1979 (1978) (1980) (1970-1980) (1980-1990) Table of Contents
Allen David Heskin* After the Battle is Won, Political Contradictions in Santa Monica, UCLA Lecture and unpublished ms. Fall, 1983. 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1977, 1970s 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, 1979, 1919 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), 1977, 1970s, 1960s, 1951, 1950s, 1943, 1942, 1940s, 1939, 1932, 1931, 1930s, 1929, 1928. 1926, 1925, 1924, 1922, 1920, 1920s, 1918, 1917, 1915, 1913, 1912, 1911, 1910s, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1900s, 1889, 1885, 1884, 1880s, 1870s, 1839, 1850-1800, Pre-1768 See Text
Art and Laurie Pepper Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper, Da Capo Press: Introduction by Gary Giddens; Discography by Todd Selbert; Afterward by Laurie Pepper (1979), 1994. 1970s, 1969 See Text
Jenny Pirie*, Peter Kastner* and Jeff Mudrick* A Short History of Ocean Park, Ocean Park Community Organization, 1982, (With a 1983 update.) 15pp. 1983, 1982, 1979 See Text
Kevin Roderick, Politics, Los Angeles, June, 2003, page 40-44. See Text
Santa Monica Planning
Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour,
2003.
34. Santa Monica City Hall, 1938
38 Horatio West Court, 1919
45. First Roy Jones House, 1894 See
Text
Amanda Schacter(ed.)
Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission,
1990.
9 Horatio West Court
13 First Roy Jones House
15 City Hall See
Text
Andrea Schulte-Peevers and David Peevers Los Angeles, Lonely Planet: Oakland, 2nd ed., 1996(1999), 351pp., 1999, 1996, 1979 See Text
Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176pp., 1950s, 1949,1940s, 1932, 1930s, 1920s, 1918, 1910s, 1900, 1900s, 1899, 1898, 1897, 1894, 1893, 1892, 1891, 1890s, 1887, 1885, 1880, 1880s, 1871, 1870s, 1860s, 1850s, 1850-1800 See Text
Associated Sources:
1979 short film Rockin' at the Ocean by Gretchen Nemzer, 2005
"Today (1979), with a population of the City of Los Angeles at a record 2,936,900 . . BLY
Documents
Allen David Heskin* After the Battle is Won, Political Contradictions in Santa Monica, UCLA Lecture and unpublished ms. Fall, 1983. 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1977. 1970s
"Santa Monica is a rather nondescript but pleasant little coastal city of about 90,000 people on the edge of Los Angeles. It has its lower-income neighborhoods, but the terms ghetto and barrio do not have real meaning in the city. If the term "middle class" has meaing to you, then Santa Monica is a middle class town. It is not a city with a rich history of political movements or widespread neighborhood struggles. While there have been moments of protest, the city's politics were, until 1979, typical of many small towns whose goverment is controlled by business and real estate interests with an electoral base in the home-owning population. This was true even though 80% of the town's population rented their homes. Within this background, the emergence of "progressive" politics in Santa Monica is surprising."
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1979, 1919
Ocean Park
"9. Horatio West Court, 140 Hollister Avenue. Four two-story all-concrete houses built in 1919 by internationally famous architect Irving Gill and restored in the early 1970s. The development was designated a Santa Monica City Landmark in 1979 and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places."
"30. New Orleans Building and Clock, 2665 Main Street. Architect James Mount designed this 1979 commercial building that prominently displays a large antique-style street clock outside."
Tom Moran and Tom Sewell Fantasy by the Sea Peace Press: Culver City, CA, 1980 (1979) (Originally published by Beyond Baroque Foundation with a grant from the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts)
Introduction
"From its very beginning an aura of fantasy surrounded the tiny Southern California community of Venice. Shortly after the turn of the century, Abbot Kinney*, a wealthy and eccentric developer, announced he was going to recreate Italy's ancient city of canals on a tract of swamp and sand . . .
" . . .
"The cultural ambitions were to flounder and the illusion of an Italian Venice soon became transparent. The town took on a different flavor. Its principal industries became amusement and diversion. Circus clowns, jazz trumpets and thrill rides established Venice as the setting for escape from worldly care. The atmosphere of temporal delight was to make Venice a resort of national reputation.
"Even after the amusements and most of the canals had disappeared, Venice continued to attract a special kind of maverick who sought to avoid conventional reality. Beatniks, hippies, counterculture faddists, artists, radicals and even roller skaters formed subcultures that thrived in the environs of the old Venice-of-America.
