288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915 ⌕
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Toyland Grown Up

Frederic Thompson's five-acre 'exposition of amusements', giant tin soldiers, a 90-foot suffragette and a boat canal under the floors, and the Zone's most expensive flop.

Frederic Thompson, creator of Luna Park at Coney Island, pitched Toyland Grown Up to the Concessions Committee in July 1913 and won the concession at its next meeting. His first building on the grounds was a Noah's Ark at the corner of Laguna and Francisco Streets. It was the first Zone building permit ever issued, on August 25, 1913, and for months it stood alone. The Ark became his office and studio. Aboard it Thompson worked among paint pots, plaster models and cardboard castles on an idea he called an exposition of amusements, which would spread over five acres to the east.

Thompson's crew grew to some 300 men, half stage carpenters and half house carpenters. The work fell between their two trades. Over the entrance towered a wooden suffragette 90 feet tall and two tin soldiers of about the same height, whose feet were big enough to shelter merchandise booths. Inside were a Crazy Town, a Flea Circus, a Midgets' Theater, a Cobweb Lake, a Giant's Kitchen and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. A canal with locks ran under the floors and walks, so visitors could glide through in a small power boat and catch glimpses of the attractions through openings overhead.

The publicity was charming. Nat Goodwin lit an Aladdin's lamp on July 1, 1914. At the dedication on October 13, 1914, hundreds of children 'planted' toys to grow into the finished show and watered them with California champagne. The show itself did not work. Todd's history says Toyland 'fell flatter than Babylon' in the hard times of 1915. It shrank to a dog-and-pony circus, and several of its attractions moved out to fronts of their own elsewhere on the Zone. The Toyland Midgets and their band lasted, and marched in the Zone parades.

There was a wooden effigy of a suffragette, 90 feet high, and two tin soldiers of about that altitude whose feet were large enough to shelter small merchandise booths.

Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. II (1921), p. 147

At a glance

  • Concession voted to Frederic Thompson in July 1913; the Noah's Ark office received the Zone's first building permit, August 25, 1913.
  • Planned on five acres east of the Ark (Todd). A Calisphere photo caption gives 14 acres; this entry follows Todd.
  • The 90-foot wooden suffragette and two tin soldiers of about that height stood before the entrance.
  • Dedicated October 13, 1914, with children planting toys.
  • Staff at peak: about 300 men.

Afterward

Shrank to a dog-and-pony circus during 1915; demolished with the rest of the Zone in 1916. The spot is now Marina District housing near Laguna & Francisco Streets.

Where it stood

Toyland Grown Up stood at about 37.80215 N, 122.42907 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources