1912 (1911)(1913)(1900-1910)(1910-1920) Table of Contents
John Cage* Silence, Wesleyan University Press: Hanover, NH, 1961(1973), 276 pp., 1912, 1949, 1978, 1982 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). 140 pp., 1912 See Text
Bruce Henstell* Sunshine and Wealth: Los Angeles in the Twenties and Thirties, Chronicle: San Francisco, 1984. 132pp., 1912 See Text
Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, Hon. John P. Jones [1829-1912] See Text
Senator John Percival Jones, Bronze Bust [Holger Jensen] Next to the Roy Jones House, Heritage Square, Ocean Park Blvd. and Main Street, Ocean Park, (Photograph by Mary Leipziger) See Image
Mark E. Kann Middle Class Radicalism in Santa Monica, Temple University Press: Philadelphia, 1986. 322pp., 1986, 1878, 1877, 1875, 1874, 1873, 1872, 1870s Sen. Jones See Text
General Homer Lea's Obituary, The Outlook, November 2, 1912 See Image and Text
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1982, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940, 1933, 1921, 1913, 1912, 1906, 1904, 1880 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), 1912 See Text
Ocean Park, California, annually attracts to its beaches thousands of dwellers in interior California, who find here every joy and diversion of a modern seaside Paradise. Unknown Publisher, 1912?, SLL 2005 See Image and Text
Ocean Park Bath House/Ocean Park, Cal., California Postcard Co., Los Angeles, Cal., 23887, SLL 2005 See Image and Text
Curt Sachs [1881- ] World History of the Dance, (Trans, Bessie Schönberg) The Norton Library: N.Y., 1937 (1965), 1912 See Text
Grant H. Smith The History of the Comstock Lode 1850-1920, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, University of Nevada Bulletin: Reno, Nevada, vol. XXXVII. 1 July 1943, no. 3, (revised 1966), Ninth printing, 1980. 305 pp., 1966, 1912, 1890s, 1884, 1883, 1881, 1880, 1880s, 1877, 1876, 1875, 1874, 1872, 1871, 1870, 1870s, 1869, 1860s, 1850s, 1920-1850 Senator J.P. Jones
2614 Second Street (Third Street District) Craftsman bungalow built 1912 by W.J. Edinger* for J.L. Van Every,* 1999, 1983, 1982, 1912 See Image and Text
2015 Third Street . Craftsman bungalow built 1912, 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1912 See Image and Text
2017 Third Street (Third Street Historic District?). Craftsman bungalow built 1912, 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1912 See Image and Text
Jeffrey Stanton Raw Data Notes, Bay Cities, October 12, 2003 See Text
Jeffery Stanton 1912 Bay Cities Directories, with amendments, 2003 See Text
Jeffrey Stanton Venice of America: 'Coney Island of the Pacific,' Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1987. 176 pp., 1912 Chapter 2; Coney Island of the Pacific (1907-1912) See Text
Kevin Starr Embattled Dreams California in War and Peace 1940-1950, Oxford University Press, 2002, 386 pp., 2002, 1940, 1912, See Text
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1912, 1905 See Text
Notes:
Curt Sachs [1881- ] World History of the Dance, (Trans, Bessie Schönberg) The Norton Library: N.Y., 1937 (1965), 1912
"Since the Brazilian maxixe of 1890 and the cakewalk of 1903 broke up the pattern of turns and glides that dominated the European round dances, our generation has adopted with disquieting rapidity a successsion of Central American dances, in an effort to replace what has been lost to modern Europe: multiplicity, power, and expressiveness of movement. to the point of grotesque distortion of the entire body . . . and in 1912 the fox trot with its wealth of figures.
Jeffrey Stanton Raw Data Notes, Bay Cities, October 12, 2003
Fires sometimes reshaped the community. The 1912 Fraser Pier fire burned the entire 6 block business district. That same pier partially burned in 1915, and was entirely destroyed along with adjoining structures on O.F. Walk in 1924. The Kinney Pier at Windward burned in 1920, but luckily spared the nearby business district.
Documents
John Cage* Silence, Wesleyan University Press: Hanover, NH, 1961 (1973), 276 pp., 1992, 1982, 1978, 1949, 1912
"John Cage* [1912-1992] was born in Los Angeles in 1912. He was recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for having extended the boundaries of music in 1949. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978. In 1982, France awarded him its highest honor, Commandeur de l'Order des Arts et des Lettres."
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). 140 pp., 1912
" . . .
Visitors, discovering the beauty of Santa Monica, remained in ever-increasing numbers to become permanent residents. The schools found it difficult to keep pace with this phenomenal growth, and the inadequacy of instructional facilities (at Washington School) made it necessary, in 1912, to send the eighth grade to Lincoln School.
" . . .
"Santa Monica pronounced it a gala day when the cornerstone of the new high school was sealed into place. The ceremony was held on April 11, 1912, and was witnessed by nearly one hundred county and city superintendents from various parts of the state. A luncheon was served at the Seaside Hotel for the superintendents, city officials, school personnel, and distinguished guests, after which the whole town turned out to witness the ceremonies incident to the laying of the cornerstone.
"The formal ceremony was notable because of the full participation of the town, the clergy, and fraternal and civic organizations. The invocation was given by the Reverend J.D.H. Browne, rector of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church. The Reverend Patrick Hawe, pastor of St. Monica's Catholic Church, delivered the prayer of dedication. The cornerstone was laid by Dana R. Weller, past grand master of the Grand Lodge of California, Free and Accepted Masons, and was assisted by members of the order. The benediction was given by the Reverend W.H. Cornett, pastor of the Santa Monica Presbyterian Church, [56. Program, Laying of the Cornerstone-Santa Monica High School, April 11, 1912; in files of Santa Monica Board of Education,] Among other distinguished guests who spoke on that memorable occasion were Edward Hyatt, state superintendent of public instruction, who gave greetings; Mark Keppel, county superintendent of schools, who complimented the people of Santa Monica on their foresight in providing an institution of the calibre of the proposed high school; and Benjamin Ide Wheeler, president of the University of California, who delivered the address of the day.
"As a record of the occasion, the following articles were placed in the cornerstone: a copy of the program of the day; the high school course of study; the elementary course of study; a directory of teachers of the Santa Monica School District; the Los Angeles County School Directory; the directory of California secondary schools; the city charter; a copy of the Daily Outlook and the Evening Journal, Santa Monica's two newspapers; pictures of the Santa Monica Schools; and Ingersoll's History of the Santa Monica Bay Cities. Inscribed on the cornerstone were the words: "The Foundation of Every State Is the Education of Its Youth." In 1937, when the building was being remodeled, the metal case that held these documents was opened. The contents were examined, resealed in another metal case, and place in the new cornerstone. [57. Santa Monica Evening Outlook, July 8, 1950, p. 8G.]
"The three buildings comprising the main sections of the high school plant were of tapestry brick construction, with red tile roofs. These structures housed, respectively, the academic and administrative departments, manual arts and commerce, and the science, household, and fine arts departments. The academic building stood in the center of the group and contained, besides sixteen classrooms, complete administrative offices, a special recital hall with seating capacity for 110 persons on the second floor, and the school auditorium. Much pride was taken in the auditorium that seated 1200. Nothing, it was concluded, could have been more complete in the way of an auditorium, with its modern upholstered chairs, fully equipped stage, and dressing rooms. [58. Pearl, op. cit. , p. 91.]
"The manual arts and commerce departments occupied the building facing Michigan Avenue, which held the foundry, forge, machine shop, and laboratory for practical physics. There were shops for cabinet making, milling, a dry kiln, finishing and fuming rooms, and a large instruction hall. Wood-turning and pattern-making found room in the basement, while the second floor of the building provided space for the commercial department and mechanical drawing.
"The structure on the south side of the administration building, facing on Fremont Avenue, housed on the first floor chemistry, with its lecture rooms and laboratories; physics, biology, and botany rooms; a dark room, and an instructors' room. The second floor contained rooms for the fine arts department, and for cooking, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, and other phases of domestic science.
" . . .
The Board Minutes of May 12, 1912, contain the following memoir:
"We believe that the Williamson D. Vawter Gate will teach the boys and girls who pass through it in pursuit of education, a higher respect for age and superior wisdom, a noble appreciation of worthy deeds and self-sacrifice, and higher ideals of civic pride and public duty."
The same sentiments were expressed in the minutes on the presentation of the Elliott Gate, and the Board presented a copy of the statements to the donors of each of the gates.