"Much of the story was recorded by the camera. . . .
[photo: Arend's Venice Band Season 1905: Thirty-two members including Arend himself]
Abbot Kinney
"Abbot Kinney* was the founder of Venice . . .
"He was born in 1850 to an influential New Jersey family that claimed kinship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and William Henry Harrison. The young Kinney worked for an uncle, Senator James Dixon of Connecticut, and then traveled abroad to complete his education in France, Switzerland, and at Heidelberg University in Germany.
"President Ulysses S. Grant employed the youth on his personal staff. Kinney left that post to speculate in the stock market. Poor investments in a rigged market left him penniless and he had to take a clerking job at a Baltimore dry goods store.
"Kinney's brothers formed a tobacco manufacturing company and Abbot joined the family firm. He traveled throughout the Middle East as a buyer of tobacco in quantity. The cigarette was a relatively new product for smokers but it was cutting into the traditional cigar-dominated smoking market. The Kinney firm blended Virginia "bright" tobacco with imported Turkish varieties. The products they marketed, Egyptian, Cleopatra, Flowers and Sweet Caporal cigarettes were commercially successful and the Kinneys became wealthy men.
[p. 8 photo of Kinneloa, courtesy Helen Kinney Boyle]
"Abbot Kinney suffered ill health and an almost constant state of insomnia. . . .
" . . . He arrived by steamer in San Francisco's harbor in 1880 . . .
" . . . he decided to visit a Southern California resort noted for its therapeutic qualities, the Sierra Madre Inn in the foothills east of Los Angeles.
"Intent on playing billiards to wile the night away, Kinney tired and fell asleep on the game table. . .
"He . . . purchased sufficient land to build a wood-frame house, and plant a citrus orchard . . . which he named "Kinneloa". . . .
"Kinney took an active interest in Southern California affairs. He invested in business property in downtown Los Angeles and subdivided real estate on the east side of the city. He was instrumental in forming a free library in Pasadena . . .
"He helped form the American Pomological Society, headed the California Academy of Sciences and was an active fighter against the California "fruit trust" involvement in the citrus marketplace.
"Politically he was a Democrat and an avid follower of William Jennings Bryan's precepts. He ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat in the California state assembly, and he was appointed to the California Forestry Board, the Yosemite Valley Commission and the Los Angeles County Road Commission.
"He authored numeous books and pamphlets on political, social and scientific topics and published a weekly newspaper, The Los Angeles Post.
"Kinney joined the California National Guard and was awarded the rank of major.
"With author Helen Hunt Jackson, Kinney undertook a government-sponsored study of California Mission Indians and the two co-authored a report recommending a number of reforms needed in the treatment of the native American.
"Abbot Kinney and Margaret Dabney Thornton, the daughter of a California Supreme Court justice, were married on November 18th, 1884. The couple move to a new home on the bluffs of Santa Monica overlooking the Pacific. . . . Kinney became active in its development.
"He formed a construction firm, the Santa Monica Improvement Association, which received contracts for a number of private and public buildings in Santa Monica and paved and landscaped the road connecting Santa Monica with the Soldiers Home several miles away. . . .
"Kinney formed a land syndicate to purchase 247 acres on the northern boundary of Santa Monica. It was steep hilly terrain and Kinney visualized it as a future Southern California K(sic)nob Hill. His plans were never realized and the land was eventually sold to Colis B. Huntington.
"With Francis G. Ryan as a partner, Kinney purchased another tract of acreage south of Santa Monica. Although it was mostly sand dunes and swamp, the two men proposed to develop a resort there.
"They persuaded the Santa Fe railroad to extend a spur line onto the property and they built a pier, golf course, horse-racing track, boardwalk and other resort amenities on the northernmost edge of their holdings. The site was named Ocean Park in 1885 and the Kinney-Ryan team merchandized lots there for $100 apiece. The small resort slowly began to prosper.
"Ryan died in 1889 and his widow's new husband, Thomas Dudley, became Kinney's partner. Dudley and Kinney did not get along well and eventually the partnership was dissolved. Dudley's interest was transferred to three Santa Monica investors, Alexander Fraser, Henry Gage and George Merritt Jones. But these three men did not get along with Abbot Kinney either.
"Finally, ownership of the property ws completely divided. Kinney became sole owner of the undeveloped southern half of the acreage . . ."
The Land
"Marsh land and unstable sand dunes made up most of the property that Abbot Kinney owned. A century earlier, Indians from the offshore islands had regularly visited the area to collect decorative marine shells. The Los Angeles River had once flowed through on its way to the sea, but had long since meandered south to a new outlet.
