Pacific Ocean Park Photo Exhibit
The Pacific Ocean Park Photo Exhibit features many images of the construction phase of the amusement park, made possible by a donation from the Osterhout family. All photographs are digitized and available at our digital archive, Imagine Santa Monica (digital.smpl.org). These historical photos are on display in the Main Library (601 Santa Monica Blvd.) until the end of 2016.
On July 22, 1958, Pacific Ocean Park opened in Santa Monica to great fanfare, welcoming over 20,000 visitors. The day’s Santa Monica Evening Outlook is full of ads congratulating P.O.P. as it affectionately became known, with businesses and sponsors declaring their happiness to have contributed to its creation. Initially, the 28-acre P.O.P. lived up to the hype, attracting crowds and eliciting raves. However, it was beset by a series of challenges that would force its permanent closure to the public before its ten-year anniversary.
Originally conceived by the Los Angeles Turf Club as Santa Monica’s answer to Disneyland, the park covered Ocean Park Pier and adjacent land where Santa Monica meets Venice. The park’s planning and investment stages lasted almost two years, during which over eighty artists, designers, and special effects professionals (many of whom honed their craft in Hollywood and/or other amusement parks) were hired. The “space age” P.O.P. resulted from their efforts, a nautically-themed park with an art moderne look offering thrill rides, fine dining, and live music. Popular attractions included the Sea Serpent Roller Coaster, the submarine Diving Bells, the Mystery Island Banana Train Ride, and the bubble gondola Ocean Skyway.
Before long, the difficulties maintaining the park and generating sufficient revenue became apparent. Attendance fluctuated. Owners changed hands. Back taxes accumulated. While 1964 saw a record number of visitors, a neighborhood revitalization project severely limited access to the park the following year. Perhaps worst of all, the winds and salt from the ocean rusted out the rides much faster than predicted. In the fall of 1967, P.O.P. was shuttered for repairs, never to reopen. Following a series of fires, its final remains were demolished in the summer of 1975.
Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 22, 1958.
“The rise and spectacular fall of Venice Beach's Pacific Ocean Park,” Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2014
Hometown Santa Monica: The Bay Cities Book, Jenn Garbee, Nancy Gottesman, Stephanie “Tippy” Helper, and Margery L. Schwartz, Prospect Park Books, 2007.
Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space-Age Nautical Pleasure Pier, Christopher Merritt and Domenic Priore, Process Media 2014.
Venice, California ‘Coney Island of the Pacific,’ Jeffrey Stanton, Donahue Publishing, 2005.