Piers here seem to be miniature showgrounds open all year round. I think they even used to charge you to go out, but as the years have passed admission has become free. The Brighton Pier first opened in 1899 (replacing an older Chain Pier) and still has some of its original kiosks and iron arches and a signal cannon from the Old Chain Pier. When you walk out on these piers, with a little bit of imagination you can really feel like your back in the 30's & 40's when penny arcades were the big entertainment hot spots, when men and women stood around smoking - not knowing then how bad it was for their health, when Barbershop Quartets sang in red and white suits and kids ate hard boiled sweets and candy floss! Music still plays out on the piers today, but through wired speaker systems, people still eat and drink and chat and enjoy the simple atmosphere, the fresh air and the feeling that comes from being by the seaside! The penny arcades have been replaced with amusement arcades - which are much the same thing - but more technical. A few thrill rides have also been added, but they never appear that popular on the piers, even though there are quite a lot of people about.
I found it interesting to read how the wars affected seaside piers, a section in the middle was often removed to discourage enemy landings! The Brighton Pier boomed after WW2 and was a very popular tourist destination until the 1960's.
Today Brighton Pier is one of the most famous film locations in the world. Lloyds TSB, Coca Cola, Sky TV and Cadbury have all filmed advertisements here. Major feature films such as 'End of the Affair', 'Circus' and 'Mona Lisa' have scenes of the Brighton Pier in them and many TV shows have also been filmed here (none of which I recognise though!).
Our short walk on Brighton Pier was refreshing (and a little chilly, as you can tell from Lani's nose in the picture below) and a nice thing to do before our journey home in the car.
We have seen so many carousels since being here that they no longer seem exciting. Kind of sad really! I'm sure the kids would still love a ride, but it's getting much easier to say "no, not this time girls!"
3 comments:
It is looking a little cool, cloudy skies etc. Looks like Brighton is a nice place to have a look at. Is it sand or pebbles? Doesn't look like it's nice sand.
Oh i want to go to Brighton so bad...i have always been fasinated by those beaches of pebbles and the pier with the carousel...so romantic...seen it in lots of movies and read about it in a couple of books now...thank you for bringing it alive again...
first pic is cool! bet your hanging out for your next lot of visitors!
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