California's Once-Thriving Marine Theme Park Is Now A Spectacular Oceanfront Resort An Hour From LA

Many California-born and -raised boomers and Gen Xers fondly remember Marineland of the Pacific from family vacations and elementary school field trips. The once-thriving aquarium (sometimes styled as an oceanarium) opened in 1954, and at the time it was the world's largest, according to SFGate. For decades it thrived, with its performing orcas and swim-through Baja Reef exhibit drawing up to 1 million visitors per year. Then quite suddenly, in 1987, the beloved institution on the Rancho Palos Verdes Peninsula abruptly closed.  The tanks were torn down for safety, then for nearly 20 years, the property sat eerily abandoned, until work on a new resort broke ground in 2006.

Today, the dramatic peninsula where dolphins and whales once frolicked in captivity for the entertainment of biped mammals has been redeveloped as an excluisive luxury destination, the 102-acre Terranea Resort, with golf, a spa, and numerous aquatic adventures. You can brunch at a fine-dining restaurant with a view of Catalina Island, lounge by one of its scenic swimming pools, then bed down in a suite, casita, or bungalow. 

Not all of the peninsula's marine heritage is gone, however. The waters just offshore, where Marineland's trainers used to catch wild sea mammals to populate its exhibits (it was a different time), are still teeming with life. Terranea offers some aquatic activities right off its rugged shore, so depending on your spirit of adventure, you can explore tide pools in formidable coves, or kayak through a kelp forest in search of leopard sharks.

Marineland of the Pacific was a spinoff of a Florida attraction conceived of in 1937 as a movie studio for filming Hollywood scenes involving marine life. Public interest, though, inspired the developers to create an aquatic park instead. In its glory days, Marineland of the Pacific was frequently in the news. In 1967, a much-photographed underwater wedding of a professional stuntwoman to a scuba diver was held in the main tank with 3,000 fish in attendance. The park was popular with celebrities, too. Episodes of "The Lucy Show" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" were shot there. Elvis Presley fed the whales in 1969, and Clint Eastwood was once photographed pulling a six-shooter on a seal in full "Go ahead, make my day!" Dirty Harry mode. All in jest, mind you — another photo shows the same seal giving Eastwood a kiss.

The opening of San Diego's SeaWorld in 1964 stole some of Marineland's thunder, and attendance fell. The park was sold at the end of 1986 to SeaWorld's parent company. Three weeks later, in a scandalous move, Marineland's two beloved orcas, Orky and Corky, were shipped off to SeaWorld in the middle of the night. Three weeks after that, with no advance warning, Marineland announced that it would close forever, effective immediately.

If you're one of the generations who wax nostalgic for Marineland's glory days, you can travel several hours north up the Pacific coast, where the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium is entertaining new generations of tourists and school children. But to visit the site of the original, you'll have to cough up luxury hotel rates.

The developers who built the extravagantly posh Terranea Resort matched the architecture to the Mediterranean climate. Red-tiled roofs and whitewashed walls step down the hillside toward the peninsula's plunging cliffs. Landscaping is lush, with many graceful trees originally planted by Marineland of the Pacific still on site. "Terranea is breathtaking!" writes on Tripadvisor reviewer who visited in July of 2026. "Beautiful, picturesque, gorgeous, soothing, calming, peaceful. All the right vibes!"

In the interest of creating a harmonious natural environment, Terranea has left 75% of its 102-acre site to grow wild. And the peninsula it occupies has a unique ecology. It's actually geologically related to the Channel Islands, aka "America's Galapagos Islands," from which it which split off eons ago to join the mainland; some species of flora are only found within the resort and Channel Islands National Park. On a clear day, you can see Catalina Island, the heart of the Channel Islands, from the resort's grounds.

For Angelenos, a visit to Terranea is a staycation, as it's just a 17-mile drive south of Los Angeles International Airport. You could easily spend a long weekend fully entertained by the resort's spa, nine-hole golf course, and four pools. Should you wish to venture out, the resort will furnish you with a loaner Lexus luxury car for up to three hours so you can explore Palos Verdes, a beach town with Sicily vibes.