New Year's Eve in Long Beach - The Penny Scramble on the Pike

In Long Beach, New Year’s Eve has always been a popular time to celebrate. One hundred twenty plus years ago Long Beach festively greeted the New Year with ringing bells, singing songs and tooting horns at a party held at the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle, the major building for city events, was decked out by women of the city with a banner in bright red letters made of flowers which read “Welcome 1898.” Music, songs, recitations were all part of the elaborate program to greet the coming year. But customs changed when the Pike arrived in Long Beach in 1902.

Tabernacle - 3rd St. and Locust

        

            Promoters came up with various ways to lure people to Long Beach’s amusement zone. There was the bathhouse, Looff’s carousel, and various contests. But one of the most popular and long lasting traditions was the penny scramble on New Year’s Eve. It began in 1910 when a hundred pennies were tossed from the bathhouse mezzanine.  The celebration took a hiatus during World War I, but was revived in 1920 when $100 ($1385 in 2021) in pennies was again pitched from the bathhouse.

   

     

Long Beach Bathhouse

     Things became rowdy in 1921 when many were injured in the mad scramble, and some fun zone buildings damaged, in the rush for the copper coins.  Police Chief McLendon declared a ban on repetition of this New Year custom.  But public sentiment won out. The penny scramble was held again the following year, this time, however, the pennies were scattered by a vehicle travelling along the fun zone, instead of from the bathhouse mezzanine.  This seemed to end the destructiveness and the 1922 event was described as “most orderly” by the press.   

Pike - 1921

            For the next 20 years the scramble was held every New Year’s Eve, except in 1932 when the penny toss was postponed because of wet weather.  Even the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 didn’t put an end to New Year’s Eve celebrations on the Pike.  The December 31, 1941 celebration was slightly dimmer than in the past because there were no firework displays, no penny scramble and parade. All had been cancelled in the interest of emergency precautions. However, you could still visit the plunge, hot dog stands and the rest of the amusements in the fun zone.

Press Telegram 10/20/1950

          

        In 1948 the penny scramble was back, but not as a New Year’s Eve event.  This time it was Halloween that brought out the copper coins and  around 500 kids. Held from 1948-1955, every Long Beach youngster was invited to the Pike. Those in costume received a prize booklet of free tickets for rides. There were prizes for best costume, and hats, horns and various favors were distributed.  In 1954 grown-ups wanted to get in on the Halloween fun and an adult penny scramble was held in front of the bathhouse at 11 p.m.

            Adults who remembered the New Year’s Eve penny scramble, wanted to revive the tradition.  On December 31, 1951, their wish was granted when more than 10,000 ($1070 in 2021 money)pennies were tossed out of the historic bathhouse to mark the 50-year-old tradition.  There was even a Miss Pretty Penny of 1952 to preside over the two coin tosses---one scramble held at 10 p.m. and the second at midnight.  

Press Telegram 12/30/1953

       Inflation hit the traditional New Year’s Eve Pike penny scramble in 1961. Nickels, dimes and quarters were thrown along with pennies. At least $200 ($1800 in 2021) was tossed from a truck touring the fun zone between Magnolia Avenue and Pine Avenue from 7 p.m. to midnight. The last penny scramble was held December 31, 1963, when over 10,000  pennies ($930 in 2021)were thrown from a truck touring the 8 block amusement zone at 9:30 p.m.  

           Back in 1910, when the penny scramble began, a penny was worth 30 cents in today's money (2021). Quite a bit when you realize the average US wage that same year was 22 cents per hour. Today we don’t value pennies, if people see one lying on the sidewalk they don’t even bother to pick it up.  There has been talk for years about doing away with the copper coin since it costs more to make it than it is worth, but we have clung onto the coin which is now mostly zinc.

            Like the penny, which has changed in composition, the Pike lives on, but in a different form.  The Pike amusement zone closed just after midnight following Labor Day in 1979, but its name lives on at the new entertainment area known as the Pike at Rainbow Harbor.

Article updated December 24, 2021