" . . .
On August 8, 1912, the electors voted another $150,000 for the schools, of which $65,000 had been allotted to the high school for gymnasiums and other improvements. [61. Board Minutes, Aug. 14, 1912.] From this bond money a health unit was constructed to serve as an emergency first-aid room and rest room for those who were not well.
" . . .
" . . . The following spring more than a dozen teachers were added to to the staff to meet the requirements of an increased enrollment. [60. Pearl, op. cit., p. 92]
" . . .
Samohi [67. The name Samohi came into being in 1912 when the faculty and students decided to publish a school paper, and a contest was held to determine what it should be called. Edwin Coulon, a boy of French extraction who lived in Santa Monica Canyon, won the competition with the name Samohi, which he devised from the three words, Santa Monica High. The name soon was applied to the school itself, and is now so associated. Student's Manual, 1950.
" . . .
Bruce Henstell* Sunshine and Wealth: Los Angeles in the Twenties and Thirties, Chronicle: San Francisco, 1984. 132 pp., 1912
" . . . Still further north, on the boundary line between Ocean Park and Venice, was built Fraser's Million Dollar Pier, which opened in 1912. Later a second pier connected with it, Lick Pier."
Senator John Percival Jones, Bronze Bust [Holger Jensen] Next to the Roy Jones House, Heritage Square, Ocean Park Blvd. and Main Street, Ocean Park, (Photograph by Mary Leipziger)
Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, [1912]
[p. 157] Hon. John Percival Jones [1829-1912] was born in a small village, in Herefordshire, England, January 27th, 1829. While he was still an infant, his family removed to the United States and settled near Cleveland, Ohio. Here the child grew to youth and acquired a public school education, after which he entered the services of a bank in Cleveland. But when the news of the gold discoveries of California penetrated the country and called to every youth with a bold heart and adventurous blood, young Jones joined forces with several other young men who were as eager for the change as himself. They secured a small vessel, sailed through the lakes and the St. Lawrence river and started on the long and perilous voyage around "the Horn." They were months on the ocean and experienced many hardships and dangers before they finally reached San Francisco Bay, in the spring of 1850. The young adventurer at once hastened away to the mines to seek his fortune. For many years he was a typical California miner, sometimes finding his hopes fulfilled, often finding them dashed.
In those days when thousands of men sought gold with fierce energy, living without homes, without comforts, without the restraints of civilization, it was only strong character and true manhood that withstood the temptations of the environment. Young Jones came of sturdy stock and proved himself a man and a leader, even in these early day. He served as sheriff in county of Trinity at a time when the office required a stout heart and level head for-to a large extent-the sheriff was the law. From 1863 to 1868 he was a member of the state legislature of California. In the meantime, he had gained much experience in mines and mining propositions. When the great developments of the Comstock lode began to attract attention, he was one of the first on the ground. Later he waa made the superintendent of the Crown Point mine.
Thus he became a resident of Nevada and when in 1872, a critical period in the history of the young state approached, he was mentioned as a candidate [p. 157] for the United States senate. The contest was a hot one, he being at first opposed by William Sharon; but the "Nevada Commoner," as Jones had come to be known, was regarded as a friend to the miners and in the end, he was elected and took his seat March, 1873.
In 1876, the Monetary Commission of the senate was appointed to inquire into the relative value of gold and silver, the causes thereof and kindred questions, which vitally affected the mining interests and particularly the interests of the state of Nevada-a silver-producing state. Senator Jones was chosen as chairman of this committee and entered upon the study of the questions arising, with keen interest. It is said of the report rendered by the Monetary Commission that, "Nothing so thoroughly exhaustive had ever been presented to Congress, and the view taken was favorable to the interests of Nevada and of the Comstock miners."
Naturally, at the expiration of his term, Senator Jones who had acquitted himself upon so important and vital an occasion with credit and made a strong argument for the silver of his state, was re-elected. For thirty years he continuously served in the United Sates senate, a record seldom equalled. He became, in his long career, a noted figure and was counted as one of the strongest men on the floor. A writer in Munsey's, some years ago, pays him this tribute:
"Senator John P. Jones, who has just been re-elected to the United States senate for another period of six years, is one of the interesting figures of the upper house of congress. He was a warm personal friend of Senator Conklin and formerly belonged to the stalwart wing of the Republican party. Of recent years, he has been one of the strongest men of the 'silver-party' in the country, and last year he withdrew from the old party and supoorted Mr. Bryan for the presidency.
"Mr. Jones is a very able man and has probably made more speeches on the financial question than all of the other members of the senate put together. He is a profound scholar and has the ability to marshal an imposing array of facts to support his arguments.
"He was a delegate to the Brussels Monetary Conference which met during the administration of President Harrison. Before that body, he spoke for three days, the printed report of his speech containing over two hundred thousand words. A representative of the Rothschilds made the remark that if there were many men in America with Senator Jones' capacity for speaking, the advocates of the gold standard would do well to surrender at once.
"Senator Jones is exceedingly popular in Washington. When he first entered the senate, he was many times a millionaire. Subsequently he lost most of his wealth, but it is said that in later years he has been fortunate in his "investments and is again a very rich man."
[p. 159] As will be seen, Senator Jones was a man of the people, a practical mining man as well as an expert in handling mines and mining stocks. He has made fortunes-and lost them-with the calm indifference of the true miner. But beside this, he is a man of great native ability, who, without the training of schools has made himself an authority on financial questions and created the utmost confidence in his sound judgement and clear perception.
Senator Jones has been intimately associated with the history of Santa Monica since its inception. In 1874, he purchased an interest in the San Vicente rancho and, with Col. R.S. Baker, laid out the townsite of Santa Monica. During the next two or three years, he spent a million dollars in Southern California, in building up Santa Monica and in building and carrying on the Los Angeles and Independence railway, which was intended to reach to his Panamint mines and possibly be the terminus of another great transcontinental line. In 1888, he built his beautiful home, Miramar, here and since that time has been the residence of his family. Here the senator has himself come for rest and pleasure, when he could escape from his many public duties.
Senator Jones has been twice married, his first wife being the daughter of Judge Conger, the second a daughter of Eugene A. Sullivan and a most accomplished and benevolent woman. The family consists of one son, Roy, and three daughters."
[This version of Jones' Life was almost surely approved by Jones before it was published in 1908, KR]
Mark E. Kann Middle Class Radicalism in Santa Monica, Temple University Press: Philadelphia, 1986. 322pp., 1986, 1970s, 1950s, 1878, 1877, 1875, 1874, 1873, 1872, 1870s, 1868, 1850 1849
Chapter 2: The Highest Bidder
ˆ " . . . The Anglicized history begins with Colonel Robert S. Baker and Arcadia Bandini de Baker. . . . in 1874, the Bakers took on a partner in their Santa Monica Land and Water Company and it is the partner's bust as official city founder that now graces the Santa Monica Mall."
"John P. Jones was a corporate dreamer worthy of the Robber Baron Age. He came to California in 1850 seeking wealth in silver rather than gold and eventually cashed in on Nevada's fabulous Comstock Lode. Jones moved to Nevada in 1868, a man of substantial wealth and influence, and was elected by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1873. Jones "won" his Senate seat "at a reputed cost fo $500,000." With wealth, position, and ambition, he hatched a scheme to make himself one of the most powerful men in America.
"Jones invested heavily in California's Panamint mines knowing that their full profit potential could not be realized until the silver could be easily transported to the ocean and shipped to major markets. His plan was to build an integrated corporate monopoly that would include his own mines, his own railroad to the ocean, his own seaport city, his own deep sea harbor, and thus his own control of West Coast shipping. Jones' major problem was that he would be in competition with the Southern Pacific Railroad, the fabled "Octopus" that wrote the book on integrated corporate monopoly west of the Mississippi River. The Southern Pacific owned the only rail line between Los Angeles and the Wilmington-San Pedro harbor twenty-five miles to the south, controlled the harbor facilities, and dominated regional shipping. It would not look kindly on Jones's competitive bid.
"Jones's strategy was to bypass the Southern Pacific as much as possible. He could build a railroad between the Panamint mines and Los Angeles without raising too much fuss because the Southern Pacific was concentrating its expansion efforts on a line between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Once Jones's railroad reached Los Angeles, it would veer west toward the Santa Monica Bay rather than south in direct competition with the Southern Pacific line to the San Pedro harbor. Jones purchased from Colonel Baker a three-quarter interest in his Santa Monica landholdings, intending to transform what was essentially a weekend campsite into a major seaport city. Jones would then build a wharf with docking facilitiies for loading and unloading deep sea vessels off of the Santa Monica coastline; and he would use his political influence in the U.S. Senate to win a federal appropriation for a breakwater that would make Santa Monica the major deep sea harbor for all Southern California.
