Saturday, December 11, 2021

Marineland of the Pacific

I have three nice photos for you today, from Marineland of the Pacific, on the beautiful Palos Verdes peninsula! Marineland had opened almost a year before Disneyland, debuting on August 28th, 1954. At the time, it was the world's largest "oceanarium". This first photo shows the sign at the entrance, with a leaping pilot whale (perhaps representing "Bubbles", who was a big star) and two small dolphins leaping next to a stylized spout of water that also happened to form an "M". Hey, there's an "M" in "Marineland"!  It's crazy to see those undeveloped hills, now chockablock with high-priced homes.


The next two are from July, 1961. I like views of Disneyland's parking lot, and I like views from this one too. How many cars can Nanook ID? Marineland had the typical oceanarium shows that you see today, with trained dolphins, seals, pilot whales, and orcas ("Corky" and "Orky" being the star killer whales at this park).


Here's a terrific view as guests approached the entry; I wonder how the photographer got this slightly elevated vantage point? The largest amphitheater is right in front of us, and you can see that people are already in the stands. Are you one of those weirdos who likes sit in the front rows in order to get soaked? It's OK, we love you anyway!

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Marineland of the Pacific!

23 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-
Where was the motel-?

As for cars... I'm fairly certain the partial view of the white car is a 1959 Chevrolet. To its right is a 1960 Chevrolet, Kingswood station wagon, probably in Horizon Blue. On the right of it is a 1960 Corvair, probably in that same Horizon Blue.

That 'slightly elevated vantage point' of the entry was obviously taken from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. (You'd be surprised how far you can see from there on a clear day-!)

Thanks, Major.

JB said...

The stylized entrance sign, and the buildings in general look surprisingly modern for 1954. Then again, this was the peak of Mid-century Modern design. I wonder who footed the bill for the construction of Marineland? Was it some Walt Disney-type, or maybe it was built by the city?

Major, I have a few Marineland scans from 1957 that I'll send you one of these days.

Whoa! Lookit the beanpole in the flaming orange shirt! Your eye goes right to him. Strangely thin; I wonder if he had some sort of illness?

TokyoMagic! said...

Nanook, I never realized that Marineland had a motel, or a fancy restaurant, until after it closed. I guess I never noticed them during family visits, but both the motel and the restaurant were located outside the park. You can see them in this aerial view. The motel is located just to the left of the observation needle/tower, and the restaurant is the structure to the right of it (with the circular-shaped rooftop).

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/cc/cc/5acccc80a4bf9487293dd37206a7f784.jpg

JB, now that you point it out, I'm wondering if Mister Orange Shirt were to place his right foot on the ground, if we would see that he had Genu Valgum, which might possibly be caused by Rickettsia.

I saw a photo a while back, of the statue of Bubbles the pilot whale, lying in a Palos Verdes City storage yard. The accompanying article said that the city wanted to do something with it. They probably want to bury it in a landfill. And I've seen pics of one of the dolphin statues, which was in the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, very close to where Marineland used to be located. I'm not sure if it is still there or still on display, but I have been wanting to go check the place out, for years now.

Here's a pic of one of the dolphin statues, at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. I just don't know how current this photo is:

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/04/7d/0c/f1/the-point-vicente-interpretive.jpg

- Tokyo March! (Of The Toy Soldiers)







TokyoMagic! said...

After doing a little more research, I found that Bubbles (the statue) has her own GoFundMe page. They want to restore the statue and place it out in front of the Point Vicente Center.

Here's a pic of her laying on the ground, like a beached whale:

http://wikimapia.org/1849727/Bubbles-the-Pilot-Whale

TokyoMagic! said...

Here are a couple more links.

This one shows a different view of Bubbles lying on the ground:

https://fotospot.com/attractions/california/marineland-of-the-pacific-ruins

And this one shows a photo taken while they were lowering her down from the Marineland sign, along with artwork showing how they would like to display her, after restoration. The article calls Bubbles a "him." How can you tell?

https://www.southbaybyjackie.com/save-bubbles-the-whale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=save-bubbles-the-whale

Chuck said...

I thought Marineland of the Pacific was Camp Pendleton.

JB & TM!, I think that Mr. Orange Shirt has no more serious a condition than being a teenage boy. I was just as skinny and gangly until I was about 20.

MIKE COZART said...

