"Rockets" and "lighthouses"
such as this were a classic piece of playground equipment when I was a boy. In fact there was one almost exactly like this at the elementary school I
attended in Anaheim in the 70s. It too was removed around 1989 for more
plasticrap replacement. We used to climb to the top floor and shake the
thing back and forth as hard as we could, thinking we might be able to
bring it down. Some years later they would weld shut access to the top
two floors There was also large iron discs that could be turned around
up top to simulate the "light". It made such a racket that they welded
it in place as well. I liked to climb up inside the bars of the
roof where there was a small area to perch.
If you have any pictures
of this kind of thing from your hometown that you would like to share,
scan them in and email them to us and we'll post them here for all to see.
NEXT - Rocketship
Park - Torrance, CA
Here are some
other sites with similar pictures;
Here is a great website dedicated to the concrete playground art of Benjamin Dominguez whose work has been preserved at a few Southern California playgrounds.
A great blog post about 70s playgrounds at Vintage Kiddo
Scrubbles.net - playground rocket photo
Dreamlandscapes.com - playground rocket photo
Park Monster, So Cal '67 @ Charles Phoenix.com
The awesome Bruce Goff designed Playtower in Bartlesville, OK