"It was part of the former La Ballona Rancho, a land grant deeded to the Machado and Talamantes families by the Mexican government in 1839. Some of it had been used for cattle grazing but the land was too often flooded to provide good forage.
"Colonel R.S. Baker had moored his houseboat Pollywog on the lagoon in the center of the marsh. He entertained visiting dignitaries such as "Bull Run" Russell, the Duke of Sutherland, Charles A. Dans and Governor Dorsheimer of New York aboard his well-provisioned boat.
"Will Tell, a Santa Monica house-painter, had tried to start a hunting resort amond the reeds and swamp grass but . . . was destroyed by high waves. The hunting was excellent and those hardy enough to brave the ooze and mosquitos could expect full game bags at the completion of a day's shooting.
" . . ."
Building Venice
" . . .
"Southern California was not ready for such a far-reaching design. The financiers and investors knew of at least a dozen planned townsites premised on much more easily obtainable goals that had failed to materialize. . . . They called it "Kinney's folly."
"Kinney's detractors had overlooked his pragmatism. His engineers had surveyed the land and suggested canals as an efficient method of reclaiming the muddy wasteland. Their canal proposal . . . suggested the Venetian theme to Kinney . . .
"The success of any real estate project in early Southern California depended on transportation. Much of the region was covered by a grid of interurban electric railroad lines, and Kinney convinced Henry Huntington of the Los Angeles Pacific Railrod to build a direct rail line to the property he called Venice. . . .
"He submitted the necessary plat maps to subdivide the land and on June 21st, 1904, he signed a contract for work to begin on canal construction.
"Contracts for the construction of a pier over the ocean, a restaurant shaped like a sailing vessel, an electric lighting and power plant, a pavilion, hotels and other improvements soon followed.
"Teams of mules and draft horses, steam engines, pneumatic machinery and an electric dredge . . .
"In March of 1905, an equinoctial storm pummeled the Southern California coast. All of the coastal towns reported damage, but the worst-hit was . . . Venice . . .
" . . . Kinney . . . asked the War Department in Washington for permission to build a breakwater . . .
"Two days after the storm, [word] arrived that the breakwater had been granted.
" . . .
"The breakwater was formed from 70,000 tons of granite brought by railroad from Hollywood quarries. The auditorium was rebuilt in an amazing 28 days. . . .
"A landscape architect, Robert Armstrong, was hired . . . Clarence Eddy of New York was brought in to dedicate the new organ in the auditorium and Nina Adams was scheduled to christen the Ship Hotel.
"On June 30th, 1905, Kinney's wife Margaret turned the handwheel of a valve, sluicing salt water into the canals. . . .
July 4, 1905
" . . .
"The auditorium was filled to capacity. Benjamin Fay Mills, an evangelist that Edward Everett Hale [called] "the most wonderful preacher in America,"addressed the crowd. . . . the Venice Children's Chorus sang "Hail Columbia" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." {And where had this group come from?} . . . Sydney Wrightson and Genevra Bishop sang . . .
" . . . 40,000 visitors stolled around this new resort. . .
"Realtors reported that 355 Venice lots had been sold in two hours.
" . . ."
Windward Avenue
" . . .
Canals
" . . .
"Concrete bridges with reliefs of animal figures and sea serpents sculptured by Felix Peano . . .
Ship Hotel
" . . .
"The Ship . . . first proprietor, Carlo Marchetti, had operated a restaurant at the Louisiana Purchase Expostion in St. Louis . . . Charges that he ran gambling devices, served poor food and allowed the private dining areas to be used for illicit activities were made against Marchetti. He also alledgedly siphoned off profits before they reached Abbot Kinney, who owned the building.
"Marchetti was forced out and a number of proprietors, including Frank Lawton, Joseph Prada, Ward McFadden and Baron Long operated the Ship as a profitable night spot.
Venice Pier
" . . .
Villa City
" . . .
Venice Bathhouse
" . . .
The Venice Assembly
" . . .
" . . . The Assembly was a series of educational and cultural presentations modeled after the popular Chautauqua programs in New York State. Lectures, music and other entertainment were combined to give the program mass appeal.
"Benjamin Fay Mills was in charge of the Assembly, and he scheduled lectures by Susan B. Anthony, poet Joaquin Miller and educator Dr. Josiah Strong as well as lantern slide shows, a woman's orchestra, readings from Macbeth and operatic singers. . . .
