W.R.J.
Oh, yes, Kitty Lamb, a terror cell from Kitty Lamb, and I...
I went back to where Kitty Land was, not too long ago, after you guys did the show with the Golden Rondale, I went back there, and we found the plaque.
It says, this is where Kitty Land was.
Carol G and Forte is here, Timber series here, and we're talking about Kitty Land today, which is by the Horlick Dam.
Am I right?
Jim, I need you to get right next to that microphone here.
Yeah, I want to hear every word you guys have to say.
And we went to the whole presentation of the Golden Rondale, so this is the radio version of the presentation.
And Kitty Land was the amusement park, and we're seeing what were the... what were the years for that, by the way?
Well, actually it was from 1949 to 1970, but yeah, we were really glad to bring Kitty Land back to the Rondale.
We also talked about the park pool back then, the... we've seen Parade, the outdoor theaters, and of course we did the outdoor theater here, and the park pool the last two months, I think, on your show done.
Yeah, that's right.
And we got a lot of comments about that, people said.
I remember that.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Is it open today?
Yes, if you want to walk on some grass and...
Sunken Tennis Court, yeah, there's no problem.
Don't try to play tennis.
Sunken Tennis Court, right.
So let's talk about Kitty Land now.
Well, you know, there were quite a few amusement parks back then.
We had our choice of going to Riverview, of course, in Chicago.
Muskego Beach, later known as Dandelion Park.
But Don, you probably remember what?
What, some of the amusement parks in your neck are towards Coney Island and Palisades, maybe?
My father was born on surf avenue in Coney Island.
Okay.
And there were quite a few times Coney Island.
My mother wouldn't let me go on the ride.
You're too dangerous for you.
Yeah.
And then Palisades Park, of course, they hit song by Freddie Cannon, right?
Palisades Park.
Boom Boom Cannon.
That's right.
Coney Island is still there.
Yeah.
And Palisades Park, no, no more.
But Coney Island is still in the amusement park.
Yeah.
But we had Riverview in Chicago.
As a matter of fact, there was a, a man named Tutun Baker.
I don't know if anybody remembers him.
He had a kid show on at noon.
Sounds like a wrestler.
Yeah.
He was large.
He always advertised Riverview.
And I still remember to this day, located at Western and Belmont.
And Muskego Beach was closer to Racine's and Riverview.
And as a matter of fact, we took our eighth grade class trip there.
I remember as a, as a kid.
But Riverview was located on 74 acres.
But Kittyland was only on one small acre and had a lot of child size rides.
And it turns out it was larger than life.
Well, we found out Jim when we were planning any program on Kittyland starting a few years ago.
We thought this would be a good opener just like we did now.
Yes, we had the large amusement parks.
Maybe you got there once every few years.
A big car trip.
Oh, we'll say that.
But we didn't really have to go there because we had Kittyland.
So we were so thrilled when we did get and we'll see more later when we got black and white photos of Kittyland.
The concession stand, some of the rides when we first looked at them.
Do you remember Jim?
We were shocked.
Oh, yes.
We were shocked.
Yes.
Because the difference and with the black and white photos, it didn't do justice.
Now your son eventually colorized them for us and that made a big difference.
But these original black and white of Kittyland, we thought, well, these aren't fancy.
Look at that concession stand.
That looks like a phone booth.
This is too much of a difference between Riverview and Kittyland.
Well, we got over that because we began to find out they were darling, they were charming, they were four children, they were ours.
And then the big thing came, Jim, with all your postings on Facebook with the nostalgic sites for recene, the retro recene and others.
When you put on, do you have memories of Kittyland?
One of the most astounding things that happened in our preparation was within a few hours you had to count them all on all the sites.
There were 1,800 likes and comments about Kittyland in a short time.
Oh, yes.
So that's how we couldn't find the phrase for ourselves.
Kittyland was tiny, but it became larger than life.
And life, that's right.
It is still with us.
That's right.
And Kittyland was open actually all summer long from Memorial Day through October.
And like I mentioned before, 1949 to 1970, seven days a week.
And where was it?
Well, like Don said, it was near the dam.
