Folks who know me know that I’m a student of history… in particular, Los Angeles history. Imagine my sadness, then, when I read in this morning’s Los Angeles Times about the demolition of the remaining buildings at Marineland of the Pacific. One year older than Disneyland, Marineland, which opened in 1954, was one of Southern California’s first theme parks. It once billed itself as “the world’s largest oceanarium” and featured such baby boom icons as the 320-foot-high Skytower and Bubbles, billed as the world’s first trained and performing whale. I have fond memories of going there as a kid.
According to the article, demolition started yesterday on the remaining buildings. This includes the 12-room motel, a restaurant and the Catalina Room, which thrived as a wedding and banquet venue long after the park closed. The Skytower and aquariums were torn down long ago. Once the demolition is completed, the site on an oceanfront bluff at the south face of the Palos Verdes Peninsula will be transformed into the posh 102-acre Terranea resort, due to open in 2008.
According to the Marineland Historical Society, Marineland of the Pacific opened its doors to the public for the first time in August 1954. Located at the tip of the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, it was the largest oceanarium in the world. Five million dollars were invested in the project to make it the most unusual cultural, educational and entertainment center on the Pacific Coast. Selection of the 90-acre site was influenced by the great natural beauty of the Portuguese Bend area on Palos Verdes Peninsula and its adjacency to the Pacific Ocean, where most of the undersea life was displayed in the huge tanks. The estate once was a part of a Spanish land grant which was called Rancho San Pedro and which was awarded to Juan Jose Dominguez in 1784 by the Spanish Governor Don Pedro Fages. Prior to that, Portuguese, Spanish and occasional British adventurers often anchored in its sheltered coves.
The site had buildings designed by William Pereira, who at the time of his death in 1985, led one of the largest and most influential architecture and planning firms in the world with a resume of incredibly diverse projects. These projects run the gamut from private homes, department stores, television studios, research facilities, high-rise office towers, and airports to entire cities, such as Doha, Qatar, Los Angeles, and Irvine, California, and include CBS Television City, buildings at USC, UC San Diego, the Transamerica Pyramid, LACMA, and the Irvine Ranch master plan.
The facility was purchased by Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (HBJ) in December 1986, at the time owner of the SeaWorld ocean park family. Contrary to their promises, HBJ closed the park a few months later. The buildings were left abandoned for many years. Marines from Camp Pendleton used the land for exercises, and it became a site for such films as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Fun with Dick & Jane,” “The Aviator,” “Patriot Games,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Spiderman,” “Con Air” and “G.I. Jane,” along with television shows such as “Lost,” “Baywatch” and “The O.C.” In 1994, the federal government deemed the Skytower an aviation problem, and it was demolished.
Another piece of history is lost. File “Marineland of the Pacific” with “Pacific Ocean Park” and “Beverly Park“.