" . . . the Venice Auditorium . . . seating capacity of 3,400 and featured an opulent curtain designed by artist Felix Peano and an expensive organ advertised as capable of playing the "bird chorus."
" . . . Susan B. Anthony never showed . . .
Minature Railroad
" . . .
" In 1926. . . ceased operations . . ."
Midway-Plaisance
" . . . opened January 13th, 1906. It featured a long row of exhibits, amusement and freak shows that had lined the entranceway to the world's fair in St. Louis and Portland's Lewis and Clark Exposition. Under the management of Gaston Akoun, the tawdry "trail shows" found a permanent home in Venice.
" . . ."
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt returned to the Venice Beach seven years (1913) after her Venice Pier appearance in 1906, and rented an entire floor of the King George Hotel
" . . ."
The Beach
The King George Hotel, later the Ocean View Hotel,
" . . ."
Amusements
" . . ."
The City
"When it was incorporated as a "sixth class city" on February 15th, 1904, Venice was named Ocean Park. It was overseen by a five-member Board of Trustees. The trustees, the city clerk, recorder, treasurer and school board members were all elected officials.
"But there was also a separate "Ocean Park" section in the neighboring city of Santa Monica to the north, and of course Kinney's popular resort within the municipal limits of the incorporated city of Ocean Park was called Venice. Because of the confusion, the name was officially changed to Venice by popular vote in 1911.
"Venice politics became a stormy battleground for several diverse interests. The Abbot Kinney Company, Kinney's wholly-owned amusement and real estate firm, was a powerful local influence. Kinney, with the backing of the local Chamber of Commerce, sponsored his own slate of candidates for public office. They took the name of the Good Government League, a nationwide reform group, and usually advocated tolerance toward the amusement interests of Venice. They were strong supporters of women's suffrage and backed women candidates for the Board of Trustees as early as 1912. . .
"Kinney's old partners from the earlier Ocean Park development, Fraser, Jones and Gage, were wealthy men, and they harbored a long-standing animosity toward Kinney. They held sway over the Board of Trustees during the developmental years of the city and took every available opportunity to thwart their former partner's plans.
"Kinney's Good Government candidates forced the Ocean Park-supported trustees out of office in 1908 and controlled the Board of Trustees into the early 1920s. An opposition party, the Citizen's Protective League, formed by Thomas Aisbett, campaigned for prohibition of alcoholic beverages, a ban on bathing beauty and "yama yama" girl parades, an end to cafe dancing, a ban on boxing matches, and censorship of bathing attire on the local beaches. The League drew support from the local clergy and some of the year-round residential population but never won an elective seat.
"The Venice elections were hard and bitterly fought political exercises that divided the city into two warring camps. The amusement supporters were not above using bands and calliope music to drown out opposition speakers' words. The Venice Vanguard, a local newspaper, offered to start a collection to pay Aisbett's way out of town and the reform leader was hanged in effigy on Windward Avenue with a placard on his chest reading, "poor dumb toadstool-went out and lost his cool."
"Charges of fraud, forged signatures and miscounting were commonly leveled at election time. . .
"The most common practice was called "colonization." Prior to an election, each side would import and register to vote as many potential supporters as possible. Construction crews, waiters and itinerants were offered free lodging and work until the polls closed. . .
"The political intrigue of Venice went deeper than ordiary election-eve fever. Alleged corruption was regular newpaper fare, with stories of local officials accepting bribes, misappropriating public property and failing to enforce the law. . . .
"The needs of an amusement town devoted to providing a good time for all who visited it often ran counter to both the law and the desires of a more staid growing residential population. Gambling dens and brothels existed as did such "lesser evils" as roll-down games, chuck-a-luck and "razzle-dazzle." Public officials and law enforcement officers often found it best for Venice's and their own personal interests to turn their heads from these activities."
Boxing
"The Venice Athletic Club was located on the second story of a Windward Avenue building. The gymnasium provided training quarters for many of boxing's early stars. Joe Rivers, Jimmy Clabby, "English" Freddie Welsh. But Anderson and Jack O'Brien were some of the professionals . . .
"Luther McCarty, a "white hope" . . . trained in Venice and was popular among the ocean front crowds. He died from a ring injury in 1913.
"McCarty's sparring partner, John "Bull" Young, who was engaged to a Venice girl, died that same year following a boxing match with Jess Willard at the Vernon Arena.
"Ad Wolgast . . .
" . . .
"Boxing was banned in the city in 1913. Dick Donald and Tommy Jacobs both unsuccessfully tried to revive the sport.
