Crystal Pier San Diego

This guide to Crystal Pier in San Diego opens with the money running out on developer Ernest Pickering's dream of a million-dollar amusement pier in 1925, and the rival builder, Neil Nettleship, who bought the unfinished structure and pushed it to completion. You'll hear about its raucous 1927 opening as the Crystal Pleasure Pier Ballroom and Joy Zone, with a carnival midway, stunt pilots, and a dance floor under a crystal ball, and how quickly that party ended. The guide then turns to what took its place, and to the family that still runs it today.