Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

Pacific Ocean Park (P.O.P.) was a twenty-eight acre nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park section of Santa Monica, which was intended to compete with Disneyland. It replaced Ocean Park Pier (1926-1956).

(1958)##** - Postcard view showing the entrance to Pacific Ocean Park.

Historical Notes

Admission to Pacific Ocean Park was ninety cents for adults which included access to the park and certain exhibits. The term "POP" was also used as a clever acronym for "Pay One Price", though other rides and attractions were on a pay-as-you-go basis.^

Click HERE to see early POP promotional video.

Historical Notes

"POP," as it was soon nicknamed and pronounced "pee-oh-pee," was a joint venture between by CBS and Santa Anita Park. It opened on Saturday, July 28, 1958 with an attendance figure of 20,000. The next day, the park drew 37,262 which handily outperformed Disneyland's attendance figure that same day.^

Historical Notes

The Sea Serpent Roller Coaster was a wooden, 1926 Hi-Boy roller coaster from the original pier.^

The jug-like stand in the center of photo was called "Pepe's Pizza". It was originally a prop from the movie "Pepe" starring Cantiflas as seen in this clip: https://www.youtube.com/embed/tRiGIY7MGSY. It was also seen in an episode of "The Donna Reed Show" as Donna Reed has a cameo in the film.   

Historical Notes

Pacific Ocean Park was a twenty-eight acre, nautical-themed amusement park built on a pier at Pier Avenue in the Ocean Park.  It was intended to compete with Disneyland. "And Disneyland and POP is worth a trip to L.A." is a line from the Beach Boys' song "Amusement Parks U.S.A." from their 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). #^*^

(1958)^# -

The Whirl Pool was the classic rotor ride where a centrifuge pinned riders to the spinning walls as the floor dropped beneath them.

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Mr. Octopus was a standard Eyerly Octopus ride with 8 tubs.^

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Flying Dutchman was a dark ride similar in theme to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean but without the animatronic figures.^

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The Flight to Mars attraction was a unique trip to the red planet that offered guests to blast off and walk around the surface of the red planet.

Historical Notes

Flight To Mars – Spaceship Starshine blast off “Welcome aboard Spaceway Rocket Liner Starshine. As we only use artificial gravity in space, you will experience acceleration in the first few moments of blast off…”

When the space ship reached Mars, visitors could tour a Martian home and see the Martian creatures.

Historical Notes

Cross a beautiful waterfall, then board the Mystery Island Banana Train Ride. Considered by many to Pacific Ocean Park's best ride, passengers were treated to a trip aboard a tropical banana plantation train complete with a simulated volcano and simulated earthquakes.^

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The Sea Circus was included in the basic attraction price. Performing dolphins and sea lions played to audiences of 2000 at a time. After the show, visitors could feed seals in the Seal Pool.^

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Bubble gondolas transported passengers on a half-mile ride 75 feet above the Pacific to the end of the pier and back.

Historical Notes

Traveling the length of Pacific Ocean Park, the Ocean Skyway (bubble ride) traveled for nearly half a mile, above the sea and pier. P.O.P. operated between 1958 and 1967.

Historical Notes

In 1965, Santa Monica began its Ocean Park urban renewal project. Buildings in the surrounding area were demolished and streets leading to the park were closed. As a result, visitors simply couldn't reach the park and attendance plummeted to 621,000 in 1965 and 398,700 in 1966.^

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At the end of the 1967 tourist season, the park's creditors and the City of Santa Monica filed suit to take control of the property because of back taxes and back rent owed by the park's new owner since 1965. Pacific Ocean Park closed on October 6, 1967. ^

Historical Notes

The park's assets were auctioned off June 28 through June 30, 1968. The proceeds from the sale of thirty-six rides and sixteen games were used to pay off creditors. The park's dilapidated buildings and pier structure remained until several suspicious fires occurred and it was finally demolished in the winter of 1974-75.^

Historical Notes

The final demolition took place in the winter of 1974-75. Most everything was removed but people's fond memories.

Other than a few underwater pilings and signs warning of them, nothing remains of Pacific Ocean Park today. A few miles north, the original Santa Monica Pier features a newer amusement park, similarly called Pacific Park.*^

Historical Notes

In 1946, Dave Bradley opened Beverly Park and Playland at Beverly and La Cienega. It had a Tilt-a-Whirl, bumper cars, a roller coaster, merry-go-round, pony rides, blue hippo, you name it. And gourmet food, according to their ads. *

Historical Notes

Walt Disney spent more and more time at the park, spending hours discussing rides with Bradley, asking children what they liked most about their favorite rides. In 1950, Disney showed Bradley his plans for a theme-park he was to call "Disneyland." For the next few years, Bradley did double duty, running his park and working as a consultant for Disney. He went to Europe to photograph rides for Disney, convinced him to build Main Street at 7/8th scale, built Disneyland's first carousel, and introduced the idea of "themed photo ops." He stayed good friends with Disney, even after he returned full time to Beverly Park in 1955.*#

Historical Notes

Among the crowd you might have spotted Lana Turner, Norm Crosby or Dan Duryea with their children. The man who set the park in motion, David Bradley, called it the "park of the stars." Directors set up their cameras here for movies such as "Sylvia," starring Carroll Baker and George Maharis (1964), and "Three on a Couch" with Jerry Lewis and Lanet Leigh (1966).*^#

Historical Notes

Kiddieland was a whimsical amusement park located on less than an acre on the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard, at the present home of the Beverly Center Mall.  Originally, the land parcel was part of an oil field, which was leased for development.