"In later years several Venice boxers became popular local attractions at the Ocean Park Arena and Olympic Auditorium, among them Kenny LaSalle, Phil "Babe" Brandelli, Ge Ge Gravante and Frank Duarte."
Aquatics
" . . . Wallace O'Connor . . . who won gold and bronze medals in both the 1924 and 1932 Olympic games."
Baseball
" . . . " 1913-1915
Circus
"Abbot Kinney invited the Sell-Floto Circus to spend the winter season of 1906-1907 at Venice.The circus arrived by train and set up headquarters near the Midway-Plaisance.
"During the week the circus performers practiced their acts for the spring touring season. On weekends they gave big-top performances for the Venice tourist crowds.
"Sells-Floto returned for the 1907-1908 winter. Its featured acts included Del Fugo the clown, the Eddy family of acrobats, Sharpe's equestrian team, Buffalo Bill and Zora, "the world's bravest woman."
"The Ranch 101 Wild West Show wintered at Venice with a complement of 400 horses and 100 Indians.
"Paul Shoup, president of the Pacific Electric Railroad, and Abbot Kinney negotiated with the Al G. Barnes circus to establish permanent winter quarters at Venice.
"The Barnes Circus arrived in 1910 with a payroll of 506 employees and a menagerie of 600 animals. Highlighting animal trainers Louis Roth and Mabel Stark, the circus featured boxing kangaroos, wrestling bears and a singing mule.
"Problems of coexistence with the residential population plagued the circus people. A 1919 petition asked that the circus not be permitted to return to Venice because of "diseases, the low element they attract and the destruction of property they cause."
"The Al Barnes circus was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1929. Sells-Floto was absorbed by Ringling the following year.
Venice Grand Prix
"Venice scheduled a road race on the city's streets for Saint Patrick's Day, 1915. Sanction was obtained from the Western Automobile Association for the First Annual Venice Grand Prix. A winner's purse of $3,500 was guarenteed.
"The entry list included Earl Cooper, Dave Lewis, Dario Resta, Ralph DePalma, Orville Jones, Barney Oldfield, Johnny Marquis, Bill Carlson, G. Ruckstell, Eddie Hearne, Louis Disbrow, Harold Hall and Eddie Pullin.
"The motor car industry was represented by Peugeot, Mercer, Case, Stutz, DeLage, Napier, Bugatti, Chalmers, Simplex, Hercules, Maxwell and Chevrolet . . .
"A Saturday afternoon crowd estimated at 75,000 surrounded the race course. . . . Oldfield . . . a Maxwell. 400 hours and 24 minutes, 300 miles.
"There were two fatalities and a number of injuries. A riding mechanic was killed during a practice lap. A spectator died when he wandered fon the course and was struck by Marquis's Bugatti. The race scoreboard toppled over and injured nearby spectators.
"The City of Venice ws the official promoter of the event, which was a disappointment. Gate crashers, counterfeit tickets and lawsuits turned the race into a financial failure. The annual event was never repeated."
Venice High School
" . . . "
Moving Pictures
" . . ."
The Great War
"On September 5th, 1917, five months after America's entry into the European war, the first Venice volunteers left for an Oregon encampment led by Abbot Kinney's son Sherwood. [Of the over 80 locals who served in the First World War, only Charles Dewey, lost his life due to enemy action.]
" . . .
"It was illegal to sell liquor to members of the military forces, but Venice's cafes and nightclubs gained a reputation as regular violators of this wartime prohibition. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution asking the federal government to step in and close Venice's saloons and liquor stores.
"The worldwide epidemic of the Spanish influenza reached Venice and at least three fatalities were attributed to the highly contatgious disease. The city's movie theaters, bars, carnivals and saloons were closed by order of the State Board of Health. Dancing was prohibited.
"The anti-flu bans were in effect for 42 days. The health orders were rescinded November 27, 1918, 16 days after the armistice had been signed ending the First World War."
Wings
" . . ."
Death of Kinney
Thornton Kinney was in Venice; Innes came from the ranch at Kinneloa; Carleton came from his Paso Robles almond farm, November 14, 1920, Abbott Kinney died of cancer. . . . "Abbot Kinney was buried beside his wife Margaret, who had died in 1911, and four Kinnney children who had died prematurely."
"He was a man of splendid brain, wonderful ability and great accomplishment," said California Governor Stephens . . ."The state lost a great man," echoed Venice's Mayor A.E. Coles.
"Controlling interest in the Abbot Kinney Company was willed to Kinney's second wife, Winnifred Harwell Kinney. . . .
