The Giant Dipper

Looking down the Giant Dipper's lift hill on a balmy summer night. (Photo courtesy & copyright the San Diego Coaster Company)

Few coasters are given a second chance at life, especially when that coaster lies along valuable seaside property in southern California. Yet, this is exactly what happened to the Giant Dipper at Mission Beach in San Diego, California. Standing at the base of the coaster it is hard to believe that this ride was almost lost to future generations and it shows both the general public and enthusiasts alike that coasters are fun and good business. Let's take a look at the storied history of the Giant Dipper and investigate why so many people did so much to save it.

In 1922 John D. Spreckels announced he was funding a new amusement park located on Mission Beach in San Diego. Three years later the Mission Beach Amusement Center, later called Mission Beach Amusement Park, opened to much public interest. The centerpiece of the park was a large, twisting roller coaster from the firm of Thomas Prior and Frederick Church. Church was behind the designing wing of the company and created a coaster that fit with the wild and adventurous spirit of the country. The coaster's construction began a few days before the park opened and the trains rolled for the general public a mere forty-five days later. There is some discrepancy over who built the Giant Dipper. Author Eric Young, The Giant Dipper: A Pictorial History, said that the construction crew consisted of 150 men and that the majority of work was done by local workers. Richard Munch, author of Harry G. Traver: Legends of Terror, said that there are no records of the ride's builders and that it could have been done by the Traver Engineering Company because Prior & Church sometimes contracted out to Harry Traver's firm. [Author's Note: Young also said that the Prior and Church trains were especially designed for the Giant Dipper. I do not agree with this assessment because the Bobs (Riverview Park) opened in 1924 with Prior & Church trains (although later the park built their cars in-house through the Riverview Construction Company). The Looff-designed Giant Dipper (a design borrowing heavily from Prior and Church's style), at Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk, also ran Prior and Church style trains. Although it had eight, instead of eleven cars I do not know if these were Prior and Church trains or simply in-house copies].

The Giant Dipper looks more like a work of art than a simple roller coaster.

The Giant Dipper opened on July 4th, 1925, quickly became the park's signature attraction and operated for many years. Spreckels died in 1926 and the land upon which the park (and the coaster) rested was given to the city of San Diego. Eric Young suggested that it was a "tax settlement" to appease the city. Whatever the reason, the Spreckels company operated the park until the 1934 season when it was given to the city. San Diego did not want to get deep into the difficulties involved with running an amusement park so they contracted all of the land and rides out to independent entrepreneurs (although usually done by one owner, this was very common in the period at parks all over the country from Kennywood to Rye Playland).

From this perspective one can see the resemblance to the Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk coaster of the same name.

The park was renamed Belmont Park after a mysterious 1957 fire and the coaster was renamed the ingenious "Roller Coaster." Like many amusement parks during the late 1960's the park deteriorated in appearance. William Evans bought the park in 1969 and, unable to build the resort he wanted, worked at cleaning up the rides and concessions. Slowly, the park again became popular with families and the park's image became wholesome again. The park had a few Chance rides (a Skydiver, Turbo and Rotor), an Eyerly Roll-o-Plane, a circle swing, a Wild Mouse, a ferris wheel and many other rides of the era. With the park's fortunes rising Evans suddenly closed the park and the roller coaster, called the Earthquake for the '76 season only, at the end of 1976.

Charles Lindbergh flies over Mission Beach in the twenties.

The city quickly moved to have the coaster wiped out. Many drug users used the site as a home and the city council voted 4-to-1 in 1978 to destroy the coaster. That same year the government was approached by Toni Ciani. He worked to have the coaster renamed to the list of the National Register of Historic Places. Eric Young wrote that the "coaster fell under the jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission and could not be removed or demolished without the commission's approval of a request by the owner." Evans wanted the coaster to run again someday so he did not work for the coaster's destruction. Two fires burned the ride's two tunnels in 1981and one year later Evans donated the coaster to the Save the Coaster Committee. Scott Rutherford described the group as "grass roots" and said many of the people who made it up were local coaster enthusiasts. The coaster was required to be ready by 1985 but that did not happen and the city extended the S.T.C.C.'s lease for two years. On July 4, 1986 the Giant Dipper was relit with dancing tracer lights paid for by the Evans family. In 1987 the coaster was named a National Historic Landmark and in August of that year the rest of the park (except the Plunge swimming pool) was destroyed for a mall. Construction continued and through much sweat and fund-raising the coaster reopened on August 11, 1990. The track was painted pinkish red, the handrails were blue, two trains donated by Morgan Manufacturing (now P.T.C.'s California Style trains) rolled and the structure was a glimmering white series of boards against the beautiful Pacific. Along with a great roller coaster there is a wonderful museum on-site. It features a bookstore, a model of the coaster and an amazingly restored Prior & Church train. Today we have the Save the Coaster Committee and the San Diego Coaster Company to thank for their countless hours and dollars that they poured into the structure. We also need to thank the Evans family. It is true that they gave money, but they did so much more. It is sad but true that many in their position would have simply tore the coaster down and ignored the pleas of preservationists. But, they listened to their hearts and kept a roller coaster alive for the people of southern California. There is something magical about this coaster and park. After all, where else does someone buy a place with the intention of tearing it down turn into its largest supporter? The coaster stands as one of two Prior and Church roller coasters in existence today and that is something the people of the S.T.C.C. can always be proud of.


The Giant Dipper climbs the first hill.	A postcard of the roller coaster from the air.	A brochure from the mid-'90s.	The Giant Dipper's beautiful curving first drop.	The only other structure to survive besides the coaster, Mission Beach's pool- The Plunge.