It looks like the Cyclone Racer roller coaster from the Pike. One could have surfed in the waves next to the Pike before the large harbor protecting Breakwater got put in place. But, as nice as the beach scene is, it is not the Long Beach Pike. Original photo of the last vestiges of the Cyclone Racer roller coaster and the Pike in its dying days... 1968. Photo by Vnak Hello, People frolic on the beach near the roller coaster in the amusement park at Venice Beach, 1940 Examiner reference library April 16, 1940. Streetscape, Venice; Los Angeles, California Venice -- Amusement Pier. (Photo by Los Angeles Examiner/USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images) Wreckage of the Bamboo Slide, the last major structure on the pier to be demolished, January 1948. We were not around when the Ocean Park Pier was first put in, where the later 1960s POP amusement park took over. Through misfortunes, the pier lasted and then got destroyed. But, the remnants of the old Ocean Park Pier was showcased. A crowd has gathered to watch riders take the High Boy, a large wooden roller coaster at Ocean Park Pier. As far as surfing those beach break waves, the locals may have their own stories, but the times we drove by and actually paddled out, the waves were minimal and not too exciting. When the original Park Pier place was trashed, a new place called P.O.P. or Pacific Ocean Park took over. This new design and amusement park was what most thought was going to be the Disneyland of the ocean shoreline. Well for a year or so, it was. It attracted a lot of people from all over. But, Metropolis Los Angeles sent tons of people to the oceanfront amusement park in the early days. For some reason, it became a sore eye to a lot of people. It became less used and very abandoned. It kept up a mighty front, but it turned into a slightly creepy Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica. As it was right on the water and the nightly fog/moisture always put a "wet" feeling on everything and everyone. “Pacific Ocean Park was a 28-acre (11-hectare) nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, California in 1958. Intended to compete with Disneyland, it replaced Ocean Park Pier (1926-1956). After it closed and fell into disrepair, the park and pier anchored the Dogtown Area of Santa Monica.” We went there as teenagers several times and once in 1966 with my wife, (then girlfriend ) POP closed in 1967 a year later. The main thing was that it did look like an "up-version" of the Long Beach Pike. But, that portion of the coastline just happened to get the brunt of any movement from the ocean to the West and North. Consequently, it meant daily/nightly thick fog and salt moisture. Our jackets, shirts and even the cotton chinos/Levis felt wet from the moisture in the air. Long hair? Just like a recent shower… Everyone looked like they ran through a light shower spray. That was not the most enjoyable thing for us, but the next time the amusement park was brought up, the answer was a definite no. Knotts Berry Farm, Disneyland and even the stand by, the Long Beach Pike had a more attractive environment. Jnaki The end of Route 66 is at the Santa Monica Pier. It has always been an icon of beach piers. One of the only few in California that cars are allowed to drive out and park/cruise. Santa Monica Pier end of Route 66 in the foreground and the POP Park Pier area to the South on the shoreline. The end of Route 66 in So Cal, on the Santa Monica Pier. But, not the farthest Westcoast location along the vast coastline… from the water along the long shoreline in the Santa Monica Bay… heading North to the Malibu cliff coastal location. Photo by Vnak
MY 1ST CHASSIS/FRAME/DRIVE TRAIN REBUILD. THINGS WERE A LITTLE TIGHT IN OUR GARAGE. NOTE. MOM'S WASHING MACHINE.
The Jalopy Journal
