Flight to Mars, POP, Santa Monica, 1958
The warm glowing atmosphere of Mars is well rendered on the side of a building while a big, huge silver metallic UFO is either taking off or coming in for a landing right on top of the awning that marks the entrance to FLIGHT TO MARS. The horizon line is low and jagged. A missile painted on the wall has just launched on the right. In the middle a woman toting a balloon or a buoy bends over as a little boy points to the heavens above. Another woman has a firm but lopsided grip on a stroller. A man, well dressed by any amusement park standards in a sensible grey flannel suit and black hat looks back. Some sort of new-fangled missile with striped fins is displayed on the left.
Inside this other worldly amusement passengers are a ‘transported’ to Mars while TV screens showed the flight’s progress. MMMM…kind of reminds me of FLIGHT TO THE MOON in Tomorrowland at Disneyland!
Pacific Ocean Park, (POP, for short) is Southern California’s lost amusement park. In 1958 the historic Ocean Park Pier between Santa Monica and Venice was transformed into a spectacular nautical-themed amusement park to compete with Disneyland.
Several other of the rides were also Disneyland wannabes.
Neptune’s Kingdom was like Disneyland’s Submarine Voyage, only without the submarines. The futuristic Enchanted Forest exhibit included the latest Westinghouse appliances in a model home. Ironically, Disneyland displayed the less prestigious Kelvniator brand appliances. Ocean Highway was POP’s “Autopia”. Their Ocean Skyway took passengers not in buckets, but in glass bubbles for a terrifying ride dangling seventy-five feet out over the water.
Pacific Ocean Park lasted just nine years. After struggling to compete with its competitors, parking problems and constant weathering from the salt air, it closed In 1967.
Here’s to Pacific Ocean Park and you!
I was looking at some pictures of old movies houses in Santa Monica and stumbled into POP. I worked on the Mars ride when it first opened. Could spin some interesting stories about working there.
I have both a website and history book devoted to Venice and Ocean Park piers. There are arcticles and maps on the Web-site http://www.westland.net/venicehistory
and my 288 page hardback book with 367 photos, has 26 pages of photos of P.O.P.
I sell the book usually on weekends along the Venice boardwalk, but one can also purchase the book from my Web-site. The $50 book isn’t available in stores or on Amazon unless someone obtained a used copy and sells it for $150 and up.
I am looking for photos of the Green Door 1957-1958 at the Santa Moncia pier. My father own the bar during that time,and then it blew-up one night. Can anyone help me find some photos? Thank you very much…
Paul Sealy
Wow, this is my first exposure to your awesome website – WHAT FUN! P.O.P. was in my backyard…I lived in Santa Monica from 1953 to 1992. One of my favorite childhood memories was getting “sneeked” into P.O.P. with my friend by her dad who worked as a gate security guard, so I got to go quite often (for free)! LOVED the mirror house, in fact got so good at it I could run through it without thinking, just to ride the slide down into the “whirling floor” and experience the fun house it led to. This was retro 50′s fun at it’s very best; I will never forget it…
Jamie
Unlike the Disneyland’s Flight to the Moon/Mars rides, at POP you actually arrived on Mars and got out of the “rocket.” As I recall, you toured a Martian museum. To get back home you entered a long room with mirrors and atmosphering lighting. It was a transporter which returned you to earth. (I think it was an elevator bringing you to ground level again.)
I LOVED the Flight To Mars Ride at POP!!! I went there every chance I got, and so did Steven Spielberg, I heard from an interview, this ride did a lot to get him excited about sci-fi in Hollywood. This ride was one of the best things about a trip to POP. I went there often from 1959 to 1965, my junior high and high school years.
I loved it! Especially the front entrance Main Gate with the futuristic structure and Neptune’s Fountain. Wonderful memories…
When I was a kid, I used to like P.O.P. better than Disneyland. If I had a time machine, it’s where I would go. One of my favorite rides were the Sea Tubs, where you could see “the largest octopus in captivity”. This dark ride’s green water really stank; what atmosphere!