Fire
The Venice Pier burnt December 21, 1920.
" . . ."
Promotions
" . . . "
Beauty Contests
" . . ."
Embezzlement
"Venice was shocked to discover that James Peasgood had disappeared. Peasgood had held the elective post of city treasurer for seven years. An independent auditor had been inspecting the city's financial records when the treasurer's untimely diappearance raised a number of questions.
"When the auditor completed his inspection of the city's books, a number of illegal transfers had been discovered in the financial accounts and a shortage of $19,000 was apparent. A warrent was issued . . .
"The treasurer gave himself up May 17th, 1922 . . . Gambling debts and high living were cited . . .
"Peasgood was sentenced to state prison . . . "
Ku Klux Klan
"The California branch of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan listed Venice as its headquarters when it applied for incorporation in 1924.
"The Klan's doctrines of racism, supra-patriotism, xenophobia and evangelical fundamentalism had been revived following the 1915 motion picture, "The Clansman." While the greatest appeal remained in the southern states, supporters existed in small towns throughout America.
"An initiation ceremony at Ocean Park Heights [now Mar Vista], near the Venice High School, claimed 2,000 new Klan members, instances of Klan visits to local churches were reported.
"An investigation by Los Angeles District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine implicated several Venice officials and prominent merchants as possible Klan members or associates. The county Grand Jury reported Klan involvement in the Venice Police Department and alleged that 19 Klan members had been sworn in as special deputies."
Goodman, Miller and the Ballroom
" . . .
"The fox trot, hesitation waltz and schottische were popular during the early years . . . Later, couples preferred the Argentine Tango, Venetian furlana, "rag" and the latest jazz dances. . . .
"Lee Lewis, the son of a former Venetian trustee, had a dance band that presided over the ballroom crowds for many years. Other orchestra leaders at Venice included Sam Feinberg and the Mann brothers.
"Ben Pollack and his Californians" occupied the ballroom bandstand in 1924 and 1925. Pollack, a drummer, was building a reputation as having the first large white jazz band. Fud Livingston, Al Harris, Harry Greenberg, Wayne Allen, Dick Morgan and Gil Rodin were among the players . . .
"In 1925, a 16-year-old Chicago musician joined Pollack's group. . . . formerly played with Art Kassel's band, . . . Benny Goodman.
"Two weeks later . . . a 21-year-old trombone player . . . Glenn Miller . . .
"Miller and Goodman . . . roomed together [in Venice] at the Haley House . . .
"The group left for Chicago in the winter of 1925 where "Ben Pollack and his Californians" had a recording date with the Victor studios."
[Photo on p. 70 of RCA's Victrola Ben Pollack and his Californians, a 10 person band, is inscribed "To June, The pick of the Rendezvous, From Ben.]
Annexaton
"Venice's municipal government was burdened with a host of problems. The city tax rate had reached the maximum allowed by state law. The municipal debt was staggering and seemed impossible to liquidate. Charges of corruption and incompetence were leveled against a number of the trustees. The treasurer's embezzlement had further undermined any confidence the electorate might have had in Venice's ability to confront the world of the 1920s.
"Instead o internal change the municipal reformers turned their hopes eastward towards Los Angeles. With a seemingly endless supply of Owens Valley water and a relatively low tax rate, Los Angeles had been growing at a spectacular rate. The growth came primarily through annexations of previously unincorporated areas and smaller cities. Four square miles of beach front would be a handsome addition to Los Angeles' list of attractions.
"But the first attempt at an annnexation election was not with Los Angeles but with neighboring Santa Monica. The border between Venice and Santa Monica actually bisected several Ocean Park businesses. The consolidation of the two cities would, proponents claimed, provide adequate sewage, unite the Venice and Ocean Park amusement zones, remove the menace of Los Angeles annexation and permit construction of a harbor in the Playa Del Rey section of Venice.
"The annexation proposal went to the voters February 20, 1923. It was defeated 1466 to 922. Within a month petitions containing over 2000 signatures were presented to the Venice City Clerk asking for annexation to Los Angeles
"The measure stirred intense controversy. The Venice Chamber of Commerce asked for the en masse resignatio of the trustees to restore local confidence. Signs reading "To Annexation and Ruin" pointed toward Los Angeles. A member of the audience leaped up and attempted to shoot Judge Fred Taft when he was giving an anti-annexation speech at the Neptune Theater.
"The results of the July 11, 1923, election were announced at 10 p.m. accompanied by siren blasts and whistles. Venice voters had chosen to remain independent by a margin of 1,849 to 1,503.