I never went to Marineland .... except for when a friend of mine at Disney who was married there after it closed in the mid 1990’s . The property was actually very nice - especially the landscaping. The wedding pavilion was a miniature copy of the “casino & ballroom “ at Avalon on Catalina. It appeared to be old , but well kept. I have no idea what it was when Marineland was operational ( offices??) the wedding was beautiful... but a california coastal storm brought massive rain and powerful winds. This must have been weather that really must have affected the operation of Marineland often during its history.

Not to offend Marineland of the Pacific fans .... and “modern” as the park architecture was for the time - it seems to be ugly examples of the style. Florida’s Marineland looks even worse! Like it was designed by communist - socialist Eastern Europeans in the 40’s.

Being from San Diego we were a SeaWorld family .... and it’s first phases opened in 1964 so the park architecture was a bit more sophisticated by then .... in fact some of the park’s pavilions were designed by some award winning architects from San Diego and Los Angeles. I miss the “ Tomorrowland -esque “ Sparklets Water Fantasy show building , the StarKist undersea theater and the SKYWAY station across the bay at the Atlantis Restaurant. The SKYWAY station is still there but the rest is now lost to Mid Century Modern history ......


“THEY RUIN EVERYTHING” SOCIETY OF THE LOST.

JG said...

Interesting pics, Major. One unusual feature of the stadium is the ramp access, visible beyond. The slope doesn’t look too extreme, I wonder how wheelchair-accessible this place was? Or if that were even considered.

Our man Flint, in orange, is just a big kid on the road to greater bigness.

Way in the back of the crowd is a lady with what looks to me like a paper hat, similar to those at Disneyland.

We only went here once, when I was quite young and I remember very little of it. A few months back, I saw an interior photo of the restaurant, with shells stuck to the ceiling, and a memory of that room came roaring back. Funny how one’s mind will do that.

Thanks Major and everyone. I have to go work on my screenplay for Jungle Cruise II - JG Meets The Rock.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook... well, I didn’t mention a motel, so you must know something that I don’t. Thanks for the car IDs, I love that station wagon, though the Corvair would be fun to own too. I didn’t consider the Swiss Family Treehouse, but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense.

JB, I have no idea where the funding came from for Marineland, and just assume that it was a group of investors. Just a guess! That big stadium was designed by William Pereira, who designed so many notable buildings, including the Transamerica pyramid in San Francisco and CBS Television City in Los Angeles. I’d love to see your Marineland scans from 1957! That guy really IS a beanpole, I’ll bet he was just one of those skinny people you see once in a while.

TokyoMagic!, like you I was not aware of a motel, but then again, I have never known that much about Marineland or its general neighborhood. I went there when I was little, but the memories of it kind of get mixed up with memories of Sea World in San Diego. Gosh, that motel looks much more modest than I imagined! Thanks for the photo! I read an article about how Palos Verdes wants to restore the Bubbles statue, which would be a nice tribute to a place that probably most locals don’t even remember. Thanks also for the photo of the dolphin statue, it looks well-maintained (probably restored).

TokyoMagic! I hope that they raise enough money to restore Bubbles, but they’ve only raised about $3000 of the supposedly-needed $300,000. Yikes.

TokyoMagic!, you should have written this article, you clearly did 100X more research than I did. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bubbles was a “girl”, kind of like Lassie!

Chuck, har-de-har! Actually that joke was pretty good, I’m just jealous. And yes, when I was in high school I think I grew so fast that I was also a tall and skinny weirdo.

Mike Cozart, I remember when the Marineland site was used for MTV’s Spring Break, with hot young people in bathing suits dancing to various bands (I definitely remember Ween performing there). I had no idea there was a wedding pavilion there… was it left over from when the park was a going concern? As I said to JB, William Pereira designed Marineland, and he was about as famous as you could get, at least in SoCal. But I have to agree, there is something about that stadium that is not exactly beautiful. It’s almost all “function” and no beauty. Of course others might feel differently. It’s not quite “Brutalist”, but maybe a cousin of it. The last time I went to Sea World must have been around 1990, San Diego is juuuust far enough away that I almost never make it down there.

JG, I do like the stadium ramp, it seems like a surprisingly modern way to make those upper levels accessible to wheelchairs and strollers, considering that in the 1950s very few buildings were designed with that in mind. Or maybe they just figured a ramp was easier on guests compared to hundreds of steps (that’s probably it). Good eye on the paper hat - I can’t help wondering if she’d visited Disneyland the day before? Or maybe they sold similar hats at Marineland. I watched that Jungle Cruise movie on Disney+, it was forgettable. Unless you like tons and tons of CGI effects.

Kathy! said...

