I used to go to the Pike in the late 40s and early 50s. There was a huge salt water indoor heated pool there. The outdoor stands had the best clam chowder I have ever eaten. Anyone remember the diving bell you could go down and see the fish. Went on the Roller Coaster and it was amazing. Now I am 80 years old and it is one of the best memories of my life.

I remember it as Nu-Pike in the late 60's but yes it was the Pike one of the best amusement parks in California in it's day.

back in 1965, my mom used to play "Clock-A-Line" there. it was a pinball-like, game only for money. I would roam around there 3 or 4 days a week , I was 8years old, did that for about 2 years. Thank you So very much !

How sad, I loved going to the Pike when we visited Long Beach. It really was the "good old days" for me.

Gee.... I remember as a little girl. MY parents would take me there. I loved it. I still would have flash backs.

Do I remember the pike. I'm from Long Beach, Signal Hill, really, so this brings back great memories. Thanks for posting!

I grew up in LB ...1960 through 1970 about 2 miles from the Pike, so was always there. I rode the cyclone racer when I was 8 or 9 and was nearly killed. It made violent, jolting left turns, which nearly threw me out of the car. I returned to live in LB again in 1978, just in time to see the Pike and Downtown Long Beach in ruins.....Just like this video....what a flashback!

I grew up in LB in the 1940s and 50s, and remember the Pike just before it became the Nu-Pike. That was the place to go for everyone. LB had a big Navy base at the time, so the Pike was overrun with sailors and marines. Several biker gangs such as the Hell's Angels and Nomads were there as well, but they caused no trouble. It was always the sailors and marines that caused the trouble. Several movie and TV shows were filmed there too. Sad to think of the old place as gone forever.

@bobweaver2685

2 жыл бұрын

@@JohnScripts Still here, still kickin'. Don't live in California anymore, but since The Pike's gone, what's left there. They were some great times, though.

YUP, THE PIKE 🥳. A VERY HAPPY PLACE. GOOD'OL MEMORIES DURING THE GOOD'OL DAYS ✌️

I was there as a Navy wife in the early 50's. Pike was full of Sailor's. There was a park and fabulous beach. Torn out for the Queen Mary. Sad. Also, there was a a outdoor Roller Rink. Loved skating there.

When I was kid probably around 10 or so, we would walk down to where the Pike was and some of the OLD stuff was still there. I remember the bumper cars still there (but not running) and the Arcade was still open but everything else was gone or closed. I remember all the shops on Pine Ave. were either closed down or barely open. I remember Newberry's was open and during Christmas you could go to the second floor and get a picture with Santa. Downtown Long Beach was a GHOST TOWN in the early 80's. But life was good. America was good. People were good. Not pre-occupied with phones, technology, computers, etc. It was about family then.

@bigglefty75

6 жыл бұрын

good stuff old pine... Newberry, Savon, Woolworth and thrifty Ice cream

Thank you for shareing this! Very well done. My mother told me when she was young about the Pike. I grew up in California and seems I missed something special. Very Sad to see things gone, that made so many people happy.

Went there once with my Dad back in 74 or 75 I think. It was almost gone by then. Remember feeling just so sad that it had been let go of to die like that when it was so beautiful in the past. The city should either tear it down or refine it enough to make it a historical landmark. Such a sad waste of something that created so much happiness.

Thank you for making this 💜 💓

Went to the Pike in the early 70s. Was a bit dirty and nauseating, but fun. Was deteriorating, but interesting.

Oh how I loved the Pike. The Cyclone Racer was amazing!! Tthe tilt a whirl. And the carousel are the rides I loved best. Went back several years and there were memorials of the cyclone. The carousel was tgere but not original. Great time growing up there.

@alexdelrio45

6 жыл бұрын

gograannygo cools, thanks so much for your comment. In 1967, my parents took me and my three sisters to the Pike. I think it was summer time and I was 7 years old. My Mother and I were in line to ride The Cyclone Racer. The closer we got to the loading dock , the louder The Racer became. Right before we were almost ready to be seated ,I chickened out. :(((((((((( A year later they tore down the famous roller coaster which I never got to ride.

@calico4381

5 жыл бұрын

That was a big part of my childhood too. Remember the area going up the hill to Ocean Blvd that they used to call "the jungle"? That part scared me but I loved old Long Beach. I now live in New York but think of those memories a lot.