Historical Notes

From 1945-1974, children growing up in Los Angeles had their own mini-fair year round. There were usually about twelve kid-sized rides, as well as animals, hot dogs and cotton candy. Parents and Grandparents sat on benches watching their children ride the merry-go-round, and birthday parties were celebrated at picnic tables.*#

Historical Notes

Beverly Park was a perfect place to have a Birthday Party. It had a picinic area set aside for such occasions. But most important, it had enough fun rides to keep the kids busy for hours. They could even top off the day with pony rides at Ponyland, which was located just west of Kiddieland on Beverly Blvd.

Historical Notes

Next door to Kiddieland, there was another mom and pop operation which offered a different kind of fantasy to youngsters. This was Ponyland, which opened at 8536 Beverly Blvd.*#

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The Pony Rides (nearly identical to those offered at the Griffith Park pony rides today) were open on the weekends, offered fast, medium and slow horses that would do two laps around a track of sorts (white wooden fences separated the concentric circles of track . . . innermost for slow, middle for medium, and the outside track for the fast horses).  They gave you a short whip or crop for fast.*

Historical Notes

Beverly Ponyland was located west of the Beverly Park, same side of the street, sharing a parking lot between the two sites (seen above). It was around where the Hard Rock Café is today. *

Historical Notes

Beverly Park closed in 1974, 28 years after it opened, because oil drilling at the site was increasing. Dave Bradley moved his business to Long Beach and continued to make amusement park rides for international customers, as well as places like Knotts Berry Farm, Opryland, the Six Flags parks, and even the Pike. *

Historical Notes

In 1978, a $50 million project to plop an 8-story mall on "one of the few remaining quaint sites in urban Los Angeles" was announced. And so we have the Beverly Center, which, given what we do there, could still be called Playland.*

Historical Notes

The concept for Disneyland began when Walt Disney was visiting Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters Diane and Sharon. While watching them ride the merry-go-round, he came up with the idea of a place where adults and their children could go and have fun together. His dream lay dormant for many years. Disney also may have been influenced by his father's memories of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago (his father worked at the Exposition). The Midway Plaisance there included a set of attractions representing various countries from around the world and others representing various periods of man; it also included many rides including the first Ferris wheel, a "sky" ride, a passenger train that circled the perimeter, and a Wild West Show. Another likely influence was Benton Harbor, Michigan's nationally famous House of David's Eden Springs Park. Disney visited the park and ultimately bought one of the older miniature trains originally used there; the colony had the largest miniature railway setup in the world at the time.^

Historical Notes

In 1952, the proposed project had been called Disneylandia but Disney followed ABC Television advice and changed it to Disneyland two years later, when excavation of the Disneyland park site began. Construction began on July 16, 1954 and cost $17 million to complete. The park was opened one year and one day later (July 17, 1955). US Route 101 (later Interstate 5) was under construction at the same time just to the north of the site; in preparation for the traffic Disneyland was expected to bring, two more lanes were added to the freeway before the park was finished.^

Historical Notes

Disneyland opened its gates at 2:30PM on Sunday July 17, 1955. The park opened as invitation only on this day, given to studio workers, construction workers, the press and officials of company sponsors. (The park opened to the general public the following day - July 18.) Because tickets to the grand opening were counterfeited, a surprising 28,000-plus attended.

The Official Opening Day was July 18th. General Admission was $1.00 (75 cents for juniors, 50 cents for children). Cost of individual attraction tickets range from 10 cents to 35 cents.*

Historical Notes

Actor Fess Parker, famously known in 1955 as TV's Davy Crockett, led the opening-day parade dressed as the famous frontiersman and riding a horse.

The Mouseketeers were first introduced to the public during the live broadcast of the Disneyland opening day festivities. All 24 members were featured in the inaugural Main Street parade and were showcased with their very own musical production number.

The grand opening was televised as a “live” 90-minute broadcast on ABC television. The festivities were hosted by TV personalities Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings and pre-presidential Ronald Reagan and, of course, Walt Disney. Covered by 24 cameras (3 was the norm), the show was TV’s most elaborate live broadcast to date viewed by an estimated 90 million viewers.*

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Railroad (DLRR), originally the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a narrow gauge railroad.  It was inaugurated on the park's live television preview on July 17, 1955. This live steam railway was constructed for $240,000; the two original locomotives cost $40,000 each. Riders use it as transportation to other areas of the park or simply for the experience of the "Grand Circle Tour". The Main Street railroad station is situated at the entrance of Disneyland.^

Historical Notes

Main Street, U.S.A. is designed to resemble the center of a turn-of-the-century (c. 1910) American town. According to Harper Goff, who worked on Main Street, U.S.A. with Walt, he showed Walt some photos of his childhood home of Fort Collins, Colorado. Walt liked the look, and so many of the features of the town were incorporated into Main Street, U.S.A.^

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During the first half of the 20th century, before Disneyland opened its doors to the public, Anaheim was a massive rural community inhabited by orange groves, and the landowners who farmed them.^

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Between 1957 and 1958, the Viewliner, "The fastest miniature train in the world," ran alongside the Disneyland Railroad for just over a year, and therefore has the distinction of being the shortest-lived ride in the park's history.^

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Railroad was inspired by Walt Disney's love for trains, while tinkering in the barn of his live steam backyard Carolwood Pacific Railroad. Since the first spark of the idea of the park which would later evolve into Disneyland, each design concept held one thing in common "..and it will be surrounded by a train." — Walt Disney ^

Historical Notes

Some 160-acres of citrus trees had been cleared and 15 houses moved to make room for the park. The area was in semi-rural Orange County.^

Historical Notes

The Rainbow Caverns Mine Train Ride opened in 1956. It was a 2 ft. 6 in. narrow gauge mine train that ran through the new Living Desert.  After the scenery was redone in 1960, it was upgraded and became Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland.

