LA's Own Marineland

In the twelfth and final episode of “LA’s Own Marineland,” we take a look at the park’s legacy and follow up on the lives of the animals that were transferred to other parks after Marineland’s closure. Finally, we’ll get the last word on Marineland from those who know it best and loved it most, Marinelanders themselves.

Two years after Corky the killer whale was transferred from Marineland to SeaWorld San Diego, she was involved in one of the most tragic events to ever happen at a marine park. Corky was performing before thousands in the main show pool when, out of nowhere, Kandu swam out of the back holding pool and rammed into her full speed with her mouth open and then careened into a wall. The impact led to a fractured upper jaw, causing fatal hemorrhaging of major arteries in the whale’s nasal passages.

After 45 minutes of struggling, Kandu sank to the bottom of the tank and died. Orkid, Kandu’s calf sired by Orky, was handed off to her new caretaker, Corky.

On Wednesday, March 8, 1995, over eight years after Marineland’s closure, real estate investor Jim York purchased the 102-acre property at an auction after its former owner James G. Monaghan, declared bankruptcy. Monaghan owned the property for eight years with nothing to show but a ghost town. York, who lives in Rolling Hills estates, planned to build a 450-room hotel and oceanfront golf course on the property.

On Monday, June 6, 1995, the 244-foot-tall Sky Tower that proudly stood near the entrance of Marineland and gave hundreds of thousands of people awe-inspiring views of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding area, was slowly dismantled.

On Thursday, June 9, 2016, Bubbles the pilot whale, who lived at Marineland from 1966 to 1987, died at the Dolphin Stadium in SeaWorld San Diego. At the time, Bubbles was the oldest pilot whale in captivity and was performing right up to the day she died in the “Dolphin Days” show. SeaWorld estimates she had performed for over 100 million people in her lifetime.

Thirty-five years after Marineland closed, it’s believed that just about all of Marineland’s animals have passed away. The only animals that are still alive are a few flamingos at SeaWorld and, of course, Corky the orca.

At 57 years old, Corky is still a major part of the killer whale presentations at SeaWorld. To see how she’s doing, I checked in with Nicole Schriber, a marine biology student focusing on killer whale research and education who primarily works with orca populations on the coast of southcentral Alaska. She has close ties with the trainers at SeaWorld San Diego.

“She’s doing very well, as far as I know, I’m not privy to all the vet information, but from what I see she has all her energy,” Schriber told the podcast. “She eats well and she’s the highest-flying senior citizen I know, I’ll tell you that. She is always enthusiastic and ready to go. So, despite being an old lady, she’s really really good for her age.”

In June 2009, 22 and a half years after Marineland was closed, Jim York’s resort, Terranea finally opened on the former Marineland property. It’s a nearly $500 million, 582-room full-service hotel with a 9-hole golf course, 135,000 sq. ft of conference space, and facilities adequate to hold five weddings, simultaneously.

We wrapped up the podcast by asking Marinelanders their final thoughts on what made the park so special.

“I’ve worked in several other facilities since that time and I’m so privileged to have had the opportunity not only to work at Marineland but to start there because it really set my expectations really high. We were small, we were like a family,” Marineland killer whale trainer Gail Laule told the podcast. “It was a really special place and that’s why people still think about it and want to talk about it and want to understand it. I think it was a real tragedy that Marineland disappeared.”

It’s been said that the Pacific has a long memory. The water at its greatest depths has been around since the time of Charlemagne. I’d like to hope that on a warm summer’s evening, around sunset, some of those moments blown out to sea on the ocean breeze decades ago find their way back home. And if you stand on the cliffs of Terranea, close your eyes, and listen closely, you can hear the laughter of children, the mischievous bark of sea lions, and the joyous squeaks of killer whales wafting through the salty sea air.

