Boardwalk History Timeline
Take a scroll through Boardwalk History
The popularity of beaches grows in the late 1800s as people come to believe that “taking the waters” is good for their health. Bathhouses spring up along the beach in Santa Cruz, giving visitors a place to safeguard their modesty when changing into bathing clothes before entering the water.
Starting in the 1860s several local families build a number of bathing facilities along the water front, including the Long Branch Bathhouse, the Dolphin Bath House, Neptune Baths, and the Miller-Leibbrandt Plunge Baths. The landscape of the waterfront changes when Fred Swanton secures financing to build the Neptune Casino to the west of the Plunge Baths.
Fred Swanton, a local businessman, wants to develop Santa Cruz into the Coney Island of the West. By 1904 he secures funding and government support to build the Neptune Casino next to the Miller-Leibbrandt Plunge, creating one large beach area tourist attraction.
On June 11, 1906, just two years after its grand opening, disaster strikes! The Neptune Casino burns to the ground. In the weeks after the fire, Swanton forms the Santa Cruz Beach Company, names himself Director-General, and begins raising funds.
The second Casino and Natatorium buildings are constructed in an astonishing nine months with an extravagant grand opening on June 15, 1907.
The beach's first thrill ride, a roller coaster known as the L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway, opens on July 1.
The Looff Carousel has come to represent the heart and soul of the Boardwalk. Charles ID Looff and his team of carvers manufacture the carousel, install it on the Boardwalk, and operate it starting in 1911.
In 2011 the Boardwalk celebrates the Carousel's 100th anniversary with much fanfare.
In order to save the beach operation from bankruptcy, a group of Bay Area investors forms the Santa Cruz Seaside Company and take over operations from Swanton's failing Beach Company.
S. Waldo Coleman serves as the first of 7 Presidents of the Seaside Company.
The Giant Dipper begins operation and quickly becomes the Boardwalk’s crown jewel. It speeds riders along the Boardwalk where the sights and sounds and smell of Pacific salt air bolster the ambiance of this breath-taking experience. It’s the oldest wooden roller coaster on the West Coast and the fourth oldest coaster in the U.S. continuously operating in its original location. The Giant Dipper has delivered thrills for generations of Guests for nearly 100 years.
After almost three decades of operation as the Casino Ballroom, in 1934 the remodeled, redecorated, and renamed Cocoanut Grove ballroom opens on May 5. Under the direction of the Troyer brothers, who also operated the Casa del Rey Hotel, the space is decked out with more than 250 real palm trees for a South Seas look and feel. The Cocoanut Grove hosted some of the major names of the Big Band era.
After the tough years of the Depression and World War II, the modernization of the Casino building marks the beginning of a series of improvement projects that elevate the look and feel of the Boardwalk. Completed by then Seaside Company president Laurence Canfield, it also marks the start of the Canfield family's legacy of continuously reinvesting in the park to make it better than before.