The Matchcover Storyteller

This may or may not have been a feature matchbook at one time. The manumark is as a 30 Stick Matchbook by Lion; it does not have the word “Feature” that marks the specific attribute of these highly collectible matchbooks; maybe you have a full one and can let me (us) know. Other collectors suggest no, not a feature…

Jack’s at the Beach was an iconic eatery out at the end of the Ocean Park Pier. He was Jack Compselides, a Greek immigrant who was 25 when he opened a small fish shack on the beach in 1917. He relocated to the end of the pier in the 1940s. Jack died in 1957 and the restaurant was into new hands. It moved inland. You can find it as one of the locales in the 1975 “Claire” episode of TV’s The Rockford files starring James Garner and Linda Evans as Claire. 

The Ocean Park Pier was built around 1920, burned and was rebuilt to open again in 1925. With a roller coaster and other amusements, it was competition for the more famous Santa Monica Pier just up the beach. Ocean Park Pier was gone by about 1970; the SaMo Pier remains a top L.A. tourist destination.