This silent film promoting the Central Arizona Project, to move water into the desert regions of Arizona, starts with images of water pipes for the Central Arizona Project (;14) and then shows Lake Havasu and the famed London Bridge (1:21). London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London, England. It was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Arizona. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge, which was purchased by Robert P. McCulloch from the City of London. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge numbered and transported to America to construct the present bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal), and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City.
At 2:27 it shows the Big Surf Water Park outside of Tempe. Opened in 1969 and financed by the Clairol Company, it boasted the first wave pool in the United States. The wave pool was designed by Phil Dexter. At a ceremony on August 17, 2013 the Waikiki Beach Wave pool was designated as an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. The recognition is for being the “first inland surfing facility in North America”. The Big Surf Water park became the first amusement park or waterpark to receive such an ASME landmark status.
As one of the claimants of the first and oldest wave pool in the United States, it at one point featured surfing exhibitions and competitions, as well as regular use by patrons of the park. This was largely discontinued in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to safety and liability concerns. Daily surf sessions are held before the park opens to the general public and between 5pm-6pm. Since its opening, Big Surf has added several attractions and replaced its original sand beach with a concrete bottom.
The park celebrated their 40th year anniversary in 2009.[3] On September 2, 2009, it was reported that Big Surf will close indefinitely at the end of the day on Monday, September 7, 2009.[4] However, later that week on September 5th, the Arizona Republic reported that Big Surf would open again in Summer 2010 under the Inland Oceans LLC rather than the Golfland Entertainment, Inc. banner.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
