDC Police at the time, and we had a lot of fun
I remember the days in the earlier days before few families had autos, there was a a large ferry boat from Boston Harbor to Nantasket Beach. I experienced large crowds taking the boat. Never did ride the roller coaster.
I lived all the way, close to the end of Nantasket Beach, at night you could see the lights from Paragon Park when you walked to the beach. It was something.
Tilt a whirl cups games spray guns all the rides were great. I had the best time of my life when I was young with my family and friends 😂 So sad things had to change in the world😢. The park made the area. We went to the beach and then headed off to the arcades!!! Great memories ❤
o.k. I was just thinking, they named the condos "the horizons"? wouldn't "paragon condos" or something like that be more fitting? arrrghhh! i'm bitter and have had too much wine.
I'm not old enough to have experienced visiting the park. I only remember the remnants of a lost history. It's disappointing and somewhat eerie to see the memories of a generation overgrown with vegetation and condos.
I was just there today 5,14,2022. I had a very good time today it well very nice It was 🔥 🥵 Thankyou for your time today And have a wonderful day Your fan Sandra 😇. P.s get a sunny barn. 🌞 Its sad it is no more 😔 I well always miss have fun
I know it won't happen probably but I would love to see the stupid condos torn down so they can make a new Paragon Park in homage to the old one just like they did with the new Luna Park in Coney Island. Fuck the 1%.
So many memories of my life . My uncle lived in Hull so we were here all the time. I even remember the aquarium on the corner. School trip to both and first dates when I became of age. I know they were hoping for a casino in its place of the park but instead got ugly brick condos that blocked the beautiful view of the ocean. In my opinion, worst mistake the board ever made was to rid the park for ugly condos.
I grew up in Hull in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Nice video, but you left out the most historic landmark of all. The Mayflower boat (a.k.a. "Showboat") on the main approach to Nantasket. Unfortunately it burned completely in 1978.
Agreed! I love Nantasket Beach.....but Paragon Park was a gem. Now instead of looking for the coaster when we come around the bend on 3A.....we look for the wind turbine......sad
unfortunately, i was not alive for paragon park, but i love the carousel to this day. my great great grandparents owned a beach house down there but now its my grandparents and im “part owner” love nantasket beach aswell.
Kooky Castle, Congo Cruise, Giant Coaster, Speedway, The Rotor then fried clams at Joe and Nemo's, Salt water taffy at Lahages. Pizza at Josephs! Then go home get cleaned up and go back for Disco or see a live band at The Surf! Watch out for the cops leaving! :-0
Really have could of been a great East coast landmark if they kept up with the park. WTH were they thinking??? Condos? Give me a break! This was our east coast Santa Cruze vibe park and Hull MA. just destroyed it. So much history here such a shame. Shame on Hull! Yay we got a wind turbine and the Red Parrot that smells like a grease pit LOL.
If only we could put time in a bottle. I think of those days so long ago,it will always be a part of me.I consider myself very fortunate too have lived in those times.they were the best of times...
I proposed to my wife on Nantasket Beach 64 years ago helloooooooo. Fabulous amusement park. I miss this with our 6 Granddaughters now.
Amazing that we all come here to gaze longingly at memories of our childhood that have been turned into condos and apartments . . . I loved Paragon Park, and as I said on another post of photos like this: it may have been just an amusement park at a beach, but it was OUR amusement park at a beach and we loved it here. Kooky Kastle, the Wild Mouse, that awesome coaster, even the arcade and kiddie rides at Toy-a-Rama made you love the place.
It's so sad today's kids will never know what a amusement park was all of tbe local ones are long gone Rocky Point Crecent Park Jolly Charlies And this one
The boat ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never thought I would see them again! :) my favorite ride as a little girl. then the little hand crank railroad and the tiny train, and the .....I could go on forever.... thank you for posting this. I live in Hull now. I think I will take a walk this week, (after the snow) and just remember it all. Fascination is still there!!! and of course the Carousel!!
This is fantastic! Great photos. Thanks for the credit too.
Has anyone else visited Six Flags in Maryland and ridden "our" coaster? Great that it was preserved. And still a great ride.
So-- when are they going to tear down those ugly condos and rebuild the park? We can buy back the coaster and reassemble it.
Don't hold year breath......
Don't hold your breath......
nicely done, Scott. Thanks for the memories. I frequented the park in the late 60's... to mid 70's during visits to the Braintree area over the summer. It was always a favorite place of mine... and so nice to be able to "revisit" it thru your video!
Thanks for the look back. Some of the happiest moments of my childhood were spent at Paragon Park in the 60s and 70s.
This was great!! Brought back many happy memories. some super shots of the coaster! soundtrack was nice as well...love the AMC theme at the end. thanks!!
Fond memories. I worked at the park for 3 summers between 1957 - 1959. Looking through the photos brought recollections of the sounds of the park , rumbles and screams from the roller coaster, all sorts of mechanical clanks and whirs, etc.
