Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space-Age Nautical Pleasure Pier

Sun. 09/13 - 1:30pm - "Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space-Age Nautical Pleasure Pier" by authors Christopher Merritt and Domenic Priore https://getmansvirtual.com Pacific Ocean Park--or P.O.P.--was a revitalized “carny pier”/theme park designed in the late 1950s to compete with Disneyland. It's rise was glamorous and spectacular; and its fall was equally epic in scale. P.O.P. was also a keystone moment in the crossover of American midcentury modern design. Merritt and Priore's spectacular history includes dozens of never-before-seen images, including original ride designs and illustrations, as well as tiki-rich, space-age, and nautical rides. P.O.P.'s Cheetah auditorium also hosted important early rock shows, including those by Ritchie Valens, the Doors, and Pink Floyd, and the site later became a stomping ground of the original "Dogtown" skateboarders of the 1970s.