Pacific Ocean Park and Disneyland were highly influential for me as a young creative-type person. Since my dad’s parents lived in southern California, I had the good fortune to visit them almost yearly in the late 50s and throughout the 60s. I experienced Disneyland from 1957 on, and went to POP in ’58 and a few other years afterward. I vividly remember the Flight To Mars. Though I loved everything Disney, I thought being able to actually disembark the flying saucer and briefly tour the Martian terrain was awesome. Granted, even as a kid, I realized it didn’t have the design panache of Disneyland. But the intent of the attraction overcame any finish details, and I loved it. There was one interesting element which I recall asking my mom about after we walked out of the ride. We had “flown” to Mars via a spacecraft, but the return to Earth was in some kind of a special chamber where all the guests stood and held onto a rail. I think we were supposedly de-moleculed or somesuch, and – like the scientist in “The Fly” — were reassembled on Earth. We walked out and I asked: “So — why didn’t we just go to Mars that way — rather than taking the bumpy ride in the spaceship?” She replied something like: “I don’t know — maybe it wouldn’t have been as much fun.” And she was right! The park entrance — Neptune’s Coutyard — plus the Neptune’s Kingdom walk-through and the Mystery Island train ride were highly impactful to me. Those experiences, and other dark rides at POP and Disneyland, made me want to design that sort of amusement for a living. Years later, I eventually came into my job I have today — as Design Director at Sally Corporation, a world leader in animatronics and dark rides. (On a related note: Like another guest here, my first roller coaster ride was on the Sea Serpent. I didn’t ride another for almost 20 years!) POP was an amazing place, no matter how one may catagorize it — a theme park, a carnival, an amusement park — whatever you call it, it was most unique. In fact, in my vintage 1958 round house in Florida I have a central rotunda. On one large section of the curved wall I painted a big mural titled “The Sunken City of POP”. It’s a kind of surreal image of what POP may have looked like had it sunken beneath the ocean, much like Atlantis. The POP icon — the atomic age starfish structure at the park entrance — is the focal point, but if you look in the distance you can see the skyway bubbles and the coaster. And to the left is my impression of the south sea island volcano (on the end of the pier). It’s my personal homage to a fantastic, long-gone park — one which I still visit in my memeory and my dreams.
The mirrors maze is one my most vivid memories. I usually got stuck in there also. They always had to come rescue me and then I would turn around and go back in. They filmed a show called “Where the Action is” only once I think, because my sister used to follow the show around and she would drag me to all of them. I have a picture of Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Rightous Brothers singing at POP.
so good to share the photos of POP. im 56 now and i do remember POP quite well. espcailly, the ring where WINK MARTINDALE held a show guest music artist such as JOHNNY CASH who i remember seeing there once.
remember the mirrors? i cried cause i could not find my way out and i kept smashing myself against the mirrors and i rmrbr people outside laughing at me, i was about maybe 9-nish, born SANTA MONICA, raised in VENICE.
thanks for the memories, although i have them clearly in my head
sincerly,
GLORIA
Im aware that Dave shares many of the haunting memories lots of us had about P.O.P. His point not only well taken but well spoken. I still own bits and pieces of that past not only in mind but I have been diving many times along the old pier and found many a token chucked from many a bubble. One day Dave, Jeffery, Deb and others will need to get all of thier information together for everyone to see.
Mahalo Peter
Hey Charles,
Sorry about the “rant” – I tend to get a little too passionate for my own good when talking about “POP”.
Sincerely,
DAVE
Dear Charles,
Thanks for posting the picture of the “Flight to Mars”. I am currently working on the “POP” book with Chris Merritt.
I want to take issue with the term “Disneyland Wannabe” that you use to describe some of the attractions at “POP”.