Those are the sounds of LA’s Own Marineland.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 11 of “LA’s Own Marineland,” follows the lives of killer whales Orky and Corky after they were moved from Marineland to SeaWorld San Diego in 1987. We’ll also meet James Monaghan, the man who bought Marineland from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and hear his plans for a new ocean-themed hotel.

In May of 1987, Orky and Corky were moved from the smaller killer whale tank at SeaWorld San Diego to the new Shamu Stadium. At the time, Shamu Stadium had four pools, including a 170-foot long by 80-foot wide and 35-foot-deep show pool. It has since been expanded to 6.7 million gallons.

By comparison, the tank at Marineland was 80 feet by 80 feet and 22 feet deep and 640,000 gallons. However, even though Orky had a lot more space, it didn’t necessarily mean it was a better environment for him. But for Corky, it’s a situation in which she would seem to thrive.

“I worried for [Orky],” Marineland mammal trainer Gail Laue told the podcast. “I knew Corky would do great because they had the kind of system she would thrive in, and she does to this day. But it was not a system that Orky did well in.”

On November 21, 1987, Orky was involved in a disturbing incident that nearly killed SeaWorld trainer John Silick. During a performance, Silick was reverse-riding a female orca when a 14,000-pound Orky breached and landed on top of him. The incident resulted in the firing of SeaWorld’s president Jan Schultz as well as the park’s chief zoologist, chief trainer, and spokeswoman.

In August of 1987, James Monaghan, who had recently purchased the remains of Marineland from HBJ, spoke to the Daily Breeze, dispelling rumors that he’s affiliated with HBJ or has similar intentions. The interview was conducted on-site at the former Marineland property where he showed the reporters his plans for the property.

“Over there, where the whale tanks are is going to be the hotel,” he gestured to a reporter while riding the sky tower at the former Marineland site. “The dolphin stadium can be repurposed into an amphitheater, but the music’s not gonna annoy the neighbors. Baja Reef can stay. I have the best consultants in the nation on this project. We want to do the optimum job here.”

On February 16, 1988, the Cleveland Wrecking Crew pulled up to the former Marineland site with a wrecking ball and pile drivers and began demolishing the abandoned major structures. The crew left the sky tower, Baja Reef attraction, and restaurant for potential use in the future development.

(Marineland demolition, C. 1988)

Orky passed away on Monday, September 26, 1988, at the approximate age of 27 to 32 years at SeaWorld San Diego, 19 months after being moved from Marineland. According to the Los Angeles Times, he refused to eat that morning and two hours later, sank to the bottom of the tank.

“He wasn’t interested in eating. He was swimming in tight circles in the center of the pool and appeared to be having some balance and respiratory problems, and then he very quickly sank to the bottom and died.” Jim Atrium, SeaWorld’s general curator, told the Los Angeles Times.

According to SeaWorld records, before his death, Orky lost more than 4,000 pounds, almost a third of his body weight. SeaWorld’s necropsy report says Orky died of “acute pneumonia which was caused by diminished immune competence with chronic wasting.”

Three days before Orky’s death, Kandu, a female killer whale, gave birth to his daughter, Orkid. Orkid still lives at SeaWorld San Diego.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

On January 29, 1987, nine days after it transferred the park’s star attractions, killer whales Orky and Corky to SeaWorld, HBJ announced that Marineland would be closed permanently on March 1. The announcement was greeted with shock and anger from those who worked at the park and its countless fans across the Southland.

HBJ claimed that it would cost too much money to make necessary repairs for the 33-year-old park to be a viable attraction. It also added that it would be even more difficult to turn a profit without Orky and Corky, which had just shipped out to SeaWorld.

On February 11, HBJ called all employees to the Sea Arena where a representative — flanked by beefy security guards — told them the horrible news, Marineland would be closed permanently at 5 pm that day. HBJ had once again moved the goalposts and broken a promise. The reason they gave for the premature closure was that the park had allegedly received three bomb threats. The Lomita Sheriff’s substation, whose jurisdiction includes Marineland, told the LA Times the police received no notice of a bomb threat at Marineland that week.

