Long Beach Pike

Greetings family and friends!  The attached vintage postcard is how the Long Beach Pike appeared to dad on his first visit to the popular oceanside attraction in 1928, and the old photo shows Jimmy (on the left) and me enjoying the kiddie train ride at the Pike in 1949 and about to encounter a side show attraction that would bug me for more than 70 years!    -Bill

HUMBUG 

Watchmakers in the early 1800’s would often demonstrate their metalworking skills by attaching tiny carts to fleas using extra thin gold or wire, harnesses and glue. There are records of fleas “performing” various acts dating back hundreds of years, however because of the bugs short lifespan and public outrage over the cruel nature of the obvious exploitation, most modern “humbug” flea circuses rely, not on the tiny creatures themselves, but on a convincing ring master and really small mechanized props. 

Dad loved amusement parks. As a youngster growing up in Philadelphia he visited the Ocean City, New Jersey Boardwalk with his folks on many occasions and after moving west with his mother, he was a frequent visitor to Oakland’s Idora amusement park. In 1928 at the age of 17 dad drove the family car to Southern California with one or two of his Hayward High School buddies and where he visited the Venice Amusement Pier and undoubtedly Long Beach and it’s tawdry Pike Amusement Zone. In 1949 he returned to the more family oriented Pike with my brother and I on a side trip from Knott’s Berry Farm (Disneyland was still 6 years away). As a seven year old my memory of that adventure seven decades ago is not about the kiddie rides but about being in a small darkened tent on the Pike’s midway crowded around a table and watching tiny performing insects. I’m pretty sure that the Long Beach Pike Flea Circus was real and not just convincing hype and cleverly created miniatures. I clearly recall the diminutive flightless bugs performing on swings, racing carts, kicking little balls, rotating a Ferris wheel, riding on a miniature merry-go-round, walking tightropes and performing other circus acts under the direction of the tweezer and magnifying glass wielding side show proprietor. It’s been bugging me for years, was the 1949 Long Beach Pike Flea Circus real or just humbug? I’ll never know for certain, but I’m sure itching to find out!         -Bill