Pacific Ocean Park

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The Pacific Ocean Park was a 110,000 m² amusement park that stood on the Pacific Ocean Park Pier of the same name in Santa Monica . The park competed strongly with Disneyland in Anaheim in the 1960s and had to close for good in 1968.

history

First opening

The pier was built in 1905 for the Amusement Park by Abbot Kinney , the founder of Venice , as one of several piers. In 1911 the Ocean Park opened , an amusement park that had to be closed in 1957 due to poor economic activity.

Second opening

The park closed, changed hands, and operations resumed as Pacific Ocean Park in 1958. The opening with over 20,000 visitors took place on July 28, 1958. The next day, the park had 37,262 visitors, more than Disneyland. Entry was 90 cents. As a result of the immense popularity of Pacific Ocean Park, the pier has since then been called Pacific Ocean Park Pier or POP (which was also a synonym for Pay One Price , one price for everything. However, this was not true, as for many Attractions an additional entrance fee had to be paid for use).

Closure of the park

In 1965, the City of Santa Monica began its Ocean Park renovation project. Houses were demolished and streets leading to the park closed. The result was that visitors could no longer comfortably reach the park and the number of visitors fell from 621,000 in 1965 to 398,700 in 1966. In addition, although the park was very popular and had a long history of attracting many visitors, attractions were repeatedly defective due to wear and tear and the influence of salt water. The operators increasingly failed to repair the attractions, partly because of a lack of money.

At the end of the 1967 season, the park became the property of the creditors and the City of Santa Monica as the park owners had been in arrears with rent and taxes since 1965. Pacific Ocean Park was closed on October 6, 1967. The park's assets were auctioned in late June 1968. The winnings from 36 lanes and 16 game stands were needed to pay off the creditors. The pier was henceforth a place for surfers, junkies and pyromaniacs , "who populated the pier in a disharmonious symbiosis".

The end of the pier

After the park closed, the pier became the local surfing spot for the legendary Zephyr team from Dogtown , a group of teenagers who spent several summers practicing their surfing skills on the pier, before enjoying the “twenty-four-hour waves” of the borough's drained concrete channels and swimming pools Move between Venice and Santa Monica and become the most influential exponents of the resurrected sport of skateboarding .

After the pier was almost completely destroyed by dozens of fires over the years, it was torn down in the winter of 1974/1975. Today nothing can be seen of the huge pier. Signs on the beach warn of stakes and debris under the surface of the water. It is therefore forbidden to swim or to engage in other water sports activities on this section of the beach. From the air there is still a larger gap and a discoloration of the sea.

Pacific Ocean Park attractions

  • Westinghouse Enchanted Forest / Nautilus Submarine Exhibition
  • House of Tomorrow - showed visions of the future
  • Sea Circus - dolphins and sea lions showed artistic maneuvers here and could also be fed after the performance
  • Diving Bells - here visitors could see the ocean from below
  • Ocean Skyway - in bubble-shaped gondolas you could go almost 800 m into the ocean (and back again) at a height of 23 m
  • Union 76 Ocean Highway - Miniature cars could be driven on a simulated road
  • Flight To Mars - an audiovisual presentation simulating a trip to Mars
  • Flying Carpet - the visitor could experience impressions from 1001 nights in a simulation of a flying carpet.
  • Mirror Maze - a classic mirror maze
  • Davy Jone's Locker - another adventure house with pirates as the main theme
  • Flying Dutchman - similar to the Davy Jone's Locker
  • Deepest Deep - simulated a submarine , but over water
  • Around the world in 80 days - impressions from all over the world were presented here, but had to be closed for safety reasons
  • Safari Ride - children could go hunting animals in the jungle in small jeeps with electronic weapons
  • Mystery Island Banana Train Ride - one of the most popular attractions, where the visitor drove through the jungle in a banana and could marvel at simulated volcanoes or earthquakes
  • Sea Serpent Roller Coaster - a wooden roller coaster
  • Whirlpool - the visitor was pressed against the wall in a centrifuge while the bottom slowly loosened
  • Mr Dolphin
  • Flying Fish - a miniature roller coaster
  • Carousel - a carousel that was still built in the old style

The Fisherman's Cove and the International Promenade , which had a number of different offers, were available for shopping and dining .

On January 5, 1959, the park had already booked 1,190,000 visitors and was planning an expansion of four more attractions worth two million US dollars. However, only the following two were actually built:

  • Space Wheels
  • Fun Forest - a small park with attractions specially made for children

Web links

Commons : Pacific Ocean Park  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stacy Peralta: Dogtown & Z-Boys 2001