New Ups and Downs for Santa Monica

It’s hard to miss the fact that high-tech and high-rise are the buzzwords of Southern California’s amusement parks this summer. As are some icons: Universal Studios is relying on dinosaurs and Magic Mountain hopes to fly high with Superman when the parks unveil their newest rides next month.

Santa Monica, too, is pulling out the stops this summer as its historic pier gets a $15-million face lift. But when the first phase of the two-acre fun zone called Pacific Park opens Saturday, it will offer a different kind of familiarity.

“We didn’t get real serious about any of it. . . . It’s very carny,” said Charlie White, the principal designer-artist, who is responsible for the park’s look.

Pacific Park takes an old-time carnival approach to a modern-day amusement park. Aside from a planned virtual reality center, the rides, the games and the overall look of the place conjure up images of Americana.

In fact, Pacific Park will be reminiscent of Pacific Ocean Park on a neighboring pier between Santa Monica and Venice. The park known as P.O.P. thrived in the early ‘60s before closing in October 1967.

“It totally goes back in time, there’s nothing ‘techie’ about it,” White said. “That’s really cool in this day and age.”

The Santa Monica Pier has seen its share of amusement parks throughout the century and its lasting key attraction, the Hippodrome built in 1916 that houses the landmark hand-carved carousel, will remain at the other end of the pier.

The project is part of the city’s effort to revitalize its aging pier area. Also in the works are the comeback of the seminal Hollywood blues club the Ash Grove, opening July 10, and a UCLA-sponsored Ocean Discovery Center opening Sept. 6. They are being built on a section of the pier that has been empty for years. The only area dismantled by the new park was the children’s ride area called the Fun Zone, but the new park has its own kiddie attractions.

The park will have 11 rides, and all but a 1,300-foot steel roller coaster that weaves around the park will be ready Saturday. The roller coaster is scheduled for completion on June 28, Pacific Park’s official grand opening.

“The grand opening will be the full regalia,” said White, who also designed the park’s ambitious gateway, which makes its debut in June and is composed of a giant octopus sculpture with 50-foot legs clinging to a roller coaster truss. The gateway will be held up by two columns colorfully layered with iridescent fish, crabs and 8-foot-tall sea horses.

Despite the missing finishing touches, early visitors will have plenty to amuse themselves with. The high-profile attraction will be the nine-story Pacific Wheel, a Ferris wheel with red and yellow gondolas shielded by umbrellas and illuminated by 6,000 multicolored blinking lights. There’s also the Sea Dragon, a rocking ship that swings back and forth in faux stormy conditions in a 180-degree semicircle. Rock and Roll is a high-octane circular ride that spins riders 13 times per minute.

For those who just can’t get enough freeway angst, there’s Sig Alert, Pacific Park’s bumper cars.

The six rides aimed at the kiddie crowd include the Crazy Submarine, a mini-Ferris wheel and the P.C.H. Driving School, a small bumper car ride. Children have their own midway games, the Pier Pressure Zone.

The park’s dedication to family fun is no accident. It’s the combined effort of two dads, brothers-in-law Richard Olshansky and Jonathan Bloch.

“I have three children, they’re all 8 and under and we live in Santa Monica,” says Olshansky, a 37-year-old film producer, who co-owns and manages the Old Tucson theme park in Arizona (Bloch is a shareholder). “I have this rare opportunity to create this amusement park that helps the city, helps the pier and my kids are excited about it. It couldn’t be more fun.”

According to the park’s workers, Olshansky and Bloch’s enthusiasm rubbed off.

“You know when you interview for a job and you’re told you can do all these exciting, innovative things and then you get there, and you can’t do any of it?” asks Allan Ludwig, the park’s food and beverage manager. “Well, they’re not like that. I came aboard, and they let me take the ball and run with it.”

The result is that nothing served at Pacific Park is frozen, said Ludwig, who managed the star-studded hangout the Grill in Beverly Hills for 12 years before teaming up with Olshansky and Bloch. “The overall attitude, which is the overall attitude of the park, is, ‘Why not make it good?’ I mean, there’s plenty of good frozen product, but fresh is better, right?”

One of the first obstacles to building Pacific Park was dealing with the pier itself, which for decades has attracted crime and the downtrodden.

Olshansky and city officials lobbied for a police substation to be up and running at the pier’s end even before building was to begin. They succeeded. On Aug. 12, 1995, a former novelty shop began housing the substation and subsequently crime in the pier area dropped, according to police in Santa Monica.

The park, which has hired its own security staff, will also benefit from bright stadium lighting recently added to the pier and beach parking lots surrounding it.

With security dealt with, Olshansky plans to move on to more, er, serious, matters.

“Listen, I’m gonna get wicked good at these midway games,” he says, winding up his arm. “I’m gonna wreak revenge on every carny I’ve given 10 bucks to, which is quite a few.”

* Pacific Park, 380 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica. No cover charge, rides $1-$3. Open Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, Sundays-Thursdays, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m.-midnight. Open weekends and holidays during winter. (Hours of operation may vary before grand opening on June 28.) (310) 260-8744.