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CNN Saturday Morning News
San Francisco's Antique Arcade Forced to Move
Aired August 24, 2002 - 09:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For decades now, people in the San Francisco area have had boatloads of fun visiting an antique arcade. It's one of the few hands-on collections of antique coin-operated arcade games and mechanized musical instruments.
Now the age-old arcade is forced to move.
Rusty Dornin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No high-tech bells and whistles to make this old clown do fancy footwork, and for Rosy Keehan, that's just fine.
ROSY KEEHAN, VISITOR: The video games are just a little bit boring. These are fun.
DORNIN: Games in the Musee Mecanique, an antique arcade opened in the 1920s near the Cliffhouse and Playland in San Francisco, bought by 80-year-old collector Edward Zelinsky in 1960.
(on camera): How many of these machines were part of the Cliffhouse, about, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
EDWARD ZELINSKY, OWNER, MUSEE MECANIQUE: I would say about 50 percent.
DORNIN (voice-over): Simpler times, when what it took to run a carnival display like this were wooden pulleys, springs, and a lot of glue.
When sometimes winning the game wasn't even the point. Take Jolly Jack.
EDWARD ZELINSKY: He laughs and makes other people laugh. That's all he does is laugh.
DORNIN (on camera): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and people love this.
EDWARD ZELINSKY: They love it. He doesn't do anything but laugh.
DORNIN (voice-over): As does Giant Laughing Sal, an icon from the Playland days.
There are mechanical fortune-tellers, player pianos, and even arm wrestling.
Most of the games cost a quarter, although there is still one left from the penny arcade days.
Now a national park renovation is squeezing the Musee Mecanique from its perch on a cliff near San Francisco's Steel Rock. A new home is promised nearby. Meantime, it must move to temporary quarters at Fishermans Wharf.
EDWARD ZELINSKY: It's very sad. This is the San Francisco experience at the Cliffhouse, where it's been for years, and I think it should stay.
DORNIN: Two hundred thousand people, Zelinsky says, drop quarters into the slots every year. But last year, he says, he lost money. Retired from a successful painting business, Zelinsky says he doesn't care about profit, and neither does his son, Danny, who's now in charge of tinkering with the toys.
DANNY ZELINSKY, MUSEE MECANIQUE: I will do whatever possible to keep it intact and running and open to the public.
EDWARD ZELINSKY: My son will do the best he can to keep this going forever.
DORNIN: A labor of love, the old-fashioned way.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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