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Alive:'In 1956 CBS and the Los Angeles Turf Club (Santa Anita) acquired the lease on the Ocean Park Pier and they proposed to build a $10,000,000 nautical theme park to compete with Disneyland. They closed the pier after Labor Day, hired the best amusement park designers and Hollywood special effects experts and began to design innovative new attractions for the theme park. More than 80 special effects men, scenic designers and artists worked for more than a year on the project.
'The 28 acre park was decorated throughout in a sea-green and white art moderne look. Its entrance set amidst fountains, sculptures and large sea horse and clam shell decorated frieze, set the mood for the wonders within. The ticket booth in Neptune's Courtyard was set under a six legged concrete starfish canopy. Plastic bubbles and sea horses adorned its top. All day admission was ninety cents for adults; less for children. This included access to the park, Neptune's Kingdom, the Sea Circus and the Westinghouse Enchanted Forest exhibit. Other rides and attractions were at additional costs.
'Opening day on Saturday July 28, 1958 drew 20,000 curious people and dozens of Hollywood celebrities. Sunday's 37,262 paying customers brought traffic jams to the area. During the first six days it out performed Disneyland in attracting customers.
'Visitors entered the park through Neptune's Kingdom where they descended in a submarine elevator to the oceanic corridors below. Across from the elevator was an enormous sea tank where it appeared a shark and its prey shared the same tank. Beyond and covering one entire wall was a large diorama filled with creatures that couldn't live in captivity. Motorized artificial turtles, manta rays, sawfish and sharks glided by over coral reefs and hanging seaweed.
'The 1964 season was the most successful; 1,663,013 visitors. But in 1965 Santa Monica began its Ocean Park urban renewal project. There was wholesale demolition of nearby buildings and closing of streets leading to the park. The entire area was chaos while they built two large apartment towers nearby. In short, visitors couldn't reach the park and attendance plummeted to 621,000 in 1965 and 398,700 in 1966.
'Finally at the end of the 1967 season, P.O.P.'s creditors took action and forced the park into involuntary bankruptcy. Santa Monica precipitated the action when they filed suit to take control of the property because Roberts owed them $17,000 in back rent since 1965. The park closed on October 6, 1967.
'The park's assets were auctioned off on June 28, 1968 and ran through June 30th. The proceeds from the sale of 36 rides and sixteen games were used to pay off creditors. The park's dilapidated buildings and pier structure remained until several fires and the final demolition in the winter of 1973-74 removed it from all but people's fond memories.'-- Jeffrey Stanton, Venice of America - Coney Island of the Pacific
* An illustrated map of P.O.P.
* Wikipedia's P.O.P. entry
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Early peak:This is a three minute video shot at P.O.P. during its early, successful years. It comes from a 1959 documentary called 'From the Mountains to the Sea.'
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Necrophilia: After P.O.P. closed on October 6, 1967, it sat in ruins for several years. While the abandoned park was still relatively pristene, it was used constantly as a location for films and television shows. As it decayed, it became a popular spot for scavengers and adventure seekers like my friends and I, who found the disheveled, collapsing park a great place to do drugs and hang out. One aficionado of the dead amusement park made a rather thorough photographic document of the place at that stage of its existence, and has created a site called RIP: POP that holds his archives, stories, and message boards for fellow fetishists.
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Cremation: In 1970, the abandoned Pacific Ocean Park pier burned in a spectacular night fire. About half the pier (the outer end) was consumed in the arson fire. Transients living beneath the structure set nearly 70 additional fires from 1970 until it was finally demolished completely in 1974.
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Grave Robbers: If you saw the documentary Dogtown and the Z Boys, you'll remember the scene where the barren ruins of P.O.P. struck the local surfers as the perfect spot to do their thing. This site memorializes P.O.P.'s post-death charms and the surfing scene that formed around it.
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Eternal:'Here in a virtual world you can once again visit "Pacific Ocean Park" of Santa Monica California, one of Southern California's former jewels. So hop aboard one of the parking lot trams and lets visit P.O.P. together once again and have fun in the year 1967 before it closes down for good.'
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Ghost:Google maps shows you the exact spot where P.O.P. stood.
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p.s. Hey. P.O.P. was the first amusement park I ever went to when I was something like 6 years-old, and it started my lifelong relationship with the amusement park as muse and notion of utopia. R.I.P.
