Some 25,000 people swamped Euclid Beach Park on Saturday, May 27, for Old Classmates Day. As elderly alumni of Cleveland's old frame schoolhouses mingled and reminisced, the schoolkids of 1933 turned up for a simpler pleasure: free rides. Lines for the roller coasters, the merry-go-round and the Whip grew as long as a city block, reversing for a day Euclid Beach's Depression blues. (Ticket sales that year were only half 1930's total.)
The Cleveland Press sponsored Old Classmates Day, so naturally, a photographer was dispatched to the park to snap pictures of old-timers for Monday's paper. He also captured this outtake. The boys in the short pants seem rough, but no match for the policeman, who looks like he's used his billy club on tougher beats than this one.
The Scenic Railway sounds placid, but actually it was one of the park's popular roller coasters. Trains with carved dragons' heads on the front flew along a wavy track and around four circuits. The ride's dark tunnels were especially popular with young couples on dates.
