Santa Monica Pier Memories - Jack Beehler
I recently read an article in the Daily Breeze that you would like to have people submit stories and memories about the Santa Monica Pier. I hope this is what you are looking for as I have many fond memories of growing up on and around the pier. For a number of years the pier was like a second home to me. In 1957 I was ten years old and The La Monica Ballroom was converted to a roller skating rink. This was a place that I would spend almost every weekend until I was 16. At first it was named "
The skating rink was a lot bigger than any other skating rink I had ever seen. The floor was the biggest in Southern California. My brother, sister and I began skating at the Ocean Park rink which closed to make way for The Flight to Mars ride for the new Pacific Ocean Park. We were happy when we found out that the pier had a skating rink.
I grew up during the fifties and sixties. Our rented house was on Nielsen Way and Grand Ave in Ocean Park. Our father had left us and my Mother raised the three of us by herself. She had introduced us to skating as a form of entertainment and also to keep us occupied during the summers.
Jack Goodrich, who was once in vaudeville and then as a stuntman in movies, and Roller Derby legend Charlie "Specs" Saunders opened the rink in late 1957. We were overjoyed. On Friday and Saturday the rink hate a "Late session" from 10:30 until 1 AM. They would dim the lights a play Rock N Roll. We would either skate along the Ocean Front or ride our bikes and skate from 7:30 until 1.
We have a number of skating clubs such as the Dance and Freestyle clubs that competed in State championships. But it was the speed club that was one of the best in the West. We were known for having one of the best clubs in California. I was on the 1962 Men's Relay that took first place at the State and Regional meet. They had closed the rink to the public by then as the roof was unstable. But they allowed us in to work out as we prepared for the State meet.
The pier seemed to me to have many different moods in those days. It wasn't as popular then so we didn't have to contend with the crowds. I remember walking up the ramp from the Ocean Front and finding the pier shrouded in fog, the lights just faint glimmers of halos. Quiet and lonely. On weekends it would come alive with families and fisherman.
My brother and I spent many nights at the end of the pier fishing, sometimes falling to sleep against a bench. We would sometimes climb down a ladder and walk the stringers under the pier.
After the skating rink was torn down in late 1962 I found other interests and moved on. But no matter where I go when I come back to the area the pier is the first place I come to,just to visit an old friend. When my boys were growing up I would bring them to the pier and try to explain to them how important the pier was to me. Now I bring my grand children when they come and visit. Counting the times my Mother would come with us that is four generations that have spent time on those decks.
I still visit the pier a couple of times a year and the sounds and smells remain pretty much the same. It recalls a period of my life that was less complicated and less stressful. To be kid and have the pier and the beach as my own playground was something that will remain with me until the day that I die.
Sorry to be so wordy but trying to pack 4 years of old memories in an email is somewhat difficult. Please feel free to use all or any part of this email.
Thank you,
Jack Beehler
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 