@alexdelrio45

5 жыл бұрын

Georgia Russo, thank you so much for your comment. :) Your right. If I'm not mistaken, It was called "the jungle"

How cool, I remember the Pike from being a small child in the late 1950s. I was not allowed to ride the Cyclone Racer or any of the scary-looking rides, but the carousels and the small ferris wheel. I swear there was a second carousel where the horses didn't go up and down on poles but were attached to a platform underneath them that went in a circle on a sort of circular track that went over roller-coaster like hills. The horses on that one were a lot prettier than the ones on the other carousel, at least little me thought so. But I have never seen any pictures of it. I also remember going into an underground walkway with my dad where we went to a stamp shop. I learned that was the Jergens Subway that went under Ocean Avenue, but now it is closed forever.

I can't believe how many people actually remember this !

Perhaps not all lost. I am pushing for the Cyclone Racer in Long Beach again since i have worked 15 years on reverse eingineering it. Look at the Cyclone Racer article on LBReport.: I just did a press release on the rebirth of the Cyclone Racer in LB on 9-17-11.

awe the bumper cars was my favorite then !! Now nothing is the same :(

@alexdelrio45 Wow, same era and location as me. My grandmother lived on Ave H, past Lucky's, near the Esplanade, and I went there often, 1967-74. There was Marineland, Alondra Park, Old Towne Mall, the outside Del Amo mall, (Newberry's, Sears, Singer Sewing Machine who sold 45s of hit records, and I wonder if you remember Jumping Bean Burrito. There is no question that growing up in the Southland during our era, was one of the best in history. My great aunt used to babysit all of the Beach Boys.

Great memories of the Pike! We wore out the Cyclone Racer!!! What great times we had!

@alexdelrio45

7 жыл бұрын

Hi wedge4hire, they were great times! :)

@wedge4hire

7 жыл бұрын

+Alex Del Rio The best!!!!

I used play at the Pike a lot as a child and remember seeing it go downhill as I got older. The Carousel Horses had real horse hair tails. The Arcade area has nice chalk ware items that could be fished out by a "claw" for 5 cents. I still have some of my Pike souvenirs such as a felt wall pendent, chalk horses and a couple tattoos that I got from that shop that is pictured in your video. Thank you for making this movie!

What a nicely put together montage, congratulations. I have a box full of post cards of The Pike, Mother's memories of her days with sister taking the Red Car down there for a fun-yet innocent- evening with sailors in WWII & my days on the big roller coaster, looking in the shops for Kewpies, corn dogs & good times. The tattoo parlours with pix of sailors from WAYYY back blew me away & I loved looking there. My hubby of 32 years & I went to take some B+W pix there after the heyday.Memories.

Very well done.. thank you.

I lived in Long Beach in 1976 for a year, and I remember hearing about The Pike. I went down looking for diversion and was saddened to see its best days were far behind it. I don't know if there were even 3-4 rides open. The rest was just tattoo parlors and a couple food stands. I still kind of enjoyed it in a poignant, sad way. On the weekend, if I didn't take the bus to L.A., I would go down to Belmont Shore and shop, have breakfast

I can see the fun people had but for me it only brings tears as my mom died on the cyclone ride in 1978. Her name was Sandra Magana, her maiden name was Sandra Motley. I am Ken Motley and besides her tragedy I woulg love to find my grandfather James william Motley, My uncle Rich Larmen and my dad John Adrian. It swas a beautiful park but I Miss my mom, I never got to spend much time with her as she was so young when I was born and there might have been many friends and family that were unaware she had a son, I Love You mom, where are the rest of my family?

@Vishiaeq

10 жыл бұрын

Not to be insensitive, but according to roller coaster database, the cyclone racer was removed 9/15/1968. You may have the wrong coaster. I'm sorry for the loss of your mom.

@Moondra3

10 жыл бұрын

Vishiaeq If he is who he claims to be he is not wrong.. The Cyclone Racer was a different ride. The Cyclone took its place in 1969. I rode that thing like there was no tomorrow when I was a kid. And that particular accident he is talking about I rode that coaster that very same weekend. I was 8 yrs old and I heard someone died on that ride shortly after I rode it. I remember like it was yesterday, because that was the last time we ever went there. :( But, there were a lot of good memories of the Pike especially at 2:24 When I wasnt on the Cyclone I was riding that Hammerhead, and Laff in the Dark (waving hello to Elmer) over, over and over again.