"In 1875, Jones laid out the town of Santa Monica, registered it with the government, and hired noted auctioneer Colonel Tom Fitch to begin selling lots. He also began construction on his wharf and docking facilities, and on his Los Angeles and Independence Railroad that would link the Santa Monica harbor to Los Angeles and then to the Panamint mines. Before the year was out, his 1,740-foot wharf was operational, complete with warehouse and depot; excursion trains were running between Santa Monica and Los Angeles; and advertisements appeared in newpapers throughout the United States inviting West Coast steamers to dock at the new harbor and businessmen to invest in the new seaport city. The promotional literature called Santa Monica "the Zenith City by the Sunset Sea."
"The sun set on Jones's scheme almost immediately. The Southern Pacific cut its own rates and applied considerable pressure on shipping companies to continue to dock in San Pedro rather than Santa Monica. Jones expected this and confidently predicted that he would "ruin" the other harbor and that Santa Monica would become the "logical metropolitan center of California." Jones was losing money at the moment but figured that the growth of the shipping trade and the town of Santa Monica would convert temporary losses into long-term profits. What he did not figure on, however, was that his Comstock mines would crash, his bank would close, and his financial support would disappear in a statewide depression, or that his Panamint mines would fail and his construction on the railroad from the mines to Los Angeles would be stopped for lack of funds. By 1877, Jones's dream of an integrated corporate monopoly was shattered.
"It was time to salvage his investment. He hoped to safeguard his Santa Monica holdings by selling his wharf and railroad to someone who would build a future for his new seaport city. He approached the county of Los Angeles but it feared offending the powerful Southern Pacific; he approached Jay Gould of the Union Pacific Railroad but Gould was not convinced that investments west of Los Angeles would pay off. Jones had no choice other than to deal with the Southern Pacific, which, having eliminated the threat of Jones's competition, had no particular interest in his wharf and railroad. However, Collis P. Huntington persuaded his Southern Pacific partners that they could get the railroad dirt cheap (at one-fourth of Jones's investment) and simultaneously "keep the Nevada legislator friendly, in view of his influence in the United States Senate." Jones retained his land interests in Santa Monica, eventually acquired a local bank that his son would manage one day, but left the city's future to the Southern Pacific.
"The Southern Pacific had no plans for Santa Monica; its purchase was largely a political one . . . The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, whose service had deteriorated during Jones's downfall, now ran on a reduced schedule, bringing weekend campers and beachgoers rather than silver, businessmen, and buyers who were to have made Jones's dream metropolis into a reality. What happened to the individuals who had invested in Santa Monica's future? A pervasive gloom now settled over Santa Monica, and the town went into a 'slump.' Business failures were common, property values sank, and within a few months the population had dropped from 1000 to 350 citizens." Santa Monica seemed to have become a silver miner's ghost town." pp. 29, 30 and 31
Out of Ruins and Smoke Will be Built a New City, More Wonderful Than Before, Done So Quickly as to Astound Those Who Knew Beautiful Resort Damaged by the Flames
Concrete to take the place of buildings that are destroyed
Before first load of debris is cleared away load of lumber is deposited for work of reconstruction; Owners planning finer, safer structures; much sympathy offered
"Out of the ruins and smoke of Ocean Park will arise by the magic of concentrated effort a new and more wonderful city than before built so quickly that only those who know the Ocean Park of a day before yesterday will realize the wonderful transformation.
"An increase of 16 cents in the coming year's tax levy was voted by the Santa Monica city council last night to make up for the nonrenewal, at present, of business licenses of houses destroyed by the fire.
"A call for systematized aid to relieve the suffering of many families who lost their homes and effects in the fire was received by D.F. McLaughlin, head of the local Humane society here last night.
"Many women and children are in want and will suffer severely from lack of shelter with the advent of cold nights at the beach, and immediate assistance is required. Mr. McLaughlin will go to Ocean Park in response to the call for help today."
Want Troops Kept on Guard
"To relieve Companies A and E of the National Guard, who have been on duty at Ocean Park since the fire started Tuesday night, fifty men of Company F, under command of Capt. F.R, McReynolds and Lieuts. A.K. Crum and Paul Seidener, left at 6 o'clock last night for Ocean Park to take up patrol work. Mayor C.B. Holbrook of Ocean Park made a request of Gen. Robert Wankowski, who has been constantly at the scene of the fire, that troops be kept on guard over the burned district for a few days longer. Two other companies, B and C, will be held in readiness for duty there.
"The Venice city council last night arranged to meet tonight at 7:30 to discuss the Ocean Park situation, and consider relief measures. The meeting was called for last night, but owing to the unavailability of prominent men to be present, action was post -
"Concrete is to take the place of the fire-brand shacks of the destroyed city, and by the 1st of next June a new Ocean Park, as nearly fireproof as human habitations of the kind may be made, will be thrown open to the pleasure-loving public, a place more beautiful and substantial by far than the city which has just been razed by the flames.
"Where charred timbers and ashes now tell of ravaging flames, within a short time will rise the walls of new and imposing structures.
"Already workmen are busy clearing away the debris, and owners are busy planning finer, safer buildings to take the place of those destroyed."
Determined to Rebuild Structures
"Determination to rebuild was unanimous among residents of the destroyed beach city, and before the first load of debris had hauled away from Pier avenue the cry of "gangway" was raised by the driver of an auto truck hauling a pile of lumber into the burned district.
"The councils of Venice and Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Bay chamber of commerce, the Pacific Electric Railway company and the state militia have united forces in clearing ground and making ready for the beginning of building operations with all possible dispatch.
"Transportation companies have offered to lend every assistance in rushing building supplies to the burned city, and within a week's time it is estimated a thousand men will be at work on new edifices which will mark the rebuilt city."
Adequate Protection oif a New City Planned
"The new city will be adequately protected from a second devastating fire. A special bond election to vote money for salt water mains throughout the city, and to provide for a pumping plant to assure adequate pressure, will be held soon, and in this manner a firm foundation will be laid for the protection of the new city.
"Fire Chief E.P. Nittinger of Santa Monica was assurred . . .
yesterday by many property owners that they will rebuild of reinforced concrete on a larger scale than formerly."
Telegrams Express Sympathy
"Adding strength to the determination of property owners and amusement managers came telegrams of sympathy from other cities, and chambers of commerce expressing entire confidencei n the capacity of Santa Monica and Ocean Park citizens to replace all that is lost with that which is more enduring and win greater prosperity and still better fame.
"The Los Angeles chamber of commerce, the Long Beach chamber of commerce, Mayor Hatch of Long Beach, Abbot Kinney of Venice and others sent formal words of regret, sympathy and encouragement.
"That from the Long Beach chamber of commerce follows: "Long Beach as a sister resort expresses heartfelt regret for your present loss, sympathy in your affliction, but utmost confidence that with the passing of a few weeks you will recover to a status greater and grander than before. Long Beach, through her chamber of commerce, stands ready to aid you in any manner possible." B.F. Tucker, president."
"Search among the ruins and along the shore yesterday revealed no additional fatalities. Once Japanese employed in the kitchen of the casino is still missing. Whether he jumped off the pier and was drowned cannot be learned. No inquest will be necessary in the case of H.S. Locke, cashier of the Casino, who was drowned. His body is at the Kirkelie undertaking parlor awaiting funeral arrangements."
Two Russians Held
"In the Venice city jail are two Russians held for investigation as to where they acquired an armful of clothing and other property they were found with when officers encountered them. One man was arrested and placed under bond in Santa Monica on a similar suspicion but no complaint has been filed against him. The police were under great difficulty in not knowing the owners of property.
"No further report on the six children of N. Baida, a rug dealer, said to be missing this morning, had been received at police headquarters late this evening. The police were confident throughout the day that the children had been taken in somewhere together with a colored nurse girl seventeen years old, and cared for. Mr. Baida resided at 718 Kinney street, a cottage that was burned."
