Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920–1975

by Brenda Biondo, Susan Solomon (Foreword), Darell Hammond (Afterword)

Before today's safety-minded structures of wood and plastic, America's playgrounds were full of tottering seesaws, dizzying merry-go-rounds, and towering metal slides.
Documenting the evolution of American playgrounds between 1920 and 1975, Once Upon a Playground is a visual tribute to these iconic structures, celebrating their place in our culture and the collective memories of generations. In it, contemporary photos of vintage pieces of playground equipment are juxtaposed with images of the very same pieces as they were shown in classic catalogs, postcards, and photographs. The result is a haunting time capsule showing a rapidly vanishing part of our country's cultural heritage.
Whatever the playgrounds of your childhood looked like, the gorgeous photographs in this book will transport you back in time and remind you of just how important play can really be.

Genres: Nonfiction, Photography, History

188 pages, Hardcover

First published May 6, 2014

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful collection of photographs which brought back a host of memories for me.

After a short foreword and shorter introduction, the photos begin. The foreword is paired with photographs and catalog images from the 1910s, which show some impressively dangerous playgrounds that I wish to hell I'd been able to play on! Everything in them is so incredibly tall, it's brilliant.

The photographs are beautiful, a mix of long shots and closeups, and often paired with the catalog pages of the equipment pictured. This was a great touch, which I hadn't been expecting. Initially I thought perhaps I'd give this volume to my father, but it's so lovely that I'm forced to keep it for myself.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trip down memory lane! This photographic history of playground equipment was very interesting for me. But even more intriguing was the author's summary. She has a very important message about play, a message that needs to be acknowledged and acted upon. Children do need to get away from the constant blitz of screens and audio-visual media and learn to just play.

Note: this book was a give-away first reads book. I am certainly glad I was chosen to read it!

[Gene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of stunningly beautiful photographs and brought back a flood of childhood memories. Highly recommended.

[RebL · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will never stop being sad that the original Rocket Slide was removed from Burns Park. This book is a nostalgic look at the hulking metal playground equipment we remember from our 1970s childhoods.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this photography book! It brought back so many amazing memories, and I ended up sitting down with it with my husband, three children, brother-in-law and father-in-law as we all reminisced about what we remember playing on as children at playgrounds.

Photographer Brenda Bionda had an inspired idea, to find old play equipment and photograph it and compare it to original catalog pictures and descriptions of them. She is based out of Colorado, so many of the playgrounds she documented from 2005-2011 were from the Great Plains region, often found in small rural towns. Amazingly, she found a few structures that date back to the 1920s and 1930s and her book takes you forward to 1975. Although I grew up in suburban Illinois, and was a child in the late 70s/early 80s, I recognize a few pieces of playground equipment from that era too. Of course, most of the equipment I would have played on came from the 60s and 70s, but some communities kept equipment for decades and it was a pleasure revisiting them through these photographs. Even my children recognized equipment from decades prior, as we live in a more rural area, and on country drives my husband and I would stop at small playgrounds for them to play on. The last photograph of a rocket ship playground from 1968, found in mint condition in a Colorado town was perfect- and it reminded my children of a favored playground we took them to that has a similar piece of equipment to this day. Playground equipment today is definitely safer (but I will always hold a place in my heart for merry-go-rounds and how exciting they were) but lack the character found in old playgrounds. This book has the winning combination of historical research, excellent photographs and the ability to bring you back to your childhood.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of beautifully photographed vintage playground equipment is gorgeous! It has the feel of a work of urban exploration (google it), with its worn and weathered structures looking forlorn and abandoned. The equipment is photographed empty, sans children, and in situ; most have a corresponding sales flyer or advertisement reproduced on the facing page, offering diagrams, specifications, pricing, and sometimes children, clad in various plaids and knee socks, modeling the equipment. The book is sectioned by decade (1920s-1970s). The tone is nostalgic, and the photographs of the metal slides do indeed bring back the wincing feeling of a hot slide on one's bottom and bare legs. The book is an absolute treasure. If you're in your mid-thirties or over and ever played on a playground, you'll want to flip through this book!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is an amazing book - it shouldn't be as good as it is. photos of colorado playgrounds, so what? Biondo puts the advertising next to the photos of the playgrounds giving us a history of play in america. never thought that cities/schools/churches actually look at catalogs comparing price, style, material, color, size etc in deciding what they'll buy and install. Tastes change, from being wood and basic carosel types and swings to today's plastic, safe w/ramps and towers and plexiglass windows.

and what ever happened to teeter-totters, those wooden things that hurt like heck when you bounced on them or when the grinning fat kid that didn't like you got off while you were in the air?

beautifully written and photographed book i won on Goodreads.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very neat book! It was interesting to see how play equipment progressed over the decades. I can definitely see why some of that early stuff is no longer used. The catalog pages that accompany photos of some of the equipment are a nice feature. Even though it dates to 1975, a lot of the playground structures featured toward the end of the book were familiar because they were still around in the 80's. Some of the photos reminded me of a playground that I used to frequent as a kid. I used to drive past it occasionally and one day all the old slides were replaced with modern equipment. It was sad to see that a piece of my childhood was gone. I take my daughter there now and it was recently redone again. I'll be to be sure to take plenty of pictures of her at the playground.

[Selkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great coffee table book! You will be reminiscing about those recesses in elementary school while reading Once Upon a Playground. I like how the chapters are divided into decades, and how the originals ads are pictured next to the recent pictures of neglected playground equipment.
I was a disappointed that although it boasts that she went all over the country to take the photographs, that there were not pictures of any of the parks or playgrounds I grew up with, even though some of them still have the play equipment of yore (And it neglected to picture the wine barrels---am I the only person that remembers those?).

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received this book for free as an early reviewer.

I loved this book! It was great to see so many photos of the style of playground equipment that I grew up on, and that would horrify parents today. Today's playgrounds may be safer, but they also seem less inspiring when it comes to imaginative play.

So many of my favorites are pictured in this book, it was a fun walk down memory lane. The history of playgrounds was also fascinating, I had never really thought about their origins. Great coffee table book to have around!

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to love playgrounds as a kid, I mean come on, who didn't? The slides, the monkey bars, the see-saws. This book kind of shows the evolution of the playground from the 1920's through the 1970's. There are very old ads, many of which are very amusing. For example, there is a see-saw that you can purchase for 22 dollars. That's a steal! Some of the playgrounds are a bit creepy and ominous and are shown covered in rust stains. The book is a good flip through for a lunch hour and definitely captivated my interest.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderful pictures! Loved picking out the equipment that I used to play on. Wish there were images from the 1980s. I'd like to do more reading on M. Paul Friedberg's work.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun trip down memory lane.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly photos, but with enough text that I felt like I got a good idea of the history of playground equipment in the U.S. Also a good dose of nostalgia when it got to the mid- to late-60s stuff.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book because it brought back memories of my Elementary school playground - it had all the good stuff - Eagle's Nest, teeter-totters, swings, merry-go-round, monkey bars and a big metal slide. It's all gone now, but we had a blast back in the day! This is a nice book with lots of color photos and some history of playgrounds. A reminder of good times!