1958 Marty Liboff P.O.P. by the Sea Free Venice Beachhead, September 2014, p. 7

Marty Liboff P.O.P. by the Sea Free Venice Beachhead, September 2014, p. 7

      . . . 

          Back in Ocean Park, the old pier went through several incarnations. Finally in 1958, a giant amusement park called Pacific Ocean Park opened. The pier began in Venice at Navy Street and continued north  for several blocks.  It was one of the largest piers ever made. It was several times the size of the Santa Monica pier! The border of Venice and Ocean Park, or Santa Monica, is now about 50 feet north of Navy Street. The border was set when Ocean Park was incorporated into Santa Monica, and Venice became part of L.A. 

         When I was a punk teenager, I worked on P.O.P., or Pacific Ocean Park.  . . .  For a couple of years this amusement pier actually had as many people attending as Disneyland! It was a wonderful, ocean themed Disneyland with all sorts of wild rides. The entrance was one of the wonders of our modern world. It had 60 foot pillar  arms supporting giant bubbles and rotating sea horses.  . . .

                                                                                                                                                        

(Back to 1958)


 Kelyn Roberts 2017