CRYPTOLINK: Slide Show: Wild and Wonderful Concept Art from Long Lost L.A. Theme Park

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Theme park designer Christopher Merritt and historian Domenic Priore dove deep to find never-before seen photos and incredible 1950s concept art for their new book Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’s Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier.

That wild-eyed sea serpent coaster! Those grinning Technicolor trees! A dark ride with exploding lava pods! The ideas are so far out that it’s almost impossible to believe that this wonderland was actually built in Santa Monica in 1958. It’s even harder to believe, certainly harder to accept, that it all came to an unceremonious end less than a decade later.
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