“It was heartbreaking because of the way it was done more than anything else. The whales were moved at night. You felt like you lost a close family member,” Jim Roope, the park’s Live Entertainment Director from 1980 to 1984, told the podcast. “When Marineland closed, the way it was done was a murder. That’s what it felt like.”

(Marineland in June 1987, 4 months after its closure.)

HBJ’s brazen scheme to ruin Marineland wouldn’t go unpunished. When your bread and butter is publishing books for schools, it’s probably not a great idea to shut down an educational institution in the second-largest market in America. Over the next few weeks, there were calls to ban HBJ’s books in local schools.

After Marineland’s closure, a few Marinelanders remained at the park to care for the remaining animals and ship them to various SeaWorld parks. Marineland trainer Joanne Hay warned SeaWorld officials that Sundance, a subdominant dolphin and one of the park’s most prominent performers, should not be put in a tank with other male bottlenose dolphins, as he would not be able to defend himself.

The day after his move to SeaWorld, Sundance died of a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhage after another male attacked him in the tank. Four days later, Echo, a female dolphin who had recently given birth, died at SeaWorld.

Within a year, 12 of the Marineland animals — five dolphins, five sea lions, and two seals — were dead, some within weeks of the transfer, according to federal marine-mammal inventory reports.

On May 14, 1987, HBJ washed its hands of the controversy by selling the Marineland property to Arizona developer James Monaghan for $24.5 million.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

On episode 9 of “LA’s Own Marineland,” we discuss the dark days that followed Harcourt Brace Jovanovich’s purchase of Marineland, and one of the craziest nights in the park’s 33-year history courtesy of two guys named Dave and a lot of alcohol.

On New Year’s Eve 1986, a headline appeared in the Los Angeles Times, “Marineland Sold to Company that Owns SeaWorld.” “But We’re Not Becoming a SeaWorld,” Marineland spokesperson Laurie Armstrong told the Los Angeles Times. “We will remain as Marineland and continue under our current management.”

Unlike previous changes in ownership, when Harcourt Brace Jovanovich took control of Marineland, the park was in the strongest position it had been in almost 20 years. Even so, there was some trepidation among Marineland’s management, because HBJ owned SeaWorld, the park’s competition in San Diego, and had been angling to acquire its killer whales, Orky and Corky, for years.

Saturday, January 10, 1987, was one of the wildest nights in the park’s history. A heavily intoxicated Dave Mulligan and Dave Berg broke into the park and rode the killer whales in the wee hours of the morning after drinking in Redondo Beach. The two circled the tank for 30 minutes before they were apprehended by the Lomita Sheriff’s Department. No charges were filed against the “Two Daves.”

Marineland was closed on January 20, 1987, for “improvements,” and by nightfall, cranes rolled up from Long Beach and removed Orky and Corky from their home of 17 years. They were placed onto flatbed trucks to be taken to Sea World San Diego. The move was a complete shock to most of the park’s employees. Only a few people in management and in mammal care were told about the transfer.

“That night, I learned vocalizations from Orky that I’d never heard before. It was really a bizarre scene,” killer whale trainer Gail Laule, who was with the orcas during the transfer, told the podcast. “And then when the news broke, there was some footage of them driving down the freeway. It could have been something good, but it looks so suspicious. It looked so covert. It was something that was quite negative and didn’t need to be.”

The clandestine moves in the middle of the night caused outrage across the Southland. News reports said that the whales were relocated as part of SeaWorld’s breeding program.

When they arrived, they were lowered into the killer whale stadium at SeaWorld. However, it wasn’t the massive five-million-gallon Shamu Stadium still under construction to be opened for the summer season. It was the smaller tank that, at the time, housed killer whales Kandu and Kenau and currently holds the park’s dolphins and pilot whales.

