Comments on: Flight to Mars, POP, Santa Monica, 1958

By: DeWayne

DeWayne — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:16:09 +0000

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.

By: Jeffrey Stanton

Jeffrey Stanton — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:51:16 +0000

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.

By: Paul Sealy

Paul Sealy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:29:54 +0000

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

By: Jamie Franco

Jamie Franco — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:20:59 +0000

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

By: Chris Weber

Chris Weber — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:42:39 +0000

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.)

By: Don J. Long

Don J. Long — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:22:57 +0000

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…

By: R.C. Moody

R.C. Moody — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:21:03 +0000

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!

By: Drew Edward Hunter

Drew Edward Hunter — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:19:12 +0000

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.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:51:21 +0000

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.

By: G, ESCARCEGA

G, ESCARCEGA — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 01:21:41 +0000

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