Alive:'In 1956 CBS and the Los Angeles Turf Club (Santa Anita) acquired the lease on the Ocean Park Pier and they proposed to build a $10,000,000 nautical theme park to compete with Disneyland. They closed the pier after Labor Day, hired the best amusement park designers and Hollywood special effects experts and began to design innovative new attractions for the theme park. More than 80 special effects men, scenic designers and artists worked for more than a year on the project.
'The 28 acre park was decorated throughout in a sea-green and white art moderne look. Its entrance set amidst fountains, sculptures and large sea horse and clam shell decorated frieze, set the mood for the wonders within. The ticket booth in Neptune's Courtyard was set under a six legged concrete starfish canopy. Plastic bubbles and sea horses adorned its top. All day admission was ninety cents for adults; less for children. This included access to the park, Neptune's Kingdom, the Sea Circus and the Westinghouse Enchanted Forest exhibit. Other rides and attractions were at additional costs.
'Opening day on Saturday July 28, 1958 drew 20,000 curious people and dozens of Hollywood celebrities. Sunday's 37,262 paying customers brought traffic jams to the area. During the first six days it out performed Disneyland in attracting customers.
'Visitors entered the park through Neptune's Kingdom where they descended in a submarine elevator to the oceanic corridors below. Across from the elevator was an enormous sea tank where it appeared a shark and its prey shared the same tank. Beyond and covering one entire wall was a large diorama filled with creatures that couldn't live in captivity. Motorized artificial turtles, manta rays, sawfish and sharks glided by over coral reefs and hanging seaweed.
'The 1964 season was the most successful; 1,663,013 visitors. But in 1965 Santa Monica began its Ocean Park urban renewal project. There was wholesale demolition of nearby buildings and closing of streets leading to the park. The entire area was chaos while they built two large apartment towers nearby. In short, visitors couldn't reach the park and attendance plummeted to 621,000 in 1965 and 398,700 in 1966.
'Finally at the end of the 1967 season, P.O.P.'s creditors took action and forced the park into involuntary bankruptcy. Santa Monica precipitated the action when they filed suit to take control of the property because Roberts owed them $17,000 in back rent since 1965. The park closed on October 6, 1967.
'The park's assets were auctioned off on June 28, 1968 and ran through June 30th. The proceeds from the sale of 36 rides and sixteen games were used to pay off creditors. The park's dilapidated buildings and pier structure remained until several fires and the final demolition in the winter of 1973-74 removed it from all but people's fond memories.'-- Jeffrey Stanton, Venice of America - Coney Island of the Pacific
* An illustrated map of P.O.P.
* Wikipedia's P.O.P. entry
____________
Early peak:This is a three minute video shot at P.O.P. during its early, successful years. It comes from a 1959 documentary called 'From the Mountains to the Sea.'
____________
Necrophilia: After P.O.P. closed on October 6, 1967, it sat in ruins for several years. While the abandoned park was still relatively pristene, it was used constantly as a location for films and television shows. As it decayed, it became a popular spot for scavengers and adventure seekers like my friends and I, who found the disheveled, collapsing park a great place to do drugs and hang out. One aficionado of the dead amusement park made a rather thorough photographic document of the place at that stage of its existence, and has created a site called RIP: POP that holds his archives, stories, and message boards for fellow fetishists.
____________
Cremation: In 1970, the abandoned Pacific Ocean Park pier burned in a spectacular night fire. About half the pier (the outer end) was consumed in the arson fire. Transients living beneath the structure set nearly 70 additional fires from 1970 until it was finally demolished completely in 1974.
____________
Grave Robbers: If you saw the documentary Dogtown and the Z Boys, you'll remember the scene where the barren ruins of P.O.P. struck the local surfers as the perfect spot to do their thing. This site memorializes P.O.P.'s post-death charms and the surfing scene that formed around it.
____________
Eternal:'Here in a virtual world you can once again visit "Pacific Ocean Park" of Santa Monica California, one of Southern California's former jewels. So hop aboard one of the parking lot trams and lets visit P.O.P. together once again and have fun in the year 1967 before it closes down for good.'
____________
Ghost:Google maps shows you the exact spot where P.O.P. stood.
----
*
p.s. Hey. P.O.P. was the first amusement park I ever went to when I was something like 6 years-old, and it started my lifelong relationship with the amusement park as muse and notion of utopia. R.I.P.