Revisit The Pike
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- Опубліковано 18 гру 2008
- The Pike in its heyday. Great Color Movies and stories from people who rode the rides and ate in the restaurants. Taken from the Television Series "I Remember Long Beach" For more information visit IrememberLongBeach.com
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This had to be one of the best amusement areas ever built. Classic rides, the ocean and, of course, the Cyclone Racer. Thanks for a wonderful upload.
... and that Midway!!!!! Those big 3D facades of faces and dancers were cool!!!!! The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, and corn dogs.... ohhhh....... so VERY lucky to have grown up in LB!!!!! :)
So many memories. We'd go there & let the sailors chase us nearly every weekend. Riding the Cyclone, the Wild Mouse... hanging out in the arcade trying to beat that damn Claw. Never did...thank you so much for bringing these memories back. Damn good times! I wonder if anyone else cried while watching this? I can't thank you enough for this gift. xx
I grew up on the pike lived there since i was about 4 to to 7 . I was there every day never wore shoes and played on the beach . and watch Elvis Presley buy a boat from Frank Sinatra on the beach at the pike one block from my home . Good memory's
Jim, I'd like to hear more about that Elvis story.
Hi He bought a yacht from Frank Sinatra and they did the title signing on the beach between the Pike and the Navy Base I remember his hair was coal black
My grandfather from Indiana used a hard "g" when saying "Los Angeles" too.
He owned The Leilani Hut restaurant in Belmont Shore where Legends is now.
I notice that. Seems that's just how folks pronounced it back then.
Man, The old Pike would've been on the same level as Brooklyn's Coney Island today, had it been maintained!!!
00the pike was my hag out in 50s and sixtys loved the plunge learned to swim there
The rides could stay the same but the people would still change. The Long Beach that I grew up in doesn't exist anymore. Time changes everything.
Great Vid. I had totally forgotten about this place. My great-grandmother took me out of school one day, we went to the pike because they were closing it down. She did'nt say why, but, now that I am older I realize why we were there, she was teary eyed and sometimes crying....we were there for her memories, as this is where she met her husband. she was born in 1906 and was quite ahead of her time, with a rose tattoo on her shoulder. her name was Nellie Melissa-Bea Flanaghan Haines Yaworsky
How many times was she married ?
I was lucky to go to the pike with my Family when I was 5 back in 1975!!! It was better back then instead of now!!! I Miss The Old Pike!!! ;(
So you remember that scary fat laughing lady too? I think there's a museum in downtown LB that still has her on display.
@@Fan_Made_Videos I remember the crazy laughing lady at the Fun Zone at the L.A. County Fair. These days it would be deemed "inappropriate."
Aww , I'm Only 12 , & iWish The Pike Was Still Like This , It Looks So FUN ! >.< & Now Theres Only A Ferris Wheel , :( Sucks.. Oh Well,
Back when I was a kid, I used to take `10 dollars with me to the Pike in long beach. I would ride and RTD bus for 5 cents from South Gate and at that time the RTD Bus depot was at the Breakers building on Ocean BLVD and I'd buy a return ticket to put in my little wallet. I was 12 years old then.I would get an all day pass to the Pike and eat as much as I wanted for that 10 bucks. I remember the Mouse and the Cyclone, mini roller coasters. I sure miss those days.
All by yourself? Amazing. I've read other's saying they would bike ride all the way to Knott's Berry Farm, spend the day and ride back. Was it really a safer world back then?
@@2degucitas Yes it was. We used to ride our bicycles from where we lived in El Toro to San Juan Capistrano, Capistrano . Beach, Laguna Beach and back home to El Toro. All in one day. I would say we were 11 to 12 years old at the time. El Toro only had a population of 280 back then when we moved there.
I miss the America that I grew up in. My mom used to take us down here three or four times this summer it was in Long Beach California.
She would give us all $10 each, my sister, my brother and I.
And it would last us from 10:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night.
Some of the rides for 15 cents and, some of them were a quarter. The salt water taffy was amazing! The caramel apples were so delicious!
Those were the days my friends we thought they'd never end... 💔
When I was in high school, I met a wonderful and beautiful college girl on the Ferris wheel at the pike, Great memories.
why cant 2010 be as fun as back in the day?
now kids all wanna grow up too quick be on their cell phones texting the person next to them SMH -____________- we need the old LONG BEACH ♥
It was the best in the early 50s. The Navy was there. The Pike was so much fun.