The dam, of course, if you know where that is, I think that bridge is being reconstructed now.
There were two sides of the river, of course.
The west side is where E.O.Mill Tavern used to be.
And now, I think there's a lot of travel lodge there.
It used to be holiday in.
But on the east side.
It used to be like six different names.
Yeah, right.
They changed every month, right?
Yeah.
And the east side, that's where Kittyland was at one time.
In a vicinity of the river run restaurant, Horlick Park is located there now.
It's a little known and it's really hard to find too.
What we found to help us, if anyone happens to have a drone handy,
well, we found out that your son, a drone,
he decided to show us Kittyland via drone as we prepared.
And it was really interesting to see the river in the middle.
And the land on the west, the land on the east, and a clear picture.
Because today, we do want to know where that hallowed ground really was.
Well, you know, and I went back there with my wife,
because I didn't live here at the dam.
She never went there either.
So we went back there and we're looking all over.
It's all grass now, just the park.
Yeah.
And I heard, you guys said there was a sign there commemorating where Kittyland was.
It was hard to find.
Well, we think we saw it, but there was a family having a picnic by the sign.
So we got out of our car and we were staring at them.
And they looked, they all groups started looking at us.
And we said, let's get out of here and come back tomorrow when they're gone.
Yeah.
And we did and we found the sign.
Uh-huh.
It's right there by the boat landing.
Right at boat landing.
And I was just asking him to date,
when we had signed one up and who put it up,
and we are kind of vague on that.
Well, I was very nice.
I took my own money.
And I had the sign made and I put it up for the citizens of Racine.
And I wanted it.
No, I didn't.
I think it's the Racine Heritage Museum myself.
And now we have to start a movement to say where the Washington Park pool was.
We've got to have a plaque committee.
Don't we?
We're building there.
You just need to plaque on the building.
Yeah.
We do.
We do.
Don, can you do that?
Yes.
I will take my philanthropic foundation that I have and, uh,
and add that to the list.
Do you think you're another plan?
Yeah.
The, um, I found something fascinating when you were at your,
before we take the break here, fascinating at the, um,
golden rondale.
It was a family operation.
Kittyland.
Is that right?
The whole family.
Yes.
Including a 10 year old girl who ran the Ferris wheel.
She was after golden rondale.
She was a big part of it.
Yeah.
She was our partner.
We're going to talk about her.
Did you imagine a 10 year old girl running the Ferris wheel today?
Oh, she'll never, never existed at that moment.
Oh, she'll forget that.
It was every agency around for safety.
A 10 year old girl was working.
I think when I was 10 years old, I could barely, you know, function.
You know, I'd even more the grass.
My father wouldn't let me run a long lower at 10.
But 10 years old.
Well, I guess now we have to go back to those pictures though.
Now, how, how high do you think that Ferris wheel went?
Doesn't matter.
There was somebody up there.
Lives were at risk.
And it didn't seem to bother anybody.
Carol, G and 14, Jim, a series here.
We're talking about Kittyland this morning here at WRJN.
Local news, timeless hits.
More to come.
Keep it here.
Local news and timeless.
It's WRJN.
Our two historians of fun.
Carol, G and 14 and Jim, a series here.
And this week, this week, this month, we're talking about Kittyland,
which is where the Whirlik Dam is, or it's currently being dismantled.
They're getting rid of the Whirlik Dam.
And it's right in that little park.
Now you say it's called a Whirlik Park, right?
Right.
Right back to where Rogan Shoes used to be.
Yes, right in the area.
And you can find the placets there by the boat landing.
And then you can sit there and cry and remember all the good days.
You know, I think you've worked here, Don.
Well, you know, I grew up here and I still feel terrible when I hear these shows
and what things used to be because I see pictures of them.
Well, and I still feel bad, even though I wasn't growing up here.
So let's continue on.
Okay.
Well, as we started saying, we have to learn more about Kittyland.
We're anxious to do so when we began this project a few years ago.
Who did we gain a friendship with and meet the most delightful
wonderful person?
Helen Horlick.
Pew.
Now Helen graduated from Horlick High School.