In “Disneyland” when you rode “Rocket to the Moon” were you able to actually get out of the vehicle and explore the moon? At “POP” when you were transported to “Mars” the audience was able to actually leave the spaceship and walk around the planet. Its also interesting that “Disneyland” changed their show in 1975 to “Mission to Mars” 18 years after the “POP” show opened and you still could not leave the ship!
The comparison of the “Disneyland” “Skyway” buckets to the “Ocean Skyride / Skyway” “Bubbles” at “POP” I think is a similarity that can only be considered in the idea that the “Skyway” was a hanging conveyence of “Buckets!” to get from “Tomorrowland” to “Fantasyland” and back again. This ride had very little theming in relation to its surroundings and because of its utilitarian design it appears like something that could function in any park or world’s fair. The “Ocean Skyride” or “Skyway” at “POP” was, as you noted, shaped like bubbles that dangled you over the ocean.
This “Bubble design” was entirely in keeping with the “Neptunes Kingdom” atmosphere of the park. When you reached the destination station at the end of the pier – you could not get out – but had to ride the “damn thing” back over the ocean again! Personally I think of this type of experience as more of an “attraction / show” than the “Disneyland” counterpart.
To compare the “Neptunes Kingdom” exhibit to the “Submarine Voyage” is also an odd connection. The “Disneyland Submarine Voyage” opened in June 1959 where “Neptunes Kingdom” opened in July 1958. The “Neptune” show was mostly a “dry for wet” puppet presentation that you would walk through as a “Preshow” or “Welcoming Preface” to the entire park. This show gave you the experience that you were actually walking on the ocean floor without any breathing apparatus! Where the “Submarine” show was an entirely underwater experience that held you in a contained metal ride vehicle with a set narration and storyline that explained various vignettes and episodes.
I can only compare these two parks in a historical context since they were both of the same era and were located in Southern California. But to compare the experiences that both of them offered is not a debate because “Disneyland” is a “Theme Park” with an atmosphere that is based in nostalgia and fantasy. “Pacific Ocean Park” was a “Thrill / Theme / Carnival” park that entertained people on the spot – there and then – rather than asking “remember when?”
The great thing about POP was that discipline/security was rather lax. A modicum of rowdiness was tolerated; the antithesis of Disney’s Fourth Reich control. Ever been rousted by a cop wearing spats and a badge emblazoned with Mickey Mouse? The statute of limitations has run out, I can now confess.
…Lorenzo
Dear Charles, Just want you to know that I love your new
format – attractive, appealing and fun!
I have some rather hazy memories of POP as a very young child — probably 3 or 4 years old — and going on some of the rides there with my folks. Thinking back, it was almost like I was living in a dream sequence, the place was that surreal. I couldn’t tell you all the rides we went on, I just remember being there and seeing things that I never imagined existed before that day.
I do recall that there was a rumor going around among kids in the LA area back in the late ’50s-early ’60s about someone who stood up on the roller coaster there and was decapitated — the story went that the person in the car directly behind the victim ended up with a head in his/her lap. That same rumor was spread about the roller coaster at the Pike in Long Beach — along with a rumor that one of the cars flew off the track one day and sailed its occupants out to sea and a watery grave. Kids heard — and spread — the most gruesome rumors back then. I wonder if they still do today?
PS — I also love the idea of painting that Flight to Mars scene on the side of a barn near Cleveland! If I wasn’t all the way over on the West Coast, I’d be sorely tempted to join in!
In its heyday, it was quite the place, but as Charles pointed out, it deteriorated all too quickly. Although out of print, and I see going for a premium thru a few of Amazon’s sellers, “Venice California: Coney Island of the Pacific”, by Jeffrey Stanton has a wonderful chapter on POP with multiple B&W photos, several with “stars” of the day. And just to make matters worse, a later printing has additional pictures not found in the 1st printing. Both include a hand drawn map which features all POP had to offer. To anyone lucky enough to have been there, these pictures bring back a flood of memories. (I gotta pull my copies out tonight and reminisce-!)
