[1][2][3] The original layout of the Ocean Center Building had two ground floors: an entrance above the shoreline on the bluff level to take advantage of its address on 110 West Ocean Boulevard, and an east entrance at the base of the Pine Avenue incline providing beach access and accommodating the Walk of a Thousand Lights of The Pike amusement zone.

Though originally built next to the shoreline, a number of geological and engineering changes have made it so today there is a long walk to seawater from the Ocean Center Building.

By the 1950s the sand of the beach had grown so wide that the space between the shoreline and the Ocean Center Building was paved as a parking lot and is now Seaside Way.

Ocean Center has made use of frontage which had originally been a boardwalk placed onto the sand easing access from Pine St. and the shore end of the Long Beach Pier to the bathhouse (1902), later named The Plunge.

The low-tech boardwalk was originally known as The Pike, which later changed context to include the entire entertainment zone of rides, snack stands and midway games.