(1900-1910)(1900)(1901)(1902)(1903)(1904)(1905)(1906)(1907)
(1908)(1909)(1910)(1890-1900)(1910-1920) Table of Contents
Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp., 1908, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1902, 1901, 1900, 1892, 1880s, See Text
Philipp Blom, The Vertigo Years, Basic Books: New York, 2008, Briefly Noted: The New Yorker, 5 January 2009, 1910s, See Text
Harry Carr Los Angeles City of Dreams (Illustrated by E.H. Suydam), D. Appleton-Century Co.: NY, 1935, 402 pp., 1935 See Text
Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963, See Text
Color, Myth, and Music: Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism, LACMA Press Release 2001 August 5 through October 28, 2001, 1973, 1900s See Text
David Gebhard and Robert Winter A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles & Southern California, Peregrine Smith: Santa Barbara, 1977, 728pp, 1977, 1966, 1961, 1941, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1930s, 1925, 1921, 1919, 1915, 1910, 1909, 1905, 1910s, 1900, 1895, 1890s See Text
Tom Moran and Tom Sewell Fantasy by the Sea Peace Press: Culver City, CA, 1980 (1979) (Originally published by Beyond Baroque Foundation with a grant from the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts), 1900s, See Text
Esther McCoy Irving Gill 1870-1936 Five California Architects, 1960, Reprinted in Marvin Rand Irving J. Gill: Architect 1870-1936, Gibbs Smith, Publisher: Salt Lake City, UT, Design, Ahde Lahti; Photographs, Marvin Rand, 2006, 238 pp. pp. 219-227, 2006a, 1916, 1900s, See Text
Ocean Park Band Stand: Harry Moore's band playing in front of a crowd on the Ocean Park bandstand, 1900-1910, USC Special Collectios, See Link and Text
Jenny Pirie*, Peter Kastner* and Jeff Mudrick* A Short History of Ocean Park, Ocean Park Community Organization, 1982, (With a 1983 update.) 15pp. 1983, 1930s, 1926, 1920s 1907, 1904, 1900s See Text
Cecilia Rasmussen L.A. Then and Now: In 'Whites Only' Era, an Oasis for L.A.'s Blacks Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2005 B2, 1900s See Text
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1990, 1907, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902. 1900, 1875 See Text
Jeffrey Stanton Venice of America: 'Coney Island of the Pacific,' Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1987. 176 pp., 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1897 See Text
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1910-1900 See Text
Lawrence Weschler Vermeer in Bosnia, Pantheon Books: NY, 2004. (The chapter The Light of L.A. appeared as L.A. Glows in the 23 February 1998 The New Yorker.) 1998, 1900s See Text
Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176pp., 1900s, See Text
Notes, Commentary Text:
In 1900s, Rindge interests succeeded in closing down Santa Monica's booming saloon trade, in part by paying for the loss of business. Perhaps Rindge's death in 1905 took some steam out of the movement. Nonetheless, Ocean Park had, in part, disincorporated from Santa Monica, or incorporated itself in February 1904 as an entertainment haven with centers around Pier Avenue and the Grand Canal in Venice. On reincorporation, the village had set aside all of the beach from Navy to Horizon Sts., for non-commercial use only. Part of the Ocean Park Pier remained in Santa Monica, making only the south side of it available for entertainment development, or they could develop the Horseshoe Pier between Marine and Pier Avenues. [KR Summary, 2007; but see Ingersoll, 1908a]
Documents
Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp., 1908, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1902, 1901, 1900, 1892, 1880s,
Loring's Lunchroom opened on the north shore end of the Santa Monica Pier in 1902. Page 62.
"Actual development in the Venice area began in 1892 when Abbot Kinney, world-traveled connoisseur of art and scenic beauty (and wealthy manufacturer of Sweet Caporal cigarettes), induced the Santa Fe Railroad to extend its tracks northward from Port Ballona . . . that was abandoned in the mid-1880's . . . (p. 76) Kinney actively began in 1900 to build the 'Venice of America' . . . He then began negotiations with Henry E. Huntington's newly organized Pacific Electric Company . . . Huntington constructed the Lagoon Line south from Santa Monica in 1901 and the following year began grading an entirely new route, the Venice Short Line, directly from downtown Los Angeles." (p. 77)
"Ocean Park was Abbot Kinney's first real estate development on Santa Monica Bay. Concentrating on providing resort facilities and vacation housing along the beach, he and his partners constructed a small community in less than five years on land that was formerly sandy waste. In 1901, Ocean Park was a village of 200 cottages with a post office, stores, a pleasure pier (extending 1,250 feet into the ocean), an auditorium, a race track and a casino. The development of Ocean Park coincided with a major influx of newcomers from the midwestern states and, at the same time, a boom in home construction. When the town was incorporated in 1904, there was every indication of rapid growth as a year-round residential area as well as a resort. Despite the immediate success of this venture, Kinney was not satisfied. Being a romantic, he began to concentrate on his dream city, the 'Venice of America.'
"Looking more like a movie set, the Ocean Park Bath House was one of the most talked about buildings of its day-and a great draw for the beach area. The lavish indoor plunge (heated for those who didn't take to cooler ocean swimming) was built by A.R. Fraser, who earlier had been a partner with Abbot Kinney and others in the Ocean Park Improvement Company. The bath house is shown here just before completion in 1905." page 68 [picture on pp. 68 and 69]
"Gateway to the Ocean Park Pier, ca 1905. This promenade of casinos, cafes, and game parlors, eventually became Pier Avenue. View looking east." (p. 70)
"Ocean Park's first beach houses along the boardwalk, ca 1900. The small white building, just below the crest of the hill (left center) is the original Washington School, located at Fourth Street and Ashland." p. 71
"Ocean Park Casino, 1902. It was considered 'the' place for tennis and teas." p. 73
"With Ocean Park and Venice taking up the 'carnival spirit,' Santa Monica began emphasizing ease of living, the quiet home life . . . it had a reputation for being a tough town. 'Passengers on the Balloon Route should be blindfolded while passing through Santa Monica.' The town was wide open. Saloons flourished. Park benches and street corners were 'strewn with unsavory characters.'
"By . . . 1906 Santa Monica no longer catered to beach crowds who had abandoned it in favor of Ocean Park and Venice. (p. 82)
[p. 86 picture of the Ocean Park Fire House & Hose Cart, 1902.]
"Santa Monica's reputation . . . as a placid community was shattered in 1908 . . . the movie industry . . . " p. 88
[Pictures on page 93 shown some Ocean Park building detals.]
Philipp Blom, The Vertigo Years, Basic Books: New York, 2008, Briefly Noted: The New Yorker, 5 January 2009
"Blom's engrossing history begins with an invitation: "Imagine yourself looking at the years 1900 to 1914 without the long shadows of the future darkening their historical present." His imaginative re-creation of this period argues that speed-both literal and figurative-came to typify and, ultimately, define modern life. This was the age that gave rise not only to Futurism and Vorticism but also to car racing and the electric chair. Precipitate change also ushered in an age of uncertainty and attraction to the seeming stability of the past. The book's strength is also its charm-a multifaceted, panoramic approach animated by vivacious narration of individual stories, such as that of Eugene Sandow, the wildly popular Prussian bodybuilder and pioneering fitness mogul who counted George V and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle among his friends."
