1936 (1935) (1937) (1930-1940) (1940-1950) Table of Contents
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., 1936 See Text
Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolt* Thinking Big: The Story of the Los Angeles Times, Its Publishers and Their Influence on Southern California, G.P. Putnam's Sons: NY, 1977. 603 pp. 1938, 1936 See Text
Paul J. Karlstrom and Susan Ehrlich Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956, Barry M. Heisler Introduction Santa Barbara Museum of Art 1990, 1936 See Text
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1936 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, 1960, 1936 See Text
Karl Rydgren* (1914- ) I Remember, Unpublished Ms., 1975 [Reprinted 2005], 1936, See Text
Santa Monica Planning
Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour,
2003.
43. Merle Norman Building, 1936 See
Text
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1936 See Text
Documents
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., 1936
" . . .
The largest project in the building program was the complete rehabilitation and modernization of the high school. W.P.A. funds provided a new auditorium, Barnum Hall, which included practice rooms for band and orchestra as well as two music classrooms; a boys' gymnasium; a new wing to the library; and a new shop building. [26. Beach City Labor Journal, Santa Monica Schools Edition, October, 1937, p. 3.] But funds were not sufficient to complete the project, and in 1936 an additional $250,000 in bond money was voted for the purpose. When the high school plant was finally complete, the Board of Education and the W.P.A. had spent more than $1,225,000 in remodeling and new construction. [27. Loc. cit.]
" . . .
In 1936, a new John Adams plant on a twelve-acre tract at Sixteenth and Pearl Streets provided Santa Monica with the latest architectural development in Junior high schools. The nucleus of the present-day plant contained fifteen regular classrooms, art and home economics rooms, a library, cafeteria, and administrative offices. The school opened with an enrollment of 600 and a teaching staff of twenty-six full-time and nine part-time teachers. [24. Pearl, op. cit., p. 74.]
Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolt* Thinking Big: The Story of the Los Angeles Times, Its Publishers and Their Influence on Southern California, G.P. Putnam's Sons: NY, 1977. 603 pp. 1938, 1936
"A conspiracy of General Motors (GM) and several other companies provided the coup de grace for the transit system's deterioration. In 1936, a consortium of corporations, including General Motors, Standard Oil of California, Firestone Tire and Rubber, B.F. Phillips Petroleum and Mack Manufacturing company, organized a company called National City Lines (NCL). NCL was in the business of converting existing electrical rail systems-trolleys and streetcars-to motorized buses.
"In 1938, NCL set up a West Coast affiliate called the Pacific City Lines (PCL), which immediately began to buy up the Los Angeles Railway system. . . ." p. 252
Paul J. Karlstrom and Susan Ehrlich Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956, Barry M. Heisler Introduction Santa Barbara Museum of Art 1990, 1936
Grace Clements (1905-1968), 1990, 1936
"An ardent proponent of modernism, artist and critic Grace Clements sought to awaken Los Angeles of the 1930s and 1940s to vanguard modes of expression. Born in Oakland on June 8, 1905, Clements trained in New York from 1925 to 1930 with Kenneth Hays Miller and Boardman Robinson. In 1931, she moved to Los Angeles and shortly thereafter received a solo show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. . . .
"More socially conscious than the other Post-Surrealists, who held art apart from politics, Clements applied the movement's tenets to the contemporary scene. In the March 1936 issue of Art Front, a vehicle of the American Artists' Congress to which she belonged, she published an article entitled New Content - New Form in which she castigated "ivory tower" formalism and Surrealist automatism and argued for an art that addressed social issues in a language which the public could understand. . . . Opposed to naturalism, which merely mimicked appearance, she advised artists to emulate techniques of the movies such as filmic montage.
" . . .
"During the years of the Depression, Clements served as a painter and muralist on the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration. With Helen Lundeberg she painted murals in Venice High School and fashioned a series of mosaics for Bancroft Junior High School in Los Angeles and the Municipal Airport of Long Beach. . . ."
"She corresponded with Peter and Rose Krasnow after she had left Southern California in the late 1940s."
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1936
"3. Biscailuz Memorial. Located in front of City Hall at the western end of the Rose Garden is a memorial to Eugene Biscailuz, a well-known Santa Monica resident and Los Angeles County Sheriff from 1936 to 1962. The memorial was erected by the Sons of the Revolution of the State of California."
Ocean Park
"36. Merle Norman Building, 2627 Main Street, 1936. One of the outstanding Main Street structures, the unique exterior design was created by H. G. Thursby. The building initially was the Merle Norman Cosmetics Plant. Norman Place, the short street between the Merle Norman building and the library, was originally Sand Street."
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, 1960, 1936
"In 1936, the year of his death, [Irving Gill] he designed a small building for Redondo Beach. His time sheet read: "Plans ordered to be drawn May 16. I.J. Gill received $20 advance. Floor plans and clerestory plans completed May 17. Elevations, sections and roof plan finished May 19. (The client) returned this date and ordered changes in plan. Details completed May 22. Work done at owner's request under full speed."
"The client obligingly took Gill's tracings to the blueprinter. That was the last Gill saw of them When he tried to collect his fee, his client 's lawyer wrote indignantly that Gill "didn't build the building, he only designed it." No settlement was made before Gill's death four months later.
"In a letter to his wife during his last winter Gill wrote, "Have been almost free from pain today . . . It seemed mighty good to feel myself getting back into shape again. Bad luck, dear, cannot always last; so hold your strength and be ready for the good things to come. Let's help each other make the wish come true."
"He died on October 7, 1936, almost forgotten, but on the West Coast which he had called "that newest white page turned for registration," Gill had already left his mark.
Karl Rydgren* (1914- ) I Remember, Unpublished Ms., 1975 [Reprinted 2005], 2000, 1936, 1934, 1933, 1929, 1924, 1920s, 1919, 1914,
"In 1936 the movie producer, Daryl Zanuck, moved our home to 2323 Fifth Street, Santa Monica from its original ocean front location near The Beach Club on the PCH.
"My beautiful wife Alice Rydgren [ -2000], formerly Alice Pourroy, was born in a home on 7th Street and Pacific. It was torn down in 1989. Alice never lived anywhere but Santa Monica except for a year in Iowa as a little girl.
"The Depression years were quite rough. Jobs were as scarce as hen's teeth. Alice and I must have had a lot of guts to marry in 1934. My first job was driving a bus for Bay Cities Transit Company. My next job was the most interesting and gratifying-working for the Santa Monica Police Department. I worked as a Detective for the greater portion of my career with the P.D. I had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends, and put a lot of criminals away."
Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
43. Merle Norman Building, 1936
"This Streamline Moderne/Art Deco style building was the former headquarters of Merle Norman Cosmetics. Its ornate and stylish design reflected Norman's prosperity and the building towered above most of Main Street's low-rise commercial structures. [The Library?]
"The Streamline styling of this building is a distinctive interpretation of an architectural movement, which suggests dynamism, progress, and optimism. The unique combination of complex curves, pylons, and a prominent circular cupola distinguish this building. It further symbolizes the success of a Santa Monica business during the peak years of the Great Depression."
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1936
"700 San Lorenzo-One of the first houses to be erected in this area under the World War I Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act. It was designed and built in 1936 in "early California" style by W.I. Osterholt*, instructor in geology and geography at Santa Monica Junior College. . .
" . . ."