South Bay History | The Daily Breeze's Sam Gnerre looks at the way we were in the South Bay | Page 3

South Bay History | The Daily Breeze's Sam Gnerre looks at the way we were in the South Bay | Page 3: "Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014, marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of Marineland of the Pacific. In this third installment on the park, we’ll take a look at its closure in 1987, a wrenching demise that resulted in sadness, bitterness and a good deal of community outrage.

After its heady days of regularly breaking the 1 million mark in annual attendance in the 1960s, attendance began to drop off later in the decade.

With a couple of exceptions, one being the Ocean Plaza exhibit and the other, the 320-foot Marineland Sky Tower, little had been done to update the park by its original owners. Also, Marineland faced more competition not only from the growing popularity of theme park rivals such as Disneyland, but also, in 1964, from the opening of Sea World in San Diego."



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