SeaWorld's owner bought Marineland — and closed it six weeks later

Marineland of the Pacific opened on 28 August 1954 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California — a William Pereira-designed oceanarium that was the largest in the world at the time. It became famous for its killer whales: Orky and Corky arrived in 1969 and were the park's stars for eighteen years, drawing crowds to a cliffside show place that also doubled as a Hollywood backlot for dozens of television series.

By the mid-1980s the park was run down and barely breaking even. In December 1986 it was sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich — the publisher that owned SeaWorld San Diego — which bought it from a Hong Kong developer and at first promised to keep it open and restore it. On 30 January 1987 the restoration was cancelled: the disrepair was worse than expected, and the park faced projected losses of $2 million a year without $25 million of improvements.

The closure came early and without warning. On 11 February 1987 — six weeks after the sale, three weeks ahead of the announced 1 March closing — the gates were locked, with Harcourt citing bomb threats after its change of heart. Orky and Corky had already been moved to SeaWorld San Diego; the remaining animals were trucked out in the night. The ruins sat on the cliff for nearly twenty years before demolition began in July 2007; the Terranea Resort now stands on the site.