Harry Carr Los Angeles City of Dreams (Illustrated by E.H. Suydam), D. Appleton-Century Co.: NY, 1935, 402 pp., 1935
[ p. 153] "Very few of the old-timers have made money out of real estate in Los Angeles. It is the new-comers who always gather in the ore. When Hollywood was first opened, Paul de Longpre, the French flower-painter, put up a beautiful house in the middle of a hay-field. We all laughed . . . some thought it was a shame to bilk an innocent foreigner. The general opinion was that if one didn't get his money another would, so why interfere with the foreordinations of Providence. He started the Hollywood vogue and saw his investment multiply many times in value.
" . . .
Chapter XV Underneath the Surface
[p. 184] "Tennis was brought to California by English people at Santa Monica. A Britisher named Bob Carter was perennial champion and his sister May Carter mowed down all the women. When they retired Lewis R. Freeman, now a well-known author, took the cups-with Alfonso Bell, who owned a dairy ranch near Santa Fe Springs. The discovery of oil near his cow barns made him rich beyond the dreams of avarice. I well remember the day when a little girl named Violet Sutton stepped onto the tournament courts for the first time and swept off all the honors. The next year her younger sister, May Sutton, started and became the champion of the world.
" . . .
Chapter XV Underneath the Surface
"[p. 182] With the coming of the new century, automobiles came in . . . "In no other part of the world did motor cars make a more sweeping change in the customs, the thought or the manner of life of the people. For one thing, they scattered the pueblo all over the map. People went to the outlying sections where they could have room and the bucolic atmosphere. They brought the desert, the mountains and the sea into the daily life of the pueblo. A great many people of moderate means have a city home, a beach cottage and a mountain or desert cabin. Most of all, the automobile brought to the pueblo the consciousness of its traditions. It was not until we were able to motor to the old missions that the architecture of Los Angeles "went Spanish"-or that we remembered the flavor and speech of the conquistadores.
" . . .
[p. 233] Chapter XIX So This is Los Angeles
" . . .
[p. 238] [In 1935] "There isn't much left of Chinatown. You can still see the scarlet news bulletins on the side of the brick building where Sun Yat Sen, the George Washington of China, sat with Homer Lea-that strange military genius confined in a crippled body-and planned the revolution that was to end the Imperial sway of the Manchus in the Forbidden City of Pekin.
" . . .
Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963).
"During a period of six turbulent years from 1901 to 1907, more growing pains plagued the city fathers of Santa Monica. The anti-prohibition campaign waged fiercely, the question of the legal separation of the north side (Santa Monica) from the south side (Ocean Park) became an open issue, and finally, the topic of providing a suitable city hall engaged a great deal of attention. After many town meetings, a great deal of oratory, the appointment of special committees, the board of trustees called a special election for the reorganization of the city government and to vote on bonds for the construction of an adequate city hall. The bonds were passed for the new city hall and the building was completed in 1903. [80. Santa Monica Evening Outlook July 8, 1950, p. 3B.]
" . . .
". . . With the granting of a city charter to Santa Monica in 1906, the schools passed from the jurisdiction of the County Superintendent of Schools to that of the Santa Monica Board of Education. This change afforded the city an opportunity, through its Board of Education, to create its own courses of study and establish its own educational policies, in accord with the general school law of the state.
" . . .
"On May 2, 1906, the voters of Santa Monica again turned out to the polls in even larger numbers and approved the bonds by a vote of 288 to 66. The women of the Circle had once again secured a record vote approving another $60,000 worth of school bonds, an almost stupendous sum for the small beach city to assume when it had virtually no industry to help increase its assessed valuation. In 1907, the property value of the Santa Monica School District totaled $194,000 with an outstanding indebtedness of over $129,000. [25. Annual Report, Santa Monica City Schools, 1906-07, unpublished report in files of Santa Monica Board of Education.]
As a result of the three school bond issues, six new buildings were added to the district in less than two years. The buildings ranged in size from the one-room Westside School to the large eight-room buildings for the Garfield and Jefferson schools. A brief account of some of the salient historical events is presented for each of these schools.
Garfield School
Garfield School, the eight-room, two-story, brick building which rose at Seventh Street and Michigan Avenue at an approximate cost of $22,828, began its existence in 1906.
Nettie B. Rice, who had been with the schools since 1903, opened Garfield School as principal with a staff of four teachers. She remained in that position until 1921, when she went into high school work. Garfield School accommodated grades one through eight, a fact which created special problems since the size of the playground prevented the older pupils from playing ball because it endangered the smaller ones in their play. Additional property soon provided the necessary play space, however.
Some of the modern school functions that today are accepted as a matter of course, had their inception in the difficulties experienced at Garfield with its mixed pupil population. "Spanish Hills" on the south, the Chinese farm children on the north and east, side by side with a settlement of Negro families and a scattering of Italians, Japanese, and Russians-all added to the melting pot area that surrounds the school. [27. Personal interview with Sadie Jenkins, May 8, 1951; Santa Monica, California.);
The first school cafeteria was established in the Garfield School to help provide adequate nourishment for children from some of these homes. Miss Rice described the development of the cafeteria program as follows:
"Many of the children came to school hungry because both home and labor conditions were bad. In the belief that a hungry stomach and a fertile brain do not go hand in hand, an attempt was made to remedy the situation. For a time the Imperial Ice Company, through the kindness of Mr. J. Howard Blanchard, the owner and a member of the board of education, furnished and delivered all the skimmed milk we could use. The French Bakery at the corner of Michigan and Seventh Street, gave us all their day old bread. Children who had come to school without food were served warm milk and toast."The crude little cafeteria, its only cook-stove the school furnace, was a far cry from the modern school cafeterias today, yet it served it purpose. With hard times country wide, the need at Garfield grew. Kind women, among them Mrs. Blanchard, Mrs. Carrie Parker, Mrs. Mae Fogel, and Mrs. Abbott Kinney supplied that need with hot soup that was served to the hungry children without charge." [Pearl, op. cit., p. 36-7.]
"The first Parent-Teachers Association in Santa Monica was established at the Garfield School, its first president being Mrs. H.R. Morton. Both Mrs. Fogel and Mrs. D.G. Stephens, who assisted at the first meeting, continued their sponsorship of the organization for a number of years and were instrumental in its spreading to other schools in Santa Monica,. [29. Ibid., p. 39.] The present units of the association can point with pride to the services they have rendered throughout the years to the Santa Monica City Schools.
"It was at Garfield, too, that Santa Monica's first "opportunity" or ungraded rooms were established, when Superintendent Martin discovered that pupils from the ages of eight to eighteen were still attending the primary grades. Emily Rhodes was appointed to conduct these new ungraded grammar grades, while the primary division was under the direction of Marie Donahue. The philosophy underlying the program was utilitarian in character, as evidenced by the fact that a part of the "opportunity" training was devoted to instruction in gardening. On a plot of ground adjoining the school, and loaned by its owner for the purpose, the classes planted and harvested vegetable gardens. Part of the produce was used in the school cafeteria and part was sold to provide seeds, fertilizer, and tools for the project.
" . . .
The present chapter begins with a description of a campaign waged by the Board of Education to establish a separate high school and remove the higher grades from their cramped quarters in the original Sixth Street school. Undaunted by the defeat of a bond issue to erect a high school, the Board submitted another proposition to the vote of the electors to build an additional grammar school. Upon the approval of the bonds and the construction of the Lincoln School, the Board proceeded to rent the new building to the high school. Thus was their original purpose achieved.
