Today's post is a tribute to a SoCal amusement park that I have heard almost nothing about, which is pretty unusual; we love our amusement parks!
So, here is one postcard for Queen's Park in Long Beach. Since the early 1900's, the Long Beach Municipal Pier was home to a waterfront boardwalk and park known as "The Pike". As the years passed and competition for people's amusement dollars increased, The Pike was given a facelift and renamed "Nu-Pike" in 1954. One of Bud Hurlbut's famous miniature trains was added! In 1971, the named was changed to Queen's Park to coincide with the arrival of the RMS Queen Mary.
Considering that I lived in nearby Huntington Beach and my Navy dad worked in Long Beach, I am astounded that my family never went to Queen's Park. It looks like it would have been a lot of fun!
I was even more amazed to learn that Queen's Park lasted until 1980. Apparently it was featured in old episodes of Emergency!, S.W.A.T, and The Six Million Dollar Man... it would be fun to see those scenes!
At a recent paper show, I found this strip of tickets (on Globe paper, hooray!) from QP's first year. This would have kept you busy for a while! Presumably a guest handed this to the ticket taker who was armed with a special paper punch.
Goodbye, Queen's Park!
I'm so confused. Everyone seems to be in agreement that The Pike (or Nu Pike) changed its name to Queen's Park in 1971, to coincide with the Queen Mary being its new neighbor. And the famous Cyclone Racer Roller Coaster, designed and built by the equally famous team of Harry G. Traver & Frank Church, was torn down beginning on September 15, 1968.
ReplyDeleteSo how to explain the beautiful set of tickets clearly showing a section for the Cyclone Racer. Was that referring to some 'other' attraction-?
And if you want to see some great color footage of the Pike, from 1964, there's always the infamous film with the infamous title: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies-!!?, from none other than cheesy director Ray Dennis Steckler.
There was also a Charlie's Angels episode from season one that had some scenes filmed at the Pike.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I visited the Pike only once...it was in the late seventies and there was a metal roller coaster that was called The Cyclone Racer.....probably as a tribute the wooden one that was torn down.
TISCWSLABMUZ is one of my favorite MST3K episodes.
ReplyDeleteQueen's Park was also home to the mummified remains of Elmer McCurdy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_McCurdy
I love stuff on Long Beach Pike. Never went, but collected lots of postcards of the amusement park.
ReplyDeleteI'm always on the lookout for movies showing footage of the Pike. 1953's Beast from 20,000 Fathoms features the Pike and Cylcone Racer with its entrance ramp, loading platform and structure.
Here's the roller coaster history of The Pike from one of my favorite sites RCDB (Roller Coaster Database). It lists the metal coaster "Cyclone" TokyoMagic! mentioned.
http://rcdb.com/5266.htm
Nanook, I think I have still managed to avoid any of Mr. Steckler's masterpieces, in spite of reading about them in books like "The 50 Worst Movies of All Time". It might be on YouTube, maybe I need to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, thanks for the clarification on the Cyclone Racer… as I said, I know darn little about Queen's Park/The NuPike/The Pike, and it IS a bit confusing.
Melissa, I don't know if you know who Ralph Story was, but he did a lot of TV features about local California landmarks. I think I first heard about Elmer McCurdy from Ralph's show. Amazing!
K. Martinez, I think I have one additional decent photo of the Pike, I need to dig it up and post it here someday. Funny that the Pike showed up in so many movies and TV shows, I'm sure the owners loved the shot of income that they brought. Thanks for the link about the coaster!
A HA! Thank you TokyoMagic! I knew one of you 'brains' out there would solve the mystery.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember visiting the "Nu-Pike" Park after a visit to the Queen Mary, since that was what took us to Long Beach.
ReplyDeleteBut that was so long ago, maybe we went before the QM arrived and it's just telescoped in my mind. I also remember going by and finding this park had closed, but maybe that's a fever dream too.
Anyway, I remember that it was crowded and smelled of hot grease, and everything was dirty, especially the restrooms. A huge contrast to Disneyland where we were the day before.
I also recall that Mom would not go on the double ferris wheel, which hung out over the end of the pier during part of it's cycle.
You can see the wheel in the night photo in the post. There were two small wheels on each end of a big beam, both wheels rotated, and the beam went around it's center pivot too, so there was a lot of spinning going on...
Wow, thats a lot of memory for one day. Thank you Major, for the trip back.
JG
Son of a gun, I have never heard of that park!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of Queen's Park.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that "Emergency!" episode that features Queen's
Park.
There was a ride, sometimes called a "Sky Hook"
(basically two cranes with baskets that would take you up
high above the park), which had become stuck (the cables
had jammed), and the paramedics, Roy and John, et al,
had to rescue a man on the ride who had had a heart attack!
Wow, I'm not sure I would want to go there after seeing that,
but it was pretty impressive! I remember they had mechanical
dancing figures over the entrance of the park.
Here's a page (Six Flags Over Texas) with screenshots
from that episode:
http://www.sfot.net/sfot-forums/showthread.php?p=25548
Here's the episode of "Emergency!"
