The Rainbow Pier, Long Beach, California

 

It always seems like Long Beach is looking for another tourist attraction.  Right now, it's the Queen Mary and the Long Beach Aquarium, which I admit, is pretty impressive.  So, in 1931 it was the Rainbow Pier.  It was a rainbow-shaped fishing pier, 3800 feet long, with a roadway on the top that allowed cars to drive over the Pacific Ocean.  Eventually, rotting pilings and storm damage made repairs prohibitively expensive so the Rainbow Pier became the Rainbow Lagoon after a hell of a lot of rock and dirt was dumped where the pier once was.  This card was once pasted into a photo album, so most of the back is covered in black construction paper.  I can't make out any of the written message, just a few letters that were exposed when it was removed from the album.  I can make out part of the postmark, so it was mailed.  Dated, 1937. 

Pierpoint Landing

 

This postcard was never sent, so I don't have an exact date that I can reference in this post.  Just going by the cars, I'm thinking sometime in the 1950s to the early sixties.  I have one clue, the identity of the publisher.  "X.45 WESTERN PUBL. & NOV. CO., 259 SO. LOS ANGELES ST., L.A. CALIF."  The hint is that there is no zip code, which were first used in 1963.  Pierpoint Landing was a sport fishing venue with some kiddie rides and exhibits that was in business from 1948 to 1972.  And the caption on the back, "PIERPOINT LANDING LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA. The landing at the tip of Pier A draws nearly as many spectators as fishermen. There are many shops and cafes here as well as live fish and seal exhibits." The Long Beach inner harbor is far different now.