Santa Monica High School
In 1910, twelve years after the revelation by the Weekly Signal, [48. Supra, p. 110] it had become an established fact that the high school had outgrown the "borrowed" Lincoln School building, and that a new building must be provided. The Board desired to find a site that was large enough to meet the existing needs of the high school and to allow for future development. A good many people thought that it would be expedient to consolidate the two sections of the town by building a polytechnic high school where it would serve both areas. Thus, at a public meeting in the City Hall, called October 27, 1910, school functionaries of both Ocean Park and Santa Monica gathered to discuss the feasibility of such a plan. [49. Board Minutes, Oct. 27, 1910.]
In the early days, a good deal of bitterness had developed between the community that lay south of the arroyo and that which comprised the north section of Santa Monica. The southern portion of the city began to impute the city leaders from the north with unprogressiveness. As early as 1900, Ocean Park had had its own water system, post office, amusement pier, race track, and golf course. The fact that Ocean Park had developed its own business section and had its own school, churches, and civic organizations made the southsiders somewhat independent. Ocean Park, moreover, had become popular with summer visitors, a fact which some of the more conservative Santa Monica residents were inclined to minimize by referring to its amusement pier as "cheap and gaudy," and averred that it attracted "undesirable elements." The phenomenal growth of Ocean Park, they said, belonged in the "mushroom" category. [50. Pearl op. cit., p. 89.]
It is not surprising, then, that the strong feelings of each side of town precluded an immediate solution to the problem of locating the high school. But the meeting of October 27 was not entirely without results, for an advisory committee to represent the city, in cooperation with the Board of Education, was appointed. This committee consisted of Roy Jones, chairman; George D. Snyder, secretary; Carl F. Schader, Robert White, and Horace M. Rebok. It later was expanded and became known as the "Committee of Fifty," [51. Ibid., p. 90.]
On December 12, 1910, a resolution was adopted by the Board of Education declaring its intention to call an election for a $200,000 bond issue. [52. Board Minutes, Dec. 12, 1910.] On the same date, another resolution was adopted declaring the board's intention to establish the high school on Prospect Hill located between Fourth and Sixth Streets and between Michigan and Fremont Avenues. [53. Loc. cit.] Prospect Hill, a spot rich in local history, had been selected for the high school site partly because of its location midway between the two sections interested in it, and partly because of its topographic features. At its crest, the hill stands 120 feet above sea level, and offers a view of the entire city. A visitor once said of the spot:
" . . . in 1903 he [W.S. Vawter] was again elected city trustee and served until 1906.
" . . .
[p. 284] Public Institutions:
Board of Trade-Chamber of Commerce-Improvement Club-Board of Trade-Chamber of Commerce-Santa Monica Municipal League-Santa Monica Board of Trade
[p. 284] The Outlook of September 6th, 1901, announces: "Santa Monica is well on the road looking to be an efficient organization of business men and other representative citizens. The ball was started rolling last evening when a largely attended meeting was held in the town hall for the purpose of organizing a [p. 285] Board of Trade." . . . The question of bonds on civic improvement; of a sanitarium, and various subjects of public interest were brought before the public by the efforts of the Board of Trade; but it seems soon to have lost its grip.
July 9th, 1903, the ever hopeful scribe of the Outlook writes: "It would seem that the business men of Santa Monica have at last awakened to the necessity of doing something in the way of raising the standard of the amusements, improvements, etc., of this town, and that they mean to stay awake." A large and "enthusiastic" meeting of the business men was held to discuss the situation and it was agreed by all that something must be done at once, or Santa Monica would lose her prestige as a summer resort entirely. As many of those present had been members of the old Chamber of Commerce, it was decided to revive that organization. . . . A committee to secure amusements and music for the summer season was appointed and secured funds for band concerts during the season. It was also arranged for dances and various attractions on the beach, but this seems to have been the extent of their efforts and nothing more is heard of the organization.
The next organization to "improve" the city of Santa Monica was the Municipal League. This was formed May 18th, 1904, . . . It proposed among other things, to prepare a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of Santa Monica, for distribution; also to prepare an exhibit for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, but the only real accomplishment seems to have been a Fourth of July celebration and the securing of a band to play during the summer season.
June 1st, 1905, the Santa Monica Municipal League changed its name to become the Santa Monica Board of Trade, . . .This organization has proved vital and has been an important factor in the rapid progress of the past two years. Among some of its achievements of the first year's real work were the issuing of 20,000 copies of a neat booklet advertising Santa Monica; the publishing of an advertisement of Santa Monica in the Pacific Monthly for six months; efficient aid in the securing of annexation of territory to the city, and in securing better lighting and other improvements for the municipality.
At the seond annual meeting, August 10th, 1906, . . .
" . . .
Much valuable work for the good of Santa Monica was accomplished during the new year of 1906-07. One of the most important moves was the effort made to secure free mail delivery and the promise finally secured that such delivery would be provided for as soon as arrangements could be completed. Attention of the department was also drawn to the inadequate accomodations furnished the Santa Monica postoffice and the result has been the securing of new and ample quarters. Another important step was the action of the board, in recommending that Santa Monica merchants withdraw their business from the L.A.P. road until that company granted a five-cent fare within the city limits. Largely through the action of this body, the fine system of lighting Ocean avenue was adopted. But the most important work of the organization was in connection with the sewer problem. It secured and presented the plan of disposal which has finally been adopted and which it is confidently believed will settle for all time this troublesome subject which has disturbed the peace of mind of the community for many years.
[p. 286] At the third annual meeting held in October, 1907, Mr. Hull declined to be re-elected, and J.J. Seymour was chosen as president, R. Fogel was elected vice-president, and W.K. Cowan, treasurer.
" . . .
Color, Myth, and Music: Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism, LACMA Press Release 2001 August 5 through October 28, 2001, 1973, 1900s
Macdonald-Wright's mural in Santa Monica Public Library.
"When Stanton Macdonald-Wright arrived in Santa Monica in 1900, he and it were very young. He was 10. The little beach town had just marked its 25th year and had only 3,000 residents.
"Archibald Wright and Annie Wright moved to Santa Monica from Charlottesville, Virginia with their two sons, Willard, 13, and Stanton, 10, when Wright, having sold his Virginia properties, took a job as manager of the Arcadia Hotel, then said to be the finest hotel on the Southern California coast.
"A number of remarkable people have made their marks in Santa Monica, but arguably none is quite as remarkable as Stanton Macdonald-Wright.
A Prince of a Boy
"Young Stanton believed that he was a prince, read voraciously, studied with tutors, caroused with other renegades, attended the Art Students' League of Los Angeles, worked briefly and unmemorably in a doctor's office and department store and, at 17, married the first of his five wives.
"His wife was older than he, and rich, and they soon left Santa Monica for Paris where he attended classes at the Sorbonne and studied painting at several traditional academies. But he soon abandoned formal study to explore the radical new approaches of Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, and Orphism that were then emerging and challenging traditional art. It was then that he met Morgan Russell and was introduced to Matisse, Rodin, Percyval Tudor-Hart, a Canadian painter and color theorist, and collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein.
"On August 4, the first full retrospective of Macdonald-Wright's work will open at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He was one of America's early modernist masters, and the exhibition (which will run through October 28), Color, Myth and Music: Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Synchromism examines the evolution of his art from his important Synchromist works, continues with his masterful Asian-influenced paintings, and offers a selection of the stunning synchromies painted in the final years of his life. Spanning six decades, the exhibition includes more than 60 works and much archival material."
