The Pike was founded in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house.

The amusement zone surrounding the Pike, Silver Spray Pier, was included along with additional parking in the post-World War II expansion; it was all renamed Nu-Pike via a contest winner's submission in the late 1950s, then renamed Queen's Park in the late 1960s in homage to the arrival of the Queen Mary ocean liner in Long Beach.

1979 was the year Long Beach city council refused to renew the land leases and demolished all of the structures and attractions it could that weren't trucked away.

With the surge of health-conscious new residents and the ease of access to a beach near the services of local merchants, Willmore City became a destination.

The grand opening of the bath house, known later as The Plunge, coincided with the inaugural run of the Pacific Electric Railway Long Beach Line on the morning of July 4, 1902 – which established service connecting communities along the line to offices and shopping in downtown Los Angeles as well as bringing bathers and families south to Pacific Ocean shoreline recreation.

Pike was the name of the wooden boardwalk connecting the Pine St. incline of the Long Beach Pier west along the shoreline to The Plunge bath house.

It gradually grew in length, was widened, and later poured in concrete[1] and illuminated with strings of electric bulbs as The Walk of a Thousand Lights, the midway anchoring the widely dispersed attractions and The Pike changed context from the original wooden boardwalk to the entire amusement zone.

As it grew from a simple beach access made of planks to a midway of concessions, it included The Plunge bathhouse (pictured), Sea Side Studio souvenir photography, the Looff carousel, McGruder salt water taffy, pitch and skill games, pony rides, goat carts, fortune teller, weight guesser and a variety of dark and thrill rides, amusements and attractions large and small.

[4][5] In 1954 there were 218 amusements in the park,[6] but during that time the zone began to face stiff competition from Knott's Berry Farm and then Disneyland (both less than 20 miles (32 km) away) and the rough, free-for-all reputation of The Pike may have discouraged some families from attending.

A Kiddieland collection of carnival flat rides, a "Bud" Hurlbut miniature train and petting zoo were installed on the silted-in new sand and public restrooms were built of concrete and cinder-block near a new picnic area, giving it a post-World War II modern look, and the park was renamed "Nu-Pike" as result of a write-in naming contest.

[citation needed] Admission was charged for use of the clear, 'vacuumed', indoor freshwater pool,[8] changing-rooms, and waterslide, all of which lay beyond a colonnade and sundeck.

Opening the Pacific Electric Big Red Car line to Long Beach diminished the importance of the livery, which closed as the automotive culture of Southern California developed.

Several small shop-front theaters, exhibiting side-shows and independent films, came and went along the Walk of a Thousand Lights, but one big (and very tall) one, the Virginia, was later converted into the dark ride Whispering River.

Beginning at the entrance to the Walk of a Thousand Lights through the arcade archway entrance of the last surviving building associated with The Pike, the Ocean Center Building containing Hollywood on the Pike[9] cabaret and an amusement arcade, one could stroll west along the midway past storefront games, such as ball-pitch and shooting galleries, as well as outdoor amusement machines such as fortune predicting weight-scales, and several large indoor collections of coin-operated Electro-mechanical amusements - pinball, skill-prize merchandisers, penny-pitch, nickelodeon viewers, love and strength testers, fortune tellers, the House of Mirrors and more.

[11] Started in 1927, this shop is the last remaining business from the original Pike, and the oldest continuously-operating tattoo studio in the United States.

[12] From low-brow seedy dives like Rudy's (cocktails) and open front liquor stores to upscale cabarets featuring suggestive girly-shows like Hollywood on the Pike, many an opportunity existed for visiting sailors and locals to get drunk.

A variety of eating establishments ranged from snack stands with corn-dogs, cotton candy, popcorn and hot nuts, or one could sit at soda-pop fountains and counter service restaurants like Lee's Barbecue with menus of chicken, ribs and fish meals, to a secluded booth with table service on linen.

[16] The cupola was removed with its crest of popcorn lighted orb and saved intact by Cincola in 2010, but the roof was dismantled, it remains the last surviving original structure of The Pike.

If the structure has one long thin approach of steel to the top of a cylinder and camel-back return, that's Bisby's Spiral Airship.

If the structure pictured is a thick wooden cone spiral slide, the entrance next-door east of Lee's Barbeque with a switchback stairway to a shack on top, the caption should read "Niagara Barrel".

[23] In the mid 1920s, several expansions were made to the area, and the Jack Rabbit Racer was remodeled, raising the ride's dips to a greater height and steepness.

[6][25]) The Cyclone Racer was the last remaining seaside dual-track roller coaster of its kind in the United States until it was disassembled and cataloged in September 1968 with the promise to Long Beach citizens that it would be rebuilt elsewhere.

The city had purchased the RMS Queen Mary in 1967 and permanently docked the ship in Long Beach across the mouth of the Los Angeles River from the shoreline area of the Nu-Pike where a new road circled the parking lot and Londontowne shopping-dining complex serviced by a London Double Deck omnibus to Downtown Long Beach.

In 1999, the California Coastal Commission approved a plan for the construction of The Pike at Rainbow Harbor commercial and entertainment complex in the downtown shoreline area.

[5] The name is only a nod in reference to the original amusement zone, bathing beach and boardwalk — the outdoor shopping mall bears no resemblance whatsoever to its historic predecessor.

[32] Concerns remained over the lack of a nearby recreational bathing beach, and solutions were sought for bringing back the excitement of the area’s heyday.