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Site #4: Historic Playland 1941

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Playland first opened in 1941. A family named London were the original owners. Then Daniel and Annette Butler took over. The business started with a single bowling game that was brought out to the boardwalk on weekends and grew to include an arcade and a bingo parlor. There were lots of adventures along the way, including having their “claw” digger games seized by the authorities as illegal gambling machines. They would partner with Gabe Novelli and Rocko Rosati, the former owner of the Topo Gigio Restaurant in Winnipeg, in Northwest Amusements. The illusion behind the arcade, Playland, the longest-running business in Winnipeg Beach, is that time can actually stand still.

The arcade walls are plastered with iconic posters, everything from a psychedelic Bob Dylan to a Ghostbusters movie poster, from K.C. and the Sunshine Band to cheesecake posters of TV stars from the 1970s such as Adrienne Barbeau, the daughter in Maude.It is still a ‘quarter’ operation,” — you can play pinball and video games, although they make up a small portion of the 70 games in Playland. Most are automated carnival-type games, some dating back 50 years, such as shooting basketballs, bowling or a memory game. You don’t get replays, you get coupons to purchase candy or prizes.

Playland has survived in part because kids don’t have those same electronic gaming centers at the cottage that they have at home. But Playland has also survived because it appeals to people’s memories of their childhoods, as much as it does to a new generation of kids.

If you have any personal photos of this historic tour stop, please take a photo of them with your phone and email them to: winnipegbeachhistory@gmail.com