In 1977, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction replaced this sedate train ride with a roller coaster version. The only attraction that remained from the scenic vistas was the mighty waterfall tumbling from Cascade Peak into the Rivers of America, visible only from various boat rides around the Rivers. Only one of the four Locomotives and two cars from the original ride remained on a stretch of track where Cascade peak once stood, as a staged wreck scene. The train, however, was removed in early 2010.^

Historical Notes

The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland on July 17, 1955, with only several of its planned attractions open, due to budget cuts. The construction of the park was rushed, so Tomorrowland was the last land to be finished. It became something of a corporate showcase, despite Walt Disney's reluctance. Monsanto Company, American Motors, Richfield Oil, and Dutch Boy Paint were some of the many companies to open showcases in Tomorrowland in the first few years.

Tomorrowland's showpiece was the TWA Moonliner, derived from Disney's "Man In Space" television episodes developed in the 1950s. The Moonliner was the tallest structure in the park at the time, even taller than the park icon Sleeping Beauty Castle. The Moonliner hosted Rocket To The Moon which was a ride to the moon.^

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Autopia is one of the few current attractions that opened with the park on July 17, 1955. When it opened, it represented the future of what would become America's multilane limited-access highways, which were still being developed. President Eisenhower had yet to sign the Interstate Highway legislation at the time Disneyland opened.^

Historical Notes

Before the park opened, the cars were tested without the bumpers, and were almost completely destroyed by the test drivers. Bumpers were fitted around the vehicle, but there were still problems with collisions, as a guide rail had yet to be implemented on the ride. Eventually the vehicles were fitted with spring-loaded bumpers to discourage collisions.^

Historical Notes

The Casey Jr. Circus Train was based on the train of the same name from the 1941 film Dumbo, it gives passengers a tour of many miniature versions of classic Disney animated film scenes. This tour is similar to the one given on the slower paced Storybook Land Canal Boats, but does not incorporate narration. The attraction was opened two weeks later than Disneyland due to testing.

The Skyway would pass over part of the Casey Jr. Circus Train track.^

Historical Notes

Storybook Land Canal Boats is a leisurely-paced outdoor boat ride through a winding canal featuring settings from Disney animated films recreated in miniature. This was one of the original attractions when the park opened in 1955, although the miniature buildings and landscaping were not added until the following year.^

Historical Notes

Fantasyland is the area of Disneyland of which Walt Disney said, "What youngster has not dreamed of flying with Peter Pan over moonlit London, or tumbling into Alice's nonsensical Wonderland? In Fantasyland, these classic stories of everyone's youth have become realities for youngsters – of all ages – to participate in."

Fantasyland was originally styled in a medieval European fairground fashion, but its 1983 refurbishment turned it into a Bavarian village.^

King Arthur's Carrousel - Inspired by the Griffith Park Carousel, Walt Disney wanted something similar for his new theme park: a carousel consisting of all jumpers. A park model Menagerie Carousel was purchased and moved to Disneyland in 1954. The carousel was built by William Dentzel and had been operated at Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, since 1922; it had three courses of horses and other animals on a platform 72 feet in diameter.  The attraction was refurbished and significantly altered by the Arrow Development Company of Mountain View, California in preparation for opening day. It was widened to four courses to increase guest capacity. Of the carousel's 71 horses and one mule, most were carved in the Dentzel factory.*

Historical Notes

Originally located behind Sleeping Beauty's Castle, this attraction originally had no brakes, or clutches to control the speed of the spinning cups! After complaints of wooziness and nausea, the cups were finally modified in 1983 making them more difficult to spin out of control.

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The Skyway at Disneyland opened on June 23, 1956. It was built by Von Roll, Ltd. based in Bern, Switzerland. It was the first Von Roll Type 101 aerial ropeway in the USA. Walt Disney Imagineering bought the ride from Switzerland.^

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Walt Disney Imagineering bought the Skyway ride from Switzerland. It was a 1947 Vonroll sidechair model.^

Historical Notes

In 1959, a major renovation added The Submarine Voyage, the Disneyland Monorail, the Matterhorn (now a Fantasyland Attraction), and the Motor Boat Cruise, but when the Matterhorn was planned it was designed to be built right in the path of the Skyway, so without a single closure of the Skyway, the Matterhorn was built around the Skyway.^

Historical Notes

Dumbo the Flying Elephant opened at Disneyland in October 1955, three months after the park opened.

One elephant from the ride is in the collection of the National Museum of American History, donated in 2005, on the occasion of Disneyland's 50th anniversary.^

Historical Notes

The Submarine Voyage featured vehicles designed to resemble submarines. It first opened on June 14, 1959, as one of the first rides to require an E ticket. It was part of a major expansion of Tomorrowland, which included the Matterhorn Bobsleds roller coaster, an expanded version of Autopia, the Disneyland Monorail, and the Motor Boat Cruise.^

Historical Notes

The Submarine Voyage closed on September 9, 1998, at that time, it was reported that the attraction would reopen with a new theme by 2003, but that did not come to pass. The attraction ultimately reopened in June 2007 themed to Disney Pixar's Finding Nemo, and now operates as Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.^

Historical Notes

Nixon grew up about 15 minutes from Disneyland.  Tricia and Julie were 13 and 11 in 1959 when the Monorail opened.

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Monorail System (originally, the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail) opened on June 14, 1959, as a sightseeing attraction in Tomorrowland. The Mark I trains (Red and Blue) consisted of three cars each. In 1961 it became a true transportation system when Tomorrowland station was lengthened to accommodate the debut of the four-car Mark II and the additional new Yellow train, the track was extended 2½ miles outside the park and a second platform was constructed - the Disneyland Hotel station. In 1968 Mark III Monorail Green joined the fleet and both platforms were lengthened for the arrival of the more streamlined and efficient five car Mark III monorail train conversions.^

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Hotel opened on October 5, 1955 as a motor inn owned and operated by Jack Wrather under an agreement with Walt Disney, the hotel was the first to officially bear the Disney name. Under Wrather's ownership, the hotel underwent several expansions and renovations over the years before being acquired by Disney in 1988.