Paragon Park to those who remember it well was the place to go on hot summer days, where young children could dream and families could spend time together. But it was also a place where young lovers would go to walk on the beach and spend time together. In a way which most today may never understand when Paragon Park was taken away Boston lost a part of itself. Not even those who reside there now can fully understand what I mean. Although they may have a ocean view they do not know the excitement that Paragon Park had brought. Yes it may have been at times a bit rough, but Paragon bound a community together and for miles around small businesses continued grow, until one day it closed. Now what stands there is not a dream that beckons children, only faceless buildings that in the end nobody truly wants.
I grew up in Hull. I worked as a young teen at Paragon Park. I fed Judy Garland a hot dog while working at Snackarama. I met Chubby Checker and Fats Domino. Those moments literally saved my life, stretched my imaginative world and made me feel part of a community. There will never be anything like it again. And I agree that when it was sold and torn down and horrid condos were put in its place, the town lost everything about it that made it unique. The Atlantic Ocean is an ocean, not a community. Nantasket Beach was the best place in Massachusetts to grow up because it was uniquely itself and now....well, it breaks my heart when I drive in to visit my niece and feel that sense of loss.
I was there as a kid I think around 1967 and remember the "Congo Cruise" and the wooden Roller Coaster. To my surprise in the mid 1990's I was at Six Flags in NJ and low and behold the original Paragon Park Roller Coaster!
i recall reading.... THE DOORS played the surf club in 67....(later... uncle sams).....
Quite a place...once was a showplace...as a kid in the late '20's and into '30's, my dad spent summers on Atl. Ave....we still own a house there...Nantasket and Paragon were really jumping in the late '50's and well into the '60's...Grew up in Cohasset...left the area in '67...visit funerals and reunions...certainly not the same place, but the great memories remain...Loved Dick Summer doing WBZ remotes in the summers.
Some of those pictures could have been of my brothers and I. I remember my parents saving the matchbook covers for the discount tickets. My father would load everybody in the cat and we would go to Paragon Park. Thank you for bringing those memories back. I saw images of my mother and father with us walking down the fairway.
Thanks for posting this. I have a million great memories of visiting Paragon Park as a kid back in the 60's & 70's.
First coaster I ever rode. Miss it so much!
I remember as a kid you could take a bus from Hancock street in Quincy to Paragon park on the green East Mass bus
As a 'little' kid l hung out w/ the carousel (think l 'rode' every horse) and the "boat ride" was friggin awesome! I made my parents take me there FIRST! Then l was able to take the Sansone Bus from Norwood w/ my pals...Hey, we were COOL! From that point on, you couldn't get me off the "Himalaya"! "Do you want to go faasster?" Last time l rode it they played 'Get Down Tonite' by K.C. & the Sunshine Band. Oh the Memories! THX 4 the pics!
Nice job! I liked the musical choices too. Some of the pics are from my 9th grade class trip in 1975.
This is so fine. "Reflections" was the first recording released that had Moog Synthesizer so this is all historic. I wish I'd gotten to Paragon Park, closest I'd come was Revere Beach being a north-of-Boston boy, but I feel real lucky I saw a bit of that hey-day to get hooked on the wooden roller coasters at an early age. Thanks for this Jim Dorman and paragonpark79 - the famous carousel is still something to enjoy. Have either of you been on that more recently?
Thanks so much for creating this wonderful look back at my childhood. Our family was low-income but we still managed to spend many summer vacations there. We had the time of our lives. XOXO
Gone but not forgotten, those were some fun times.
My family spent such wonderful times at Paragon Park.
Thank you for restoring wonderful & thrilling memories of this special amusement park,at nantasket Beach. Each summer, from 1944-1952,My parents would rent an apartment on the beach in no.cohasset,a 20 minute walk to the park,via a trail over high rock cliffs & formations. From 1944 season, till ww2`s end in 1945,we could hear the cannons practicing possible air raid attacks protecting Boston. The summer jewish residents, were located primarily in the Kenberma area alphabet streets.thank you for letting me share my thoughts-Bob LeBovidge,now 85+ ye ars old.
Hi Bob, I also grew up in Hull. My grandparents built their house right on Beach Ave. in the 40s where it still stands to this day. I have the memories of listening to the Atlantic ocean waves from my bedroom and going to elementary school there back in the early 70s. I'd love to visit again and live there, but it's so expensive now.
Thanks for posting! I used to LOVE going to Paragon Park! Loved it when I could finally get there by the T!
Could you please tell me the name of the song before the them to "Newhart"?
Loved the Kooky Kastle. Cotton Candy. So much fun as a kid. Great beach too. Wait, too many jellyfish. Wasn't there an aquarium up the road?
Yes there was an aquarium...then it became a charter school, and a niteclub...but maybe in reverse order?...now sadly, it's empty.
It was called The Atlantic Aquarium and it was right at the beginning of the beach.I think it closed almost 40 years ago,somewhere in the mid to late 1970's.I was there and missed it alot.
Right, saw a dolphin show there, think it was around 74. It was a great year too.
in the 80s...it was a night club....saw a van halen cover band there...in the lobby they had two of the wooden carts from the kooky kastle 😋
Nice Collection. I'm glad I could help. I'm at 5:07! "And many more.." Yep. :)
my uncle used to rebuild that roller coaster everytime it suffered an unfortunate accident. My cousin spent a lot of time there in the 50's.