@sandymotley5267

7 жыл бұрын

Nanette Sanchez you are the first to have any info that seems to have some accuracy, the long beach museum claims the whole thing was fully gone in 1968 which I know is wrong. supposedly some plaque was placed as a memorial for my mother. would be nice to know if in fact there was a memorial and what it said. anyway, she had been married at the time to Danny Magana(step dad) who passed on years ago. it would be nice to get an accurate story on what happened. all I have is a small news paper clipping. you say they replaced the cyclone racer? and on the replacement, 2 cars collided? i had read she was violently thrown out of the car she was riding on, unknown why, but one report said she saved the life of a young girl giving her life doing it, no restraints. i would really like closure, to know as accurate as possible what happened. i read the roller coaster was shut down due to my mom's death on it. I was shocked to see your response. im about in tears, sorry. i get tired of everyone telling me im nuts cause there was nothing left after 1969. obviously the wrong number got typoed or something. by any chance do you remember any more details? specific name of ride? i found out her husband sued someone over my mom freak accident death. but geez, im in longview wash. its 1,000 miles to go to read thr case.i would love anything you have info wise. i dont suppose you know where i might find a picture of the ride you say she died on if its not the one in the video. in all my research you are the first to mention that she died on a roller coaster that took the place of this one. if your comfortable with it please feel free to contact me by text or phone at 360-670-5123. thank you so much for responding. i hope you might remember more, blessings on you, thanks

Breaks my heart. The music added as the pictures of the Pike before and after made it even more touching. Manipulative, and well done. I loved the Pike growing up. It was magical. Long Beach made a huge mistake not keeping it up. I think they wanted a more sophisticated aura, and that wasn't it. But it would have added to its being a great beach town.

Thank you alex for making me both happy and sad at the same time. My grandmother lived near 7th and Ximeno Ave. When I was an early teen in the 70s we would go visit on weekends and I always got the chance to go to the Pike hours. I had a blast mainly just going to the penny arcades. I loved pinball. I distinctly remember at the end of their demise that a couple of these arcades had some sort of "activity" going on in the back that kids were not allowed. Yeah, I knew what it was, but ... So sad

Playing skee ball in the arcade and playing all the boardwalk games at the pike ....the pike was a real amusement park...great video...you should sell copys of these photos...they would look good in a gameroom or pool hall...

@alexdelrio45

3 жыл бұрын

Thank so much for your great comment. Yes, the pike was a real amusement park. Long Beach could of restored all the rides and clean up the park. It would of been a historical landmark!

I wish I could have seen the Rainbow Pier!

I spent many days at the Pike in the 40's and early 50's. My dad worked at the ocean center building. Also he owned a ride at the pike. Even then, the Pike was kind of run down.

Excellent job putting this video together...

Portions of Downtown Long Beach and the Pike can be seen in the closing chase scene of It's a Mad, mad, mad, mad, World

I was in Long Beach I think 78 and the roller coaster was still there.. I went on it. There were still shops in the tunnel under the buildings. The " Great Race" I think that was the name with Burt Reynolds, they had clips or it before they ended at the Queen Mary.

@worldsgreatestride If you restore the Pike(Daddy's Pike) with the coaster, you'll have to have some form of restraints. Some navy guys, during World War II, were drunk, stood up messing around like drunks often do, and went SPLASH. Could you also bring back the bamboo slide. It was eighty feet high. They put you in a gunny sack, tied it up at your neck and then put you in the slide. You would go very fast at the beginning and slow down at the end.

@startupadmin540

2 жыл бұрын

My dad used to tell me about that slide, I keep looking for pictures of it, was it called The Plunge or was that something else? My dad described it as some sort of tube with an almost straight drop, you would have to wrap up in a gunnysack and really tuck your arms in tight so you wouldn’t get a friction burn on your elbows. The slide was gone by the time I came along. I remember him driving us by in The Pike late sixties to see the spectacle of all the Hippies , Hari Chrishna, and Navy servicemen, the arcades were still there but the area appeared seedy and probably unsafe for kids to hang out alone. Not like it was when my dad was a kid “for a nickel you could jump on the Red Car and get anywhere you wanted to go” good memories!

I walked--very briskly---through this abandoned Pike midway in 1979, en route to the Long Beach Arena to see AC/DC for the Highway to Hell tour with the late Bon Scott. :)

@alexdelrio45

3 жыл бұрын

A friend and I also walked through the abandoned Pike midway in 1979.

