The Bookshelf: Pacific Ocean Park, pt 2
The Attractions
The first step for building the new park on the pier was to clear out most of the old “carny” types of things. A few attractions stayed, such as the wooden coaster, carousel, and so on. These would be renamed and re-themed to fit the new design. Two primary designers were hired: Maurice Ayers, a Hollywood special effects expert, and Fred Harpman, who was initially invited to submit a design concept. Harpman won and began calling other artists to get the job done: nine months to design and open the place. It would be challenging. It would be frantic. Chaotic. Mistake-ridden. But the park opened in July 1958.
Neptune’s Courtyard was the opening act, and it was beautiful. Walkways over water, the iconic starfish arch over the center, fountains, and waterfalls led you to the entrance of Neptune’s Kingdom. Take an elevator down under the sea and wonder in awe at the colorful, well-executed underwater scenes, including King Neptune himself.
The Westinghouse Enchanted Forest provided a “breathtaking display of the electrical miracles of today and tomorrow.” Elektro the Robot greeted guests, having been resurrected from his appearance at the 1939 World’s Fair. The main attraction here was a replicated section of the U.S.S. Nautilus nuclear-powered submarine.
Like all parks, POP had an aquatic animal show, Sea Circus. The Submarine Diving Bells featured two metal containers with portals in a large pool. A cable would lower you down into the water, then suddenly release, with the capsule popping quickly back to the surface.
One of the most iconic visuals of the park was the Ocean Skyway, a standard cable skyride featuring Googie-style, modern bubble-shaped cabins. The line ran out over the water to the far end of the pier and back. Racing along underneath was the Ocean Highway, a miniature car ride like that found at typical parks, but with no center guiderail. Read the book to find out Bob Gurr’s opinion on this particular attraction…
Flight to Mars had nothing at all to do with the nautical theme of the place, but was a thrilling adventure similar to that found at Disneyland (and others, of course). The Magic Carpet ride was a Peter Pan concept from Disney, with suspended vehicles flying over various scenes.
One of the former areas of the pier was the Midway, reimagined as Ports O’Call. This included existing games and rides, including the roller coaster. A children-oriented dark ride consisted of jeep-type vehicles cruising through the jungle, complete with rifles provided to the kids to shoot the artificial wildlife.
There was much more, but out at the far end of the pier guests found themselves in the Polynesian region of Mystic Isles. The main attraction here was the Mystery Island Banana Train. The beautiful banana trains, manufactured by Arrow, slowly rolled through the rain forests in a land-based version of Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Drivers joked their way along the journey as they narrowly escaped the cannibal’s village, climbed up into a dark mine, and then down into the crater of a simmering volcano. After navigating a trestle out over the water, guests rolled through an indoor tropical storm before finally returning to the station. The Banana Train was easily one of the most popular and remembered experiences from the park.
And this was just a sampling. There was quite a bit shoehorned into that old pier. People who got to experience the place never forgot it. A friend of mine who’s been a theme park designer for forty years says it was easily one of his favorite parks. It was pretty amazing and pretty popular that first season. And then came season two…
Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space-Age Nautical Pleasure Pier. Christopher Merritt and Domenic Priore. Photos here are from the awesome, beautiful book.