Like I did just a year or two older.
We're so we'll say about the same age.
And Helen immediately joined Jim and me.
And maybe wasn't as on board at first.
But we said, no, people want to know how this began.
How did it?
So here's the story that Helen told us.
Her father, Dick Horlick, inherited land on both sides of the river.
The areas we've been talking about.
He was a horseman.
But in the 40s, he left still owning the land.
But he left and went to California.
He went to Hollywood.
And he had horse riding stables in Hollywood.
But when he was there, he met his future wife.
Josephine Bazauer, Bazauer.
She was from Minnesota and she was a Marine.
Well, they married.
And being Midwesterner, Josephine felt fine about returning to Racine, Wisconsin.
When they came back, they lived in the pavilion on the river that had been the famous dance hall,
not extending any longer either.
Well, the horsemanship continued, but when Helen was small, too small to remember,
her parents took her to a place that they had discovered in Melrose Park, Illinois,
to a place called Kittyland.
And instantly, her wonderful dad said he wanted to bring a Kittyland type of amusement park to his land in Racine.
That is how it began.
And Helen said, he said it or she said it.
He was really in the end put on this earth to make children have fun.
That's a very sentimental story.
Getting there was something else, too.
As soon as your parents said you're going to Kittyland, I mean, my guys, you just jump for joy.
And that was true in our case, too.
By car, if you were coming from the south side, of course, you'd pass the quarry where the daredevil jumpers would jump into that blue water.
If you were coming from the north, you'd probably pass the airport.
At that time, it was known as the Horlick Racine Airport.
Many of us maybe even stopped at the Rapid Stairy Bar as well.
And you know, Jim, I have to say, we were also aware of Kittyland.
Now, on Carla Avenue, our yards were all fenced in or pushed in.
But across our block of 1,400 were these wide open yards of the 1,400 block of summit.
And so there would be a knock on our door at dinner time.
Someone would be calling old Carol.
I would jump up from the table and join all these baby boomer kids across the alley on the summit yards.
But then, just like clockwork, someone would say, I can't play.
We're going to Kittyland.
And we were also thrilled for them.
They get to go to Kittyland.
Do you imagine your family owning an amusement park?
I mean, that's like every kid's dream.
All the rides you want for free, all day long, anything you want.
And what we did find out from Helen was it, and we saw in the pictures, too.
It was a family affair.
Her mother would be at the ticket booth.
Her father was driving the train.
And Helen was even helping out.
I'm sure Helen had a lot of friends.
Yeah.
Could you imagine your best friend?
Oh, let's go on the ride.
How much is he going to cost me?
Nothing.
You're in the friends and family plan.
That's right.
Fun, fun.
Well, Jim, you were saying how exciting it was.
It came across town.
That was a neat field trip, so to speak.
We have watching airplanes at the airport, which were a rare sight.
But then finally arriving.
Because we might have been saying, are we there yet?
Even though that ride across town might have been also very interesting.
But are we there yet?
So we would jump out of the car.
And one of my neighbor, friends, Jim Miller says he lived in an area.
But it was like, now we are on vacation.
And now we're in the country.
You could smell the river.
You could smell the grass.
But then, of course, you could hear the Mary go round.
Total excitement.
So even our memories of arriving, the old cars, the station wagons,
how we jumped out with our families.
And it turned out that we have pictures of maybe a right families there after church.
Dressed up.
Oh, yeah.
We were always dressed up.
Mothers had their summer sleeveless dresses, shirt waist dresses.
And we have one perfect picture of a mother, yes, in high heels.
Going through the amusement park, sure.
So little girls would probably skip ahead or hold their mother's hand.
Boys would run ahead.
And there we were finally at the ticket booth.
Usually Mrs. Horlick in the ticket booth, the family affair.
And as I said, that ticket booth, like the Glossession stand,
was about the size of a telephone booth.
Hold it right there.
More from Kittyland.
Jim and Carol are here this morning at WRJN.
WRJN.
WRJN.
It's 7.35.
Good morning at WRJN.
Local news and panelists.
It's Carol, Jim Horton, Jim Rossira here.