@jonsilence

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexdelrio45: Pretty creepy, eh? There was only one place still open: the funky old tattoo shop (Bert Grimm's, now Outer Limits) on a corner...and it remained open for decades afterward: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dX571LKhnLiZg5c.html

Many fun memories taking the Red car to long Beach to ride the Cyclone, bumper cars and spending the afternoon at the YMCA

@alexdelrio45

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your comment Mr. Dickson. I'm sorry I took so long to reply.

I used to go in the 1960's. The old-timey piano music is lost on an audience that might have remembered the Park in the 1930's and '40's but are probably long-since dead.. For me The Pike was a dangerous place to be. We were forbidden by parents to use public restrooms or public indoor showers since there was such a high incidence of sexual assaults on unaccompanied young boys by pedophiles. We were told to pee outdoors around a corner or something.

Im 21 feel sorry for me to be born in this day and age this makes me dreams better simpler kinder times

I heard that I got lost there when I was one or two years old. Thank God, my parents found me.

It was a amazing place..still sad it closed

@angelacastellanos1680

4 жыл бұрын

Why it close

@showgirlsaroundtheworldada4484

4 жыл бұрын

@@angelacastellanos1680 well it wasnt doing alot of biz...the rides were very very old most were closed due to safety. It was a shame . I heard they were going to put condos up there after they closed it. They sold save the pike pins and shirts i was there in its final days. I grew up with the pike my parents took us there alot .my daddy was navy

My mom rode the cyclone racer she grew up in San pedro 50s and 60s she said it was scary but it was fun best roller coaster that she been on

@alexdelrio45

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Kenny for your comment. In 1967 I was 7 years old. My Mom and I were in line to ride the cyclone. When we got to the loading dock I chicken out! A year later they demolished that a beautiful amazing racer rollercoaster. I never got to ride it. :(

@kennyrillamas2740

4 жыл бұрын

@@alexdelrio45 that's what my mom said beautiful she said that's the long beach that she knew in the 50s and the 60s before all of the development she said that's too bad they did away with the pike

@alexdelrio45

4 жыл бұрын

Kenny Rillamas, Your mom is right. Long Beach was a beautiful place. They got rid of the Pike and also many historical buildings! And the Rainbow Pier.

@kennyrillamas2740

4 жыл бұрын

@@alexdelrio45 my mom told me the California today that's not the California that she knew the California she knew was in the 50s and the 60s before all of the development she said it was beautiful back then she told me if saw long beach back then it doesn't look anything like how it did back then she said it was known for its beaches the development took away everything the California that she knew is gone

@thomasgoodwin2648

3 жыл бұрын

My Mom was pregnant with me when she rode. She was afraid.. not because of the ride, but because she thought I was going to pop out in the middle of it. I never got the opportunity to ride it on my own sadly.

Yes I have the restraints issue covered. For 29 years the Cyclone Racer had none what so ever. After a few of those "SPLASHES" they added restraints for the last 9 years it ran. There were no more "SPLASHES" after that. As far as the bamboo slide... That was taken out because bamboo makes splinters when it gets worn/old. Since you sat on the sack which was directly in contact with the bamboo you can just imagine what kind of splinter one would recieve. This is why it was taken out.

Beautifully put together. Is that your ’79 Trans AM?

There was a hall of mirrors. One night it was shut down with broken glass all over the place. Daddy asked what happened. Apparently some drunk guy got mad that he couldn't find his way out and started kicking "a path to freedom".

@alexdelrio45 yes TV ended at midnight. I played AYSO for two years and the founder's son was on my team. We played at the LA Coliseum; championship game, 1970. Those were the days of good beach life. It was fun to go to Redondo, on the beach or water. The pier, before the fire, was great, and of course, downstairs in a grotto, there was and still is, a great arcade. It was not nice of Sea World to steal our Marineland. I helped my grandma at the Country club in PV.

My youth was spent at The Pike

@alexdelrio45

6 жыл бұрын

Hi Mr. Inman,Thanks for your comment.

Bring back the Pike.

@alexdelrio45 But Olde Town Mall, so, so great. I went to that arcade quite a bit. The Taco Bell I went to most ,was near the Roadium Swap Meet, and I remember the fire pit. I worked there when I was ten (the Roadium) selling radios, cassettes, etc. I am trying to stretch my memory about a cafe in Newberry's. I remember the ladies sold us nuts or candy from the counter (Wards also) What is SBC? It all seems like yesterday. I lived only two blocks from Del Amo Mall.