---
"Rebuild," is Slogan of Ocean Parkers
"Santa Monica, Sept. 4-Telegraph and telephone wires fairly burned with their burden of orders for new materials, mechanics and supplies for the rehabilitation of the amusement center on a greater scale, that were sent flying to Los Angeles and the north and east from the earliest hour this morning and kept up much of the day. There was but one voice among all property owners and concessionaries-the voice of progress. On the ashes of their lost possessions they determined before the fires were out to rebuild and with better and more substantial structures. In nearly all instances the new structrures plannned witll be larger than those burned.
""The plans being fomulated today will mean an amusement center second to none in the United States," declared T.H. Dudley, president of the Ocean Park Bank, and former mayor of Santa Monica, who knows the financial conditions of the property owners in the burned district and has been associated with its growth for years."Every new building will be a better one. As far as possible brick, stone, steel and other fireproof materials will be used.
No Difficulty in Getting Money
"There will be no difficulty in getting plenty of money to finance all the enterprises that want to get into business again and new ones that undoubtedly will start. This will be one of the busiest winters ever seen in the bay district. By resaon of the great amounts of building our pay rolls will be bid and merchants, restaurants and all kinds of business houses will benefit by the big force of mechanics that will be on hand.
"A.R. Fraser, who lost more than any other man, about $400,000 in all, only $10,000 of which was covered by insurance, was on the ground this morning soon after daylight and with his pier manager, A.W. Layne, at once mapped out a line of action for replacing the amusement pier, the Decatur hotel and other possessions burned.
""I have a plan mapped out," he told the city council this afternoon, "and have been informed by the most responsible financial man in Los Angeles that I am good for anything I need to rebuild with. We shall go right ahead. I have a force of men at work now clearing away debris and making ready to cap the concrete piles on the pier so that they will be preserved from any damage and be ready to serve as supports for the superstructure that I shall put on them. One idea I have in the direction of better fire protection is that the auditorium and other buildings along the ocean front should stand farther back from the broad walk. I think this would reduce the danger of fire spreading so rapidly and with a sufficient water pressure it could be fought to much better advantage."
Plans Better Buildings
""Speaking for myself, and I believe I can say the same for Mr. Jones and Mr. Hile, I feel like going ahead and profiting by the mistakes I have made and building better than ever and doing all in my power to make the Ocean Park Amusement center as great if not greater than it was before."
"G.M. Jones, owner of the Casino and the Marine Street apartments, place his loss after payment of insurance at $50,000 but in the same sentence stated that he will take steps at once to rebuild. "I shall go ahead just as soon as the lots can be cleared and lossses can be adjusted," said Mr. Jones. "My brothers-in-law, W.E. Byrne of San Bernardino, and L.D. Byrne of San Francisco, also will replace at once the fine three-story apartment house they have just completed on Marine street. In my opinion the important thing for Venice and Santa Monica to do now on the ashes of this disaster is to consolidate; becomne one city and establish an efficient water plant for the entire district that will give us plenty of pressure at all times."
"Before he had even examined the ruins of his company's property, Ellis Zemansky of the auto maze in the Dragon Gorge building, which lost $52,000 by the flames, had wired to Omaha, Neb. for a force of experts and a new model with which to reconstruct the amusement device operated by the Laske-Cicronel company.
""Both men and model are on the way this morning." he announced.
"If the city council will adopt a stringent fire limit ordinace," said E.L. Allen, owner of a two-story building at Pier avenue and Speedway that was destroyed. "I will erect a new and modern business block on that site."
Phone Circuits Reopened
"W.L. Porterfield, general manager of the United States Long Distance company, placed that concern's loss at $7000. All its switchboards were destroyed in the Decatur hotel building. New apparatus was rushed down in the night and under the direction of District Manager Stone the twelve circuits to Los Angeles at 6 o'clock this morning were handling more business than they ever had. The company is quartered in the E,.S, Toimblin office, in the Ocean Park building on Trolley Way.
"The Merchants Commercial and Savings bank was the first concern to unload lumber with which to rehouse itself for business. The bank building at Marine street and Speedway was burned but the loss is covered by insurance. As soon as the remodeling can be completed the J.A. Bangs real estate office at 153 Pier avenue will be the temporary quarters of the bank. "A four-story modern building of brick and stone will replace the one burned," said S.A. Girard, vice president of the bank, who personally superintended the buidling operation today."
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"Canton, China, September 4-The Canton and Hongkong governments will co-operate in capturing the pirates whose haunts are on the Sheonwankom and Shaiwankom islands near Macao. The Canton government accepts British aid on the condition that only Chinese troops shall be permitted to land on the islands, and that British gunboats shall be used only ito prevent the pirates from escaping by water. All who are arrested are to be surrendered to the Canton government for trial. This acceptance is to be considered as a special accommodation and must not be taken as forming a precedent for future cases."
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[p. 2 ] Company F Ordered on Ocean Park Duty
"At the request of Mayor C.B. Holbrook of Ocean Park, fifty men of Company F, Seventh regiment, National Guard of California, commanded by Captain F.R. McReynold and Lieutenant A.K. Crum and Paul Seidener, left last night at 6 o'clock for Ocean Park to relieve companies A of Los Angeles and E of Santa Monica, who have been on duty since the start of the fire on Tuesday night."
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[p. 2] Hungry Ocean Park Eats Slim Breakfast
"Breakfast! Never was the mirage of steamiung muffins, 'lasses and pancakes, whip-creamed coffee, eggs and bacon more desireable to the citizens of Ocean Park than yesterday moring when stale buns and perchance a slice of Sunday's chocolate cake constituted the repast, owing to lack of water, gas and food in the district of the fire zone.
"Business men who had been up practically all night because of the fire went to their various offices breakfastless, but thankful that they had they had an office that had not been destroyed. Spirit lamps and coal oil stoves were pressed into service, but even they seemed too depressed to produce heat.
"An imperative order to "send up in a hurry " plenty of "eats" from the nearest grocery was ineffective because of disconnected telephone service. A hurried visit to the cafeteria resulted in a desire to kick the "sold out" sign displayed in big letters."
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[p. 2] Santa Monica Body Discusses Future
"Santa Monica. Sept. 4.-The members of the city council met in extraordinary session this afternoon to discuss the situation pertaining to the future as well as the present emergency. The loss by fire of 2000 feet of fire hose will call for an immediate renewal, and the cessation of the license fees from the concessionairies who have lost their all will seriously cripple the city's general fund, and the purpose of the council will be to at once take some action that will meet the emergency.
"The Pacific Electric was represented by E.C. Thomas, who offered the use of as many cars and men as could be used to advantage in the removal of the debris. This offer was accepted with thanks, and the work of clearing the wreckage is already under way. Charles Hiles, manager of the L.A. Thompson Scenic Railway company, whose magnificient Dragon Gorge enterprise was reduced to the level, assured the members of the council that his company had already decided upon the immediate reconstruction of its enterprise."
Fraser to Rebuild
"A.R, Fraser, owner of the pier, dance hall and auditorium which were consumed, said he would at once begin the work of reconstruction. A contractor went over the ground today and will begin the recapping of the pier's reinforced concrete piles just as soon as the necessary men and materials can be assembled. Frazer plans to erect the new amusement enterprises west of the old sidewalk line, thus widening the plaza and minimizing the hazard of fire.
"President Berkeley of the city council said he believed the disaster would in the end prove a good thing in disguise, as the new amusement district would be rebuilt uoon more enduring lines, bigger, more solid and substantial.
"The same expression of confidence are heard on all sides. Former Mayor T.H. Dudley said the burned district would be rebuilt as nearly fireproof as the architects of today are able to plan and execute. He said the feeling was such that there was no question in his mind but the rejuvenated resort would be ready to throw its doors open to the public next Easter morn. This will mean one of the liveliest winter seasons ever known by the sea, as there will be work for hundreds of artisans skilled in all building lines."
Bank to reopen
"At a meeting held this morning the directors of the Merchants Commercial and Savings Bank decided to reopen for business at once to temporary quarters. This action will be followed by the immediate erection of a four-story brick and steel block at Marine and Speedway, to replace the single story brick that were harmed.
"The Evening Journal, whose two-story brick building and plant was wiped out of existance, will rebuild at once. H.F, Cassidy, the owner of the paper, although suffering a loss of $15,000, today placed orders for a new linotypoe machine, and will establish a modern plant, as a steel and stone structure, to be erected on the site of the ruins. The Journal was issued as usual this afternoon . . .
"The fire has left the Journal homeless and adrift," says the paper editorially, "but it is not without hope. Brick and Steel will replace wood in the new city."