"Government matters continued to deteriorate in Venice. The Venice Band's contract was cancelled. All city employees earning over $4.50 per day were asked to resign. A county health inspector reported an epidemic of rats running loose within the city. The District Attorney started a series of raids on local speakeasies, gambling dens and "blind pigs."
"A "Committee of 100" was formed to push again for annexation to Los Angeles. They claimed it was a step that would "generally drag their blessed Venice out of the gutter." A billboard advertisement announced that "Annexation is worth any price."
"The amusement industry was afraid Los Angeles "blue laws" would ban late-night and Sunday dancing and close many of Venice's concessions. Business reflected on the new $8.5 million city hall planned for Los Angeles and wondered how long it would be before Los Angeles taxes began to rise.
"As a last-minute tactic, a number of anti-Los Angeles Venetians proposed a consolidation with Santa Moica as the lesser of two evils. Thornton Kinney pledged $10,000 to work for that goal if the Los Angeles annexation bid could be defeated. His sole interest was, he said, "to save the dear Venetians from getting into the grasping villainy of that juggernaut monster neighbor of cannibalistic tendencies, Los Angeles."
"The Venetians didn't want to be saved. On October 2, 1925, they voted for annexation to Los Angeles, 3,130 to 2, 216.
"There was talk of obtaining an injunction against the annexation based on the lack of contiguiity between the two cities but no legal steps were taken. The official transfer took place November 25, 1925. The City of Venice became a suburb of Los Angeles."
Aimee Semple McPherson
"Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from the Venice beach May 18, 1926. She had checked into her suite at the Ocean View Hotel and then walked to the sand with her secretary. The secretary ws reading from a Bible while McPherson waded into the surf.
"McPherson had become one of the wealthiest and most exciting evangelists in American history. She thrived on publicity and used elaborate sets and pageantry to dramatize her sermons at the Angelus Temple in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles. When she failed to return from her swim an intensive headline-capturing search was launched.
"Airplanes scanned the water's surface for signs of the missing woman. Deep-sea divers plodded along the ocean floor. Five thousand of "Sister Aimee's" followers came to the beach to help with the search and pray for their leader. One mourner committed suicide. A lifeguard drowned during his search for the evangelist's body.
"It was rumored that local amusement interests had a hand in her disappearance. McPherson had been advocating a referendum election to ban the Sunday dancing that was allowed at Venice by a special Los Angeles ordinance. Foul play was suspected.
"One month after her disappearance a memorial sevice was held at the Venice beach and flowers were strewn over the sea. Two days later McPherson reappeared outside Douglas, Arizona, telling a story of kidnapping, torture and escape across the Mexican desert.
[photo on p. 69 shows McPherson searchers with the Ocean Park Pier in the backgrond and signs indicating the Dome Theatre, the Rosemary Theater and Chop Suey.]
"Contradictions in the evangelist's story began to appear and charges that she had obstructed justice were filed against her. America enthusiastically followed the daily press coverage of the case's bizarre turns until prosecution was suddenly halted and all charges against the evangelist were dropped in 1927."
Albert Marco
"Albert Marco was viewed by the Los Angeles presss as a "vice lord" and the "black baron of vice." The racketeer was often seen in the company of Philadelphia gangster, Max Hoff and other underworld figures.
"It was well after midnight, June 27, 1928, when Marco and three companions visited the Ship's Cafe in Venice. Marco was well known at the nightspot and manager Tommy Jacobs personally welcomed him. The foursome was seated, and the George Redman band was playing on stage.
"As the evening progressed Marco become embroiled in an argument with other customers that escalated into fist fighting. . . . the gangster reached for his gun and fired twice. Two men were wounded and the fight stopped." . . . Police Officer John Brunty arrested him on the top floor of the nightclub. Marco was sentenced to state prison and eventually deported to Italy.
Filling the Canals
" . . .
The canals had been maintained by the Abbot Kinney Company until 1912 when they were deeded to the City of Venice. . . .
Thornton Kinney tried to have the canals filled in 1924 but was enjoined by canal-area residents. Venice Mayor C. Gordon Parkhurst* . . ."
Oil
" . . .
"By the end of 1931 there were 163 oil-producing wells clustered around the edges of the Grand Canal . . . "
Bingo
"The Depression hit Venice hard. Despite the economic cushion provided by the petroleum drilling, the merchants fell on difficult times. The amusement business dropped off sharply.
"People with no spendable income had little need for the Dragon Slide or roller coasters of Venice The carpeting of the Ship's Cafe was worn and no music was played on its bandstand. The Ocean Front Walk seemed empty.
