Temple of Mirth
 | |
| Location | The Pike |
|---|---|
| No. of Buildings | 1 |
| Owner | Ferdinand Akoun |
| Construction | |
| Construction Cost | $5,000 ($150,796 in 2021) |
| Proft | $39,232 ($1.18 million in 2021) |
| Entry | |
| Adult Entry | 10¢ ($3 in 2021) |
The one attraction that was most indicative of the `flavor’ of The Pike was the Temple of Mirth. A huge sculptured winking clown face and four grinning female faces completed the façade. Nicknamed the Foolish House, Crystal Maze, and Fun Factory, the Temple of Mirth used barkers to draw in the busy Pike crowd.
Description[edit | edit source]
Screams of laughter could be heard through the structure’s portals, thus grabbing the curious pike-goer.
Inside the attraction, there was an enormous mirror maze, then a succession of 150 French plate convex and concave mirrors that distorted the visitor’s reflection in hundreds of grotesque and ridiculous manners, always creating infectious laughter. A mysterious collection of cabinets, contained surprises, tricks and jokes.
The funhouse included outrageous art work and scenery, volcanic fires, a crowd-watched collapsing chair trick, a dark winding tunnel, Cave of the Winds (blasts of compressed air spouted up from the floor), Hall of Laughter, Mystic Bottomless Well, Spring of Mirth, a 3-story circular slide called Helter Skelter and ended in Dead Man's Alley, a circular slide.
You had a choice of exiting through a door or down a two story slide to the outside.
Shooting[edit | edit source]
On Nov. 14, 1904, Temple of Mirth manager Ferdinand Akoun was shot in the head and seriously wounded by Alfred Laws, a watchman employed by the Mysterious Asia attraction. The shooting occurred on the street, packed with sightseers. A crowd chased Laws to The Pike entrance, where he was arrested by a police officer.
