My knowledge of POP is rudimentary at best, but I'll do the best I can. Feel free to correct me if I make a mistake! The park was built in Santa Monica, on an enormous pier, which gave it a unique atmosphere. I believe that there was more than one entrance, but the most photographed entrance was near this fountain, part of Neptune's Courtyard. The apartment buildings in the background lent a kind of seedy feeling to this scene; Walt's idea of a berm surrounding his park to keep the outside world out was a brilliant solution for Disneyland.
Yeah, I know, more fountains - yawn. This is still part of Neptune's Courtyard, and these fountains were a popular photo subject for some reason! I guess in 1959, a sight like this was pretty unusual. Now you might see fountains like this at an above-average shopping mall!
It's sad to think that this park only lasted ten years. I wish I had gotten to see it!
ReplyDeleteI love vintage POP photos, thanks Major! "Seedy" is the way I remember the pier and the neighborhood!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this SUPER website with some scary photos and a great tale of POP at the end.
http://www.rippop.com/mypark.htm
The large shells from this fountain are still in use at a theme park. They can be found at the Magic Mountain water park located in Valencia. I also met and spoke to one of the concrete artists who poured and sculpted the fountains. He did not have too many details or memoribilia unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteKeep the POP stuff coming! POP is like some kind of phantom park to me...I dunno...like it never existed somehow, although it obviously did. Maybe because I've seen so many images yet never visited. The photos of it in its destroyed state evoke this feeling most of all.
ReplyDeleteThat's some cool info, Patrick! I've never been to Magic Mountain's water park, so I would have never seen them.
ReplyDeleteNOW we're talkin'!
ReplyDeleteMark London
i would like to see more of this place. thanks for the link above :D
ReplyDeleteThere was only one entrance to the Park - by walking through these wonderful fountains. The walls of water and the added soap bubbles in the air all contributed to a sense of imending FUN. This area was pretty LOUD too- you had to yell a bit to be heard over the water. As a theme park design, this is one of the BEST entry areas ever built!
ReplyDeletePJ - are you sure about that "reuse of the clamshells"? Because everything I have seen shows them being demolished...
ReplyDeleteI would ride my bike down the boardwalk after POP closed and I remember the Neptune statue just leaning against a wall rusting away like so much trash. Back then it didn't seem so unusual as unfortunately POP didn't seem like much either. I had friends who were runnaways living on the pier, hiding away.
ReplyDelete