Historical Photo: The Pike in Long Beach

LONG BEACH⸺ The entrance to The Pike amusement park in Long Beach in 1960 features classic cars and The Cyclone Racer, which was considered one of the greatest wooden roller coasters ever constructed until its closure in 1968, according to the Los Angeles Almanac. The Cyclone was a wooden dual-track roller coaster built out on pilings over the water. The coaster was built in 1930 to replace the previous coaster, the Jackrabbit, built in 1915. By 1954 the amusement park was the leading attraction in the Los Angeles area and the fifth largest amusement attraction in the United States. At the peak of its popularity, the park had a roller coaster, merry-go-round, bathhouse, two pavilions, a bandshell, several smaller attractions, and almost 218 concessions. By 1955 The Pike began to lose popularity when Disneyland opened a few miles away and then took another hit when Knotts Berry Farm opened in 1971, forcing the amusement park to close its gates in 1979. However, contrastingly, the area was reopened in 2003 after the waterfront was redeveloped into a new version of The Pike called The Pike at Rainbow Harbor, which features several restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and a Ferris Wheel. The redevelopment features a tribute to the Cyclone Racer Rollercoaster with a white and blue track decorative track tracing the top of The Pike.