By Jorge Casuso

September 19, 2025 -- Six decades after Santa Monica's last funhouse closed at the old Ocean Park Pier, the bygone attraction is back to spook and disorient guests.

The "Funhouse at Pacific Park," the latest attraction at the admission-free amusement park at the Santa Monica Pier, welcomed guests to its "nine mysterious rooms" last week, resurrecting a local attraction dating back to the 1920s.

The 2,800-square-foot funhouse offers "a lost world of spooky, chilling, and haunting experiences" that "disorient, amuse and entertain visitors with optical illusions, tricky layouts, and unexpected surprises," park officials said.

"In all the tinkering and perfecting of the 'Funhouse at Pacific Park,' the sinister magic of coin-operated fortunetellers and the eerie presence of a dessert-wielding clown have once again been unleashed," amusement park officials announced.

The animatronic fortuneteller "seated inside its dusty glass cabinet lures unsuspecting guests into a dizzying adventure -- one that may land them in the back of Sprinkles the Clown's ice cream truck freezer."

"Pacific Park is excited to bring a fresh take on a classic idea to the millions of visitors who enjoy the Pier each year," said Nathan Smithson, Pacific Park's senior director of business affairs.

"This is a unique opportunity to honor the legacy of the original Toonerville Funhouses while crafting a future filled with mystery and awe in the all-new Funhouse at Pacific Park."

The first version of the “Toonerville Funhouses” -- based on the whimsical newspaper comic strip popular more than a century ago -- opened at Ocean Park Pier in the 1920s, according to Pacific Park officials.

The second opened in 1958 at Pacific Ocean Park, which replaced the old pier at the end of Ocean Park Boulevard.

Both attractions -- some two nautical miles south of today’s Pacific Park -- "became icons of seaside amusement before disappearing in the 1970s."

The new "Funhouse at Pacific Park" is part of $10 million in capital investments the amusement park's new owner, SC Holdings, has committed to making over the next five years.

The improvements include "food and entertainment programs, supporting park operations and keeping it a fun and friendly destination for tourists, families, and the community," Pacific Park officials said.

For more information and hours of operation, call 310-260-8744 or visit pacpark.com