After Orky and Corky were removed from Marineland, a dark cloud descended upon the park. It was still open but without its star attractions. Marinelanders were heartbroken that the killer whales they knew and loved for two decades were gone.

HBJ officials told the public that the park would remain open, and there would be a new show in the killer whale coliseum with Bubbles the pilot whale, and a new companion, Bangles, and some dolphins.

That future seemed tenable to some of Marineland’s employees who understood that Orky and Corky would fare better in the larger tank under construction at SeaWorld and that the park could thrive with a new focus and SeaWorld’s money. On January 26, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council met to pass an ordinance that said if HBJ closes the park, it would have to tear down any abandoned buildings within two years and provide a plan for the redevelopment of the land within 30 days.

Two days after the actions by the city, HBJ’s head, William Jovanovich, sent a telex to Marineland officials that the park would be closed in five weeks, on March 1st. The devastating news was accompanied by a very shaky defense that never held up with Marineland’s employees or the public.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

On the eighth episode of “LA’s Own Marineland,” covering the years 1981 to 1986, the park finds success by leaning into its strengths as a place where people can get close to marine life in ways they never could before. We also look at Bubbles the pilot whale’s relationships with his dolphin tankmates, and Corky has her longest surviving calf.

By the end of 1981, things were looking up at Marineland. Its new owner, Far East Hotels, out of Hong Kong, had a laissez-faire attitude that gave more power to park management over how the park was presented to the public. The new push would put the park’s amazing animals up front, not cartoon characters or movie properties.

“We created the park to be all about the animals. This wasn’t about Hanna-Barbera characters. It was a focus, a very laser-like focus on these wonderful creatures that we had to share with visitors that came to the park,” Linda Malek, Marineland’s Marketing Director from 1979 to 1987, told the podcast.

Hanna-Barbera may have left Marineland, but the park continued to embrace costumed characters. Marineland replaced the cartoon stars with a new, original crew featuring Waddles the Penguin, Shivers the Polar Bear, Kilroy the Killer Whale, Professor Pelican—who would later become Captain Pelican—Admiral Tusk the Walrus, Stinky the Skunk, Sheldon the Shark, Sammy the Sea Lion, and Fubar the Bear.

On June 18, 1982, Corky had her third and longest-surviving calf, a female named Kiva. Unfortunately, Kiva failed to nurse properly, and Corky began to be rough with the calf, pinning her to the bottom of the tank. For the calf’s safety, Marineland moved her to a holding pool with a dolphin. Kiva showed signs of stress after being moved and the next day developed respiratory problems and died. She lived only 46 days.

In 1985, there was a major disturbance in the Killer Whale Coliseum. Corky broke an observation window that sent a third of the tank’s 640,000 gallons of water rushing down the zigzag walkway.

On December 26, 1986, Marineland’s owners, Far East Hotel and Entertainment Ltd. a division of Warwick International, called together Marineland’s top brass and told them the park was being sold to Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich SeaWorld’s parent company. We’ll soon discover that Harcourt Brace Jovanovich’s promise that it would keep the park open wasn’t to be trusted.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 7 of the podcast covers the park’s history from 1979 through 1981. It focuses on the park’s attempts to position itself against SeaWorld in San Diego by adding exciting new attractions that put people in close contact with marine life. During this period, the park also broke new ground by focusing on education and rescue efforts.

By 1979, the park’s reimagining as Hanna-Barbera’s Marineland was in full swing. Shows were updated for the new era with Bubbles the pilot whale headlining the Seaweed Center for Finny Studies, and sea lions performed at Huckleberry Hound’s Sea Lion Pirate Training School. Fred Flintstone and Yogi Bear, when not mingling with guests, were showcased in a musical, “Singing to the World.”

The park’s animal presentations took on a more cinematic flair as well.