Hotel Plans Developing
"Plans are developing for the rebuilding of the Decatur hotel. The Great Western Amusement company will go steadily ahead with the construction of its pleasure pier. The Casino willl be rebuilt substantially by Gillman Bros. G.M. Jones will replace his $30,000 Marine apartments and the Byrne Bros. of San Bernardino will start work at once on their $30,000 Nile apartment block. This was in the finishing stages when the fires swept it off the map.
"The $50,000 auto-maze which went down with the Dragon Gorge will be reconstructed at once."
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Work is begun to rebuild the Resort
"Santa Monica, Sept. 4-Before the embers had died in the fire, last night that left a blackened path of ruin and desolation throughout the seven blocks constituting the central business and amusement district known as Ocean Park, men and teams were on the ground removing the mass of tangled wires and iron and steel--clearing the way for the rebuilding of a greater city. Men were forced to work today with gloved hands, as the wreakage and debris was still hot. Santa Monica sent her powerful steam road roller into the fire zone, and this was used in razing the blackened brick walls that had remained as a menace in public safety, defying the fury of the fiery elements.
"The walls stood ready to topple over at the first gust of wind. In some instances the ruined piles towered to a height of three or four stories. The members of the local military organization, Company E, reinforced the regular and special police forces of Santa Monica and Venice in holding the crowds behind the lines that had been stretched across the streets.
"Much valuable property carried out of burning buildings was strewn along the strteets and filled the vacant lots. This would have been at the mercy of pillagers but for the protection thown about it by the police. Only a few minor cases of theft were reported, and in all instances the offenders were summarily dealt with."
Safes are Inspected
"Only those holding passes from the police and fire chiefs were permitted to passs within the roped enclosures. Passes were issued only to those who had interests within the zone. Among the number were business men, amusement enterprise representatives, bankers, householders, and property owners. In many cases the search was for jewels that had been left behind when the fire alarm was sounded. Others wished to approach their safes and vaults to learn how the strong boxes with their money and valuable papers had withstood the test of fire. But so great was the heat that it was impossible to determine with any degree of certainty how the documents had fared. Superficial investigations indicated that everything was well. The safe of the Merchants Commercial and Savings bank is apparently intact and its securities are perhaps uninjured.
"Summarized, the fire represents a loss of not less than $2,500,000 in buildings, merchandise. household goods and valuables destroyed. Of this only a very small proportion-perhaps less than 20 per cent-is covered by insurance, owing to the excessively high rate of premiums."
Eight Hundred Persons Homeless
"The burned district consists of approximately seven city blocks, upon which there were thickly studded before the fire no less than 200 buildings large and small; brick and frame, stores, shops, buisiness houses, banks, offices, residence, amusement enterprises, riding devices, picture shows and theaters.
"Eight hundred persons have been rendered temporarily homeless by the burning of the buildings which were spread over the more than a million square feet over which the elements ran with undisputed sway. Of the dozens and scores of amusement places which yesterday appealed to the public for patronage there remains today but a single representative of the lighter side of life. Willotia theater of Ashland avenue came unscathed through the bath of fire."
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Undelivered Ocean Park Telegrams
"Many telegrams sent, no doubt, by inquiring relatives and friends to residents of Ocean Park have been received at the Western Union office in Ocean Park. Owing to the fire, messages for the following named have not been delivered:
` "Chas. Hile, Jessica Jacobs, S. Lang, C.H. Love, Jos. Loeb, H.H. Loeb, Jos H.H. Loeb, Geo. H. Markle, Mrs. Otto Neisser, Mrs. G.H. Reynolds, Carl Stewart, E. Streator, J.E. Walters and Frank A. Wietzel."
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Venice Council To Meet This Evening
"VENICE, Sept. 4.-The Venice city council at its regular meeting meeting tonight did not act on relief measures for Ocean Park, as had been planned owing to the absence of Mayor Holbrook. It has been arranged to discuss fully the question of co-opetating with the stricken city in their rebuilding plans or give any assistance needed.
"The council adjourned to meet tomorrow evening at 7:30 o'clock, when it is expected the question will be discussed fully."
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Good Will is Told By Commerce Body
"Offering assistance and co-operation to the fire-swept city of Ocean Park, the Los Angeles chamber of commerce at its regular meeting yesterday afternoon in resolution unaminously passed extended a hand of sympathy and good-will to the beach city.
"Copies of the resolutions will be forwarded to the board of trustees of Ocean Park and the Santa Monica Bay chamber of commerce.
"The resolutions adopted follow:
"The Los Angeles chamber of commerce, through its board of directors, in regular meeting assembled, learns with intense regret of the great misfortune which has befallen our sister city of Ocean Park and tenders its profound sympathy to the people of the stricken city in the face of the grave disaster, and tenders its assistance and co-operation to the fullest extent to assist in restoring the damage which has been done.
"It is the earnest belief that the characteristic American pluck and energy which established Ocean Park will still be further evidenced by the courage and persistence with which it will be rebuild, more beautiful than ever, upon the ashes of the fallen city."
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Assistance Offered To Stricken Resort
"Accompanied by the offer of any assistance financial or otherwise that may be extended, the city council yesterday adopted resolutions expressing sympathy for the people of Ocean Park as a result of the fire that swept the beach city on Tuesday night. The resolution as offered by Councilman McKenzie follows:
"Whereas, The city council of the city of Los Angeles has learned with great sorrow of the disaster caused by fire at Ocean Park, and
Whereas, By reason thereof a great loss of property has been caused and many inhabitants of said city are in neeed of assistance,; now, therefore, be it
Resolved , By the city council of the city of Los Angeles that it extends its heartfelt sympathy to the citizens of Ocean Park and that it render all assistance within its power, both financial and otherwise, to those who are in need thereof; and be it further
Resolved. That a copy pof this resolution be spread on the minutes of this council and a copy be also transmitted to the trustees of Ocean Park."
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Women and Children in Want at Beach
"Following one of the worst conflagrations that has visited a coast city, there are many women and children in want and suffering in and about Ocean Park, whose homes and possessions were wiped out by the flames and are now practically penniless, needing both food and clothing.
"D.F. McLaughlin, head of the local human socity caring for children, received word last night of the sad condition of many children and their mothers and will go early this morning to the beach city to take charge of a systematized relief for those in neeed.
"With the clearer sight of the first day after the great fire it was found that many homeless would suffer in the first cool nights of the autumn, particularly along the coast, and the helplessness of many women and children will be the special work of Humane Officer McLaughlin.
"He stated last night that he did not know the exact conditions but that he would leave this morning and remain until he had helped clear the situation in relief for women and children."
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[p. 3] The Tribune, Los Angeles, Cal.; Thursday, September 5, 1912
"Now that the members of the general committee in charge of arrangements for the forty-sixth annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic here September 9 to 14 inclusive have named the positions of the various departments in the line of formation and designated the line of march for the big parade to be held Wednesday morning, September 11, they will bend their efforts toward perfecting other plans for the reception and entertainment of the delegations from all parts of the United States that will begin to arrrive Saturday morniing.
"Already there are a number of out-of-state delegates and their families in the city. The visitors that have been arriving singly and in groups during the last few days not only are veterans of the G.A.R., but comprise deleates from all of the auxillary organisastions, such as the Daughters of Veterans, Sons of Veterans, Women's Relief corps, National Association of Civil War musicians and Ex-Prisoners of War association."
John B. Lewis Arrives
"The most prominent officer of the G.A.R. to arrive in Los Angeles yesterday was John B. Lewis, nationalk patriotic instructor of the iorganization of Boston. Instructuor Lewis is a member of "Edward W. Kinsley post No. 113 of the eastern city and is one of the most prominent figures in Grand Army circles. As patriotic instructor of the G.A.R. he has responsible duties to perform, most of his work being to instill the love of country in the minds of youthful members of auxillary organizations and to keep up thie interest in matters pertaining to the association, to deliver addresses to students at the schools and to take in partriotic exercises and particularly to attend Memorial day celebrations and assist in conducting the ceremonials. Another duty of the patriotic instructor is to investigate improper uses of the flag.
"Instructor Lewis on his arrival here immediately visited the G.A.R. headquarters in the Chamber of Commerce building and called on Executive Director H.Z. Osborne, whom he had met on a number of occasions at conventions in various part s of the United States. The two comrades passed a pleasant visit and arranged for a "camp fire" to be held at the Shrine auditorium Thursday night, September 12.