David Gebhard and Robert Winter A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles & Southern California, Peregrine Smith: Santa Barbara, 1977, 728 pp., 1977, 1925, 1921, 1919, 1915, 1910, 1909, 1905, 1910s, 1900, 1895, 1890s,
" . . . the wholesale exploitation of Mission elements, often with Moorish effects that the Franciscans had not thought of, into a new style-the Mission Revival or simply the Mission style (ca. 1891-1915). . . adapting it to houses, museums, railroad stations, school buildings, city halls and of course churches, to the point that . . . it became an emblem of a region.
"Ironically, like Frederick Jackson Turner's winds of democracy, the Mission style blew east, becoming a favored style for amusement parks and recreational buildings and here and there a house (without palm trees. There is, indeed, a Mission-Revival band instrument factory in Elkhart, Indiana. More importantly, the style looked two ways. On one hand it heralded the treasure trove of Iberia and anticipated the San Diego Fair of 1915 where Churrigueresque, Plateresque and Moorish details were displayed, causing a craze for a Spanish Colonial Revival in the twenties. On the other hand the broad white stucco surfaces and deep recesses indicated the possibilities of a style which would reflect the Spanish-Mexican heritage and the climate of a country where the sun usually shines and, at the same time, an economy of ornament which might lead to a new style. Thus, while buildings in the Mission style are often awkward, even ugly; the style, in the hands of a consumate artist, such as Irving Gill, could be beautiful. In fact, Gill's work often resembles the European International style which was developing at the same time. But Gill was far in advance of his European contemporaries in his sensitivity to nature. Where foreign designs seem to have been intended to contrast with the natural surroundings, Gill took great interest in bringing nature to the house. His favorite device was the pergola, but it is also significant that he went so far as to put an almost imperceptible green tint into what otherwise seems to be white paint and used it on interior walls in order to complement the natural surroundings.
"Unfortunately Gill was almost a prophet without honor in his own country. His essays in abstraction and simplification were rarely imitated, and what has happened to most of them forms a sorry chapter in the history of the destruction of the usable past." p. 18
"The mention of Gill and his connection with the Mission style should be a reminder that both he and his style were part and parcel of the contemporaneous Arts and Crafts or Craftsman movement . . . The epicenter of the Craftsman movement was not East Aurora, Eastwood, Oak Park or even Berkeley . . . but Southern California. It is surprising that a style which used so much wood as a symbol of the love of work that the machine had wiped out should have gained such enormous popularity in an area where there are few forests and where the danger of dry-rot and infestation by termites would seem to make it the worst possible material . . . the vision which promoted Southern California as a haven from the cruelties of life and automatically promoted a style which would fit into picturesque surroundings . . . favored by the intellectual and artistic elites who are always conscious of the necessity to wage eternal war on crass materialism.
"It was also in Southern California that the bungalow, the apotheosis of William Morris' notion of a proletarian art that he could never himself attain, found its true home. Here a young family on the make, a sick family on the mend or an old family on meagre savings could build a woodsy place in the sun with palm trees and a rose garden. The California bungalow, whatever its size or quality of workmanship, was the closest thing to a democratic art that has ever been produced. Even when it became a high-art product, it was as much a tribute to the carpenters who lovingly put together the wood details as the architects who designed them. The high-art Gamble House and the low-art bungalow both convey a message that you can do it yourself if you only have the moral conviction. In the bunglow court-another of Southern California's great inventions-which started around 1910 in Pasadena, the advantage of the bungalow was reduced to dollhouse-like dwellings which still managed to convey the sense of the single family dwelling set in a garden." pp. 19 and 20
"38. Santa Monica Pier 1909-1921; City of Santa Monica Engineers, End of Colorado.
"One of the real joys of Santa Monica, rain or shine. You can still drive or walk out to the end. On weekends the railings are lined with people fishing or just looking. Restaurants, curio shops and amusement palaces line the south side of the pier. But the hit architecturally and musically is the merry-go-round with (a)1900 Wurlitzer automatic organ whooping it up on weekends and during fine summer days." pp. 57 & 58
"43. Faust House ca. 1905, 2911 4th
"The Mission Revival at its best. Again, time and man have not dealt kindly with this building. {photo}
"44. Vawter House ca. 1895, 504 Pier
"Shingle style with a touch of Queen Anne decoration, this was the home of an early Santa Monica family and with its porch on two sides suggests the seaside resort that Santa Monica was and is." p. 59
Esther McCoy Irving Gill 1870-1936 Five California Architects, 1960, Reprinted in Marvin Rand Irving J. Gill: Architect 1870-1936, Gibbs Smith, Publisher: Salt Lake City, UT, Design, Ahde Lahti; Photographs, Marvin Rand, 2006, 238 pp. pp. 219-227, 2006a, 1916, 1900s,
"Gill performed an enormous service to his profession at a time when, in the West, the contractor was considered the proper person to design everything except public buildings and large residences, which were almost invariably done in revival styles. The wide acceptance of an architect in a town under 25,000 in the first decade of the century was extraordinary, and Gill deserved much of the credit. He was on [the list] of the first ten members of the American Institute of Architects in San Diego.
"According to Louis J. Gill, who went to work for him in 1911, "His office was larger than any of those in Syracuse, and San Diego was then still a small town. He had six draftsmen, an outside superintendent and a secretary."
"Gill was responsible for turning his nephew to architecture. In 1902, Louis, a junior in high school, worked during the summer on the construction of the Mason house. Louis's father was the building contactor; he had built two of Gill's houses in the East.
"Louis Gill recalled that when he entered architectural school his "Uncle Jack" was not too approving, but asked him to study German so he could translate some articles for him. These may have been the writings of Otto Wagner, the Viennese architect whose work, according to Lloyd Wright, interested Gill.
Tom Moran and Tom Sewell Fantasy by the Sea Peace Press: Culver City, CA, 1980 (1979) (Originally published by Beyond Baroque Foundation with a grant from the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts)
Introduction
"From its very beginning an aura of fantasy surrounded the tiny Southern California community of Venice. Shortly after the turn of the century, Abbot Kinney*, a wealthy and eccentric developer, announced he was going to recreate Italy's ancient city of canals on a tract of swamp and sand . . .
" . . .
"The cultural ambitions were to flounder and the illusion of an Italian Venice soon became transparent. The town took on a different flavor. Its principal industries became amusement and diversion. Circus clowns, jazz trumpets and thrill rides established Venice as the setting for escape from worldly care. The atmosphere of temporal delight was to make Venice a resort of national reputation."
Circus
"Abbot Kinney invited the Sell-Floto Circus to spend the winter season of 1906-1907 at Venice.The circus arrived by train and set up headquarters near the Midway-Plaisance.
"During the week the circus performers practiced their acts for the spring touring season. On weekends they gave big-top performances for the Venice tourist crowds.
"Sells-Floto returned for the 1907-1908 winter Its featured acts included Del Fugo the clown, the Eddy family of acrobats, Sharpe's equestrian team, Buffalo Bill and Zora, "the world's bravest woman."
"The Ranch 101 Wild West Show wintered at Venice with a complement of 400 horses and 100 Indians.
"Paul Shoup, president of the Pacific Electric Railroad, and Abbot Kinney negotiated with the Al G. Barnes circus to establish permanent winter quarters at Venice.
"The Barnes Circus arrived in 1910 with a payroll of 506 employees and a menagerie of 600 animals. Highlighting animal trainers Louis Roth and Mabel Stark, the circus featured boxing kangaroos, wrestling bears and a singing mule.
"Problems of coexistence with the residential population plagued the circus people. A 1919 petition asked that the circus not be permitted to return to Venice because of "diseases, the low element they attract and the destruction of property they cause."