Let’s get some cocktails before we take in the show. JG, I saw that paper cone hat too, and I think I see another to the left. Did they buy them at that Hat store or bring them from Disneyland? Babushkas abound to protect ladies from the Splash Zone. Look at those boring, unthemed trash cans. Thanks Major, I hope you have some animal photos to share from here as well.

Melissa said...

I always think of two things whenever Marineland is mentioned:

Marineland Niagara used to have an incredibly catchy jingle that lived rent-free in my head for decades.

Grandma brought home a souvenir pencil with a big orca shaped eraser from Marine land in Florida. We kids would be allowed to use the pencil, but not the eraser! If you made a mistake, you’d have to borrow someone else’s pencil to use the eraser.

Both of those signs are great; I love that style of design. I’ve never seen fins quite like the ones on that blue Kingswood car. (And you knew where you were then; cars were cars and fins were fins. Mister, we could use a man like Enzo Ferrari again...)

And look at all the nice vintage people in the last shot! (All the vintage people, where DO they all come from?) I spy one babushka and two sets of matching kids.

”Lookit the beanpole in the flaming orange shirt!”

A new variety of “flaming O.”

”I thought Marineland of the Pacific was Camp Pendleton.”

So glad I swallowed my coffee before reading that!

Bu said...

I have many comments about Marineland as I grew up in PV. I think everything has been answered, and the park had a rather miserable end through various owners and a few dead mammals. Bubbles was a sweet whale and Orky and Corky I felt sorry for as their little swimming area was so small compared to the very large ocean they came from. Next to the Orky/Corky show there was a giant aquarium filled with all sorts of things including a diver in a bell suit. He would be swarmed with fish as he took big blogs of squid from his little side satchel. You viewed all of this from inside that building on multiple levels. That is why there is that ADA compliant ramp as every level had it's own entrance. This was long before anything was called ADA compliant, so the ramp was design and some function. It was always exciting to go all the way to the top where the whale show was, however my favorite "tank" was on a lower level of Marineland where the poirposes (sp) dolphins and seals were. Those shows were much more entertaining and the seals were super duper funny. The dolphins were just plain cute. Many TV shows were shot at Marineland: Lucy, Partridges, etc. etc. They later expanded to include a swim-through reef (Baja Reef) that was a coveted High School job and only the popular kids worked there. I wasn't that. I thought it was a bit low brow, waited a year, and got my Disneyland job. They had a very nice picnic area outside the gates with a grassy area, and people brought blankets and such. The tower was great fun to ride, however we only got to go on it when my aunt would take us, and my parents thought it was too extravagant a ride. I never saw the inside of the restaurant or the motel...but it was very cool, bungalow style...the views on this point are quite amazing, but as a kid growing up there...it's more: "yup..there it is...the ocean...(yawn)" In later years, Hannah Barbera took over, another studio (Robbie the Robot was featured), then a text book company that closed it down. There is a lot of not so great history at the end and the towns folk almost came to pitchforks and torches. They transported Orky and Corky in the middle of the night and snuck them out. Who knows what happened to the literally thousands of fish in the big tank, and now the place is a big resort. I haven't been back to my old neighborhood in decades, but I'm sure the area has changed enormously. FYI: the "W" of the "Mad Mad Mad World" is down the street from Marineland. The Vanderlips started a very nice community of lovely homes...there is lots to tell there. And one of the most active earth slides in Southern California is also located a stones throw. That was a fun road to cross...every day the road was in a different place...quite literally. Portugeuse Bend Club was the fancies went, the not so fancies but still fancy enough went to Abolone Cove. Both were gated with private beaches. Very fun for us kiddie winkies but we relied on the neighbors memberships to get in. Thanks for the memories today Major!

Anonymous said...

I grew up in the South Bay in the 50s and 60s. When I was 9, I entered a fire-prevention poster contest, and my entry actually won - the prize was a free trip to Marineland! This was a pretty big deal for me at the time, and it remains a happy memory.

JB said...

Since Tokyo M! used up the Major's quota of e-Ink today ;-), I'll be brief:

TM!, thanks for all the links; interesting and kinda sad.

Chuck, I suppose you're right about Beanpole, but it looks like he can hardly support his own weight (all 60 pounds of it).

JG, I'll need more info on that movie before I commit to seeing it!

Major, in the first pic the entrance sign says: "Motel Restaurant Cocktails" at the bottom.
In the early years of computer graphics I was all agog at movie CGI, like the first Jurassic Park. Now-a-days, it's a lot cheaper and takes less time. But you still need good artists to make good CGI.