"The entertainment will be one of the principal receptions of the convention week. Instructor Lewis will preside and there will be a program consiusting of patriotic speeches, interspersed with readings, vocal selections and musical numbers. The list of speakers includes Lieutenant Governor A.H.J. Wallace; James H. Lawrence, patriotic instructor of the department of California and Nevada; Levi Longfellow of Minnesota; George D. Kellogg; Mrs. George D. Kellogg; Mrs. Lewis Knauff, national patriotic instructor of the Women's Relief Corp; Mrs. Ada L Shannon of the Ladies of the G.A.R. ; Miss Helen C. Littlefield, Daughters of Veterans, and Mrs. Addie M.C. Haskins, represeenting Sons of Veterans auxillary. The Appomattox boys choir of Oakland, the star vocalists of the G.A.R. will render Grand Army songs."
250 Veterans Coming on Special
"Captain Osborne, as president of the Los Angeles chamber of commerce, sent a telegram to Commander in Chief H.N. Trimble of the G.A.R. inviting him and his staff to attend a luncheon at the California club at noon Saturday, An answer dated Denver was received yesterday afternoon from the head of the Grand Army accepting the invitation and also containing the information that the special train with the staff and other members of the organizations aboard would arrive in Los Angeles Saturday morning. There are 250 persons aboard the special.
"Members of the automobile committee reported progress in the work of obtaining autos for the use of the veterans during convention week.
"For the convenience and benefit of the visiting veterans who will seek comrades whom they have not seen since war time, the local tent of the Daughters of Veterans has compiled a roster of the members of the G.A.R. at the National Soldiers Home at Sawtelle. A bound copy of this roster will be kept at the general headquarters at the Pacific Electric Buidling."
Rev. Dr, Lovejoy to Attend
"The Rev. Dr. George Edewards Lovejoy, pastor of the South Congregational church of Lawrence, Mass., will be one of the prominent figures in thye G.A.R. encampment, as he is prominently mentioned for the post of chaplain in chief of the organization.
"Dr. Lovejoy will take part in the local sessions and in addition will occupy the pulpit of the First Congregational church next Sunday morning.
"Dr. Lovejoy entered the army in August, 1862, as a private in Company H, the Twenty-second regiment of the Massachusetts volunteers, and served in that regiment until mustered out in 1864."
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[p. 6] The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal. Thurs., September 5, 1912
"Under instructions received from attorney General George W. Wickersham, United States secret service officers yesterday began preparation of copies of portions of the transcripts of the recent trial in which Clarence S. Darrow was accused of bribing George N. Lockwood, a prospective juror in the J.B. McNamara case.
"The copies will be forwarded to Indianapolis where they will be introduced into evidence against the fifty-four labor leaders, whose trial on a charge of conspiracy will begin in the federal court at Indianapolis October 1."
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P. 8 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Here is the Story of the Great Ocean Park Fire
1- After the fire (September 4) 2-Ocean Park before the fire (July 4, 1912) same view. 3-Dragon's Gorge in flames, looking north. 4-View of the fire looking toward the pier from Kinney street. 5-Skeleton of pier buildings as the fire swept on. 6-Volunteers manning hose to fight the flames. 7-Residents of burning district piling their belongings back of fire lines after spread of flames to the east and north had been stopped
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
1-Early morning flashlight of refugees huddled on beach. 2-First daylight photograph of beach campers, victims of fire. 3-The coffee line, which began at &:30 a.m. 4-Searching the ruins under militia guard, the only way possible before 8:30 a.m. 5-Ocean Park bank vault, $50,000 is tied up here because the intense heat warped the huge steel door. 6-Viewing the havoc wrought at the pier amusement center. 7-The merry-go-round as the flames left it. 8-Rehabitation begins. Note the smoke of burning embers on the left. 9- Panoramic view of burned region. Decatur hotel ruins in the foreground.
[p. 13 ] Section II
"A search of the asphaltum lake of La Brea for types of animals and vegetable life of the pliocene and tertiary periods will be started today by Reginalsd C, Stoner, geologist of the University of California. He expects to discover some rare fossils, and believes that the search will reveal much of scientific interest.
"No great depth has been reached in the old time oil lake, and Mr. Stoner believes that species of animals will be found. Thousands, he thinks, were trapped and buried there in ancient times."
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[p. 18] The Tribune
Vital Statistics
Licenses to Wed
Incorporations:
Realty Association of Los Angeles-Directors: J.W. Spratly, May S. Spratley of Santa Monica; Charles R. Price, Los Angeles; capital, $10,000.
[p. 19] Editorial Page of The Tribune, September 5, 1912
Ocean Park's Fate Warns Other Cities
"Every aspect of the Ocean Park conflagration calls for sympathy -the vast property destroyed, much of it without insurance, the business losses by interruption, the hundreds made homeless and dependent, and the wreck of material hopes for many. But the only irreparable losss-that which in the long run will be found the only real cause for mourning-is the loss of human lives.
"Their fate gives one the best grasp of the swiftness with which the pretty and prosperous resort was converted from a theater of merriment into an inferno. Black as the ruins look today, however, there is already assurance that the other misfortunes will be soon repaired in a larger and more beautiful and permanent Ocean Park. Many of the losers must have generous credit to square their pluck with their needs, and big, wealthy Los Angelels should not and will not be wanting in the emergency.
"Every beach city has has a vivid lesson in the fate of Ocean Park. That town at least will not again be found scant of water on the very edge of the greatest of the world's oceans. The prime lesson of Tuesday's fire is that no building should be permitted in such a place of necessarily inflammable things without a standpipe servie sufficient to smother the worst blaze with an overwhelming cascade.
"The poorest economy for a seashore resort is neglect of fire equipment. Ocean Park's purpose to build fireproof structures on the ruins is praiseworthy, but let its people lose not a minute in devising an emergency water supply that will make a conflagration impossible, for all the buildings of a resort of the kind cannot be made fireproof."
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[ p. 8] The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Here is the Story of the Great Ocean Park Fire
1- After the fire (September 4) 2-Ocean Park before the fire (July 4, 1912) same view. 3-Dragon's Gorge in flames, looking north. 4-View of the fire looking toward the pier from Kinney street. 5-Skeleton of pier buildings as the fire swept on. 6-Volunteers manning hose to fight the flames. 7-Residents of burning district piling their belongings back of fire lines after spread of flames to the east and north had been stopped
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
1-Early morning flashlight of refugees huddled on beach. 2-First daylight photograph of beach campers, victims of fire. 3-The coffee line, which began at 7:30 a.m. 4-Searching the ruins under militia guard, the only way possible before 8:30 a.m. 5-Ocean Park bank vault, $50,000 is tied up here because the intense heat warped the huge steel door. 6-Viewing the havoc wrought at the pier amusement center. 7-The merry-go-round as the flames left it. 8-Rehabitation begins. Note the smoke of burning embers on the left. 9- Panoramic view of burned region. Decatur hotel ruins in the foreground.
Ocean Park Burns, September 4, 1912
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
2-First daylight photograph of beach campers, victims of fire.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
3-The coffee line, which began at 7:30 a.m.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
4-Searching the ruins under militia guard, the only way possible before 8:30 a.m.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
5-Ocean Park bank vault, $50,000 is tied up here because the intense heat warped the huge steel door.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
6-Viewing the havoc wrought at the pier amusement center.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
7-The merry-go-round as the flames left it.
P. 9 The Tribune: Los Angeles, Cal., Thursday, September 5, 1912
Told in Sequence in These Remarkable Pictures
8-Rehabitation begins. Note the smoke of burning embers on the left.
General Homer Lea's Obituary, The Outlook, November 2, 1912
Searching the microfilm for Gen. Lea's obituary left a larger fragment available to me, including some advertisments and one story about the retirement of a well-liked Edison Co. man and one story about the difficulties experienced by one of the Inspectors at the Soldiers Home in Sawtelle.
The Outlook, November 2, 1912
Startzman Has Again Disappeared
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), 1912
"The canals had been maintained by the Abbot Kinney Company until 1912 when they were deeded to the City of Venice. . . ."
Ocean Park, California, annually attracts to its beaches thousands of dwellers in interior California, who find here every joy and diversion of a modern seaside Paradise. Unknown Publisher, 1912?, SLL 2005
Ocean Park, California, annually attracts to its beaches thousands of dwellers in interior California, who find here every joy and diversion of a modern seaside Paradise.