"The Al Barnes circus was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1929. Sells-Floto was absorbed by Ringling the following year."
Ocean Park Band Stand: Harry Moore's band playing in front of a crowd on the Ocean Park bandstand, 1900-1910, USC Special Collectios
http://digarc.usc.edu/search/controller/view/chs-m6632.html?x=1226440051233
Harry Moore's band playing in front of a crowd on the Ocean Park bandstand, 1900-1910
Description: Photograph of Harry Moore's band playing in front of a crowd on the Ocean Park bandstand, 1900-1910. The bandstand is at right and the band is visible inside a large archway. Dozens of people, many holding umbrellas, are seated in chairs in front of the band, watching. Attached to the bandstand at right is a casino, and a pier juts into the water behind the bandstand building. More people can be seen seated on benches at left near the water's edge. A small shack on the edge of the pier is adorned with the words "Wharf Fish and Tackle Co. Poles for Rent".
Title: Harry Moore's band playing in front of a crowd on the Ocean Park bandstand, 1900-1910; Record ID: chs-m6632
Jenny Pirie,* Peter Kastner* and Jeff Mudrick* A Short History of Ocean Park, Ocean Park Community Organization, 1982, (With a 1983 update.) 15pp. 1983, 1930s, 1926, 1920s 1907, 1904, 1900s
"In its earliest days, Ocean Park was almost as much a carnival as a town. Crowded alongside the two hundred or so wood-frame "cottages" were a pleasure pier, an auditorium, a race-track, and a casino, in addition to the huge and ornate bulk of the Turkish Bathhouse, looking more like a movie set than an actual building. A turn-of-the-century photograph of what later became Pier Avenue shows a stylishly dressed crowd moving along a street made up chiefly of cafes, casinos, and gambling parlors, stretching toward the hill on the east side of town.
"The people of Ocean Park experimented with incorporation in 1904, and then decided to "dis-incorporate" in 1907. The town was partly absorbed by Santa Monica, and partly by Venice; but its character remained the same all through the nineteen-twenties and thirties: a thriving summer resort area, attracting out-of-state visitors and the local elite to the wealth of available entertainment opportunities.
Cecilia Rasmussen L.A. Then and Now: In 'Whites Only' Era, an Oasis for L.A.'s Blacks Los Angeles Times, 3 July 2005 B2, 1900s
"Since the early 1900s, a black community had thrived near 4th and Bay streets, where the 100-year-old Phillips Chapel CME Church stands today. But coastal land was becoming more valuable and, as Santa Monica's black population increased, whites' hostility and racism grew."
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1909, 1907, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902. 1900, 1875
Chapter 1: Santa Monica's North Beach (1875-1907)
"Santa Monica's citizens and city government were becoming more and more puritanical as the turn of the century neared. In 1900, the town voted 305 to 218 to ban saloons, but allowed restaurants and hotels to continue to serve alcoholic beverages. That year Ocean Park citizens became paranoid and circulated petitions advocating secession from Santa Monica. An election was finally held in the fall, but separatist's efforts failed; 341-59.
"In 1902, Fredrick Rindge's Good Government League swept into power [in Santa Monica]. A total prohibition ordinance, at the urging of the Anti-Saloon League was placed on the June 1903 ballot. It lost 543 to 286.
" . . .
"Abbot Kinney* was a dreamer who had the knack of making his dreams come true. After he and his partners split up their Ocean Park property in 1904, Kinney . . . [chose] the salt marsh.
"He used his share of the profits of his family's tobacco business to create a planned community complete with . . . Three trolley lines provided transportation for thousands of visitors from Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
". . . His former partners in Ocean Park were forced to compete and they too built a beautiful new plunge and expanded their pier facilities. Santa Monica's more conservative business community sat back and watched." p. 19
(Photo caption, p. 19, A 1905 spring storm did considerable damage to North Beach's pier and promenade)
"The growth of Santa Monica and the need to dispose of the city sewage became the primary impetus in building it first Municipal Pier. The city had been dumping its sewage at the Pier Street outfall beneath Ocean Park's Pier, but by 1907, its capacity was becoming overloaded and its agreement with Ocean Park ended. In those days it was necessary for health reasons to build a long pier or wharf to carry the outfall pipe far enough so that the tides would carry the untreated sewage out to sea.
"Since the city wasn't able to make alternate arrangements they had no choice but to hold a sewer bond election on September 27, 1907 . . .
"The funds were to be used to construct a municipal pier . . . whose concrete construction specifications were specified on the ballot, and a sewage pumping plant near the foot of the pier.
"The city engineers advertised for designers to submit plans after the War Department approved the project in November. . . .
" . . .
" . . . Stutzer Cement Co. of Venice won the contract . . .
" . . ." p. 21
" . . . In August 1908 Mr. Stutzer's crane at the concrete pile works fell and knocked down the power lines at the nearby Edison plant. Later that month heavy seas damaged both his false pier and the nearby North Beach Pier . . .
" . . . on Friday, February 12, 1909, a severe winter storm struck and carried much of the pier's temporary scaffolding (false work) out to sea. Many wooden pilings snapped and the pile driver rested on the bottom of the ocean. The concrete piles, which were out to the 1060 foot mark, held like a rock." p. 23
". . . the City Council [decided] to change the pier's deck from asphalt to concrete, delayed the pier's opening until Admissions Day.
" . . .[North Beach interests] They envisioned a first class cafe overlooking the ocean on one side of the pier and a pavilion on the other side which could be used for picnic parties. The plaza, which the city was pouring at the foot of Colorado in front of the pier would feature a bandstand.
" . . . There were pipes for drinking water, toilets, and a two inch galvanized railing. The pier's T's would be fitted with a sun parlor, cafe, and concessions catering to the fishermen. The $10,000 electrolytic plant, established on shore for purifying the sewage, was tested and ready to discharge its sludge at the end of the pier.
"A flotilla of Navy warships, two cruisers and four torpedo boats arrived in time for Admissions Day. The festivities began with a parade led by Gregory's Band and a contingent of marines from the cruisers, St. Louis and Albany. Five thousand people listened to the dedication speeches by Santa Monica's Mayor, T.H. Dudley, then adjourned to watch the afternoon swimming and surf boat races. A diving board was set up on the pier for the high diving contest.
"The evening's entertainment included a band concert followed by a tableau vivant, Surrender of the Rex Neptune, that began after dark. The play was a modern day equivalent of a pagan ritual where King Neptune, god of the sea, was asked to spare the new pier.
"The show began when a monster with fiery eyes was seen approaching the outer end of the pier. A bugler on watch sounded the alarm. A fairy and a queen representing Santa Monica advanced to met the monster at the pier's first T. The monster was commanded to halt and when the fairy waved her magic wand, it disappeared. A beautiful shell stood in its place.
"The pier's lights, which were then turned on, revealed a shell bordered with a row of lights. King Neptune sat on the throne beside a reclining mermaid. The Queen asked why Neptune had destroyed so many bay piers. He jested that he did it for the fun of it. She informed him that his fun was now at an end as the cement age had arrived. The new pier on which he stood was concrete and indestructible.
"Neptune surveyed the pier in amazement, surrendered to the Queen and was ordered back to the depths. The crowned Queen, attired in a flowing white robe and carrying a scepter mounted the throne vacated by Neptune. The lights went out and a blaze of fire erupted atop a 65 foot high tower. Neptune covered by flames dove into the sea. Afterwards a climatic fireworks show thrilled the thousands who watched from the bluffs, pier and beach. . . ." p. 24.