I still get a tear when I think being at the pike,remindes me of all the times we spent there. thanks for the memories
My Dad would take us to the LB Pike back in the late 50's on the kiddie rides. We have black and white pictures of my brothers and I on all these fun rides. When we got older, we would go hang out around the perimeter of the Coaster Ride and would find money on the ground from those that were on the ride. Once, I found a Sailors Cap! Thanks for sharing these Great Memories!
Oh, holy crap--I remember the diving bell! Hadn't thought about that in 30 years. Man. I must be old or something.
Then you remember the Bird Cage too right? VERY scary as a little kid!!! Ha ha ha ;)
A lot of people wonder or have an opinion on what killed the Pike. I think the worse thing to happen to the Pike was Disneyland and the closing of the Navy base.
Several people were killed when the roller-coaster went off the track and into the ocean.
It was all the drug addicts that hung out there. No one want to take their family any longer
Mark Beaudry, nobody really talks about that for some reason. It’s like everybody forgot about it
Mark Beaudry 😮
@@markbeaudry2469
My father told me about how much he loved that roller coaster. He went here often when in the navy. He told me several people died on it but he said it was the riders fault. They’d get drunk, go on the coaster and stand up.
I have ridden many roller-coaster, the Matterhorn at Disneyland, the Colossus at Magic Mountain, but none were as fast as the Cyclone at the Pike. I almost flew out my seat.
I remember as a kid maybe 1970-72 timeframe my mom would take me through. It was already seedy but still fun. I remember walking in through Pine Ave one of the buildings had an arched pass-through past a tattoo shop lol.
Glad to run into this video. Anybody remember an art booth where they used a spinner to whirl the paint into spiral patterns? I must have been about four, so, sometime in 1961 or '62. I got my first tattoo at the Pike from Joe Shaw in 1978.
My husband and I saw Goldie Hawn filming "Girl From Pratrofka " my bad on the spelling. I went back for a visit in 2010. Went on the "Queen", then, back over to catch a bus to my hotel. Imagine my shock when I saw all was gone. Hard not to cry
The bumper car ride was also a lot of fun....great memories!!
I do not know about the overall park but my mom's death on the cyclone racer in 1978 closed that ride. Im sure you all had fun. my mother died saving the lives of 2 young girls who stoop up toward the end, no restraints there seems some confusion as to whether or not the wild mouse coaster and the cyclone were different rides. I understand the cyclone was a wild mouse ride . my son just asked if any news programs on tv aired my mothers death. I have no idea. mom was hit in the head trying to sit 2 young girls down got hit in the head herself and knocked backward to be drug on the track behind between 25-60 feet depending on which report you read. her name was Sandy Magania age 24 I heard the closed the ride and placed a memorial plaque in her memory although the local museum knew nothing about the plaque and many have accused me of mixing up my parks claiming the pike was closed in 1968 which it does say in many internet forums. basicall a typo that went viral. I have a police and Corners report saying 1978 aling with news paper clippings Unfortunatly I did not find out about her death until I was in my early 20's as I was adopted, my mom's family was messed up and she had me when she was young
im glad i know what happened, that search is over. but it only opened the door to so many questions.
im sorry my mlm's death lost all of you your fun place. who in the hell build a roller coaster with absolutly no safety restraints, needs their head examined. i have mere shadow memoris if that park
wish mine were fun like all yours
I'm so sorry you lost your Mom that way. Many injuries and deaths have lead to better safety equipment on rides. Your mom died a hero.
i am pretty sure it was The Wild Mause that killed her because it happened to me and my siter too, we were almost to the end and my little sis flew up and hit her head on a steel bar that was over us, she got a nasty sweeling and bruise but was ok, when we complained no one even cared!Nowdays it would be a major lawsuit!
My father shut down the park in 1978.he turned the lights off for the last time.
I went to the Pike in the 1960's
Mother went to The Pike with her sister via the red car or back in the day & she said they had a lovely innocent evening of riding the rides with the sailors. I went as a teen & over the years, it seemed like the ocean kept moving further back from the roller coaster. Progress I suppose. It seems like it was in the 80's my husband & I went there & took a number of B+W photos of the nearly deserted amusement park. Most memorial-the one of me sitting on the carousel looking sad for past days.