“Marineland was the first aquatic park to put themes behind their shows. For a long time, it was all about showing the behaviors the animals can do,” Live Events director Jim Roope shared with the podcast. “Tim Desmond had the idea to write a script around these behaviors and turn it into sort of a show. And so Marineland was the very first one—not sacrificing the natural beauty of what these animals can do in the wild—to weave a theme around everything and make it more entertaining.”

The success of the Family Adventure Swim ushered in a shift towards more immersive marine experiences. By far, the most groundbreaking new attraction was the Baja Reef. For a few extra dollars, guests could put on a wetsuit, fins, snorkel, and goggles and swim through an 80-yard maze of kelp and coral, mimicking the Baja California Peninsula. Baja Reef was truly a one-of-a-kind experience, boasting 1,000 fish including nurse sharks.

During this time, Marineland’s new Marine Mammal Care Center allowed visitors to interact with veterinarian staff taking care of rescued marine mammals. In 1980, the center partnered with Unocal, rebranding as the Unocal Marine Animal Care Center, taking care of an average of 360 sick or injured animals annually.

In 1981, Taft Broadcasting and Kroger Company revealed plans to sell Marineland to Far East Hotels and Entertainment, Ltd. But, as you’ll see in future episodes, the new management was a positive step because Far East Hotels’ laisses faire management style gave the park’s employees and management greater control.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 6 of the podcast covers the park’s history from 1978 through 1979. It focuses on the park’s grand reopening as Hanna-Barbera’s Marineland and takes an in-depth look at its star attractions, killer whales Orky and Corky.

The show begins with the story of mammal trainer Jill Stratton who, in an attempt to teach Orky new behaviors while the park was closed for upgrades, was pulled to the bottom of the tank, and nearly drowned. She was saved by two members of Marineland’s marine mammal care staff and Corky, who helped bring her to safety.

The incident would change how trainers interacted with Orky going forward.

On May 27, 1978, the park reopened as Hanna-Barbera’s Marineland with a new entrance gate, upgraded flora and fauna, a Passages Beneath the Sea exhibit, and a new stadium for the sea lion show. Hanna-Barbera also brought in a new business philosophy that placed greater importance on group sales to boost attendance.

The episode concludes with a look into the lives of Orky and Corky, examining their unique personalities and relationship. Orky had a rather gruff demeanor but was extremely intelligent and an adept gameplayer. Corky loves interacting with people but demands that trainers treat her with kindness.

Marine mammal trainer Gail Laule likens their relationship to that of a married couple and even though Orky was dominant, Corky held a lot of power in their dynamic. Live Events Director Jim Roope likens their relationship to an old saying: “You want to talk to the man in charge, he’s right in here. If you want to talk to the person who knows what’s going on, see the woman in the outer office.”

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 5 of the podcast covers the park’s history from the years of 1973 through 1978. It focuses on the short-lived Twentieth Century Fox era where the film producer Irwin “The Master of Disaster” Allen attempted to boost the park’s attendance through a Winter Wonderland promotion that ended in a barrage of lawsuits.

The show also looks at how Orky and Corky became the first breeding pair of captive killer whales in history. But sadly, the baby died after just 15 days.

We also talk to some of Marineland’s incredible mammal trainers, including Bud Krames and Gail Laule, who explain how the park used groundbreaking training methods to teach marine mammals to perform impressive breaches, flips, and grab a fish out of the trainer’s mouth.

The trainers also provide valuable insight into how their relationships with the animals were based on cooperation and reinforcement, not coercion. “That’s a big part of training. If they’ll only work for food, you’re going to have problems,” Krames told the podcast. “But if you can find other reinforcements, you’re in much better shape.”

Finally, in late 1977, Hanna-Barbera purchased Marineland and temporarily closed the park to make improvements in time for the summer season. However, the city of Rancho Palos Verdes slow-walked its approvals for the upgrades, puting the park’s future in peril. Would Marineland be ready to open in the summer of 1978 or would its grand reopening as “Hanna-Barbera’s Marineland” be scuttled by red tape?

