Marine World folks recall their old park

Even the one-time drag races at the Half Moon Bay Airport are MIA. Only a few hints of the existence of these old attractions remain. But they haven’t all been forgotten.

Folks who once worked at many of those places tend to cherish the memories. Case in point: Former employees at Marine World/Africa USA, once located east of Highway 101 in Redwood Shores continue to gather to conduct reunions and recall the good times.

The latest such affair occurred late last month at Marvin Gardens in Belmont, not far from the site of the old theme park that opened in 1968 and closed 17 years later.

More than 100 Marine World/Africa USA veterans attended the event that marked the 40th anniversary of its closure and subsequent move to Vallejo, according to organizer Jeff Tateosian of Burlingame.

He noted that Marvin Gardens was a logical spot to host the celebration since it’s been operating in Belmont since 1973 and was a favorite haunt for the theme park’s workers.

The former Marine World property, situated off Marine Parkway (the name is a vestige of times past), is now dominated by an Oracle Corporation campus. Where lions once roamed and water skiers glided across a sparking lagoon, tech workers now dominate the scene.

OPERATING COSTS ARE A CONCERN: For those whose memories are fuzzy or don’t go back to 2008 at all, it’s worth noting that the original ballot language governing aspects of Proposition 1A contained a poison pill.

That bond package allocated about $10 billion to jump-start a proposed California high-speed rail system stretching from San Francisco/Silicon Valley to Los Angeles/Anaheim.

The measure clearly and unambiguously promised (more than a bit optimistically) that the grandiose setup “will not require an operating subsidy.” Really.

That bald statement, relied upon by many cautious voters who wound up approving the bond funds in a tight election, hovers over a project that has struggled mightily to see any reasonable completion date come close to reality.

Lost in the ongoing angst over ballooning budget construction costs, fiscal controversies and delays of all shapes and sizes, operating deficits are an afterthought at this juncture. But they loom in the distance.

You can bet that creative HSR legal minds are already mulling the precise definition of the word “subsidy.”

BUCKY’S FADING FROM THE SCENE: For a generation, Bucky’s Cocktail Lounge was a go-to place for thirsty regulars in San Mateo and beyond. The neighborhood saloon at the intersection of Palm Avenue and South Boulevard was owned and operated by the late Bucky Kahler, a legendary San Mateo athlete who made his sporting mark back in the 1950s. After his death in 2017, his pub, which had a quasi-sports-museum ambience that seemed to suit the clientele, was sold. The bare bones joint, a successor to Bucky’s long gone Fat Harry’s bar in San Mateo, had a certain timeless feel to it. Now, it’s being  modernized, soon to be a grizzled dive bar no more. The watering hole is open during construction. The sign heralding Bucky’s is gone. New branding has not been installed. Yet. It appears likely the name will be changed. Nothing lasts forever.  

WOODLAKE OBSERVES ITS 60TH: When the Woodlake Apartments opened in 1965 in San Mateo, the complex, with nearly 1,000 units located on what had been land occupied by an early campus of the College of San Mateo, was one of the largest of its kind in the sprawling West Bay suburbs. Having been converted to condominiums years later, it remains a landmark property 60 years after its debut on the Burlingame border off Peninsula Avenue. Its six-decade anniversary is being observed today at 6 p.m. at its clubhouse.

PACIFICA RECALL MOVE ONGOING: Turmoil swirling around the Pacifica School District persists. A community effort to recall its Board of Trustees is ongoing. Signatures are being collected in an effort to get a board recall on an upcoming election ballot next June. The primary reasons for the coastside recall: The closure of two Pacifica schools due to declining enrollment and attendant fiscal issues affecting the district budget. In the wake of the controversy caused by those closures and other concerns, Superintendent Darnice Williams resigned last semester.