The ruins of Marineland

My son and I recently visited the ruins of the famed Marineland theme park on the Palos Verdes peninsula in California. The ruins have since been cleared to make way for yet another resort hotel.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• marineland
• california
• ruins
• amusement
• parks
• abandoned

[chrisepting]

Nope - it's me :)- author chris epting

[barmtrail]

I am glad i have the great, "So Cal" memories locked inside my mind. It truly is tragic to see these landmarks gone. P.O.P. was another great place. The, "Helms bakery trucks" 'Pup n Taco" 'Pioneer Chicken" I could go on and on. The 'ol mighty dollar has corrupted So Cal to the max, and there is No turning back. Well i am heading north to Seattle and i have to say Good-bye So cal, Thanks for the memories. I have a whole brain full. At least the Samboni birth place is still there. Bye All.......

[EPCBear]

Very haunting indeed......and very sad. The "music" you used plays very well for this. Did you compose and play it, or what is it "borrowed" from?

Good job Chris!

[toiseywoisey]

I saw Buddy Rich perform in one of the oceanariums and the dolphins started jumping and splashing water all over his big band and creating swells that lapped into the performance area. Buddy began striking the snare when the dolphins jumped in and out of the water, then angrily stormed off the stage! Coincidentally, I sat next to Charlie Callas--the famous "rubber-faced" comic! I too visited the ruins of Marineland with a friend and climbed the view tower and could see LA from the top!

[thebakerman1]

Never even been to California but I know exactly how everybody feels about this. I've been in South FL all my life and we've seen the same things happen here as in most other places. It truly is sad to see so many true landmark places close after such a long run in society. It saddens me to see this even though I've never even been to any of these places because I can translate it to where I live.

Life was so much simpler back then as was entertainment in general. Makes me sad thinking about it.

[evelutionofone]

@chrisepting

oh, well free still --in a different way... better than being a captive of humans

[trollinyamom]

@evelutionofone

no they are not, they we moved to san diego and one orca died due to the move.

[trollinyamom]

@trollinyamom

They therefor purchased the park, and within a few weeks after the purchase, moved Corky and Orky to their Sea World Park in San Diego in the middle of the night without any prior notice to the public, and closed Marineland claiming that the park was going to cost more money to renovate than they originally estimated.

They had planned to sell the land to an Arizona developer from the beginning, and quickly did so after closing the park.

[trollinyamom]

@trollinyamom

Harcourt was in the process of rapidly expanding the Sea World enterprise throughout the nation, and was in desperate need of proven, successful breeding pairs of killer whales in order to supply their new Sea World locations with their headline act, "Shamu, the killer whale".Harcourt had been denied a permit to capture additional killer whales in the wild and was therefor limited to acquiring killer whales already in captivity.

[trollinyamom]

Marineland of the Pacific was a public aquarium and tourist attraction.

It operated from 1954 through 1986. Terranea Resort, a luxury hotel, has since been built on the site.When Marineland closed in December 1986, Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, which owned Sea World in San Diego, purchased Marineland, ostensibly to continue to operate it.

Their intent, however, was to purchase Marineland solely to acquire Corky and Orky, a successful breeding pair of killer whales.

[monny287]

If it was so popular and successful, why did it close? It looks really cool. :)

[kelseykate588]

OMFG. I am in that EXACT city right now! The resort that is built over it is the Terraina!

[CherzieBear]

SO MANY great memories of Marineland. Grandma used to take to me there & gosh was it a happy time. I live in NorCal now & last time I was down there, the line on the road was all wavey, like earth movement. Heck, we have earthquakes up the yin-yang here in The Geysers area quite often up here & I live close to the fault, so what can you say. I also adored The Pike in Long Beach & Knott's Berry Farm. It was FREE to get in back then & I'd ditch school on occassion to go there. Cool!