Marineland of the Pacific - Tiki Fountain! (Warning: large images)

Hey all -

well today my friend Patrick stunned me with an awesome slide posted on his theme park blog: Stuff From The Park

Check out the tikis in that amazing "seashell fountain"!

It looks to me to be the reverse view of this postcard:

which graced the entrance to the still standing (available for Weddings & receptions - but no longer looks like this) Marineland Restaurant...

It was an odd design, to be sure - here's another postcard - showing the imfamous seashell-encrusted ceiling:

For more another view of this oddity - go to Charles Phoenix Slide Of The Week site, here:
http://www.americanathebeautiful.com/2005-08-04/#sowlarge

One of my favorite souvenirs of the place, is this matchbook - with little blind & drunken porpoises!

The Restaurant today is called 'The Catalina Room' - and can still be rented out - although it looks nothing like it once did...

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-02-18 14:34 ]

I love it. I never got to see Marineland when I was younger, and then it was gone around the 1990s. All I ever saw were the standard printed advertisements for it with a leaping dolphin, (yawn), but if I'd known there were gardens, shell fountains, and restaurants with seashells glued to the ceiling, that would've made a world of difference. It's those little unique things that make a place special, in my opinion.

Thanks for posting the pics. Those blog pics of old Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm are special, too.

Man, I dug Marineland. I can still fondly remember putting on a wetsuit and snorkeling for the first time at their Reef exhibit. That was so awesome. Does anyone know when that attraction was first introduced? I can totally remember doing it, but I can't remember how old I was? Maybe 10 or 11.

Anyway, it is a bummer to see what it has become. My wife and I were walking around there a few weeks ago for a Geology class she was taking, and to see the now dilapidated ruins of Marineland was disheartening. My wife is from Washington, so I was trying to explain what "used to be" where we were looking. Very hard to visualize in its current condition. I would love to see something like that open back up around there. It is such a great area with views of Catalina.

Thanks for sharing the great pictures Tangaroa.

I never got to Marineland as a kid. Now I can see what I was missing. I'll have to give my family whatfor for not taking me there!

Thanks for the photos. Lovely shots !

Ahh, the once mighty marineland, now all but falling apart - still a very good dive location (when the water is clear, excellent marine biodiversity) and it has a very cool fault created cave too( for you geology buffs)

which graced the entrance to the still standing (available for Weddings & receptions - but no longer looks like this) Marineland Restaurant..

You better head on down to say your goodbyes soon, because donald trump bought the property and is going to build a golfing resort there. Construction has already started on the construction offices. I don't know how much longer the restaurant will stand, or the very cool former marineland sign post.

and ona side note... this was also the location of te "new york" dock scene in Hidalgo and the british carribean fort in the first "Pirates of the Carribean", among a bazillion other movies. But it's kinda cool to see bits of catalina from the caribean fort.

Love your posts, tanga, I'd never seen a picture of that fountain before - very cool!

POLYNESIAC - putting the 'F' back in ART

[ Edited by: Polynesiac 2006-01-27 14:18 ]

My friend got married at the Catalina Room last year. The front part of the old park is now used (or was when I was there for the wedding) for a movie set.

That building was designed by William Pereira, who later went on to design the Transamerica Pyramid.

Aerial photos of the Marineland ruins taken during the "Pirates of the Caribbean" shoot can be found here:

http://www.californiacoastline.org/cgi-bin/image.cgi?image=4461&mode=sequential&flags=0&year=2002

My family spent three days at Marineland in 1971. I don't remember it because I was only about two years old at the time, but I know there are slides. Dad was really into slides for about twenty years. Must find the slides.

On 2006-01-28 20:22, Tiki-Kate wrote:
My family spent three days at Marineland in 1971. I don't remember it because I was only about two years old at the time, but I know there are slides. Dad was really into slides for about twenty years. Must find the slides.

I'd love to see those Tiki-Kate!

Tang -

I really like those photos of the seashell fountain and the tikis outside the Marineland Restaurant. Living in nearby Redondo Beach, my family visited Marineland at least once a year from the 1960s-1980s. Vivid memories include the flamingo enclosure outside the park, next to the ticket stands, and the giant 15-foot sawfish in the big aquarium that used to haunt the sunken shipwreck. I also remember the hard-hat divers going down into the tank to feed the fish. The modern full-plexiglass aquariums of Sea World and the Monterey Aquarium are truly amazing, but how I miss the nostalgic feel of those gigantic aquariums of the 1950s that were essentially just huge cylindrical steel tanks with spiral walkways along the outside going up to various levels and viewing "portholes" or thick-glass rectangular windows bolted on to the outside at various levels. I think Marineland was one of the last of those vintage aquariums to exist.

I don't remember the tikis or the shell-fountain, but that was probably because we never ate at the restaurant. We were more the type of family who would bring our own lunch to the picnic grounds or buy a few hotdogs. The sea lion, dolphin, and whale shows were amazing entertainment for us kids as well.

I really like that matchbook with the drunken dolphins. Great image!

I found this mint-condition, copyright 1955 Marineland coloring-book at an estate sale back in 2002 and sold it for big money on eBay. If I had known Tang at the time, I probably would have passed it on to him. Here are some of the old auction photos:

Sabu

Marineland's closure in 1987 was completely without warning and pissed off a LOT of people.