We're talking about Kittyland.
That's long gone.
It was right where the Horlick Dan is.
But now it's history.
It's only in your memories and after a while,
nobody will even talk about it anymore because...
Well, we got it.
We got it.
You two go.
You take into history with you.
So let's talk what we leave off.
Well, once we got there as kids,
first thing we wanted to do was decide,
where are we going first?
For guys or boys, they should say maybe a little bit different than girls.
But like Carol said, this was a family operation.
Mrs. Horlick often was at the ticket booth selling tickets.
And Mr. Horlick was the train driver.
And for 9 cents a ticket, you couldn't go wrong.
It was never an arm and a leg, you know, for a price of a ticket.
Plus, you could get in free if you saved your progressive dairy caps.
And we have a photo of one of the train cars at Kittyland
loaded with these progressive dairy caps.
You would take that cap and it would give you a free ride at Kittyland.
And...
And what did they get out of it, though?
I mean...
Well...
Yeah.
Well, it doesn't put food on the table.
Yeah.
What would the Kittyland people...
I mean, unless you had a deal with the dairy,
when they paid you...
Yeah.
I mean, I don't understand what the purpose was.
It must have worked something out.
They can't do because there's no money payoff for it.
Yeah, yeah.
All right, go ahead.
One nice thing we learned was there was a sign there saying,
if you can't afford a ride, see Mr. Horlick.
And Helen was very, very proud of that.
Yes, yes.
And again, we need to thank Helen for coming along with us
on all the planning we did and the wonderful photos
that she searched for and found,
those black and whites,
and then to your son, Mark,
who colorized them for our programs.
And Jim, you posted some on Retro Recena.
Oh, sure.
A lot of people remember that.
Back up a second here.
So, if you couldn't afford it, they let John for free?
Well, there was a sign that said that.
We don't know.
No, no.
How do these people make any money?
You're getting on free with the milk carton chips.
Now, if you can't afford it, you're getting on free.
Now, under the rabbit business, that's why they closed the gas.
Yeah.
Well, the whole procedure, I think,
our parents telling us, maybe it's a surprise,
we're going to go to Kittyland,
like after supper or after church,
and then going across town, maybe,
and seeing the airplane, seeing the quarry,
finally arriving, heading for the very small ticket booth.
But then here was another ritual.
We got to the ticket booth,
and now what?
The ritual of what rides to do first?
Yeah.
There's always a big deal.
What are we going on first?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we had our choice.
No, we're at what time?
Nine rides, I think.
I think we thought.
Okay.
And so...
I picked your little carol crying.
I don't know when to go on the merry-go-round.
I wasn't only child, so I got my way.
Oh, okay, there you go.
Yeah.
Maybe we took a friend.
I hope I look the first pick.
Yeah.
One of the most popular rides was, of course, the train.
And that circled the park,
and Helen remembers her dad
and his deep voice would say,
all aboard.
At our program, we had a sound of a bell
that was running throughout.
And the train made, did you just say this?
It circled the whole kingdom.
It circled the park, right?
Very colorful.
Yeah.
That's right.
Well, with Mr. Horlick loving horses
and Helen starting to ride at a very young age,
it makes sense that Kittyland had to have horses.
And so there were eight of those, at most times.
And a couple of the names we still know,
Trigger and Rusty.
And all they did was go around in a little circle.
But it was very satisfying.
They were very, very popular.
Mm-hmm.
Where else, Jim?
Well, they had the swings.
The swing ride, I remember.
That was a lot of fun.
But I think a lot of us remember
those little boats they had
and the little cars.
The little boats were actually in water.
And it just made a circle.
And one thing I remember,
each boat had a bell under front.
And every kid was pulling on that rope, you know,
ding, ding, ding, ding.
That's all you hear was the bells ringing
when they were going around in that little circle.
As well as the cars,
when they were going around,
each car had a horn.
So when you're on that car ride,
you know, you just had a sound that horn.
And that's all you could hear was horns and bells
on those two rides.
And what is neat is we do have videos.
Yeah.