I was there the last day it was open...so sad
ME TOO!!!!! Around May of 1979 right? My girlfriend and I went down there for the LAST day, we had our picture taken at the jail (mock up) with a (empty) bottle of booze, remember that guy? Large Format camera using B&W film and all!!!! :)
Thanks for the memories!! We used to go as often as possible. Rode all the ride. I had forgotten about the mirror!!! That was always funny when the wind gust came. Haha!! Went back a couple years ago. No more Pike. Sad. But there were memorials from that awesome time.
I am 60 and loved that video. I remember the Pike well. In fact I took swimming lessons at The Plunge from Olympian Greta Anderson whose method was to try make you drown so you'd swim. And afterwards, my Dad would let me ride the merry go round where you could actually lean over on the outside horse and grab a ring. It was always a great place to get a cheap hot dog. I owned a recording studio across the street in the 80's and saw the very last bit of the Pike removed. That was very sad.
Do you remember looooooong before they built that 3 story Library downtown in 79 or 80, the park there had these big cannon's in front near the sidewalk? My Mom took a picture of me and little brother on one around 1966 or so, I still remember that cannon! LOL :)
@@michaeltayon9184 Yep, Lincoln Park, it was great before they built the new library and removed most of the lawn, trees, cannons, and statues.
Awesome post and thank you for sharing! From when I was kid growing up in the LBC in the 80’s, the landscape has changed drastically.
I remember the Pike! We used to go all the time back in the 70's. Great memories.
Wow. Can't believe this is out here on YT. When I was growing up in LA, my dad--a Navy vet from the mid-'40s--used to take me to the pike like we were old Navy buds. Thanks a million for posting this...so many great memories.
Love seeing old film of the "PIKE". I remember our family would always visit the PIKE every 4th of July during the 70s. So sad to see the park disappear. ☹ thanks for the memories 🎡🎢 2019
I’ve heard so many cool stories of this place. The cyclone racer especially ❤️
I also went in that Diving Bell at the Pike, what a memory... My Sister, Carol, took me and my baby brother Brian. Had the time of my life. I sure do miss them both..
My dad spent his paperboy money at the Pike.
My Grandma Ruthie lived at 243 Maine st.
Great memories!
Love you all!!
Used to come up from Oceanside to go to The Pike.... And yes it was shoulder to shoulder... A lot of memories there....
The Long Beach Pike was my favorite amusement park before I started going to Disneyland
@rosacortese
I'm about 10 years behind you, but remember a lot of the same things; my mom and dad had been out there since the early '50s, and my dad had been in the navy a few years before that. I was from Lynwood--just east of Watts, and we lived just a few blocks north of Compton--so it was a big deal to get out to the beaches and the piers. I don't know if they were doing the regular fireworks show off Long Beach (over the water) when you were growing up, but we used to go see it.
I used to live on 6th Street near Alamitos. My family used to walk to the Pike when I was a kid.
We went to the Pike a lot as well as the Venice Pier. My dad took his nephew on the Cyclone Racer at the Long Beach Pike and his nephew was so scared that he swallowed his little cigar. Thanks for taking me back to this wonderful time.
From early 1959 thru 1962 I virtually hung out there while I was stationed in Long Beach aboard a US Navy minesweeper, fun, fun fun…two beer joints we were at frequently were the "4.0 Club" and the "Checkerboard on the Pike"…..
I used to spend many summer days there when i was a child, it was so much fun, the rides are very similar to the ones at the old playland at the beach in San francisco, diving bell,
roller coaster, etc, there were always sailors with their girls on their arms there, i was
about 10 yrs old and no one ever bothered me. Not like today. I have fond memories of a bygone time.
My son is researching The Pike for his 4th grade California project, and this was such a great video to find! Thank you!
Every 4th of July Mom and Dad and Grandmother take us 5 kids down to the pike back in the late 60 and early 70s . My two older brothers took me up on the double fairiswheel and swang the seat back and forth scared the he'll out of me😣. In 2020 I still can't ride a fairiswheel 🎡or rollercoaster🎢. Great Post thank you.
My father player and sang at the hollywood on the pike fo Years. They gave me a storage room at the bottom of the stairs behind the hollywood. Its address was 401 ocean blvd. In 75-7 we had a blast. We tried to make clapton proud.All my friends
would come hang out. I never piad for a ride, food, or the games. It was great. Started hanging out there when i was about 9 in 69.
It got seedy twords the end but it was Great fun for years. Still miss it.
It was a relatively safe place for a kid alone until the late 60's... at least for me. Don't want to think I'm THAT old....
