Rainbow Fountain: Plunge, Tattoo, Cyclone Racer and Penny Arcade

Michael Davis

Four stainless steel sculptures, Plunge, Tattoo, Cyclone Racer, and Penny Arcade are sited within Rainbow Harbor Fountain at the Pike and tell the history of this location, which was an amusement park from 1915 until 1968. Historical photographic images from the Long Beach Historical Society are etched in black granite with didactic text along the wall of the fountain, which also serves as a seating area. Plunge pays tribute to Colonel Charles R. Drake’s Long Beach Bath House, a Romanesque building complete with a saltwater pool, which opened on July 4, 1902. The Plunge transformed the personal activity of swimming and bathing into a social activity. Tattoo acknowledges that, during WWll, Long Beach was the port of call for thousands of servicemen and women who found strength in the communal bond of service to their country. Lifelong friendships were forged with tattoos as indelible memories. Cyclone Racer is much like the development of the aircraft and the automobile in the early 20th century. The amusement devices created for the Pike were marvels of engineering, designed and built by visionaries pushing the limits of technology. Penny Arcade recognizes those who came to America with the clothes on their backs and the vision to start a new life in a land where anything was possible. For many, hard work and creativity transformed a dream into reality.