1976 ? There was a game where you placed a dime on a color, throw a ball into different colored cups and if it landed on your color you'd win either 4 packs of cigarettes or a big bag of M&M's !
Wonderful memories,if we could only put time in a bottle
Thanks for the memories...
my uncle and my cousins would go there on fri. or saturday evenings i love that place very happy fun place for me ty for the wonderful vid brought back great and very happy memories
Thank you for posting this.
I used to love this place back in the 70s. The Matterhorn and the smaller roller coaster (Galaxie?) we’re my favorites.
I think we should maybe think of pooling our money together and buy out those condos and put a new park in those 20 acres.Why not?
Great memories. At the end of this tribute, they show the Clock Tower House over, what used to be LaLahage’s Salt Water taffy.. Our family summered there in in 62 and 63. My dad was the Captain of the MDC Police at the time, and we had a lot of fun
first ride on roller coaster with my dad. front seat!!! mom brought lunch. we sat on the beach and chilled. good times.
I remember the days in the earlier days before few families had autos, there was a a large ferry boat from Boston Harbor to Nantasket Beach. I experienced large crowds taking the boat. Never did ride the roller coaster.
My mother took me on this in 1960 as a baby, we lived close and I grew up swimming at nantasket everyday in the summer.
I lived all the way, close to the end of Nantasket Beach, at night you could see the lights from Paragon Park when you walked to the beach. It was something.
Oh WOW, was there in the late 60's with my alter boy group from St. Stan's church from Chelsea, MA/Richard Pianowski
Tilt a whirl cups games spray guns all the rides were great. I had the best time of my life when I was young with my family and friends 😂 So sad things had to change in the world😢. The park made the area. We went to the beach and then headed off to the arcades!!! Great memories ❤
o.k. I was just thinking, they named the condos "the horizons"? wouldn't "paragon condos" or something like that be more fitting? arrrghhh! i'm bitter and have had too much wine.
Went there in the 70s. We are watching now and we are trying to name one of the songs that was played before "The Walton's theme.
The Theme to Newhart. If you hit Show More in the description you can see the songs.
Nice photo footage
I spent my summers their. Oh how I remember. You could go swimming than shower and dress for the night. Or just come at nights to cool off.
I'm not old enough to have experienced visiting the park. I only remember the remnants of a lost history. It's disappointing and somewhat eerie to see the memories of a generation overgrown with vegetation and condos.
I was just there today
5,14,2022.
I had a very good time today it well very nice
It was 🔥 🥵
Thankyou for your time today And have a wonderful day
Your fan Sandra 😇. P.s get a sunny barn. 🌞
Its sad it is no more 😔 I well always miss have fun
Where does time go? Why do things have to change so much?
Hull is still never the same without Paragon. Stupid condos took its place :(
I know it won't happen probably but I would love to see the stupid condos torn down so they can make a new Paragon Park in homage to the old one just like they did with the new Luna Park in Coney Island. Fuck the 1%.
So many memories of my life . My uncle lived in Hull so we were here all the time. I even remember the aquarium on the corner. School trip to both and first dates when I became of age. I know they were hoping for a casino in its place of the park but instead got ugly brick condos that blocked the beautiful view of the ocean. In my opinion, worst mistake the board ever made was to rid the park for ugly condos.
I grew up in Hull in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Nice video, but you left out the most historic landmark of all. The Mayflower boat (a.k.a. "Showboat") on the main approach to Nantasket. Unfortunately it burned completely in 1978.
Agreed! I love Nantasket Beach.....but Paragon Park was a gem. Now instead of looking for the coaster when we come around the bend on 3A.....we look for the wind turbine......sad
Kids were innocent back then. Things sure have changed.
Sure have and not for the better.
Drove by the other day, the Carousel is holding its own ♥️
I wonder if you can hear carnival noises on a late Aug. night. ❤
unfortunately, i was not alive for paragon park, but i love the carousel to this day. my great great grandparents owned a beach house down there but now its my grandparents and im “part owner” love nantasket beach aswell.
Oh to hear the wooden click clack of the coaster again.
Kooky Castle, Congo Cruise, Giant Coaster, Speedway, The Rotor then fried clams at Joe and Nemo's, Salt water taffy at Lahages. Pizza at Josephs!
Then go home get cleaned up and go back for Disco or see a live band at The Surf!
Watch out for the cops leaving! :-0
is that really true
sorry to say I live in those condos. . . . . I would much rather live in paragon park.
Really have could of been a great East coast landmark if they kept up with the park. WTH were they thinking??? Condos? Give me a break! This was our east coast Santa Cruze vibe park and Hull MA. just destroyed it. So much history here such a shame. Shame on Hull! Yay we got a wind turbine and the Red Parrot that smells like a grease pit LOL.
our own little coney island....i remember if this was the only thing u did on summer vacation....it made ur summer AWESOME ! 😋
CONDOS BURN IN HELL
Thanks for the memories...