Helen wouldn't have had those,
but going to Retro Recene,
there were some people in town
that furnished us with videos.
The eight-millimeter movies.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's funny because the,
everything you're describing was at the kitty land
they didn't call it that where I grew up.
Mm-hmm.
And not right here.
But we had those cars that were in,
the boats were in the water.
You couldn't control them.
You thought you did.
They had a steering wheel,
but they didn't have.
Right.
And, well, everything you talked about,
the train, the donkey ride,
it's all pony rides.
I mean, there was all that,
every amusement park across America,
the great America is what we're talking about,
the small, local,
amusement park.
There was one up in Oshkosh,
we went through one time.
We took a ride up there,
and it was a tiny little amusement park,
just like you described kitty land.
I think every town had its kitty land.
Sure.
Well, I think maybe the innocence of children
and businessmen knew just what was going to work.
Well, we were totally satisfied.
At the Retro Recene County Fair,
just a few weeks ago, we were there.
They have a kitty land there,
a smaller ride for kids.
Okay.
And they would just like that.
They would do smaller rides where they were in dangerous.
Yeah.
But it was the same thing.
Mm-hmm.
Remember the Ferris Wheel?
The Ferris Wheel.
Always a draw, I think.
Ferris Wheel.
And we had this great picture.
Of course, you know, we're keep mentioning pictures.
But there was Helen on her 12th birthday,
operating the Ferris Wheel.
You imagine, I thought you was 10,
but you say 12.
I think.
Could you imagine a 12-year-old operating
a Ferris Wheel today?
I mean, the people from the state inspection agency
would close you down in about five minutes.
That's how it was back then.
Well, we can't forget the Mary Gorond.
Oh, yeah.
And thanks for inserting the music,
because that is the standard Mary Gorond music we heard.
And the horses were beautiful.
And thanks to Mark,
you're son colorizing them.
Mm-hmm.
We took a big leap from the black and white.
Oh, yes.
You're seeing the color of the Mary Gorond.
And if you were a boy,
I think the first ride you'd run to
was the you drive them tractors.
I mean, if you were on that thing,
you were in control.
You were somebody.
You were driving your own vehicle.
And that was really a lot of fun back then.
But again, that was usually for the boys.
They also had paddle boats on right on the river there.
And again, that was for the older kids,
but you could actually rent a paddle boat
and just go cruising on the river above the dam.
That was a lot of fun, too.
And I think Helen assured us.
I don't know if it showed up in a picture.
I think she used the word boom.
Oh, yes.
To prevent you from going over there.
Yes, that was a necessary item.
I think so.
Don't go over the falls.
This is not Niagara Falls, but still going over.
Yeah.
You're not going over.
Well, Don, especially you might want to know
how scientific we are about this.
So as we had been planning this,
we were so curious on what was the most popular ride.
So we conducted several surveys.
And we ended up actually with the tie.
Yep.
The train and the ponies.
That's right.
So just so you know what was the most popular?
We got to the bottom of that.
They have a train just like that at the Milwaukee Zoo,
where it goes around the zoo.
And it's like those trains.
It's tiny train.
We just sit in it.
And there's some guy whose lifelong dream
was to own a real train.
He had a Lionel train set in his basement.
Now he runs this train.
He's got a quick inductor outfit on.
But you said the owner, the father.
Yeah.
He was his job.
That he had a little train set when he was a kid probably.
And said, someday I'm going to beat my own engineer.
And here he was.
And Helen still remembers his deep voice,
calling all aboard.
It's quite a lovely map.
Now you said it was like, how much does it get?
Nine cents?
Nine cents for a ticket.
It almost seems like, how do you put food on the table at night
when you're charging nine cents?
And they give you people free ride when they've milked little things.
And then they can't afford it.
So they put them on for free.
Oh, my God.
Actually, the sign said, let us know if you can't afford it.
They never said they were giving you a free ride.
They were just taking a poll, right?
Yeah.
Helen was very proud of that.
Yeah.
Well, of course, food out of doors at a vacation spot like Kittyland.
So the popcorn, the ice cream, it had to taste the best.
We did enjoy looking at the concession stand.