"Once the Municipal pier was open, the city and others began improvements. The city committed themselves to building a twenty foot wide esplanade along the beach, south from Colorado to the Bristol Pier at Hollister St. It formed a continuous walkway to Venice when it was completed the following spring. A syndicate, headed by Carl Schader, planned to build a new luxury hotel on the site of the demolished Arcadia. . . . October 1909.
"T.J. Hampton and W.H. Bainbridge filed an application with the U.S. Engineer's office to build a breakwater 4000 feet in length extending north from the Municipal Pier. This concrete wall, which was 2000 feet from shore in 5 1/2 fathoms of water, would enclose a harbor for pleasure and fishing boats. They also planned to construct a bathhouse and hotel. The hotel would have an open court with a waterway where motor boats could come to a landing inside the hotel. Government permission to build was secured at the end of the year.
"The Santa Monica Harbor and Improvement Company . . .
" . . . closed its office and vanished with the stockholder's money."
"In Dec. [1910] the Southern Pacific dashed any lingering hopes that the city would retain . . . a harbor . . ."
Jeffrey Stanton Venice of America: 'Coney Island of the Pacific,' Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1987. 176 pp., 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1897,
Chapter I: Building Venice of America (1904-1906)
[p. 7 photo of Ocean Front Walk 1906 looking north to the Fraser Pier]
"The southern half of their Ocean Park property consisted mostly of sand dunes fronting unusable swampy marsh, while the northern half had become a very popular and fashionable resort. A large number of beach cottages had been built and some permanent residents were beginning to settle in the area. A casino, containing a restaurant and vaudeville theater, was built beside the pier in summer 1903 as a replacement for the Auditorium that burned in 1897. There were plans for an immense bathing pavilion complete with plunge, ballroom and amphitheater to be built on the boardwalk south of the pier." pp. 6 & 7
[pp. 8 & 9 photos of the Ocean Park Plunge, 1905; Ingersoll's Toboggan Railroad. 1903; The Ocean Park Bathhouse, and the beach north(sic) of the Ocean Park Pier.]
"The Los Angeles Pacific had first extended tracks south from Santa Monica in 1901. A short line was completed in 1902 directly from Los Angeles. Its route was across bean field, following what is now Venice Boulevard, then north along Electric Way to Ocean Park. By 1903 Kinney had persuaded E.H. Harriman to extend its tracks directly to the beachfront." p. 8.
[p. 10 photos of Pier Street entrance to Ocean Park Pier, 1905 and Bandstand and Casino at the Ocean Park Pier, 1905.]
"Disaster struck in February and March [1905]. The heaviest storms in more than a generation . . . the beach was littered with one vast pile of driftwood from both Kinney's and Ocean Park's piers. . . . " p. 12
[Yet by July 4, 1905, 40,000 people poured into Venice of America. Arend's forty piece Italian band played on the bandstand at the foot of the [Venice] pier. p. 13]
"Ocean Park had a small celebration of its own that Fourth of July. Kinney's ex-partners [Fraser, Jones and Gage] dedicated their new bathing pavilion. The $150,000 building, with its graceful dome and turrets, was the pride of Ocean Park. Its interior contained a 70 by 70 foot salt water plunge and hundreds of dressing rooms. Patrons could rent the latest in bathing attire. At night the electric lights were ablaze, its thickly beaded towers made it look like a fairy palace silhouetted against the sky.
"It was apparent that these men weren't going to let Ocean Park become a second class resort. Plans were advanced to build a semi-circular Horseshoe Pier that would incorporate the two smaller recently built piers at Pier and Marine Avenues. A large 250 x 210 foot auditorium with music hall and balconied outdoor bandstand would be built on the land end.
"The pier already had a few amusements. These included a small tented carousel and a ferris wheel, which was set up along the boardwalk near the pier to entertain the children during the busy summer seasons. The first permanent ride wasn't built until the 1903 summer season when L.G. Ingersoll built his two-passenger toboggan coaster on pilings part way over the ocean adjacent to the casino. Each two-passenger car was pulled to the top in this gentle forerunner to the roller coaster, and then released to coast down along a wide but gentle oval track containing only a few three foot dips along its length. . . ." p. 14
[By the end of 1905 Ellery's Band replaced Armand's Band at the Venetian Gardens.] p. 21
"Ocean Park business interests were willing to enter the competition for the tourist's amusement dollar in a more substantial manner. As soon as Kinney announced the opening of the Midway Plaisance the previous fall they talked of building a Coney Island style amusement area, but only if they could convince promoters to build a scenic railroad, haunted castle, chutes and grottos on the pier or nearby on the sand.
"The area south of the pier was ruled out since all of the beach from Navy to Horizon streets was deeded to the public during the first official meeting of the newly incorporated city in February 1904 for non-commercial use only. They could either build on their nearly completed Horseshoe Pier or on the south side of the pier in Santa Monica. . . . The only entertainment feature to open that spring was a roller skating rink that occupied a portion of the newly completed Auditorium building." p. 23
"Ballroom dancing was an important social activity at any seaside resort at the turn of the century. . . . The finest orchestras played a variety of slow dances that were popular at the time.
"Roller skating was another popular pastime that year and during the fall became the rage in Southern California. Both the Venice and Ocean Park rinks were jammed nightly. Admission was ten cents and skate rental two bits. They featured exhibitions of championship skaters, Friday night races, and the new sport of roller polo.
"Venice quickly fielded a team in the fledgling Southern California Roller Polo League. They were handicapped in their first game against Long Beach because the team used ordinary ball-bearing skates, whereas their opponents used pin-bearing skates that enabled them to run, jump and stop quickly. Seven hundred spectators watched Venice defeat Long Beach 2-0 in their first home game in October. Games were every Wednesday and Saturday nights and the local team made headlines by winning most of the time . . ." p. 28
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1910-1900
Chapter Three: Nineteen Hundred Through World War I
{Photo caption, p. 14: "Even in this photo, taken from the then existing pier, the Arcadia Hotel looks like the wooden fire trap that it was (undated and unburnt)"; p. 15, "Panoramic view from the Arcadia Hotel, looking almost due north toward present central business district of Santa Monica. Landscaped [note the palm trees] area in foreground was on the grounds of the hotel, Ocean Avenue frontage. About the turn of centrury.}
Pp. 8, 9 {Photos and Captions: Early 1900s Topanga Canyon Stage Coach]
Photo of Second and Arizona, Winter, 1900, show trees two and three story tall.}
"Around the turn of the century [1900], Santa Monica was beginning to consider itself to be a city rather than a town. . . .
" . . . still . . . [Southern Pacific was transferring cargos to Los Angeles].
"Population by 1890 had reached no less than 1,580, according to the U.S. Census of that year, and by 1900 it had risen to 3,057. This signal growth gave rise to a move for a new system of government; a number of citizens, of whom Frederick H. Rindge was a leader and strong financial backer, felt that Santa Monica had gained a reputation as a "tough" community, largely by reason of the saloons which clustered about Utah Avenue.
"Rindge became chairman of a citizen committee which proposed to outlaw saloons and reincorporate Santa Monica as a city of the fifth class under the general law.
"Of this Ingersoll [1908] had some pithy comments:
"Santa Monica," he wrote, "had always been a 'wide open' town and while its citizens were just as respectable and law-abiding as those of any other beach town, the place had undoubtedly always been the favorite resort of the sporting element of Los Angeles. The proximity of the Soldiers' Home also made it the scene of the 'old boys' license, when pension money was plentiful."