Guests traveled between the hotel and the Disneyland Park main entrance via a tram. The Disneyland Monorail was extended from its original 1959 configuration and a station opened at the hotel in 1961.^

Historical Notes

The Matterhorn both in style and name grew from Walt Disney's extended vacation in Switzerland while filming Third Man on the Mountain. In a moment of inspiration, impressed by the beauty of the real Matterhorn, Walt grabbed a postcard of the mountain from a souvenir stand and sent it back to Imagineer (architect) Vic Greene with the message, “Vic. Build This. Walt.” This resulted in the merger of the toboggan ride concept with the thoughts of a bobsled coaster ride that would run around and through the structure.^

Historical Notes

Shortly after the Matterhorn’s construction in 1959, the park started employing climbers to go up the mountain multiple times a day, up through the late 1970s, when the mountain underwent a major renovation. After that, the climbers were more of an occasional sighting, though it’s my understanding that the park revived the daily climbs in 2012 and has been doing them since.

Fun fact! Since the climb doesn’t take all that long, the park installed a basketball hoop and half-court inside of the mountain so that the climbers had something to do in their downtime between shows.

Historical Notes

The People Mover (1967–1995) was a scenic, slow-moving ride high-above Tomorrowland that was intended to demonstrate how people could be shuttled around a central urban area without rushing to board individual trains or drive individual cars. It consisted of many dozens of small open-air cars seating up to eight riders, all running continuously on a track above and through the various attractions in Tomorrowland. After the ride was closed, the track sat vacant for two-and-a-half years until the opening of the ill-fated Rocket Rods.^

Historical Notes

The Walt Disney World version of the People Mover is still active in the Magic Kingdom under the name of Tomorrowland Transit Authority.^

Historical Notes

The rocket-spinner ride (originally called Astro Jets) was located between Submarine Voyage and Flight to the Moon. It has undergone the following name and location changes: 1964–1966, Tomorrowland Jets; 1967–1997, Rocket Jets: A new version of the same ride, in a new location above the People Mover loading platform. The ride's mechanical components are now part of the Observatron, a sculpture on the same site that plays music and spins at regular intervals.^

Historical Notes

The ride's present incarnation is known as Astro Orbitor, located at the entrance to Tomorrowland from Main Street, and debuted in 1998.^

Historical Notes

Guests rode in single-rider cars on a cushion of air that were steered by shifting body weight. The air cushion was supplied from below through holes in the floor that opened when the cars passed over. The ride's site later became the site of the Tomorrowland Stage, and is now the site of Magic Eye Theater. Luigi's Flying Tires at Disney California Adventure is a modern-day version of the Flying Saucers.^

Historical Notes

In 1962, Douglas Aircraft began sponsorship of Disneyland's Rocket to the Moon attraction. The rocket's familiar TWA logo (in place since 1955) had been replaced with blue vertical stripes and large red upper-case letters spelling "DOUGLAS." The sponsorship lasted until 1966. An American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California, Douglas later merged with McDonnell Aircraft - who continued sponsoring the updated Flight to the Moon in 1967.

Historical Notes

The show was originally named Rocket to the Moon, and it opened in 1955 along with Disneyland. The ride was refurbished as Flight to the Moon in 1967. On March 21, 1975, the destination was changed to Mars because humans had already been to the Moon.*

Historical Notes

Tomorrowland Terrace is a restaurant located in Tomorrowland that is notable for its unique concert stage, which hydraulically rises out of the ground. The restaurant was sponsored by Coca-Cola from its opening in 1967 until Tomorrowland was redesigned in 1998. The stage's original large planters and space age spires were replaced with a retro-futuristic design to match the Jules Verne-like design of the new Tomorrowland.^

Historical Notes

In 2000, Tomorrowland Terrace was renamed Club Buzz, as it started hosting a show called "Calling All Space Scouts: A Buzz Lightyear Adventure." The 1998 designs were replaced with a Buzz Lightyear theme. A large sign was added above the stage with the words "Club Buzz" and a small sign with the subtitle, "Lightyear's Above the Rest." When the show ended, the Buzz Lightyear theme was mostly removed along with the large sign. The smaller sign that formerly read "Lightyears Above the Rest" then read "Club Buzz."

In 2006, the stage was redesigned again, and is an updated version of the original 1967 design, with large bowl-shaped planters and tall spires, with colors of white, silver, and blue, going with the Tomorrowland and Space Mountain theme. The restaurant and stage reverted to the original name; Tomorrowland Terrace. It currently hosts the Jedi Training Academy, where children between the ages of 4 and 12 are randomly chosen to participate in the show to become Jedi padawan and face off Star Wars antagonists.^

Historical Notes

The Monsanto House of the Future (also known as the Home of the Future) opened at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland in 1957. Sponsored by Monsanto, the design and engineering of the house was done jointly by Monsanto, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Walt Disney Imagineering.

The attraction offered a tour of a home of the future, set in the year 1986, and featured household appliances such as microwave ovens, which eventually became commonplace. The house saw over 435,000 visitors within the first six weeks of opening, and ultimately saw over 20 million visitors before being closed in 1967.^

Historical Notes

The house closed in 1967. The building was so sturdy that when demolition crews failed to demolish the house using wrecking balls, torches, chainsaws and jackhammers, the building was ultimately demolished by using choker chains to crush it into smaller parts. The reinforced polyester structure was so strong that the half-inch steel bolts used to mount it to its foundation broke before the structure itself did.