I grew up in Huntington Beach, not far from there. My Parents went there a few times and my Mom even rode the Cyclone Racer, said she never would again lol. I remember driving by it in the mid 70's when I was a kid but they never took me there. I asked my Mom why she never did and she said that it had gotten real bad and a lot of crime and prostitutes.

@alexdelrio45 Hi. It is so, so fun to talk with people from Torrance/ Redondo, after 40 years. The Thrifty's next to "Magic Chef", where Del Amo is now, yes I really remember that diner. Sometimes even now, I have dreams that I am at that diner (?) I was the first person to walk though the doors, summer 1972, at the brand new addition to Del Amo Mall- the enclosed part. God, what a mall! The Aladdin's Castle, That great pet Store, ice cream dots. Of course now it is all different. (continued)

@alexdelrio45 Yes, I went to that music store, as well as I think Marshall's Music, which was by an Alpha Beta, I think. I remember Gemco. The old mall at PV was good. I bought a nice Schwinn, in 1969, at the Swap Meet. It was used, but I paid from my own money, $34. Banana seat, of course. After about a year, someone stole it out of our closed garage. The Torrance Police allowed me to have another one which no one had claimed, but it was not a Schwinn and not nearly as good. (cont)

Those little devil holding the pitchfork tats! I see those all the time now, ran into a guy years ago 500miles from LA saw that tat went up to him put my finger on it and said "You got that at The Pike in LB!" He stated I was correct. Turns out he grew up around here etc. etc. etc. LOL My stepdad had the same tattoo on his arm.

@alexdelrio45 Hi! You are welcome. You did really an excellent job. Did you grow up there? I grew up in Torrance.

Have you visited the facebook page for Long Beach nostalgiacs? That's a made up word for all of us who beat LB memories to death, but it's really entertaining. Come play. You're within our age range. It's called Born and Raised in Long Beach.

Wasn't this the amusement park featured in "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies"?

@alexdelrio45

6 жыл бұрын

Yes it was. :)

@snarkus63

6 жыл бұрын

*I thought so!!!* (the entrance's a dead giveaway)

So disappointed this wasn't kept in Longbeach. Just shopping and boat parking lots now. I really don't get it.

I was told tales of the Pike for years. There was a carny in operation that had a Wild Man of Borneo cage that had a shell-shocked vet from War World I. He couldn't find another job, so had to take that one. A gal came up and started screaming "He's fake!!!! It's not real!!!!" Well, that through him into a fit, tossed his mind back to the foxholes in Europe and he took his fake club and beat her over the head. Daddy used to "hot foot it" down there from the Dominguez Hills, where he lived.

What happened? Disneyland

I think it was laugh in the dark had a real dead guy in there

@senatorkennedy3450

5 жыл бұрын

Elmer Mccurdy, The traveling corpse

@loveshack6880

5 жыл бұрын

Yeah it did have a real dead guy thi k I seen it on a tv documentary or sum like that

It's not "year's"... it's "years"

Sad

Loved this place in the 60s. Night there was magic. especially on acid (LSD in case you don't know the slang.)

COMPLACENCY is the enemy ! ! !

These are the same photos as another’s

@SeattleLA Thanks so much. I grew up in Redondo Beach. It sure was different growing up in the 1960s. All of us kids were always outside riding our bikes or amagining we were going to Mars to fight the Martians. We were always doing something outside, especially in the summer time!. I'm so thankful for living in that era!!

In the mid and late 1970s the Pike had wasted away. And your right saying that the city should of refine it enough to make it a historical landmark! People from all over the world would of visited and experienced The Pike!

Thank you Meli for your comment. My favorite ride was LAFF IN THE DARK.

Thank you TL250Rider for your comment! I really miss that place!

Thank you so much Kingman OldDude!

Thank you so much for your comment. I'm so sorry i didn't respond to you sooner. I been having problems with my computer. My parents took me age 7 and my three sisters to the Pike back in 1967. I know it was before 1968 because my mother and i were in line to ride The Cyclone Racer. We got to the loading dock and I chickened out! Damn!lol They tore down The Racer in the year 1968. Thanks again for great comment!

Thanks so much GilbertLA63.

Thank you so much for your comment.