Friday Flick: Pacific Ocean Park, Circa 1959
A few decades ago, a SoCal day at the beach often meant a trip to Santa Monica’s Pacific Ocean Park (POP), a 28-acre seaside amusement extravaganza designed to rival Disneyland. Featuring a Sea Circus, pier, funhouses, thrill rides, and even a few outer-space themed exhibits, the park opened in 1958, attracting more than a million visitors its first year.
Despite its early success, 1965 redevelopment of the surrounding area curtailed street access to the park, strangling attendance figures and forcing closure two years later. Except for some underwater pilings from its dismantled pier, no traces of POP remain today. It has completely vanished into the sands of time, leaving us nothing but childhood memories.
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