Melissa, does that orca eraser still exist? And wow, "Those Were The Days" and "Eleanor Rigby" together again for the first time!
I almost did a 'Flaming-O' joke when I wrote "flaming orange" but decided- "Nahhh".

Bu, Thaaanks for the memories. I didn't know the Big W was so near Marineland.

Major Pepperidge said...

Kathy!, I suppose people probably DID go grab a few drinks over at the “lounge” or whatever it was called. Who cares if it’s only 2:00?? I couldn’t help thinking that the water that the animals swam in had… um… “substances” in it, and the last thing I wanted was for it to be splashed on me. And I don’t have any animal photos!

Melissa, “Marineland Niagara”, I had no idea. I love that your grandma wouldn’t let you use the orca eraser on your souvenir pencil! She knew that it was the best part. I don’t suppose you have it? The fins on that Kingswood remind me of some other automobile, but now I can’t remember which one. I’m sorry I even brought it up!

Bu, as a kid I loved going anywhere like Marineland, or even just a regular zoo, but at some point I became aware of how cramped the pools (or cages, as the case may be) were. It always made me feel bad. If the whales were captured when they were young, were they even aware of how unusual their situation was? Were they happy? We’ll never know of course. Somewhere on this blog I have a photo of Bob Barker at Marineland, no idea what he was doing there. Maybe the killer whales were playing “The Price is Right”. They are hoping to win A NEW CAR. I also think I may have posted photos that show the grassy area you mentioned. Who the heck are the Vanderlips? What a cartoon name.

Anon, hey, you actually won a contest! I don’t think I’ve ever won a darn thing, so a trip to Marineland sounds pretty sweet.

Anonymous said...

Marineland....it was a trip out into the country as the first picture showed. Reminds me of what it also looked like between Newport and Laguna Beach. When 'field trips' were part of the school curriculum, classes were bused for the day to have a tour. Thus the school bus in the first picture. KS

DrGoat said...

Marineland was one of our regular stops on our annual trips, between 1957 and 1968, to the west coast.
The usual route was Route 8, from Tucson to San Diego, with a stop in El Centro for gas then onward, my parents always pointing out Plaster City, like Emerald City only white. The stop the Wisteria Candy shop. It was somewhere on the road as you climbed into the mountains, still route 8 I think. Next 2 days at the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Gardens and then places I don't remember. Up to Marineland, and parts beyond. Then 2 (if we were lucky) days in Disneyland, the apex of our trip. One day at Knott's, then a day or 2 at the beach. The rest was reading Classics Illustrated in the back of the wagon and getting out in Solvang for split pea soup. Etc. etc. A few more days on the road somewhere then back home. After the movie came out we didn't know the big W was not that far away. We would have definitely stopped.
Nice shots Major. Like he second one. I think that Chevy wagon has Arizona plates. Thanks

DrGoat said...

Bad grammar on that first sentence, sorry.

Melissa said...

I WISH I knew where that orca eraser ended up!

DrGoat said...

Melissa, Your Grandmother should have left you that eraser in her will.
Speaking of Chevy wagons, our first trip was in Dad's 1950 Plymouth. We all agreed that it did not cut it. Next year in 58 Dad bought a Tropic Turquoise. I think we had a discussion way back about that color, but that's the closest I can get searching.

MIKE COZART said...

Hearing about these station wagons reminded me of when I was little I didn’t quite understand the passage of time. We were learning about the pioneers and settlers and I was obsessed with covered wagons ( the horse and oxen kind) then ....

I knew my mom’s parents came to California from New York .... so one time at a family dinner I asked “ grandma ... did you come over in the covered wagons???” ...... my grandma said no she didn’t and had a look on her face like I just said she looked really old. Lol.

Incidentally my grandma came to California in a brand new 1961 Chevrolet Impala.

Melissa said...

Mike, when I was little I thought they were "cupboard wagons," and I would imagine a giant sent of kitchen cupboards on wheels, pulled by a team of horses.

JB said...

DrGoat, those sound like really fun family trips!

Mike C., It may not have been a covered wagon, but it was a 'land yacht'!

Melissa, "kitchen cupboards on wheels" actually isn't far from the truth.

Looks like the Major and I posted a couple minutes apart, so he didn't see my comment above. It happens.
OR!
My comments are now invisible! Yeah, I bet that's it! Since nobody can read what I write, I will now launch into a 10 page screed outlining my views on politics and religion. Here goes!...
I'm obviously joking. GDB is an island of sanity in a sea of contention, and I don't want off the island.