"The word 'sporting' did not mean, as far as Ingersoll was concerned great interest in outdoor sports.
"A vigorous fight ensued, but the Board of Trustees prepared an ordinance which was submitted to the electorate and which placed the town in the dry ranks, but not until Rindge offered to pay the city an amount equal to that which would be lost in saloon license fees. A man of his word he duly handed his check for $2,500 to the trustees, after the vote was counted. The tally was 305 to 218 in favor of this ordinance.
"The word 'dry' was however, a matter of relativity, for three restaurants were licensed to sell liquor by the drink but with meals only, it being required that such meals must cost at least 25 cents exclusively of the drinks; one store was authorized to sell alcoholic beverages in the original containers.
"The saloon forces did not take this lying down, although the same could not be said of the customers of the package store, and it is recorded that Erminio Gamberi*, a man well remembered by the writer, was convicted and fined $175 for serving liquor without the formality of an accompanying sandwich, and in addition, his license was revoked.
"One Rudolph Hopf was also arrested, but unfortunately became insolvent before he could be brought to trial. Moved, perhaps by sympathy, the courts acquitted him.
"Meanwhile, the Trustees moved to restore Santa Monica's reputation as a fun town, and they amended the ordinance, even though it had been voted by the people.
"They eliminated the requirement that the meal should cost at least 25 cents, and merely required that food accompany the drink. It was reported that one soda cracker was considered adequate by many a saloon keeper, and that in some cases the empty cracker box alone was provided.
"Such chicanery, quite understandably, infuriated the dry forces, led by Rindge, the churches, and the W.C,T.U. An attempt was made to adopt what was known as "The Long Beach Ordinace," but it lost, 287 for, 544 against.
"'Restaurant' and 'buffet' licenses thereafter were granted with no restriction. According to Ingersoll, the total effect was that the number of bistros was considerably reduced from the previous dozen or more, but it appears that ample provision was made for the thirsty folk of the little town and their visitors.
"When results of the U.S. Census of 1900 became known, the effort was launched to reincorporate as a fifth class city, there being a requirement that to qualify, a city must have at least 3,000 popiulation.
"The Trustees held that the population had shrunk below that level; proponents of the change insisted that the law required that latest census figures be used for qualification. A Good Government League was formed, with Rindge as chairman, and pressure was directed against the trustees, who thereupon ordered their own head count. . . . they arrived at a population figure of 2,717.
"The Good Government League accused the trustees of making an inadequate count, and set about making another. They provided a figure of 3,260. The election was held, and the vote was 231 to 118 for the new regime.
"No sooner had this become known than H.X. Goetz sought an injunction to enjoin the Trustees from canvassing the vote and to declare the election illegal. The Trustees retained Fred H. Taft and the courts sustained the legality of the election, but the new government did not become effective until 1903, the court having ruled on February 10, 1902.
"In that year, the citizens elected a new Board of Trustees, consisting of Thomas H. Dudley*, H.X. Goetz, A.F. Johnston, John C. Steere and W. S. Vawter*. J.C. Hemingway was chosen as city clerk, C.S. Dales assessor, Frank W. Vogel treasurer, A.M. Guidinger recorder, Max K. Baretto, marshal, and Fred H. Taft, city attorney. All offices were filled by general election rather than appointment, except that the Trustees themeselves chose their president, or mayor, and Dudley* was the man."
"A colorful figure, he [Dudley*] was to remain a major power in Santa Monica for many years to come. Handsome and charming, his influence was great in the political affairs of the city and in financial circles. He also gained a wide and probably deserved reputation as a "lady killer," as the slang of the day put it, and as a man about town.
"In 1903 the city fathers purchased the property at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Oregon Avenue, now occupied by a parking lot and the annex to Campbell's, for $4,800, amid considerable public criticism. . . . a new City Hall opened for business on the property in 1903, and it served the city for some 35 years [1903-1938].
"Apparently the people of Santa Monica felt that the state laws governing cities of the fifth class were too restrictive for a special census was ordered in a move to qualify the city for a Freeholder's charter, the law requiring a population of at least 3,500. On May 15, 1905, the census was completed . . . no less than 7,208 residents . . . counted.
"On October 18, a Board of Freeholders was duly elected, with no substantial opposition. Members were Dudley*, C.A. Stilson, George D. Snyder, R.R, Tanner, George H. Hutton, H.X. Goetz, W.I. Hull, A.M. Jamison, W.S. Vawter*, Robert, F. Jones*, D.G. Holt, B.A. Nebeker, E.J. Vawter*, Roy Jones and A.N, Archer*.
" . . . Roy Jones was the son of the Senator*, George H. Hutton the Senator's attorney. The latter became nationally known after he became a judge of the superior court, and was the trial judge in the case of The People vs. Clarence Darrow, a cause celebre which arose out of Darrow's actions as a defense counsel in the trial of the McNamara brothers for the dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building. Robert F. Jones* also was related to the Senator* (a nephew) and was president and cashier of the Bank of Santa Monica.
"The charter which was prepared by the Board of Freeholders was adopted in an election held March 28, 1906, the vote being 376 for and 183 against."
" . . .
"Before many years had passed, the old Southern Pacific line, which followed the alignment of the present freight tracks in the industrial area and terminated near the present civic center, had become the Airline route of the Pacific Electric.
"Street car service existed on the whole length of Santa Monica Boulevard and San Vicente Boulevard, along the base of the bluff to the Long Wharf after steam trains were withdrawn, along the whole length of Ocean Avenue and thence south along the present Neilson Way and Pacific Street to Venice, Playa del Rey and the south bay communities. Service was also provided via the Venice Shortline, which terminated at Ocean Avenue and Broadway, and local cars operated on Broadway, Third Street, Montana Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard.
" . . . population increased rapidly, both by the influx of new residents and by annexations.
"Many of the new residents were either English or of English descent, and they brought with them a keen interest in tennis, polo, and, on occasion, cricket.
"They aslo demanded, and got, an excellent school system, a system which by 1906 was considered to be one of the best in the county [Los Angeles County]."
" . . .
"Among the major annexations which took place was the absorption by Santa Monica of the once separate town of Ocean Park, which had incorporated as the result of an election February 12, 1904. The vote was 52 for, 2 against.
"Ocean Park did not, however, last long as a separate municipality, for it voted to disincorporate in 1907, and before long was annexed by Santa Monica.
"Another improtant annexation was described by Ingersoll as "the uninhabited territory known as the 'Palisades.'" This also occurred in 1906.
"The Freeholders' charter set up a system, usual in those days, whereby each ward elected a councilman, and there were seven wards, covering the various parts of the city. The first council under this form of government consisted of George D. Snyder, R.W. Armstrong, Abe S, Reel, H.L. Coffman, J. Euclid Miles, Roscoe H. Dow, and Alf Morris, president.
". . .
"By 1900, thriving congregations of Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Baptists were active in the community. . ."
" . . . one of the first churches established in Santa Monica was the First Presbyterian . . in which the Vawter* family played a leading role. [Beginning in 1875} . . . the church building was erected at Third and Arizona in 1876. The Rev. I.M. Condit was the first minister.
" . . . the Methodist congregation, the First Methodist Church was dedicated February 3, 1876.
Pp. 22, 23 [Photo caption: "Gentlefolk of Santa Monica centered their social activities about the Casino, a building made possible by Sen. John P. Jones*. The photo shows a tea party, c. 1901."
