It all started with a column by John Horgan that pulled at my heart strings
Steve Squires is preparing to leave town. He has to make a clean break by the end of the month on orders from his landlord. The San Mateo rental property he utilizes east of the Caltrain rail line is scheduled for redevelopment. Squires, a very sharp and spry 84, has been a quiet commercial fixture at the same location on South Claremont Street in San Mateo since 1977 when Jimmy Carter moved into the White House.
Squires’ chosen profession: Repairing, restoring, rebuilding, trading and selling antique slot machines. It’s a unique specialty. A visit to his cluttered, cramped, 3,000-square-foot shop last week was instructional. The Squires & Corrie establishment is literally filled floor to ceiling with slot machines, hundreds of thousands of parts and an impressive array of tools and machines.
That tribute was followed the next week by an SF Chronicle article about the impending demise of Great America now that the property has been sold. I knew the journalist, Peter Hartlaub, had grown up in B'game and he verified it in the article. But what really caught my attention was his Dead Pool list of other attractions
My first trips to Great America as a Burlingame resident were in elementary school, not long after it opened in 1976. The trifecta of roller coasters — Willard’s Whizzer, Tidal Wave and Turn of the Century — worked as sort of a progression ladder for conquering my young fears. Soon, Great America will be just another memory from a very distant time. When you grow up in the place that started a technology revolution, there’s not a lot of square footage left for fun.
Will I be sad to see it go? Sure. Did I expect to take my grandchildren there? Definitely not.
Those of us who grew up on the Peninsula and in the South Bay are used to the disappointment. We lost Marine World Africa U.S.A., Frontier Village, Castle Golf & Games, the Circle Star Theatre and almost every local roller rink and cool old movie theater in the area. How the Winchester Mystery House is still operating is anyone’s guess.
I wasn't alone as a letter writer to the DJ noted
With the announcement that Great America has been sold, and eventually bulldozed, another one bites the dust. Heck Santa’s Village, Frontier Village, and of course Marine World are just memories (albeit fond) for many of us. Malibu Grand Prix, pee-wee golf. The list goes on. Lets not mention the drive in in Burlingame, or South San Francisco or … The “Block 21” project in San Mateo is moving forward. The 11 current parcels and their tenants have to look elsewhere and relocate. I know Steve from Squires Slot machine is moving to Stockton. I believe he, as well as Las Palomas, Wing Fat, The head shop and Jaybirds, have been local for 40 plus years. So Long.
In today's paper we see all of the residents in Oyster Cove Marina are either already out, or are scrambling to find an affordable place to move. I worry about my grandkids and what sort of fond memories and activities they will have. And please do not mention our water shortage or inability to increase our cities infrastructures i.e. more police and fire. Perhaps I’m just gloom and doom but maybe someone will build a bowling alley.
Peter C. Carey
San Bruno
In a truly crazy twist of fate, my decade-long search for a vintage slot machine yielded results last Saturday right here in B'game! It is a 100 year old machine and it needed repair, so I knew I needed to get to Steve Squires ASAP. Hauling the gorgeous hunk of machinery out to Stockton and then going back to pick it up months later wasn't appealing. I stopped in, got a 10 minute tutorial on what might be the issue, viewed a half-dozen YouTube videos as an aid to Steve's description, but couldn't be sure. Another visit brought Steve's offer to "just bring it in, I can show you in a couple minutes". This from the guy who has to pack up 45 years of stuff and move in a couple weeks! I was back in a flash and indeed he fixed it in short order after closing time. The best part of all was I got to watch him do it. We chatted about the lack of opportunity for kids to learn useful manual skills, the difficulty in finding staff with said skills, and the carving out of small businesses–especially in San Mateo where condos and offices are treated like saviors.
I started thinking of all the other things that are either gone or going. Remember when there were three antique stores in B'game and several big ones in San Mateo. Some old timers probably remember more. Remember when you had choices on where you could get furniture stripped or an appliance repaired? Independent gas stations and repair shops? Markets not named Safeway?
Like Mr. Carey I worry about how sterile life with nothing but condos, offices and restaurants will be like here. How many trips to Stockton will we be making to find real skills (with the tools and parts) like Steve Squires has? What a gem—he gets an honorary Best of Burlingame designation.