The reinforced concrete foundation was never removed, and remains in its original location, now the Pixie Hollow, where it has been painted green and is used as a planter.^

Historical Notes

The Disneyland Hotel opened on October 5, 1955, nearly three months after Disneyland opened, and this aerial photo was taken on July 16, 1956. These days, of course, the hotel is completely encircled by the gargantuan Disney resort, and beyond that the city of Anaheim. But back then it was pretty much all open farmland as far as the eye can see.

Click HERE to see satellite shot from 2021.

Historical Notes

The Haunted Mansion would open in 1969. Also under construction, and up and left from the Haunted Mansion, is Pirates of the Caribbean, which opened in 1967. The two attractions took a while to build because Disney's engineering arm at the time, WED Enterprises (now known as Walt Disney Imagineering), was busy on projects dealing with the 1964 New York World's Fair. Both attractions are located in New Orleans Square, which opened in 1966. Anaheim's newly completed Melodyland Theater ("theater-in-the-round"), is at the top of the photo.

Historical Notes

From the late 1950s to 1968 Los Angeles Airways provided regularly scheduled helicopter passenger service between Disneyland and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and other cities in the area. The helicopters initially operated from Anaheim/Disneyland Heliport, located behind Tomorrowland. Service later moved, in 1960, to a new heliport north of the Disneyland Hotel. Arriving guests were transported to the Disneyland Hotel via tram. The service ended after two fatal crashes in 1968. LA Airways was purchased by Golden West in 1971.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles Airways ceased operations in 1971 upon its purchase by Golden West Airlines.^

Historical Notes

From Disneyland's opening day until 1982, the price of the attractions was in addition to the price of park admission. Guests paid a small admission fee to get into the park, but admission to most of the rides and attractions required guests to purchase tickets, either individually or in a book.^

Historical Notes

The ticket book consisted of several coupons, initially labeled "A" through "C". "A" coupons allowed admission to the smaller rides and attractions such as the vehicles on Main Street, whereas "C" coupons were used for the most common attractions like the Peter Pan ride, or the Tea Cups. As more thrilling rides were introduced, such as the Monorail or the Matterhorn bobsled, "D" and then eventually "E" coupons were introduced. Coupons could be combined to equal the equivalent of another ticket (e.g. two "A" tickets equal one "B" ticket).^

Historical Notes

From the thrill ride experience at Disneyland, the colloquial expression "an E ticket ride" is used to describe any exceptionally thrilling experience.

Disneyland later featured a "Keys to the Kingdom" booklet of tickets, which consisted of 10 unvalued coupons sold for a single flat rate. These coupons could be used for any attraction regardless of its regular value.

In 1982, Disney dropped the idea for individual ride tickets to a single admission price with unlimited access to all attractions, "except shooting galleries".  The adult admission price was $12.00. ^

Historical Notes

Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with over 650 million guests since it opened.

Opening year (1955) attendance: 1 M

2013 attendance: 16.2 M ^

Historical Notes

Walt Disney originally conceived of a show that would pay tribute to all U.S. Presidents as part of a proposed extension of Main Street, U.S.A. in the 1950s. However, the technology at the time would not permit a show on the scale Disney wanted, and the Main Street extension proposal was abandoned (the presidential tribute was later built as The Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom). Disney's Imagineers opted to focus instead on creating a tribute to Lincoln, Disney's boyhood hero.^

Historical Notes

On opening day the asphalt was still soft and the high heels of some ladies got stuck in it.

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Opened July 17, 1955, the castle is the oldest of all Disney castles. Though it reaches a height of only 77 feet, it was designed to appear taller through a process known as forced perspective; design elements are larger at the foundation and smaller at the turrets.^

Historical Notes

The beautiful Sleeping Beauty Castle sits at the center of Disneyland Park.  It is based on the late-19th century Neuschwanstein Castle, with some French inspirations (especially Notre Dame de Paris and the Hospices de Beaune).^

Historical Notes

In 1923, Walter Knott opened his first roadside produce stand on Western Avenue in Orange County. The dusty highway passing through Knott’s berry farm was fast becoming the principal route between Los Angeles and the beach cities of the Orange Coast, and beach-bound motorists discovered the farmer’s humble wooden shack—located near the midpoint of their drive—as a place to momentarily escape the automobile and sample Knott’s farm-fresh berries and preserves.^*^*

Historical Notes

Walter Knott and his family developed their Buena Park berry farm into a popular tourist attraction in the 1920s. Originally selling berries, homemade berry preserves and pies from a roadside stand, Knott built a restaurant, shops and stores onto the property by the 1930s. These were then augmented with minor attractions and curiosities until Knott gradually created Ghost Town, transforming them from a way-point to a Western themed destination in 1940.

The idea of an amusement park really picked up in the 1950s when Walter Knott opened a "summer-long county fair". In 1968, for the first time, an admission of 25 cents was required to get into the park. The Calico log ride was added in 1969.^

Historical Notes

Little by little, Walter Knott began building a ghost town in 1940, using buildings relocated from real old west towns such as Prescott, Arizona. Painted signs of Old Trails Hotel had a humorous scrawl of the letter 'G', as if to hastily change the name to Gold Trails Hotel. It was the first of many and re-built to house a salute to the hardship endured by early settlers.^

Historical Notes

The Sheriff's Office hosted a crooked poker game. To interest folks and entice them to the back of the line, Gold Dust Goldie's Hotel featured a live gentleman interested in a few details about your group about to visit Sad Eye Joe back in the Town Jail – to surprise them with personal comments. Goldie's leg in fishnet stocking and high-button shoe, covered with petticoats hung out of an upstairs window of Goldie's Place would kick then return to thump the clapboarding, as if to advertise the brothel.^

(ca. 1954)^*^# - View showing three people experiencing the gravitational mysteries of the "Haunted Shack".

