Why New Cyclone Racer at Shoreline Was Rejected

Steve Propes
The original Cyclone Racer at the Pike.

Since 2013, Larry Osterhoudt, a Downey engineer, described by respected Long Beach historian, the late Ken Larkey, as the primary authority on the Cyclone Racer, has been waging a battle to restore the famous roller coaster to a site near the original NuPike.

In 2011, a hoped-for return of the Cyclone Race began. “The City Council called for a feasibility study, which was voted on in October 2013,” said Osterhoudt recently. “Then you’ve got management behind their back, saying they’re going to kill it.”

In particular, Osterhoudt brought up the name of Assistant City Manager Tom Modica. “He’s the one behind the fix, kind of like the secret FBI. He’s going to say we did the feasibility study on it, and it came out unfeasible. He sent a memo out, I’ve got the memo myself. A city employee tipped me off he was going to sabotage it. Tom made me jump over hurdles so high, nobody could scale them.”

“When we started this, me and my partner had blueprints drawn up of the pier, it’s 100 percent over the water, nothing encroaching on city land. It’s in a four-and-a-half acre neutral zone, meaning it will not block the flow of the Catalina Cruiser or the L.A. River. It fits nicely between the Catalina Cruiser and the Shoreline Park, parallel to it,” Osterhoudt said.

“The Cyclone Racer is the most impressive, period. Put it against anything, new or old, and it’ll come out number one. When they did that, they were at the pinnacle of what you can do with a Cyclone Racer. Fred Church, the designer created literally a lost technology. Other companies could not copy the technology he had in there to make it do what it is. They don’t understand how everything works in harmony.

“The Cyclone Racer is a complete departure from the modern way they’re doing stuff. It’s the whole experience. That it’s on a pier is a whole experience by itself. It also helps the longevity of the ride,” said Osterhoudt.

“We’ve got private investors. The city’s not going to pay a dime. The city’s the beneficiary of it. They’re the ones who are going to make all the money off it, because it’s going to bring so much business into the town. You need customers to ride your tramway.

“People will pay money to go on a good ride. I’ll put it against any Disney ride, it’s better than any ride. If you’re over here, imagine it over the water, there’s nothing like this thing. Tom Modica’s not a creative person, he doesn’t get it.”

About the alleged hurdles, Osterhoudt recalled, “I had to quickly draw up some prints of the pier, I created the Cyclone Racer prints. I brought this to the meeting with Modica and Amy Bodek, Tom looked at the prints, he said we need Shoreline Park in the plans. It took four months for me to get a set of Shoreline Park blueprints. He thought I was going to give up. Took me almost a year to draw that up. I get it done, contact Modica, he said to me, ‘We can’t look at those things, we need the business proforma now’.”

It was at that point that Modica referred the project to the outside consultancy firm, Keyser Marston Associates (KMA) for their opinion.

Modica was brief in his timely response. “In October 2013 the City Council requested the city conduct a feasibility study of the Cyclone Racer. Staff completed an initial study in January 2014 outlining the process any proposed development would need to undertake, the requirements the development would be responsible for and the various agencies responsible for the approval process. Staff had periodic contact with the proponent over the next several years on his concept, and answered questions he had about how to proceed and his proforma for the project. Finally, at his request, the city used an outside expert to review the proponent’s proforma in May 2018, who came to the conclusion that development opportunity was not feasible.”

Modica supplied a copy of the April 26, 2018 KMA report, which determined “the developer has provided an insufficient level of information for the city to determine the project is feasible.”

KMA specified, “all of these projections need to be substantiated through thorough research as part of the development team’s submittal to the city. The research needs to be specific for this project at this location, particularly given its waterfront location. The expenses need to be expressed on a per unit basis so as to allow comparison of the project to industry norms. Without this information and the accompanying backup data, the project is not considered feasible.”

On May 4, 2018, Modica wrote to Osterhoudt about the KMA findings. “While the city can no longer pursue this opportunity, we are impressed by your commitment and thank you for your creativity and passion.”

steve@beachcomber.news

Category:

Add new comment

Beachcomber

Copyright 2024 Beeler & Associates.

All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced or transmitted – by any means – without publisher's written permission.