" . . . Episcopal services were held as early as Easter, 1876, but regular services did not begin until 1885, and the first building was erected by St. Augustine's on the property it now occupies in 1887. The Rev. Henry Scott Jeffreys was missionary in charge . . .
"Roman Catholics had their first Mass in Santa Monica in 1877, . . . August 18, 1885 . . . the first St. Monica's dedicated . . . in downtown Santa Monica. Father Patrick Hawe* was pastor . . .
" . . . the Sisters of the Holy Names established the Academy of Holy Names . . . dedicated February 22, 1901 . . . at the corner of Third Street and Arizona Avenue. St. Clement's, Ocean Park, was dedicated May 8, 1904, with Father Michael Hennesy* in charge.
" . . . the Baptist faith . . . 1903, when the Rev. L.A. Gould became their first pastor.
" . . .
" . . . the charter was duly adopted, and the Councilmen elected from each of the seven wards supplanted the trustees who had served when Santa Monica was a city of the fifth class. For years, Thomas H. Dudley* thereafter was the people's choice for mayor, and G.A. Murray . . . the city clerk. . . . Roscoe Dow and George Synder[sic] were frequently on the rolls of the city council."
" . . .
"Unfortunately, this [the outfall, which was near Pier Avenue] was destroyed by a storm, and many problems ensued, so that the outfall ultimately was located under the present site of the Municipal Pier, at the foot of Colorado Avenue. This was the case from 1909 until the city of Santa Monica joined the city of Los Angeles in funding the Hyperion plant, now in use [1974]."
Lawrence Weschler Vermeer in Bosnia, Pantheon Books: NY, 2004. (The chapter The Light of L.A. appeared as L.A. Glows in the 23 February 1998 The New Yorker.) 1998, 1900s
The Light of L.A.
"But for all that, the main thing about the light here is its consistency," Bailey continued. "Of course, the early independent producers originally made their way out here, toward the end of the first decade of this century, so as to get out from under the thumb of the Edison Trust." . . . back in New York and New Jersey, Thomas Edison initially attempted to enforce a dubiously broad patent hegemony through the creation of a trust which deployed lawyers, detectives, thugs, and even sharpshooters to upend the efforts of any mavericks who refused to fork over the arbitrarily mandated licensing fees. . . . one of the main things that L.A. had going for it at the outset in those early days was its geographic location . . . "from the Mexican border and escape from any injunctions and subpoenas."
"But what they really stumbled upon here," Bailey went on, "was the consistency of the light. So much light, and so many days of it. Back east they'd have to cease production throughout the winter: all those gray cold days when even if the cameras didn't freeze up, they'd barely be able to register anything on film without the use of banks and banks of these incredibly expensive klieg lights." ( . . . such light banks became even more prohibitively expensive during the ensuing decade, when war-inspired shortages seriously constricted the supplies of coal necessary to power them.) . . . But here there were hardly any clouds and the light on any given day stayed consistent pretty much the whole day through."
Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176pp., 1900s
"On January 5, 1901, the old [LAAC]Club officially died . . .
6. Born Again
" . . .
"Dramatic changes took place in the civic scene during this five-year hiatus. The population, which had reached 102,479 in 1900, now included only ten percent who were native born, the majority of new residents being fundamentalists of moderate means from the East and Middle West. The last vestiges of the old frontier faded away as the city became even more puritanical than the East. Gambling was outlawed; saloons and boxing were under attack. "Reform!" was the slogan of the day.
"A new era of vigorous expansion was set off by Henry Huntington in 1902 when he extended the Pacific Electric Railway into a network of Red Car lines crisscrossing Southern California from the mountains to the sea. This early version of rapid transit made a variety of new areas accessible for recreation and accelerated the fragmentation of the city into a cluster of suburbs.
" . . .
"After a slow start, motoring replaced cycling for thrills and excitement. The first horseless carriage appeared on . . . Memorial Day, 1897 . . .
" . . . The Southern Caifornia Automobile Club was founded in 1900 by a small group of these [LAAC members] men.
" . . .
" . . . Ralph Hamlin . . . acquired the first motorcycle west of the Rockies-an Orient model with a four-cycle engine. He opened a repair shop and agency for the Orient and in 1905 became the Southern California distributor for the famous Franklin car, retaining the dealership until the company went out of business in the 1930s. . . .
["The first automobile to reach the top of Mt. Wilson by road was Ralph Hamlin's Franklin, on May 23, 1907 . . ."]
. . . In re-establishing the Club as a corporation a small group chose Charles F. Eyeton, who managed Belasco's Morosco Theatre and was a boxing referee of note . . ." p. 55
"The LAAC joined the AAU in 1907, and the following April (1908) managed Southern California's first offically sanctioned boxing tournament as part of the entertainment for the visiting Pacific and Atlantic fleet. . . .
" . . . St. Vincent's College . . . students built a boat, stored it at Playa del Rey . . .
" . . . The Los Angeles Pacific Railway donated rooms, storage facilities, and a float landing at Playa del Rey for one year, [offering] a permanent home for the LAAC's boating department . . .
" . . . Al Treloar was hired as physical director in February 1906. He had studied physical training with Dr. Dudley A. Sargent at Harvard, held the university strength and wrestling championships, and rowed on the varsity team. After graduation he served as physical director of the St. Paul A.C. and completed a year's course of physical instruction with Sandow. In 1905 he won a $1,000 prize at the Physical Culture Exposition at Madison Square Garden as the "most perfectly developed man in the world" and toured the country in a series of vaudeville engagements. . . .
" . . . Sailing and motorboating . . . gained in popularity as part of land promotion campaigns at Naples, Venice, and Playa del Rey. The South Coast Yacht Club, which had been organized in 1901 . . .
" . . .
"Developers found swimming contests and water sports to be attractive publicity gimmicks to draw crowds to the new beach resorts on Sundays and holidays. In 1907 George Cox staged the first local high-diving exhibitions in Venice; water basketball enjoyed a brief fling; and teams from the LAAC, Venice, Bimini Baths, and the YMCA played water polo at the various plunges.
"The following year [1908] at a Fourth of July extravaganza George Freeth performed acrobatics on his surfboard and dove from a trapeze into the great indoor Venice plunge. Even more astonishing was twelve-year-old Clifford Bowes who made "three circles" in the air as he plummeted from the rafters to the water below. Freeth and Frank Holborow of Venice became the leaders in local competitive swimming, entering everything from pier-to-pier rough-water distance races to sprints in the pool.
" . . .
Harry Chandler joined the board in 1907.
John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom were retained as architects for the new LAAC Building. Parkinson had designed the old California Club and the two of them did the Alexandria Hotel, Security Bank Building, Bullock's and the Pacific Mutual. . .
" . . . Thomas Lee Woolwine was appointed city prosecutor in 1908 and immediately declared war on vice in all its forms. Warming up with a campaign against "bucket shops" and spitting on the sidewalks, he next accused the major social and athletic clubs of operating "blind pigs" (unlicensed bars) and ordered them to take out liquor licences . . .
" . . . Joseph Scott, speaking for the California Club . . .; Frank Garbutt . . . the LAAC; . . . the Jonathan Club and its president, Henry Huntington . . . won their court case.
"William May Garland, president of the California Club . . .
[On page 64 there is a reproduction of a cartoon from the Los Angeles Times, presumably in the 1910s showing Abbott Kinney (who) holds the Osler Championship at tennis.]
"Later, when Woolwine also threatened to restrict coursing and boxing, the LAAC tenatively arranged with Abbott Kinney to use a section of the new Venice bathhouse as an annex for boxing exhibitions and other sports. . . ."