Ocean Park, California, annually attracts to its beaches thousands of dwellers in interior California, who find here every joy and diversion of a modern seaside Paradise. Unknown Publisher, 1912?, SLL 2005
Ocean Park Bath House/Ocean Park, Cal., California Postcard Co., Los Angeles, Cal., 23887, SLL 2005
Ocean Park Bath House/Ocean Park, Cal.
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940, 1933, 1921, 1913, 1912, 1880
"15. Santa Monica High School, 601 Pico Boulevard. The cornerstone for the high school was laid on April 11, 1912, on what was once known as Prospect Hill; the campus has expanded over the years to its present size by incorporating the former Santa Monica College site.
"The high school contains a great many points of interest, especially the Memorial Open-Air Theater dedicated in 1921; Barnum Hall, dedicated to William F. Barnum,* who served as principal from 1913 to 1943; a senior bench donated by the Classes of 1940 to 1943; an imposing Athletic Hall of Fame in the Men's Gymnasium; a trophy collection; the Freedom Shrine in the Administration Building; and the Hall of Fame in the History Building. Two special items of interest in Barnum Hall's lobby are a mosaic-tile mural depicting the landing of the vikings and a four-foot-tall concrete owl that stood atop the original high school from 1913 until 1933, when an earthquake caused its removal."
Santa Monica Pier-Arcadia Terrace
"The Santa Monica Pier is probably the city's best-known and most widely recognized landmark. Although now entirely owned by the city, it was originally two different and separately owned structures until the city purchased the adjoining privately owned and operated Newcomb Pier. The original Santa Monica Pier portion is the oldest and longest wood piling pier in California. Initially constructed around 1912, though some argue for 1880, it is 1,640 feet long, including the concrete bridge extension, the roadway, and the upper- and lower-deck fishing areas.*
"*Unfortunately, some portions of the Pier were severely damaged in the disastrous winter storms of 1983."
Ocean Park
"61. Murals, Early Ocean Park and Venice Scenes, Arthur Mortimer, 1982. A three-panel mural at the Kensington Road entry to Joslyn Park depicts a bath house and ocean front in 1906, the boardwalk between Venice and Ocean Park in 1912, and Pier Avenue in 1904."
"64. Copeland Court. A two-block subdivision with a center pedestrian walkway and no street running between Sixth and Seventh Streeets, Copeland Courts was laid out by E. J. Vawter and F.M. Leavitt in 1912."
"69. Olsen House, 804 Navy Street. This bright yellow cottage just west of Lincoln Boulevard wass once the home of Robert E. Olsen*, inventor of the stoplight for automobiles in 1912, as well as of the "picture mill," a coin-operated camera in a booth similar to those used today in amusement centers."
James Dix Schuyler [1848-1912] Biography
"James Dix Schuyler was born May 11, 1848, in Ithaca, New York, the son of Philip C. and Lucy M. (Dix) Schuyler. He was educated at Friend's College, 1863-1868; after that he was self-taught. In July 1889 he was married to Mary Ingalls Tulliper.
"Schuyler began his engineering career in 1869, locating and constructing the Kansas Pacific Railway in western Kansas and Colorado. In 1870, he was appointed Resident Engineer on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, from Colorado Springs to Denver, and made the first survey of Colorado Springs. He came to California in 1873, serving as Division Engineer of the North Pacific Coast Railroad from Ross Valley to San Rafael. In 1874, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Stockton and Ione Railroad, and on the financial collapse of that project, he worked temporarily as a writer for the Stockton Daily Independent. In 1877 he was made Chief Assistant State Engineer, under William Hammond Hall, and was placed in charge of the irrigation investigations being conducted by that department in the Central Valley of California.
"In 1882, he was appointed Chief Engineer and General Superintendent of the Sinaloa and Durango Railroad in Mexico. He returned to California in 1884, and was engaged as a contractor in the construction of a section of the San Francisco sea-wall. In 1887-1888, he supervised the building of Sweetwater Dam in San Diego County, and in 1890-1891, he designed and supervised the building of Hemet Dam in Riverside County, California, then the highest masonry structure in the state.
"During subsequent years, Schuyler devoted special attention to hydraulic engineering in general, designing and building water works in many cities and towns, including Denver, Portland, and numerous others. He was one of the Board of Consulting Engineers to pass on the feasibility of the Owens River water supply project for the city of Los Angeles. From 1903 to 1905, he was employed as the consulting engineer for the building of the great dam on the Snake River at the head of the Twin Falls Canal, at the time the largest irrigation system in America. He held a similar relation to the American Beet Sugar Company in California and Colorado during a period of nine years of irrigation and water supply development. In the course of his long practice he was called upon to act in an advisory capacity for a very large number of irrigation projects and domestic water supply works throughout the western United States. During these years he became known also for his construction of dams by hydraulic fill-one of his first works of this type was the Lake Francis Dam, built for the Bay Counties Power Company in Yuba County, California.
"In January 1909, President Roosevelt appointed Schuyler to accompany President-elect Taft to Panama as one of seven engineers to report on canal plans, the Gatun Dam, etc. The unanimous report of this board of engineers was in favor of carrying out the plan adopted by Congress for a lock-canal, but recommended a modification of the height and slopes of the Gatun Dam, lowering it by 20 feet.
"Schuyler's activities as a consulting engineer extended across the ocean to Japan, and as far south as Brazil. He was consulting engineer to Waialua Plantation, Hawaii, on the construction of the highest dam on the islands, chiefly built by sluicing; to the Territorial Government of Hawaii on Nuuanu Dam, Honolulu; to the Monterrey Water-Works and Sewer Company, Ltd., of Mexico; to the Kobe Syndicate on an extensive power project in Japan, involving the construction of a very high dam; to the Mexican Light and Power Company, Ltd., on the building of four large dams for power development in Mexico; to the Vancouver Power Company, Ltd., on the building of a dam at Coquitlam Lake; to the Arrowhead Reservoir Company; and to the U.S. Indian Bureau on the building of Zuni Dam, New Mexico. He was also consulting engineer for the British Columbia Electric Railway Company on dam construction, the reclamation of swamp lands, etc.
"Schuyler was the author of Reservoirs for Irrigation, Water Power, and Domestic Water Supply (John Wiley & Sons, 1901; 2nd edition, 1908), a work on dams, which for many years was a standard work on this subject. He was also the author of numerous contributions to engineering societies, two of which won the Thomas Fitch Rowland prize for the best paper of the year read before the American Society of Civil Engineers.
"James Dix Schuyler died on September 13, 1912."
Excerpted from the memoir of James Dix Schuyler prepared by Stephen E. Kieffer,C. E. Grunsky, and J. B. Lippincott, published in Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, v. 76 (1913), p. 2243-2245.
Excerpted from the James Dix Schuyler Archive
Grant H. Smith The History of the Comstock Lode 1850-1920, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, University of Nevada Bulletin: Reno, Nevada, vol. XXXVII. 1 July 1943, no. 3, (revised 1966), Ninth printing, 1980. 305 pp., 1966, 1912, 1890s, 1884, 1883, 1881, 1880, 1880s, 1877, 1876, 1875, 1874, 1872, 1871, 1870, 1870s, 1869, 1860s, 1850s, 1920-1850
2614 Second Street (Third Street Historical District) Craftsman bungalow built 1912 by W.J. Edinger* for J.L. Van Every.* Photographed 1982-83 for the City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1999, 1983, 1982, 1912
http://www.smpl.org/archive/0246/IMG0027.JPG
2015 Third Street. Craftsman bungalow built 1912. Photographed 1982-83 for the City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory , 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1912
http://www.smpl.org/archive/0246/IMG0017.JPG
2017 Third Street. Craftsman bungalow built 1912. Photographed1982-83 for the City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1912
http://www.smpl.org/archive/0246/IMG0018.JPG
"In 1912, the bathing beauty contest (on the Venice Pier) was started as a promotional feature for the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper."
Kevin Starr Embattled Dreams California in War and Peace 1940-1950, Oxford University Press, 2002, 386 pp., 2002, 1940, 1912,
" . . .
[p. 51] "The most complete version of this invasion scenario came in 1909 from [p. 52] Homer Lea, a Southern Californian, and the English naval strategist Hector Bywater in 1925. Born in Denver in 1875, and moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1892, Homer Lea was one of these eccentrics touched by genius whom one frequently encounters in turn-of-the century Southern California. Despite his diminutive stature (five feet) and a curved spine, which earned him the nickname "Little Scrunch-Neck" among his classmates at Los Angeles High School, Lea dreamed of a military career (as did his contemporary George Smith Patton, Jr. then attending a private academy in Pasadena.) Educated at Occidental and Stanford, Lea became involved with Chinese students committed to the overthrow of the imperial system and the establishment of a republic. In July 1895, just before the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, Lea sailed for China in search of further involvement. Concealing his republican sympathies, he seems to have wrangled some sort of military commission in the army of the Emperor. In any event, he appeared at the relief of Peking in ht last days of the Boxer Rebellion wearing the uniform of a lieutenant general (the rank authorized in his imperial commission, presumably) and directing a ragtag army of reform volunteers.