It was, you know, like the size of two phone booths.
But it served as purpose.
And then we could, we could go just nearby and sit under trees.
Like there would be cottonwood trees there.
What kind of food do they say?
It is her hot dogs and stuff.
Just like cotton candy and stuff like that.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, riding carnival food, riding all those rides make you hungry, right?
So that was the conclusion of nine rides.
And then, of course, the parting, which we might get to,
how do you leave Kittyland?
That must have, you know, that was always posing a crime.
That's how you do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hold on a second.
We're talking to the Carol G and Forte and Jim Recier.
We're talking about Kittyland in Racine that ran from the 40s down to 1970.
Yeah.
And then, uh, closed up for good.
Don't left to the left of the memories.
So more with Carol and Jim coming up at just a moment here.
Local news.
Tamless.
It's a WRJN.
We have Jim and Carol here with us this morning.
We're talking about Kittyland for the next few minutes here.
And it used to be right by the Horlick Dam right now.
It's sadly enough.
It's just a grassland and ghosts and memories and.
Helen Ground.
Helen Ground.
That's it.
It's Helen Ground.
What do we do off here?
We had just concluded our trip through the nine rides and the concession stand.
But there was a change in a new development at Kittyland.
And that was due to Helen's mother.
She developed what was called the Kittyland party room.
There was a small structure on the property that had been a hamburger stand at one time in the past.
And she turned it into a new experience for recene, the Kittyland party room.
Pictures of it show a black and white striped awnings, a beautiful table setting.
And here was the new idea.
Instead of having our birthday parties like the ones I went to where you enjoyed,
but you went to your friend's house and you played pin the tail on the donkey.
And you dropped a clothespin in the bottle.
This was a new concept where you went to the Kittyland party room and everything was done for you.
It's like pre-chucky cheese.
Exactly.
She was on the cutting edge.
Head of the curve, as they say.
Head of the curve on all in age, a cake, and you got to go on the rides and beautifully decorated place.
Everything taken care of for you.
And people do, of course, remember that party room.
Now, I wasn't lucky enough to have a party there.
But we learned from one of our listeners of nostalgia and recene Rick Bonanno,
both of his sisters had parties at the party room, both of them.
And he is still trying to overcome the jealousy that he felt because he was denied a party at the party room.
Holding a grudge for 55 years.
He was cut from the party room.
Now, we also have some personal stories from Facebook when we posted about Kittyland.
Most of the comments were from people who loved going there.
And a lot of them, of course, say they missed it, which is how true.
And they also commented about their favorite rides.
Carol talked about that earlier.
But some of the other comments that we copied were this.
One was, my mother told me never to pet the Shetland ponies.
They are mean and will bite.
And another one, if we behaved all week, our reward was going to Kittyland on Sunday.
Another one, we usually went every Sunday after church.
Another, we saved progressive dairy bottle caps for the free ride tickets.
Another one, we live close by so we could walk there.
But my favorite is this one.
We had to leave early once because my mother was starting to deliver my baby brother.
Kittyland was not set up for those kind of deliveries.
I guess not. That's right.
Well, so many things come to an end.
And did we realize at the time that these memories were going to be so important to us.
50, 60 years later.
And again, at this tiny, tiny place that you and I, Jim, had to just realize was very tiny
that has remained so large in our lives.
And so, yes, there's a plaque.
There's the Horlick Park right in that area.
And we just have to remember that those memories that we make with our children today,
I think we've come to say like with our grandchildren, are so important because they just might be with them.
Like we have the memories.
Oh, sure.
And like Don mentioned earlier, everything we talk about on his show, we always end by saying all good things must come to an end.
So everything we talk about is pretty much gone now.
Now, here's a bright spot, Cindy Marigolds, who did have her birthday parties at the party room, Rick's sister.
She just emailed us that little America at Marshall, Wisconsin is a place that they've just taken their grandchildren to and found it just delightful.
So maybe we can say that there are offshoots from Kittyland that we can repeat today or offer our children.
So we hope that they have just the great memories too.
Oh, yeah.
56.
We won't be here to hear about.