Thank you. Never forget the Cyclone as a little kid.
I rode on all of those rides. What a great time we would have. I loved Long Beach!
Nice video and fun to watch. Take care now.
awesome went there with my parents in the mid 70s ..memories...
I miss the Pike!! The real thing!!! Love the video!!
I remember in the early 60's living in Alhambra and driving to LB.and the Pike on the weekends.Lots of wide-open spaces back then.Now one big metropolis,"sardine city".
I remember the mirror house, the salt water taffy, that giant mirtor, several rides, and the games. Dad used to take me.
As a kid that was one of our favorite places to go
I miss the old Poke :'( had lots of times
As a young kid in the 50s I'd look out my window at night from our home in Palos Verdes and saw all the lights a the pike and watch the double ferris wheel going around, at least twice a month mom, dad, grandpa and grandma spend the day into the night riding the rides and having dinner at a restaurant off ocean Blvd called Peterson's, I remember they had the best chili size
Those days. I was a 80s and 90s boy, but I still had fun at what resemblance remained on the beach of Long Beach, California. I bet it was amazing way back in its haydays
This is what is sad
We moved to seaside place next to the navey landing in 1963 I was 12. I shined shoes for sailors and spent to earnings on arcades and candy. learned to surf in the L.A. river...yep there were waves where the queen mary is now! There are photos by Doc ball....Yea! but I distinctively remember one night and these black gentleman were arm in arm mosey-in down to the magnolia beach just singing in harmony so,cool,wow those were some memorable times!
Good Memories from early to later 60's....the fat mirror lol
I loved the pike was a great place to have liberity when your in the service, pops pool hall by the hill where shore patrol hung out was my hangout, also love the bars on ocean ave and area, midway, saratoga, trade winds, circus circus, ect. wish I had pics of ocean blvd from the good ole days...
My dad is almost 70 and is a damn encyclopedia. The stories...holy hell.
I walked to the Pike with my friend Jimmy Mou in 1967-68. We both lived on the 14xx block of Pine Avenue, so it wasn't very far. I don't think we ever had more than a few quarters on us. Imagine our parents letting us go there alone when we were ten and eleven!
Wow I never knew this is what the pike used to be! Honestly so bummed it is what it is now. Reminds me of Belmont Park in San Diego.
WOW, you know what would be VERY cool and fun to build? Imagine a 1/20? scale model of the midway!!!!!!
Remember? From The Hollywood on the Pike to clear down to the bumper cars, all of those little shops and arcades on both sides along the way!!!!!! :O
@barmtrail
I agree my friend. We left So Cal in 2005 with no regrets. It no longer had the mesmerizing fascination it did for me as a younger person. When people ask why I would move from lovely So Cal to Chicago, they look at me like I'm crazy. Off course they've either never been there recently or only visited San Diego. The place has become a cesspool. But I'm glad that I got to experience a younger and more hopeful California in my youth.
@rosacortese I think some folks are correct to say: that the powers to be should have left our good old Pike alone.....instead of buying the queen mary...rebuilt the coaster and the rest of the nu-pike! I guess you can tell I don't think to much of the ship! I have seen photos of surfers riding waves where that ship is anchored!
I remember the centrifuge barrel ride that spun then the floor dropped! that was fun then off to the funhouse. I was too young for Zeeks(?) Tattoo's..it started with a Z...
Well I remember the Pike from the 90s I missed all the stuff y’all talking about 🙃 I remember getting on the trolley and going to the arcade in the mall going to Shoreline Village and taking candy from those big barrels 😁 good times total different experience..The amusement park looks like it was fun but I don’t really do rollercoasters anyway 🙃
0:33 one of my favorite Columbo episodes !
I too delivered the Press Telegram back in the late ‘50s.
I love seeing this old video, while stationed in San Diego in the Navy I was sent up to the Long Beach Naval Hospital for my pre deployment check up and innokulations and we all went to the pike before we shoved off it was a grat place to have fun on the cheap. When I returned it was completely different there was dirty junkies and thieves and hookers everywhere,it smelled terrible and we were told as sailors aboard ship to not go alone because they were robbing sailors down there......what the hell happened to the Pike in those few short years?
