Pop Culture
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The Comet began delighting thrill seekers in 1948 at Crystal Beach Park in Ontario, Canada, on the edge of Lake Erie. Designed by Herbert P. Schmeck of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, it gained a world-class reputation for its massive structure and speed. Much of its steel framework, including the lattice-work station, dated to 1927, when Crystal Beach built the Cyclone, a coaster filled with spiraling drops and twisting track that operated until 1946. After the Cyclone was dismantled, its structure was used to build the Comet. Crystal Beach closed in 1989 after the Comet had provided four decades of thrills, and the coaster was purchased at auction, dismantled, moved, and rebuilt. In 1994, the "King of the Hills" reopened to thrill a new generation.
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