Probably not.
Yeah.
Your Santa's Village, I know in Illinois too, that's geared for kids.
Okay.
It's a large scale, but it's geared for kids.
You know, if you go there, and again, I didn't grow up here, but just by hearing the stories and singing them at the Golden Rondell, and you presented them on the screen,
I could, when I'm there, when I went there with my wife, and we stood there in front of the sign that I looked around,
you could picture where the train was, where the Ferris wheel was, where the pony was.
You could picture all the people around there.
It's almost like a Twilight Zone episode where you see all the ghosts.
If you start hearing the music, you're in trouble.
I can hear the music.
Let me read to something here.
What Jim and Carol are doing, somebody sent me this this morning.
When Jim and what Jim and Carol are doing is passing down history, passing it down to other generations who may or may not have experienced these adventures and treasures of our local community.
It's up to us to continue the passing down as we share these stories through their presentations to our children.
Well, that's so well said.
Very well said.
Because that's what you guys do.
It's good listener.
Somebody's got to preserve this stuff, or it's gone.
It's like that horrible scene in the movie, the time machine, when it goes to the library of the Moorlocks, and it goes to pull out a book and it's dust.
There's no history.
Remember that scene?
Yes, absolutely.
And you can't believe it.
Thousands of years, their history are gone.
Never do they remember it because they didn't preserve it.
They let it go to dust.
Those Moorlocks were frightening.
Oh, they were all nightmares, I think.
Well, we think you done for having such an interest in recene yourself for not growing care up here.
And then we also thank you for making sure that I think just about every one of our invites by you, our monthly chats are on a podcast.
So just go to your show.
Yeah, wherever you get your podcast, right.
You Apple, Spotify, WRJN.com, civicmedia.us.
It should be there later today, so you get to hear the full hour.
And you can go back because we've covered Washington Park pool.
Yeah, they're all there.
Yeah, if you know, we'll talk about the dates.
I'll find them later.
But you go back to all the podcasts are still there.
One last thing about Kiddieland.
I was always asked the question, whatever happened to the rides?
Well, we were able to determine they were stored in a barn in Racine County or Racine somewhere, Racine County most likely.
And it was a really hush, hush.
They didn't want anybody to know where they were.
We got word that they eventually were moved to California.
And there we lost, you know, the records as to what happened to them.
Whether they were destroyed or reused again, we don't know, repaired, don't know.
But they're not in Racine anymore, of course.
They were stored in the barn.
What was it?
Yes.
It was like a secret.
I'd see an operation to get them out of town.
Right.
Like when the Baltimore cults left Baltimore in the middle of the night.
They pulled their moving bands up in two in the mornings and nobody could follow them.
That's right.
That's right.
Oh, man.
Well, I know that if they were still available, Jim would have tried his best to get one or more unreasoned ride for your basement or the museum.
Or to back yard, maybe you drive the tractors.
I have a tractor thing in the back.
You always feel sad when we talk about this stuff because it's memories.
You said, you know, you're preserving the memories, but you think back to it.
You know, I had a kitty land where I grew up.
Same exact kitty land.
As you described it, we had another train.
But we had everything else.
And while you're talking, I'm thinking about my mother taking me to that.
And it seemed like it was a million miles away.
It was five minutes from my house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Getting there.
Are we there yet?
It seems like we can walk there.
Yeah.
But it just seemed like it was a million miles away.
And so special.
And I look at it now.
Well, just down the block from us.
I know we want to say life is good today.
But one thing that we really have lost, I wish it were temporary, is the safety we felt as kids.
There didn't have to be the fear going to kitty land or riding our bikes across town, even, or walking miles.
Racine was safe.
And in general, we could trust anyone that we met.
So kitty land, no parents had to be fearful for danger.
Well, thank you.
Yeah, we walked everywhere.
Thank you guys for coming in.
Carol, G and Forty, Jim, to see you.
We'll do it again next month.
Okay.
And I'll be crying next month as well.
Thank you guys for coming to do what you've done.
How you can check out the podcast.
And I told you where to find anywhere you get to podcast.
I'll be up later today, right?