My ship was in the yards at Long Beach in 1976 and the Pike was a dump, like you said, junkies and hookers. A sleazy, dirty place
Too bad as I was told that it had once been a nice, family place
We use to go there when we was kids
I spend my early childhood at the Pike during the 60's
From San Diego my family would visit relatives in LB and always went to the Pike. Once rode the Cyclone Racer 11 times in one evening, getting off and walking around between rides. That was one rough ride.
yes, it was, I got my first tattoo at the pike, marine corps emblem cost $7.50 lol. At least I did not have to pay for transportation back to base, since my dad drove bus terminal island transit... was a old time driving since 1922. sure miss the action
Thanks, you probably would enjoy my other UA-cam film, "We Met at the Pike".
Dennis
ii wish the pike was still like that
Elmer McCurdy was painted orange so he looked like one of the many scary monsters hanging in the Laff-in-the-Dark.
We lived right next to the pike when I was a kid.
Was that in West Beach?
The new boring commercial development called the Pike at Rainbow Harbor is not where the Pike was. This is all landfill further out from where the Pike was. The site of the old Pike is now an apartment complex.
Note: the little rascals "fish hooky" was filmed here!!
Me and Hammie loves this park, too bad it no longer existed.
Its way too bad that they got rid of the Pike. Just think of all the joy it would have brought to the city and communities surrounding it. Now its just retail a few restaurants and a Ferris Wheel that is rarely working. The Pike would have been a great place to visit !
Wait a minute. The part about the wind, blowing up the girl's dresses.. It was not that way. There was an employee there, who had a device and would intenionally blow the air up their skirts, to look at the girls, in underwear. This was part of the act. I never believed in that. I told them, to stop it, when I was only a child.
About the rest of the PIke, though.... It was so great, and I miss it, so much.
We used to come from West Torrance.
Two taquitos, including avacado, for about 30 cents.
Pinball. They had a large selection, of pinball machines, that cost one penny, to play. These had no flippers, and today, would be very valuable.
Many sailors.
Great rides, plus the five cent pinball machines, which were five balls, for a nickel.
The salt air from the ocean, was nice.
It's lamentable, when people change the culture of America. You can hardly find anything like this anymore, at least on the Left Coast.
Also--I think they had more than one restaurant down there, of course, but there was one seafood place in particular that was a really big deal to go to back in the late '60s and early '70s. My folks took me there once or twice, and I remember it being my little kid's idea of what really classed-up seafood was. Anybody remember one like that?
Im in my 30s it was a video store by the beach in 2000s is not there nomore so good momories in longbeach☹️ and it used to be a mall too
i remember a few tv shows were filmed there..six million dollar man and charlie's angels..and wonder bug, mannix
I haven't seen the Mannix episode. Are you sure you don't mean Cannon? What was wonder bug?
The fastest roller coaster in the world. I only rode it once because the force of acceleration almost ejected me from the car seat. Several people were killed when the cars left the track into the ocean.
@mujerado yes
It changed a lot
I used to stay summers with my Grandmother who lived in Redondo Beach, and a couple of times we went to the Pike in LB. I remember the Laff-in-the-Dark.
Wasn't there a city park right near it?
OMG. Laff in the Dark was really scary.
Parker Over The Jumps, so rare.
So was it located right where the aquarium & boardwalk is now ?
If the city were smart which they aren't they would rebuild an improved version of the PIKE along with an improved version of the classic "Laugh In The Dark" ride with the Laughing Lady out front.
@barmtrail Well said my friend, well said.
I remember my parents telling me the old rumors that people were routinely decapitated when standing up on the rollercoaster.
My uncle used to take me to the Pike in the 70's, hey does anyone have any film or pictures of anything of the Long Beach Plaza I've looked and looked but only one still image I found and it only shows the main entrance on Long Beach Blvd. I like to see a short documentary of the mall "Long Beach Plaza".
Laff In the dark was a scary ride that made me jump. I don't remember the dead man though.
3:24 what happened to the Laughing lady and Man? It's the only thing I remember of The Pike, I was very Young when it was demolished in the 70's
The wild one was the ride with the real dead guy in it...oh my gosh
The Laugh in the dark ride, that also had compressed air blowing skirts up in the 60's!!!! :)
Growing up in Los Angeles, I had a blast at the Pike when it was called, "NuPike". Long Beach was once naval port/dry dock for the US Navy. So, there were always a lot of young sailors there looking for "broads" and maybe a tattoo since the park had a real mid-way with several tattoo parlors, & shooting galleries. The roller coaster ("The Cyclone Racer") was a blast. Kind of scary at night since it was dark, over the water, & you lost your perspective. Now it's totally homogenized and boring.