I miss Orky and Corky and all their babies that died! Corky never learned how to be a good Mom.

Corky, I believe, is still alive and living at Sea World in San Diego. Her stage name is Shamu, of course.

I miss Orky and Corky and all their babies that died! Corky never learned how to be a good Mom.

I wonder if any killer whale ghosts will be swimming around Donald Trump's new golf course at night? That would be something. And scary as hell, to say the least.

Well, I got sniped on a nice 1962 Marineland booklet tonight on eBay. Twenty pages. I had planned to scan them all and post them online for TC forum members to enjoy. So if one of you is the sniper, please share. Otherwise I guess we'll all have to suffer, knowing that some greedy collector is hoarding that item in a private collection somewhere where nobody else can enjoy it. The seller said there was a tiny black-and-white photo of that restaurant I like, but it was too small to see much detail, and he thought I wouldn't like the rest of the booklet much, since it was all standard jumping dolphin pics that bore me to death. So maybe it turned out for the best. Who knows?

As for those aerial shots of decaying Marineland with its vast empty parking lots... Too painful for me to look at, though it was considerate to post them.

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-01-29 20:52 ]

[ Edited by: mbonga 2006-01-30 09:09 ]

On 2006-01-29 20:51, mbonga wrote:

Well, I got sniped on a nice 1962 Marineland booklet tonight on eBay. Twenty pages. I had planned to scan them all and post them online for TC forum members to enjoy. So if one of you is the sniper, please share. Otherwise I guess we'll all have to suffer....

Keep trying mbonga - that guidebook is very common - you should be able to get it for $5 or under....

On 2006-01-29 11:58, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Tang -

I really like those photos of the seashell fountain and the tikis outside the Marineland Restaurant. I really like that matchbook with the drunken dolphins. Great image!

Thanks! I'm going to scan some more photos I have (I bought a cache of opening day and construction negs from a retired policeman some years back) when I can get to it... The drunken & blind dolphins is some of the greatest imagery I've ever seen! Bizarre...

On 2006-01-29 11:58, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
I found this mint-condition, copyright 1955 Marineland coloring-book at an estate sale back in 2002 and sold it for big money on eBay. If I had known Tang at the time, I probably would have passed it on to him.

Awwwwwww - thanks! I think I have it though... (I'm not sure - all my old Marineland stuff is in a box I need to dig out)...

Thanks for posting the fountain pics, I grew up in Palos Verdes, and would go to Marineland frequently. I could have sworn I remembered some tiki stuff there, but never could find the evidence.
It was a bummer when it closed, they emptied the tanks, and we were going to sneak in and try to skate the pools. Some kid beat us to it and got stuck, and needed to be rescued.

I missed it as a kid. Sigh. Did Sea World, though. Some fun tiki there at the time...

On 2006-01-28 21:23, Tangaroa wrote:

On 2006-01-28 20:22, Tiki-Kate wrote:
My family spent three days at Marineland in 1971. I don't remember it because I was only about two years old at the time, but I know there are slides. Dad was really into slides for about twenty years. Must find the slides.

I'd love to see those Tiki-Kate!

I finally found these slides that I mentioned over three years ago. It looks like we went to Sea World, not Marineland. Boo. Nothing tiki at all in any of the Sea World slides.

I thought I'd revive this old thread though and post a couple of things.

First, here's the picture that Tangaroa mentions in the thread title.

Also, I recently picked up a couple of post cards that I believe are the ones from Tangaroa's post.

Another view of the fountain.

The interior of the restaurant with the fabulous shell ceiling.

I'd still love to see those Sea World pix, if they are from the 1960s Tiki-Kate...

Thanks!

Yep, more childhood memories.
I was very lucky to grow up in So. Cal., during the theme park era.

Marineland Restaurant Cocktail Lounge

" October 1956, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, USA --- Mamie Van Doren fills in well for the unknown but perfect figure being sought to fill a $2,500 Mermaid Tail at Marineland of the Pacific home of 5,000 fish. The movie actress isn't eligible in the contest to find some girl who can fill the bill. Mamie's 38-25-35 seems to do it. Besides all else, the winner must swim. Swim with 5,000 fish that is. "

Downed Palm Alert!!
Picture from a website going through the Marineland ruins.
Somebody should get this baby and carve a commemorative Tiki from it.

This is a quote from another website paying tribute to Marineland.

"Marineland closed in December 1986 when Harcourt Brace 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."

I remember watching the news on how they secretly moved Orky and Corky in the middle of the night, from the protesters.

Downed Palm Alert!!
Picture from a website going through the Marineland ruins.
Somebody should get this baby and carve a commemorative Tiki from it.

Sorry Unga, Marine Land is LONG GONE. It is now this: http://www.terranea.com/
Sad.

However, (for all the locals), if you go to the PV Interpretaive center (located right next to the PV lighthouse) they have a GREAT exhibit on Marine Land with tons of of cool artifacts, trinkets and information.

I found this postcard with a great view of the sign at the entrance. I love those fish.

I was talking about Marineland at Mojave Oasis this weekend and I remembered finding this old tourist photo online of a woman and the Tiki by the fountain.

DC