I recently got a new job writing history articles as a freelance writer for the Seacoast Scene newspaper. My first article, which is about the history of Joe’s Playland at Salisbury Beach, was published in this week’s issue. Check it out here on page 15 of the June 5, 2025 issue!
As a Salisbury native and a longtime customer of Joe’s Playland, I was thrilled to write about this historic arcade, which has been in business since 1919. It is the only remaining arcade on the entire beach now and I’m so thankful that it’s still around. It’s a really unique place run by a very lovely family, the Abdulla family.
Joe’s Playland started out as a popcorn stand at various locations on the beach before it relocated to its current spot in 1953, where it started to sell ice cream and fried food, and later became an arcade.
One of the owners, Dan, told me that Joe’s Playland became an arcade in the 1960s but it appears that it was an existing arcade before that yet it wasn’t owned by the Abdulla family.
Arcades, as they are today, weren’t really a thing until the 1960s, when electromechanical arcade games were invented. During the 1950s, the only arcade games available were pinball and skee ball and they often faced legal challenges because they were considered by some to be gambling machines.
Yet, amusement arcades were first invented in the 19th century with the rise of “penny arcades,” which featured mechanical games like fortune tellers, strength testers, early versions of non-electrical pinball machines, and gun games.
I found an article about the arcade being damaged during a gas explosion in June 1957, and it mentioned that some of the “pinball and other machines” were damaged during the blast. The article also referred to the business as The Playland arcade and says it was managed by William Balles at the time so I believe that the Adbulla’s later bought or took over the arcade from Balles in the 1960s.
While researching a different topic about Salisbury Beach recently, I also discovered this old photo of Joe’s Ice Cream stand from 1948 and noticed the sign that says “Playland – Photo Studio” next to it, so it appears that it has been some type of amusement arcade since at least the 1940s.
After my article was published, my twin sister, Jessica, reminded me that we were actually childhood friends with one of the Abdulla’s, Leslie, and that Leslie once gave us a personal tour of Joe’s Playland during one of our school’s annual “Beach Days,” which was an event each year that allowed all of the kids from the Salisbury Elementary School to come to the beach and enjoy the amusement park for free. I had completely forgotten about this, and it was such a joy to think back to that day all those decades ago.
Writing about the history of my hometown has been such a walk down memory lane and has made me appreciate my charming little beach town even more than I already did.
I took this new freelance job because I wanted to explore traditional publishing again. I started out as a journalist for some small-town newspapers over 20 years ago, but then I moved on to blogging because there weren’t a lot of journalism jobs out there, and I wanted to write more about history than news anyway.
So when I recently saw an ad for freelance writers for the Seacoast Scene, I thought I’d apply and see what the job entailed. I was thrilled when they responded and said they were impressed by my history blog and were interested in hiring me to write history articles for them about the seacoast area, particularly Salisbury, because it is my hometown.
If you’ve never heard of the Seacoast Scene, is a free weekly newspaper covering the Seacoast region of southern Maine, New Hampshire, and northern Massachusetts.
It provides information about local dining, entertainment, shopping, and more and aims to be a guide for residents and visitors to help them discover what’s happening on the seacoast.
The Seacoast Scene is published by HippoPress which is a publishing company established in New Hampshire in 2001.
I have more articles in the works, and I am always on the hunt for more stories, so if you have any story ideas for me, let me know! Email me at rbeatricebrooks@gmail.com.
At the bottom of this post are the sources I used for the article about Joe’s Playland.
Sources:
“About Us/Our Games.” Joe’s Playland, joesplayland.com/about-us–our-games.html
“For Sale: Oldest Established Business at Salisbury Beach.” The Boston Post, 30 May. 1954, p. 23
“13 Injured in Salisbury Beach Blast.” Newburyport Daily News, 7 Jun. 1957, pg. 1