Let me tell you a small story that makes me sad, which is part of a big story that makes me sadder. It’s about the death of Six Flags California’s Great America—Silicon Valley’s only amusement park, and a place that has been a fixture of life in Santa Clara County, where I grew up, for half a century. The park’s lease expires in 2028, and the land it sits on, across the freeway from Nvidia’s spaceship-esque headquarters, would bring in more tax revenue if it were used for basically anything else. After 50 years in operation, it is expected to close next year.
The death of California’s Great America is partly about the economics of the amusement park business itself; partly about the way many Americans now feel too ashamed or demoralized to celebrate their country; and more broadly about the shift in so much of modern leisure from the physical to the digital.
So in anticipation of the closure of Great America, I returned to my childhood theme park for the first time in 10 years. I paid $60 for admission and $39 for parking to see exactly what Silicon Valley would be losing—which turned out to be more than just nine roller coasters, nine water slides, and a handful of Snoopy-themed attractions.
If you pay attention, you can make out the vestiges of a theme park built in celebration of America: a 1950s-style retro diner that serves corn dogs and milkshakes; a spinning, red, white, and blue ride called the Liberty Twirler; and the faint sounds of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” playing over speakers in the queueing area of Patriot, a 91-foot-high, bright blue America-themed roller coaster.
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