Ocean Center Building
Encyclopedia
The Ocean Center Building is a 14-story, 197-foot-tall office building in downtown Long Beach, California
built in 1929 by architect Raymond M. Kennedy
.
The Ocean Center Building has two ground floors, an entrance above the shoreline on the bluff level to take advantage of its address on 110 West Ocean Boulevard and an east entrance at the base of the Pine Avenue incline providing beach access and accommodating the Walk of a Thousand Lights of The Pike
amusement zone . The building houses a collection of shops, offices and parking. At beach level there is a shopping arcade (architecture)
archway key-stoned a restaurant (later converted to a penny arcade
) and an immense menswear store (later converted to the Hollywood on the Pike cabaret
,) and several small shops up the sidewalk incline of Pine St. There is a monthly rental parking space above the shops. The rest of the building is reserved for retail and office space. The office space above the lobby is divided by varying heights of the roof, allowing outdoor roof-top balcony space to select offices, turrets and a tower. The roofline is different when viewed from the east or west. Battlements along the different roof heights give the observer the impression of the building as being a castle.
Though originally built next to the shoreline, a number of geological and engineering changes have made it so today there is a long walk to seawater from the Ocean Center Building. When the Long Beach Harbor and breakwater were developed, and the Los Angeles River
straightened and levied by the United States Army Corps of Engineers
, the Pacific Ocean
no longer swept the alluvial granite sand away and the deposits of sandy beach continued to widen. By the 1950s the sand of the beach had grown so wide that the space between the shoreline and the Ocean Center Building was paved as a parking lot and is now Seaside Way. Coastal landfill continued, the beach filled in, then Shoreline Drive and Shoreline Village were built upon the fill.
Ocean Center has made use of frontage which had originally been a boardwalk placed onto the sand easing access from Pine St. and the shore end of the Long Beach Pier to the bathhouse (1902), later named The Plunge. The low-tech boardwalk was originally known as the The Pike
, which later changed context to include the entire entertainment zone of rides, snack stands and midway games. The area has been featured in thousands of tourist photographs and several television shows and motion pictures, such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
. The boardwalk was paved in concrete and illuminated by strings of lights hung across it from the roofs of its shops and games, then was renamed The Walk of 1000 lights. The Ocean Center Building arcade presented the first impression to many visitors as a grand gateway to fun.
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
built in 1929 by architect Raymond M. Kennedy
Raymond M. Kennedy
Raymond McCormick Kennedy was the guiding light and architect of the Grauman's Chinese Theater that opened in May 1927.-Early life:Raymond McCormick Kennedy was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania in 1891...
.
The Ocean Center Building has two ground floors, an entrance above the shoreline on the bluff level to take advantage of its address on 110 West Ocean Boulevard and an east entrance at the base of the Pine Avenue incline providing beach access and accommodating the Walk of a Thousand Lights of The Pike
The Pike
The Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
amusement zone . The building houses a collection of shops, offices and parking. At beach level there is a shopping arcade (architecture)
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
archway key-stoned a restaurant (later converted to a penny arcade
Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade may refer to:* Penny arcade, a venue for coin-operated devices* Penny Arcade ** Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a series of video games based on the webcomic...
) and an immense menswear store (later converted to the Hollywood on the Pike cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
,) and several small shops up the sidewalk incline of Pine St. There is a monthly rental parking space above the shops. The rest of the building is reserved for retail and office space. The office space above the lobby is divided by varying heights of the roof, allowing outdoor roof-top balcony space to select offices, turrets and a tower. The roofline is different when viewed from the east or west. Battlements along the different roof heights give the observer the impression of the building as being a castle.
Though originally built next to the shoreline, a number of geological and engineering changes have made it so today there is a long walk to seawater from the Ocean Center Building. When the Long Beach Harbor and breakwater were developed, and the Los Angeles River
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
straightened and levied by the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
, the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
no longer swept the alluvial granite sand away and the deposits of sandy beach continued to widen. By the 1950s the sand of the beach had grown so wide that the space between the shoreline and the Ocean Center Building was paved as a parking lot and is now Seaside Way. Coastal landfill continued, the beach filled in, then Shoreline Drive and Shoreline Village were built upon the fill.
Ocean Center has made use of frontage which had originally been a boardwalk placed onto the sand easing access from Pine St. and the shore end of the Long Beach Pier to the bathhouse (1902), later named The Plunge. The low-tech boardwalk was originally known as the The Pike
The Pike
The Pike became a world famous Long Beach, California amusement zone in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house...
, which later changed context to include the entire entertainment zone of rides, snack stands and midway games. The area has been featured in thousands of tourist photographs and several television shows and motion pictures, such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer about the madcap pursuit of $350,000 in stolen cash by a diverse and colorful group of strangers...
. The boardwalk was paved in concrete and illuminated by strings of lights hung across it from the roofs of its shops and games, then was renamed The Walk of 1000 lights. The Ocean Center Building arcade presented the first impression to many visitors as a grand gateway to fun.