CPMagNut
Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:44 AM
I stumbled across this wacky driver's-ed short from 1962 while browsing through the Comcast On-Demand offerings. The first few minutes of the short feature park/coaster footage of a beachfront park that I assume is in the Los Angeles area as the film was done in conjunction with UCLA. It's just a few minutes of footage, but was kind of interresting and left me wondering if this park/coaster was still around. For any of you with Comcast On-Demand, it can be found under "Cutting Edge--Something Weird--School Scare Films--Safety Belt Susie" (it's all about the importance of seat belts for kiddies and truly is weird). It's available to view until 8/7. Anyone know what park this is/was? *** Edited 8/3/2008 6:21:45 PM UTC by CPMagNut***
Mamoosh
Saturday, August 2, 2008 11:27 AM

UCLA is on LA's west side. My guess would be Venice Pier.
For those of us not on Comcast...any chance you (someone?) could post this to YouTube?
Soggy
Saturday, August 2, 2008 12:34 PM

I just looked for it, no School Scare vids on my Comcast on demand.
The Pike at Long Beach perhaps?
Soggy
Saturday, August 2, 2008 12:38 PM

After a bit of googling...
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6420024PjyGnr8f
I still don't know what it is, though.
Mamoosh
Saturday, August 2, 2008 1:19 PM

Venice Pier. And the little girl? She played Tabitha on Bewitched.
bunchastuf
Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:46 PM
It's Pacific Ocean Park (or POP), which was on a pier bordering Venice and Santa Monica (in L.A.). When the park closed, it sat in disrepair for years and was known for a local surfing spot that the Dogtown Boys made famous by surfing around its pylons. The spot is a few block away from me.
Mamoosh
Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:56 PM

Oh right...duh! POP wasn't Venice Pier, it had it's own pier. Well that's the one I meant...thanks bunch :)
more fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ7yugaQF-0 *** Edited 8/2/2008 6:57:30 PM UTC by Mamoosh***
bunchastuf
Sunday, August 3, 2008 5:34 AM
Mamoosh, liked the link! Always love to check out old footage of the park!
OrientExpressKid
Sunday, August 3, 2008 11:50 AM
Diving bells huh? Interesting to see this park, kind of looks like they started adding theming.
-Congo Falls - 90 rides (one day)
-Murder of the Orient Express (1980-2003)
rollergator
Sunday, August 3, 2008 1:12 PM

Thanks for that link, Moosh... :)
Such a shortage of larger beachside amusement parks anymore. There are still more than a few smaller places left in NJ and MD, but the wooden coasters left on the oceanside in the US are few and far between - I can only think of five (Coney, Morey's, Family Kingdom, and the two Dippers in CA).
Can we go back to when there were wooden coasters on virtually every beach, and condos were virtually nonexistent? ;)
CPMagNut
Sunday, August 3, 2008 2:20 PM
Soggy, Moosh, and Bunch...thanks for solving the mystery and the links! Sorry to know POP is long gone. I don't really know what a "diving bell" is but I assume it's the thing that is seen popping up out of the water in that YouTube vid. People were in that thing? The comments posted to the YouTube clip were pretty interresting to read through.
bunchastuf
Sunday, August 3, 2008 3:43 PM
CPMagNut, Yes, the things popping up out of the water were the Diving Bells, which people got in and went below the water to see fish swimming around. At the end, the thing would pop back up to the surface as you see in the film.
Cropsey
Sunday, August 3, 2008 8:59 PM
That Susie doll is scary as hell. Her icy stare haunts me.