Thanks Charles.
Charles!
Your ears..Your eyes…Your mind…We’re yours!
The entire HUTCH is hopped up about your fresh look at LA.
Various wags have nibbled about the edges of corollary in the footless dark past but you’ve sunken your choppers deep into the Disney Hive Mind Vein.
Remember, the big thrill was the take-off where the whole room of the spacecraft you were strapped into shot upwards something like 7-10 feet then dropped back down for a zero-g feeling. It repeated this cycle several times but I don’t remember how many times. Also, remember there was a (live – I think) teen dance show on TV shot one day a week at the marine stadium. I think it was hosted by Wink Martindale. Gee I’m getting old!
Wait! Wait! Roadtrip… to Cleveland? I’m halfway serious about this; though I suffer from “Negative Vacation Time” (I just started a new job and immediately took time-off)… maybe a 21st century flash-mob meets a 19th century barn raising! Bring a brush, one of your dad’s old t-shirts, and your grubby pants. Let’s go!
Thanks for the wonderful reminder of POP. This is where I rode my first roller coaster, the “Sea Serpent” in 1960. Earlier in the century, the ride was known as the “High Boy” and was a carry over from the original Ocean Park dating to, as you mention, the turn of the century.
Love the POP entrnace shot in your wonderful book “Southern Californialand” on page 22. That shot really brought back wonderful memories.
Hello Mike form Cleveland,
What a genius idea- to paint the FLIGHT TO MARS on the side of your barn!!! Please send photos so we all can follow your progress. Then I want to come and see it when your done!!!
Charles!
I have been inspired for this years Barn painting! I live in the middle of nowhere by I-90 in central Ohio.
Oh dear. I forgot the link to the cake. You can check it out in my photobucket.com album. Love it here: http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/charmandpoise/spacemancake002.jpg
Spaceman Charles!
As I am not well-versed on etiquette on Mars, I thought I would focus my attention instead on what one could eat after visiting the spectacular Flight to Mars. What would a potential astronaut need to sustain his energy for future flights? How could Mom possibly make the day — after a FLIGHT TO MARS — exciting and fun? Well, I think she might want to serve the following cake from _Better Homes and Gardens’ Birthdays and family Celebrations_ (1955).
Wow! A chocolate Cape Canaveral! The text reads: “When it is time to blast off, light the candle rocket and let your spaceboy start the countdown — 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Pow! The cake will be demolished by happy munchers.”
Well I should say so! Dig the chocolate mint shards that make the cake so , um, Canaveraly!
xoxo!
S.
This, and the “Magic Carpet” fairytale dark ride next door to it, were my two favorite rides at Pacific Ocean Park. Oh–and also “Davy Jones Locker” and the “Flying Dutchman” and “Safari” and the Jungle Train at the end of the pier. What a great place POP was for dark-ride fans!
Thanks for bringing it back to me, Charles!
“but in glass bubbles for a terrifying ride dangling seventy-five feet out over the water”……..That is the most vivid memory I have of POP from the summer of 1963. Kevin’s dad and I were still dating at the time and I wasn’t so sure that we were going to survive that ride….alas, there would have been no Kevin. A strong wind was blowing and gusts of wind were tossing the bubbles about. One did not want to “lose IT” inside that bubble, because you had to ride with IT all of the way to the end. When we exited the ride, it was closed down because of the wind….and no doubt to hose out all of those bubbles.
These slides give me the same feeling I get when I realize I’ve missed a good party.
I agree with Soozie. I’ve been receiving your slide-of-the-week forever and have several faves, but this one is absolutely amazing. I need a copy to hang on my wall!
Cindy Lou
Ummm… would it be too geeky to point out that this looks like the Fry’s in Burbank. Love those Fry’s malted shakes.
Ok Charles-
This has “got to be” themost FABULOUS photo I haveever seen-
hands down!
Your pal in Kodak-land
Soozie