Historical Notes

The Haunted Shack was an attraction at Knott's Berry Farm from 1954, until it was demolished in 2000.

After a spiel concerning "strange goings on," and a demonstration in which two volunteers appeared to change height (in what was, in effect, an outdoor "Ames Room"), groups of guests were led on a tour of an odd shack in which the laws of physics seemed to be distorted, with chairs sticking to walls, and water seeming to flow uphill (all through the use of various perceptual illusions, combined with a surrounding hillside that completely isolated the shack from any outside frame of reference).^

Historical Notes

In 1949, the Butterfield Stagecoach Line left every few minutes from the Stage Depot. Well trained four-horse teams hauled historic equipment – 3 original Butterfield coaches, 1 Halloday coach, 1 Overland Southern coach and the Knott's Berry Farm coach that was built for the farm in 1954. Guests enjoyed a Stagecoach journey North to Whiskey Flat looping around the badlands filled with bad men.**#

Historical Notes

In 1952, Walter Knott purchased America’s last operating narrow-gauge railroad, the Denver and Rio Grande, and moved it in its entirety to Knott’s Berry Farm. The steam-powered train was christened the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.**#

Historical Notes

The Calico Mine Ride, Knott’s first major ride, opened in Ghost Town in November 1960 and was quickly recognized as one of the world’s most immersive “dark rides.” The attraction carries riders aboard ore cars through dimly lit tunnels of a working gold mine. #^^#

Historical Notes

As a Western themed attraction, Covered Wagon Camp was dug into a pit and terraced with concrete rockwork. Live performances of popular Country and Western bands and singers were featured, as guests gathered around a raging campfire, surrounded by a circle of Conestoga wagons, humorously painted with slogans such as "California, or bust" on the Prairie Schooner canvas. Part of that installation included Sutters a fast food burger, hot dog, pizza, chilli, fries and drinks stand, served in a folding cardboard box as a box lunch for enjoyment in the Covered Wagon Camp, setting a precedent and long-standing tradition of enjoying a meal purchased at Knott's to be enjoyed anywhere.^

Historical Notes

Old MacDonald's Farm, an elaborate petting zoo was an animal attraction. It was replaced in 1978 with Montezooma's Revenge and a restaurant. In Old MacDonald's Party Garden there were a handful of themed areas where parents could host their children's birthday party for a nominal rental fee. The coveted spot was the birdcage, an actual metal framework built up on stilts.^

Historical Notes

After a year of design and fabrication the sawmill themed Log Flume opened in 1969 – under the original name of Calico Log Ride. The first official public riders were John Wayne and his son Ethan. Arguably the best log ride in the world, it features vintage logging equipment including a small steam train on display within interior pine scented woodland forest scenes detailed with taxidermy forest animals, a dark interior drop, and a twin flume split passenger loading station. A lumberjacks logrolling competition show was featured for several years on the pond between the final plunge and the station.^

Historical Notes

In 1976, Sky Tower was built to support two attractions, the Parachute Sky Jump (now closed) and the Sky Cabin. Parachute Sky Jump boarded one or two standing riders anticipating the thrill of the drop into baskets beneath a faux parachute canopy. From the top, eight arms supported the vertical cable tracks of wire rope which lifted the baskets. The Sky Cabin ringed the support pole with a single floor of seats that are enclosed behind windows. The Sky Cabin ring revolves slowly as it rises to the top and back offering a pleasantly changing vista. When built, Sky Tower was the tallest structure in Orange County (a distinction now held by nearby WindSeeker).^

Historical Notes

When it opened in 1954, one year before Disneyland, Marineland of the Pacific was the world's largest oceanarium. Many considered it California's first major theme park.

Historical Notes

Marineland of the Pacific was a public oceanarium and tourist attraction located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula coast in Los Angeles County. Architect William Pereira designed the main structure. It was also known as Hanna-Barbera's Marineland during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

(1970s)* - Poster for Hanna-Barbera's Marineland located at Rancho Palos Verdes.

Historical Notes

Marineland of the Pacific opened in 1954 and closed in 1987. The Sky Tower was removed in 1995.

Historical Notes

Marineland operated from 1954 until 1987, when it was purchased by the owners of SeaWorld, San Diego. The new owners moved the popular killer whales and other animals to their San Diego facility and abruptly closed Marineland.

Historical Notes

One of the casualties of the Marineland demolition in February 1988 was the destruction of this whale mural by mural artist Wyland, who painted a sea life mural on the AES power plant in Redondo Beach that has become a local landmark. The Marineland mural, painted by Wyland in 1984, did not survive. Daily Breeze file photo by staff photographer Jack Lardomita.

Historical Notes

In 1954 Anheuser-Busch opened a brewery in Van Nuys, California, followed by an updated version of Busch Gardens in 1966. By this time, the Busch Entertainment Corporation had already opened their Tampa Bay gardens in 1959, which was an admission free hospitality facility with a beer garden and bird sanctuary. In a similar fashion, Busch transformed a cabbage patch adjacent to the Van Nuys brewery into a tropical beer garden and bird sanctuary.

Historical Notes

On May 16, 1966, the first pair of cars, containing Busch and other dignitaries, snapped a ribbon as it began moving, and the dedication was official. In total, there were seven pairs of cars that would carry passengers on a 3,500-foot loop around the 17-acre Anheuser-Busch facility.

Historical Notes

The Busch Gardens theme park featured a monorail that snaked around the facility and passed windows that gave passengers a look at the brewing process.