"When it became apparent that there would be no republic in China, not yet at least, Lea returned to Los Angeles in 1901 wearing his general's uniform. He spent the next few years writing and lecturing on military matters. Among other activities, Lea drilled Chinese students in military fundamentals, in the hopes of preparing them to serve as officers in a revolutionary republican army. Lea's assistant and chief drill master was Ansel O'Banion, a leather-lunged former sergeant in the United States Cavalry who had later secured a commission in the Philippine constabulary. Lea returned to China in 1904 on behalf of the republican movement, and was in Nanking in 1911, the only white man in the room, when Dr. Sun Yat-sen, with whom Lea had worked closely in Sun Yat-sen's California exile, was elected President of the newly formed Republic of China. Three years before his death in 1912, Harper & Brothers published Homer Lea's The Valor of Ignorance (1909), the result of long study and extensive reconnaissance of the Pacific Coast he and O'Banion had conducted after his return from China.
"In the first third of The Valor of Ignorance Lea developed the thesis that war between Japan and the United States was inevitable because of economic competition. Lea was no crude Japan-basher. On the contrary, he admired the Japanese for their intelligence, enterprise, and military skill. Lea devoted the middle third of his book to a discussion of Japanese military capabilities on land and at sea. Japan, Lea observed, was capable of fielding an invasion army of 1.25 million men. Its navy was the finest on the planet, and it was capable of transporting in one troop transport ship more soldiers than the British had brought to the United States during the entire War of 1812. A military invasion of the Coast, Lea concluded, was fully in the reach of the Japanese from the point of view of their population and industrial capacity, the skill and training of their general staffs and officer corps, and the technical capacity of their army and navy. As important as any of [p. 53] this, the Japanese possessed bushido, the code of the samuri, an instinctive affinity for the sword (in Franz Boas's later term) running parallel to their love of the chrysanthemum.
In the final third of The Valor of Ignorance, Lea sketched a scenario of Japanese invasion, which later read as an almost eerie prediction of the course of the Second World War in the Pacific. First, Lea argued, the Japanese would seize and occupy the Philippines. From there, they would move to Samoa, Hawaii, the Aleutians, and Alaska, establishing in each a center of overlapping strategic spheres, which would give them control of the entire Pacific. The attack on the Pacific Coast would come on three axes: Washingt State, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles and the South Coast. With extensive detail and maps, the result of his and O'Banion's surveys, Lea described how the Japanese could land at Santa Monica Bay, seize Los Angeles, and rapidly seal off most of Southern California. Landing in Monterey Bay, the Japanese would move north and encircle San Francisco, bombarding it from strategic heights around the Bay until it surrendered. Eventually, a Japanese army of more than 1.25 million men would establish a defensive perimeter in the Sierra Nevada. It would take years, perhaps a decade, for an American army to be raised, trained, and successfully employed against the invaders.
"As a prophetic document, The Valor of Ignorance gained credibility, indeed great power, through its detailed plausibility. Lea envisioned the Japanese invasion of California down to the emplacement of specific artillery batteries. He had personally surveyed landing beaches and deployment routes and had reviewed all relevant military maps to back up his assertions. Lea also grasped the essential isolation of California, sealed off as it was by the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin beyond: an isolation that meant California could be seized and defended by Japanese invaders.
"The general staffs of the United States and Japan each took Lea's scenario seriously enough to incorporate it into their own contingency plans. Dining with a group of Army officers in Manila in October 1941 Clare Booth Luce was treated to a description by Colonel Charles Willoughby of how the Japanese would soon be moving on the Philippines. Luce asked Willoughby his source of information. The colonel laughed. "Just quoting military gospel," he told her, "according to Homer Lea." Willoughby went on to describe how his generation of officers had first encountered Lea in their readings at West Point. Among staff officers in the Philippines, The Valor of Ignorance was considered established doctrine. Luce returned to the United States and wrote an article on Lea for the Saturday Evening Post, which Harper & Brothers used in 1942 as an introduction to a reissue of a book whose prophecies-an attack on Hawaii, the siege of the Philippines, a deployment into Southeast Asia-were now in the process of coming true.
"In 1909 the plausibility of The Valor of Ignorance was especially high among Californians. Homer Lea might be a shadowy and eccenteric figure, but no one [p. 54] less than Lieutenant General Adna Chaffee, the retired chief of staff of the United States Army, wrote the preface to the first edition of Lea's book. Chaffee was not only a retired chief of staff, he was a Los Angeleono as well-someone, that is, fully capable for reasons other than his military career of saying that, yes, the Japanese would one day invade the Coast. This was no fantasy, Chaffee argued, merely an inevitability Home Lea had envisioned and analyzed.
"Brilliant in his depictions of the land war in California, Homer Lea was rather sketchy when it came to details of the Japanese naval strategy in the Pacific. This scenario was left for Hector Bywater . . ."
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1912, 1905
"Pp. 26. 27[Photo captions: "Pier Avenue in 1905 boasted some rather imposing buildings"];
Pp. 28, 29 [Photo Captions: "In 1910, the Fraser* Pier, later to become Pacific Ocean Park, looked like this"]
" . . . the little town of Ocean Park had been disincorporated by its voters, part of it eventually was annexed by Santa Monica, the rest became a portion of Venice.
"Amusement piers and similar enterprises were going full blast on both sides of the dividing line by 1912, when disaster struck.
"A.R. Fraser's Million Dollar Pier was only two years old when, on the afternoon of September 3, 1912, a defective flue started a fire which swept the pier, a nearby hotel, and adjoining buildings, plus a large number of homes.
"It was the first of a series of fires which struck the amusement centers, and by far the largest, due to inadequate protection.
"The writer of this history [Les Storrs*] and his cousin, Bernard Evans*, young boys at the time, ran from the 900 block on Third Street to the scene of the fire and remained there until a rumor went through the crowd to the effect that buildings would be dynamited in order to create a firebreak.
" . . .
" . . . it was reported that 250 families were left homeless and that some 800 persons required temporary shelter. A state of emergency was declared, and the National Guard called out to protect against looting. . . .
" . . ."
Los Angeles Tribune Description of Damages two days after the Ocean Park fire (See above):
"Summarized, the fire represents a loss of not less than $2,500,000 in buildings, merchandise. household goods and valuables destroyed. Of this only a very small proportion-perhaps less than 20 per cent-is covered by insurance, owing to the excessively high rate of premiums."
Eight Hundred Persons Homeless
"The burned district consists of approximately seven city blocks, upon which there were thickly studded before the fire no less than 200 buildings large and small; brick and frame, stores, shops, buisiness houses, banks, offices, residence, amusement enterprises, riding devices, picture shows and theaters.
"Eight hundred persons have been rendered temporarily homeless by the burning of the buildings which were spread over the more than a million square feet over which the elements ran with undisputed sway. Of the dozens and scores of amusement places which yesterday appealed to the public for patronage there remains today but a single representative of the lighter side of life. Willotia theater of Ashland avenue came unscathed through the bath of fire."
Jeffery Stanton 1912 Bay Cities Directories, with amendments
1912 Ocean Park, Santa Monica and Venice City Directory Adddendata
AMUSEMENTS
N. Baida, 1912
- Avery, O.G. - 2925 O.F. Walk - O.P.
- Fanjoy, C.A. - 3017 O.F. Walk - O.P.
- Fanjoy Photo Co. - 201 O.F. Walk - O.P.
- Korth, F.L. - Fraser Pier
- Lori Ward & Eva Paxton - 108 Rose ???
- McLaughlin, F.W. - 1505 Trolleyway
- Novelty Photo Studio - O.F. Walk @ Horizon
- Rile, H.F. - 4 O.F. Walk - O.P.
- Thompson Studio - Venice Pier opposite Auditorium
- Palace Wood & Coal Yard - 183 Marine
- Tourea, P.E. & Brothers - 2620 Main - O.P.
- Owing to the fire, messages for the following named have not been delivered:
