POP: LA's Lost Theme Park
Original Artwork by: Mike Olguin
Tourists and locals alike have been known to head down to Santa Monica for the Amusement Pier and Venice for people watching.
The Ferris Wheel and modest rollercoaster on the Santa Monica Pier are world famous and have been in many movies and TV shows. But what if I told you it had a much grander sister pier down the beach in Venice?
Some have heard that Venice Beach with its canals, vaguely Venetian columns and buildings was initially a Venice themed resort town built by Abbot Kinney at the turn of the 20th century.
What a lot of people don’t know is that Venice once had an amusement pier on par with Coney Island.
Starting life as Kinney Pier it was part of the Venice beach attractions.
There was a pier, boardwalk, ballroom, midway, and scenic railroad. (or early roller coaster)
After Kinney died, there was a fire that destroyed the original pier but the Kinney family rebuilt a larger one, an impressive International street, and proper roller coaster.
It was successful for many years until the Great Depression and the black-outs of WWII hit business hard.
The park changed owners and names a bunch of times over the years and went through various stages of decline and renewal.
It would usually get some minor upgrades, bill itself as “the new” Venice Pier and see some success for a time. Then things would fall into disrepair, the owners would sell, and the next owners would repeat the process.
To renew the area and curb these up and down cycles the city came up with a plan.
POP. Though it says Santa Monica, It’s closer to Venice.
In the late 1950’s a venture between CBS, the Santa Anita Race Track and City boosters; worked to expand the existing Pier to a legit amusement park they hoped would rival Disneyland.
It would be renamed Pacific Ocean Park or POP. POP also stood for pay one price, even though some rides did cost extra.
POP Entrance. In early 1960’s.
It opened on July 28, 1958. It consisted of a Upgraded Boardwalk themed to International landmarks, impressive entrance foyer as well as innovative new rides and shows.
The boardwalk, midway, existing rides, roller coaster and ballroom got upgrades as well and rebranding as well.
Some of the attractions were really high tech and innovative when you consider they were debuting in the late 1950’s.
Safari Jungle Ride.
Neptunes Aquarium Concept Art from the POP Park Map
A great example was a Safari Jungle ride. It was a dark ride where you drive around in a Jeep and shoot at jungle animal automatons with an electronic rifle. A lot like Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters at Disneyland, but instead of shooting at robot-aliens; you shoot at a gorilla or majestic lion to make the automatons move. (The good ol’ days right?) Despite the questionable theme, it was novel.
There was a giant Neptunes Aquarium which you can see in pics is really well themed and impressive. A vast walk-through hybrid aquarium/attraction that aimed to set the theme that POP was a gift from Neptune.
Diving Bells
One of the stranger attractions was a ride called the Diving Bells.
They were these capsule-like submersible steel pods that could hold a few people with portholes all around.
It worked by pushing down an air pocket in the Diving Bell as it was submerged into a aquarium like water tank via a hydraulics mechanism for a few minutes.
Submerged inside the tank, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at and you were crammed in a small steel capsule with burping, farting strangers.
There was some theming in the tank to imply you were submerged in the ocean, but the real thrill came when the hydraulic pressure used to keep the diving-bell capsules submerged; was suddenly released. This freed the air pocket within to send the diving bell shooting upwards, surfacing in a dramatic fashion.
This was the big thrill of this bizarre attraction.
It was also a thrill for people to stand around the tank and watch the diving bell's surface.
There was another one these rides at the Pike in nearby Long Beach and at an Amusement Pier in New Jersey. There is one remaining diving bell on display in Atlantic City.
Like many parks of the time, there was copy-cat Autopia cars. The familiar gas-powered, kid friendly go-carts had a super rad race track complete with bunny hills and a stretch of road over the water. If you have ever played Mario Kart, It looked something like the Ghost Valley race course.
Also in the copycat arena, were the Sky Buckets.
Only these went out over the open ocean instead of through a Swiss Mountain.
The buckets were enclosed in a plastic bubble to lend the illusion of safety should the cable give out and they plunge into the water.
Got to wonder what it was like to be in a plastic bubble Skyway bucking and swaying 80ft over the lapping waves on a windy day.
There was a Magic Carpet Ride with a similar ride vehicle mechanism to the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland with an overhead track that gives the feeling of flying.
You sat on the magic carpet vehicle and soared through a dark ride that told the story of Sinbad. This ride was really well done and on par with anything at Disneyland.
The coolest attraction though was the Banana Train Ride on the Mystery Island section of the Pier.
Mystery Island
The most striking feature of this attraction was that it was heavily themed as a lush Tropical Island at the end of the Pier.
The attraction was quite large and appeared to be on a separate pier with a 50ft gap between it and the main pier; connected only by a rope-bridge. This gave the ride area a magical floating Island appearance. This effect was made complete by a jungle lagoon draining over the side of the “island” as a huge waterfall into the Ocean 20ft below!
I mean how cool is that!?
To get to the ride, you needed to walk across the rope bridge. Your legs would probably be wobbly for the Pacific Ocean would be 20ft below you.
Ahead, one would see the Tropical Vegetation of the Mystery Island and a Polynesian style Long House that served as a Station for the Banana Train. You would hear the roar of the waterfall as it flowed down and mixed with the sound of the waves lapping against the pier’s pillars.The ride itself was a bit like the Mine-train ride at Knotts Berry Farm. You went through a jungle, through dark tunnels, caves, into a “live” Volcano, and over a sketchy looking rickety trestle bridge 20ft over the ocean below.
From Arrow Development the company that built the ride, amongst other well-known rides:
“One after another, the Banana Trains loaded passengers,“steamed” from the high-roofed longhouse and into the tropical “South Seas” jungle ahead. The track followed a figure eight on this tropical fun trip, run by a beachcomber, around the island from one thrill to another. The return track descending from the mountain and crossing above the outbound section. The railroad’s light rail was crudely laid on thin, wide spaced ties which inspired very little confidence as you looked down from the first car, and watched it flex under the weight of the train.
The train then entered the first several dark tunnels in the mountain. Out in the sunlight, framed by the curving spiral of track, the “live” volcano’s pots of bubbling lava could be seen within the cones of the cauldrons below. Twittering bats, thunder and lightning, a noisy “tropical rainstorm” and an “earthquake” were among the excitements enjoyed by the passengers before coming out into the sunlit center of the volcano, thru a short tunnel, then out again in the fresh ocean air, the Banana Train creaked over the spindly track and trestle onto a short section directly above the Pacific Ocean.
You weren’t out there long, but there was time to stare down at the water, towards the lights of Santa Monica Pier, then back into the tunnel ahead. The train then descended past the huge nest and broken eggshells of the Gooney Bird, who flapped and shrieked “Hello… hope you enjoyed your trip.” at the passing trains.
”
That is pretty amazing for the time!
I imagine rolling along on this little train, sound of the waves below mixed with a cheesy spiel by the driver. The ties and trestles moving below you in a rickety fashion. It seems like the kind of thing that one wouldn’t forget, which is so surprising why many people don’t seem to remember POP. Which is why I think it’s interesting enough to go into detail about.
This is the first installment about POP.
Ever seen the inside of a submarines nuclear reactor room? Fly on Mahi-Mahi? You could at POP!
Next time we will discuss the rest of the attractions.
We will also take a look at TV shows and movies filmed at POP.
Lastly the odd and eerie demise of this incredible and yet somehow lost history. So join us next time where we discuss more of the great attractions, POP in pop-culture, and the creepy demise of this once amazing place! See ya next time!
Some Rando Family at Pacific Ocean Park - 1965