Historical Notes

Amongst the many activities provided for visitors were boat rides across a lagoon, a monorail, a log-flume ride, and a suspended trolley tour through the brewery; but perhaps the most popular attraction was the free beer. Once the park admission was paid, anyone of drinking age was allowed “two 10-ounce glasses of beer at each of the five pavilions.” *#*

Historical Notes

In 1972 Busch Gardens would go through an expensive expansion that saw the addition of the log ride and other attractions of the like, and necessitated the construction of a pedestrian bridge and another monorail line to adjoin the original brewery property to the new section of the park.^*^

Historical Notes

By the mid-seventies attendance began to slow down and August Busch III decided to close the park in December of 1976.

Busch Gardens reopened on January 5, 1977 as a bird sanctuary and boasted "1500 birds of some 180 different species,". Many wandered freely and some were viewable from the boat ride. Guests began their trip with a 15-minute tour of the brewing facility, with audio narration provided by Ed McMahon. But, that didn't last long. *#*

Historical Notes

The Van Nuys park closed permanently in 1979. Two other Busch Gardens, in Tampa, Fla., and Williamsburg, Va., are currently open. *^#

The company was liberal with its "free beer" policy, which extended to the brewery's employees. This, curiously enough, wasn't a problem until 1982, when one employee who imbibed on his break wound up hitting and killing a 16-year-old pedestrian when he drove off the lot. It took several years of discussions between the workers' unions and the brewery, but the free beer finally came to an end on May 1, 1986, and employees had to settle for two free cases a month instead of "beer breaks" they initially had in their contracts.^*^

Historical Notes

In 1913, the Universal Company purchased 12,000 acres of land in the San Fernando Valley near the railroad station of Lankershim and about eight miles from Los Angeles.

A year earlier, on April 30, 1912, Carl Laemmle merged the Independent Motion Picture Company with five smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. After visiting his newly acquired west coast operations of Nestor Studios and Nestor Ranch, he renamed the studio "Universal Studios" and the leased Oak Crest Ranch became the first "Universal City" in the San Fernando Valley.

The first Universal/Nestor Ranch (Providencia Land and Water Development Company property Oak Crest Ranch) is presently the site of Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).

In 1915, Universal moved its operations at the Hollywood/Nestor studio and Universal/Nestor Ranch to its new Lankershim Blvd. location before the official opening of Universal City (Lankershim Blvd).^

Historical Notes

The main buildings consisted of two main stages, Universal Studio Tours, and the production support facilities that were on the north side of the lot.  At this time, the studio had formerly opened on Lankershim Boulevard.

Historical Notes

Universal City celebrated its grand opening on March 15, 1915. Something like 20,000 members of the public responded to studio head Carl Laemmle’s invitation to visit his new studio at the north end of Cahuenga Pass that day to check out the fancy administration building, open air stages and bleachers on which, until the advent of sound filmmaking a decade later, they were welcome to come back and watch real movies getting made.**^#

Historical Notes

Besides showing off the facilities on opening day, Laemmle staged cowboy stunts and had engineers create a fake flood, which actually swamped a few vehicles.

Historical Notes

After the gala opening, Carl Laemmle continued to let the general public visit his Movie City - "The City of Wonders."

Historical Notes

The tower building near the front entrance is actually a water tower modified to resemble a castle tower (see earlier photo).

Historical Notes

Carl Laemmle invited members of the public to watch films being made (in exchange for a 25 cents admission fee). A chicken lunch box was also available for a nickel; the first step towards the Universal Studios theme park we know today.*

Historical Notes

Guests sat in outdoor bleachers and were encouraged to cheer for the heroes and boo the villains! The advent of sound meant the end of the early Universal Studio tour (as the noise the visitors made now disrupted filming) and Universal closed its gates to the general public in 1930. Three decades would pass before the studio gates would open again.*

During that time, Universal developed into a powerhouse studio, producing numerous classics such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula, and Frankenstein. With its success, Universal City (and other San Fernando Valley studios) influenced the residential and commercial development of nearby North Hollywood, Studio City and Toluca Lake that took off in the 1920s.

Historical Notes

Greatest single truck shipment of lumber ever moved over American highways at one time parades through Los Angeles streets as 100 motor trucks and trailers, carrying almost a million board feet representing a year's supply for Universal Studios, is escorted across town from Los Angeles Harbor by a convoy of police.

Historical Notes

Alfred Hitchock's 1960 cinematic masterpiece Psycho, although originally distributed by Paramount, was financed by Hitchcock himself, and filmed at Universal Studios using the Revue Studios television crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It was filmed on a tight budget, and accordingly, the exterior sets built for the film...the Bates Motel and home...were partly constructed from studio "stock units," including in the case of the Bates home, a tower and front wall portion borrowed from an existing house set on the backlot's Colonial Street. The Bates home, or "Psycho House" as it has come be known, was built as a two-walled exterior facade, as it would be filmed only from a vantage point within a 90 degree span.*

The Psycho House (Bates Mansion) was one of the big draws of the Universal Tram Tour, back in 1964, and has continued to be instantly recognizable in recent years.

Historical Notes

The "Psycho House" became an iconic symbol of eerieness, and has appeared in countless films (including two Psycho sequels), television shows and advertisements. The set still stands on the Universal backlot fifty years later, although modified and twice relocated over the years. The original Bates Motel set no longer exists, but a reconstructed version of the motel has accompanied the home on the backlot and as a part of the studio tour for decades. *

Historical Notes

Iron Eyes Cody was an American actor of Italian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, famously as Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about litter in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful.  Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage, and not Native American at all.*

Historical Notes

In 1961, Universal decided to once again open up the studio gates, but this time guests toured the lots by bus. The cumbersome and noisy busses, ill-suited for discreet travel through the busy lots, were swapped out for trams in 1964. This was the year the tour officially became known as the Universal Studio Tour. For only $6.50, two adults and a child could peek into the behind-the-scenes world of one of Hollywood’s most famous studios; and if they were lucky, catch sight of star.