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 4 of the podcast covers the park’s history from the years of 1969 through 1974. The episode’s primary focus is the park’s pivot from the main attraction being pilot whales to killer whales, namely Orky and Corky.

However, even though Orky 2 and Corky 2 are probably the world’s most famous pair of killer whales, they weren’t the only orcas who spent time at Marineland. From 1968 to 1971, there were also Orky 1 and Corky 1, Patches, and Kenny. In 1970, the orca show was moved from the Seaside Stadium on the lower deck, to the round, top-deck pool rechristened The Killer Whale Coliseum.

By the summer of 1971, the show starred Orky 2 and Corky 2 and would remain that way until the pair were moved to SeaWorld San Diego in 1987. During this time Corky had multiple calves, but sadly, they were short-lived.

Even though the killer whales were a popular attraction, Marineland’s attendance began to wane, and due to financial woes, it was sold to the owners of the Hollywood Park Racetrack in 1972. Two years later, it was leased to Twentieth Century Fox.

This episode also highlights the fact that people were able to get close to Marineland’s animals in ways that are unthinkable these days. In the ‘70s a kid could just walk up to the orca tank and give Orky a high five on his flukes.

“We used to sneak up [to the Killer Whale Coliseum] and play with them. We knew better than to go up near the top part, close to the tank, because my dad said, ‘Don’t go there because they can grab you and pull you in,’” Mark Thomas, son of sea lion trainer Art Thomas, shared with the podcast. “We’d go underneath [the stadium] knock n the windows and they’d come over to us and then we’d run … and they’d chase us. It was fun but it would almost feel kinda spooky after a while.”

The episode also features a fun conversation with Virgina Mason, who was a Peal Diver in the ‘70s, about the joys of diving into the cold water in the oval fish tank and working with pre-fame Richard Dean Anderson.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/

Episode 3 of the podcast, covering 1964 to 1968, discusses how Marineland became a popular location for film and TV shows in the ‘60s. It also covers how Bimbo the pilot whale’s troubles led Marineland staff to make a tough decision about his future. We also talk to Mike Drews, who recounts the dramatic night that Orky the killer whale was brought to the park from British Columbia.

In 1965, the original cast of “The Munsters” visited Marineland looking for a pet for young Eddie in the big fish tank. Also in 1965, Lucille Ball stopped by the park for an episode of her “Lucy Show,” where she was toyed with by a frisky dolphin and a rambunctious sea lion.

In 1968 the king of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Presley came to Marineland for a scene in “Live a Little, Love a Little.” In the film, the King plays a newspaper photographer who takes pictures of Susan Henning as a mermaid feeding Swifty, the false killer whale.

“He came out to Marineland to do a movie, and originally it was going to be called ‘Somewhere, Someplace, Sometime,’ they changed the name,” trainer Larry Clark recalled. “They would stay at the Marineland hotel a couple of days a week instead of driving up all the way into Hollywood … So [Elvis] would come into the bar and buy us drinks. He was a nice guy.”

At the time, the TV shows weren’t the only thing creating drama at the park. There was a lot going down in the pilot whale tank, too. Bimbo, a 20-foot-long, 6,000-pound male pilot whale, charged a 2-foot by 4-foot observation window, shattering the one-and-a-half-inch-thick glass. The broken glass resulted in four visitors being sent to the hospital and the tank losing 350,000 gallons of water. This event forced Marineland’s curators to make the tough decision to return him to the Pacific Ocean.

Finally, Mike Drews tells the story of how he and his father, Marineland’s contractor Harold Drews, boarded a D-6 airplane and flew to Port Hardy, British Columbia, to bring the original Orky, the killer whale, to Marineland. But the mission became perilous when an engine blew out on the plane.

“I’m not an emotional guy, but that was quite an experience,” Drews told the podcast.

LA's Own Marineland is made with Jetpack Podcast. Full show notes and every episode at https://marinelandpodcast.com/