ReplyDeletecalled "Transitions" you can watch
for free on Hulu. There are 2 scenes with
Queen's Park, and the one with the
dancing figures and 'skyhook'
is at about 35 minutes into the
story.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/59767
We called the place NuPike or 'The Pike' back then. I have memories of riding the Cyclone Racer at night near its closure. No lines and for 25 cents you could pay the attendant and just stay on for another ride. It was a cheesy area back in 1968 but still, the place seemed like an adventure for a 17 year old. Even the drive back to Costa Mesa on PCH (when we really had fog back then)...you just can't duplicate the experience today.
ReplyDeleteI found a photo of the Nu Pike on this link: http://usshelena.org/lbmemories6.html. This particular photo has the caption ''Overhead View of Nu-Pike with new Auditorium in Background
ReplyDelete1967''. There is one thing that conflicts with the caption, the Cyclone Racer was torn down on September 1968, and in said photo there is no Cyclone Racer. Did the Nu Pike still operate while the Cyclone Racer was demolished, and what year would you place the photo? I'd say somewhere between 1968-71.
I basically grew up in The Pike from the age of 5 to the age of 26. We had a short-lived table tennis and pool table establishment next door to the bowling alley which was at the foot of Chestnut Avenue. That was a 32 lane bowling alley. We operated it during the summer and my Mom and I would eat at the corner restaurant across the street. I enjoyed that quite a bit as a kid. My Dad was ranked 15th in California in the International Table Tennis Association. The bowling alley ran the shop next door and wanted my Dad's expertise in the game to operate the establishment. It only lasted a few weeks, but at least we were able to make the claim of running a shop in The Pike! I saw lots of changes in my time at the fun park. The Cyclone Racer was an exact replica of the Cyclone Racer built in Coney Island. I was always too scared to ride that roller coaster. My brother and Dad went on it many times, though. In 1968 they tore down the old Cyclone, I always regretted not going on that ride. Soon, thereafter, they erected a smaller metal roller coaster with the same name to replace it in that location. I gladly rode that one as I was a bit older by then. It was fun, believe me! Years later, I would go to Coney Island and rode the original Cyclone Racer 3 times in a row in the front car. So, I wound up getting that great experience, albeit, years later.
ReplyDeleteIn so far as movies and tv using The Pike for filming, there are numerous, going all the way back to the silent film era. Here is a link to another page about some of the productions: http://www.millikanalumni.com/Pike/Films.html. The movie called "The Sniper" made in 1952 showed quite a bit of The Pike. An excellent film, by the way. Regarding the Charlie's Angels episode shot at The Pike, "To Kill an Angel", ironically, I was there that day for the shoot. I just happened to be there that day and notice they were filming. I just walked on the set while they were in between scenes. I was standing right next to Jaclyn Smith, and I was surprised to see how short she was, but strikingly beautiful. I snuck into a few scenes, but none of them made it to the screen. I think they must have been swearing at me in post-production as I ruined the continuity of one scene on the merry-go-round! Shortly, thereafter, they broke for lunch and I enjoyed some tasty fried chicken! After lunch, they needed to shoot a scene at the Laugh-In-The-Dark ride which boasted a laughing lady and man above the ride entrance. I remember the director was upset that only one car was working for the ride in the dark. He asked for a good-looking couple to be in the scene, and that's when he busted me. He said, "I don't think you are with this production. I noticed you at the lunch table and I thought, 'Okay, the kid works for food'!" I was asked to leave. Oh, well, the chicken was great and it was fun to be a part of history! I tried to find that episode when it was on TV, but never could find it. I searched for the episode in many bargain bins at stores and finally found the DVD. I have watched it a few times, and I may see myself in one scene walking in back, but it's hard to tell. I was definitely edited out of the merry-go-round shot. Continued...
Awesome story thanks for sharing also there was a episode of Cannon called "the avenger" from 1974 that was filmed there and referred to it as well
Delete...Continuing from previous post: Regarding that body which was found while tearing down one of the attractions, I used to see him in many of the establishments with heavy wax covering. For a while, he was made to look like Frankenstein's monster in one exhibit. They used to have a carnival side-show with changing acts every so often. He was one of the exhibits. So weird to think I had seen a dead man on display for so many years. He was an outlaw who was killed and put on display many years ago when that grisly practice was the norm. He was finally laid to rest, properly.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have many more stories about The Pike, but I don't want to go on and on in one comment. I hope I haven't lost most of you already! I loved going to the Pike and miss it every day. If there is a lesson to be learned, enjoy everything as if it may disappear tomorrow, as that is entirely possible! Until next time...
Anonymous, thank you for your wonderful comment and fun memories! I love the details about things like the 32-lane bowling alley, and the filming of Charlie’s Angels, where you got involved more than the production would have wanted! The story of Elmer McCurdy’s body at The Pike is one of those things that sounds too crazy to be true! It’s late and I’m pooped, or else I would do a more in-depth response to your comment. Thanks for taking the time to relay some of your personal memories, I really appreciate it!
ReplyDelete