Historical Notes

Shortly after Music Corporation of America took over Universal Pictures in 1962, accountants suggested a new tour in the studio commissary would increase profits. On July 15, 1964, the modern tour was established to include a series of dressing room walk-throughs, peeks at actual production, and later, staged events. This grew over the years into a full-blown theme park. The narrated tram tour (formerly "Glamor Trams") still runs through the studio's active back lot, but the staged events, stunt demonstrations and high-tech rides overshadow the motion-picture production that once lured fans to Universal Studios Hollywood.^

Historical Notes

1967 was the year that the Universal studio tour began to transition into the theme park it has become today. With the opening of the Universal Entertainment Center came the western stunt show that would become a favorite attraction until it closed in 2002. This stunt show was a move away from an authentic behind-the-scenes tour to a production created specifically to entertain guests. Furthermore, instead of limiting the guests stay to the time it took to complete a tour, the entertainment center encouraged guests to spend an entire day at Universal City. This idea of an entertainment park, rather than just a tour, was based very much on the model of nearby Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm. Universal soon realized that in order to compete with these parks, they would have to developed their own unique attractions and rides.

Historical Notes

In 1976, Universal unveiled what would become their signature attraction: the Jaws Experience. Although the tour included many of the original set pieces, what really put this experience on the map was the animatronic shark that attacks the tram. With the new Jaws Experience, Universal studios entered into serious competition with Disneyland for Southern California’s best theme park. Like Disney, Universal had a wealth of motion picture successes to tap into for new attractions. Jaws, however, wasn’t really a ride and that was an edge that Disneyland definitely held over Universal Studios. Yet, rather than try to beat Disney at its own game, Universal Studios developed their own style of attraction that kept with the back lot tour model, but with more complex staging and thrills.***#

Historical Notes

The Jaws event opened a year after the release of Steven Spielberg's 1975 film. It is an animatronic attraction that features the moving shark and other sets. The actual hero prop boat 'Orca' was placed in the lagoon as a center piece, but has since been removed.^

Historical Notes

The movie Jaws was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. It was the highest-grossing film in history at the time, and was the most successful motion picture of all time until Star Wars.

Historical Notes

In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".^

Historical Notes

The show began as the tour tram entered the soundstage and stopped in front of an apartment building facade where guests watched a breaking news report about Kong's rampage on television monitors located inside of the building's windows. A news chopper circling overhead was covering the story when Kong suddenly swatted at the chopper, causing it to come crashing down from above and exploding only a few feet away from the tram. As the tram rounded a corner, it drove out onto the Brooklyn Bridge, putting guests at eye-level with the giant animatronic ape. The enraged Kong shook the bridge and ripped the suspension bridge cables apart in an attempt to grab the tram. But guests managed to narrowly escape the clutches of Kong as the tram exited the soundstage just in the nick of time.

A backlot fire destroyed this attraction on June 1, 2008.^

Historical Notes

In 1968, executives of Sea World Inc. were looking for a place in Los Angeles County to build a new theme park. Knowing that The Newhall Land and Farming Company had enough undeveloped land and that the company wanted to attract attention to its New Town of Valencia, a county planner asked company president James F. Dickason if he was interested. He was. After intense negotiations, Sea World and Newhall Land formed a $20 million partnership and began to build a 200-acre amusement park at the western edge of Valencia. Seventy acres would be used for the park itself — rides, theaters, games, food, landscaping — and the rest for parking and ancillary services. Construction began Nov. 17, 1969, and continued until opening day. #^*

Historical Notes

The Sky Tower was manufactured by Intamin AG of Wollerau, Switzerland — one of the big names in the amusement park attractions industry. #^*

Historical Notes

Magic Mountain opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 30, 1971. In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title. When the park opened, there were 500 employees and 33 attractions, many of which were designed and built by Arrow Development Co. which designed and built many of the original attractions at Disneyland. The admission price in 1971 was $5 for adults, and $3.50 for children.^

At its 1971 opening, the rides and attractions included Goldrusher, a steel coaster, the Log Jammer log flume, the Sky Tower observation tower, Grand Prix (similar to Disneyland's Autopia ride), El Bumpo (bumper boats), a Carousel, and other smaller rides. There were four transportation rides to the peak – Funicular – cable railway or funicular, later renamed Orient Express, The Metro – three monorail stations around the park; Whitewater Lake, Country Fair and Mountain stations and "Eagles Flight" – Skyride combined two stations at the peak, the long one north to Galaxy Station, and the short one west to El Dorado Station. The Showcase Theater (renamed Golden Bear Theater), was part of the original park and featured Barbra Streisand as the first of many headline performers who would appear at Magic Mountain over the years.^

Historical Notes

In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title.

Historical Notes

Colossus was designed by Doug Bernards, president of Bernards Brothers Construction in San Fernando, and cost $7 million to construct. Magic Mountain specifically requested a wooden roller coaster for their new ride stating they wanted it to "rumble and sway." The ride would become the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, as well as be the first in the world to feature two drops over 100 feet. During construction, a tornado caused part of the structure to collapse. The ride opened to the public on June 29, 1978.^

Historical Notes

After 36 years of providing thrill seekers with a hair raising ride, the Colossus Roller Coaster closed on Aug. 16, 2014.^

Historical Notes

With 19 roller coasters, Six Flags Magic Mountain holds the world record for most roller coasters in an amusement park. In 2013, the park had about 2.9 million visitors ranking it fifth in attendance among seasonal amusement parks in North America.^

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