"One amusement continued to prosper. A few small bingo-type games existed along the beachfront. Bingo was illegal in Los Angeles but the games used variations where customers theoretically used "skilll" to determine what numbers were selected. Balls rolled down inclines, marbles tossed into grids or darts thrown against a board decided the numbers called. The cards cost anywhere from a nickel to a quarter and offered a chance at prizes from 41.50 to $50.00. It was an affordable risk in Depression times and the games proved popular.
"John Harrah, a successful lawyer and former Venice mayor, had substantial property holdings in Venice. The Depression had collapsed Harrah's pyramid of trust-deed and mortgage investments and he was forced to search for some profitable use for the beachfront space that was draining his financial reserves.
"He and his son William opened a 30-seat bingo parlor called the Circle Game on July 4, 1932. The family-operated venture was immediately successful. They had discovered that by operating wihout "shills" and during the dinner hour when such games usually closed profits steadily increased. The Harrahs added two more parlors that attracted players from throughout Southern California.
"There were a number of other bingo operations in Venice under various ownerships and proprietors which had survived until 1934, when police and county sheriffs began to close them down. The elder Harrah's legal and political ties helped to keep the Circle Game doors open as a "game of skill" for nearly half a year after his competitors were forced to close up.
"The legality of the bingo games were constantly challenged in court and the game operators nimbly developed new versions of the rules and skills to counter the authorities' attempts to close them. There were frequent rains and closures in 1935 and 1936.
"Bill Harrah, who had bought out his father's interest in one of the games, tired of the constant headaches and uncertainties of operating in Venice. He opened a bingo game in Reno, Nevada, in 1937 which was to grow into the Harrah gaming empire of Lake Tahoe and Reno.
"The other Venice bingos stagggered on, with names such as Tango and Bridgo, until the 1940s when the final courtroom test closed the "games of skill" for good."
Gambling Boats
"Gambling boats began to appear off the coast of Southern California in the late 1920s. Converted barges, ferries and grain ships were outfitted with neon lights and gaming tables and towed to mooring anchors just outside the three-mile jurisdiction of local authorities. Speedboats would ferry customers out to the floating casinos that sometimes offered entertainment and dancing as well as crap tables and roulette.
"One of the first boats was the Tango. It moored off-shore of Venice in 1929. Owned by Jim Lloyd, Cal Custer, Tony Cornero and Bill Blazer, the Tango was serviced by a fleet of water taxis operating from the Venice Pier.
"California Attorney General Earl Warren launched a crusade against the gambling fleet in 1939. Armed with nuisance abatement warrents, his deputies shut down two boats off Long Beach as well as the Texas, which operated offshore from Venice.
"But Cornero, now operating the Rex in Santa Monica Bay, did not give in easily. His crews used high-pressure fire hoses to repel the lawmen's efforts to board the Rex. For nine tense days the authorities laid siege to the boat. Cornero finally surrendered and took the issue to the Supreme Court. The jurors redefined the territorial limits and put him out of business.
"Cornero tried again with the Lux in 1946. He died of a heart attack while playing craps at the Las Vegas Desert Inn in 1955."
Prelude to War
"America was slowly seeing its way out of the Depression by 1942 . . .
[p. 81 black and white photo ; the WPA Edward Biberman's Venice Postoffice Abbot Kinney Mural]
" . . .
"Sewage from the Los Angeles outfall at Playa del Rey to the south had polluted the ocean water and signs along the Venice beach declared it off-limits to swimmers. . . ."
Wartime Prejudice
" . . .
" . . . Windows and lamp globes were painted black and "dimouts" darkened the amusement area. But soldiers and sailors came to the piers and boardwalk on weekend leave.
" . . . Zoot suits had become the style with a large number of Mexican-American youths who frequented the beaches. The boys had duck-tail haircuts, pancake hats and peg-top trousers with "reet" pleats. Theycarried long glittering watch chains that hung out of openings in their drape coats. . . .
" . . . May 8, 1943. Rumors had circulated along the beach that a "Pachuco" had knifed a sailor. A mob of 100 servicemen and local youths attacked the Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier intent on running the Mexican-Americans out of town. The brawl erupted at 1:40 a.m. with nearly 2,500 spectators and participants crowding the intersection of Navy Street and Ocean Front Walk.
"Thirteen zoot suiters were arrested and twenty-eight more were taken into custody following the melee. . . . police roadblocks turned back over a hundred zoot suiters bound for Venice the next day . . .
"The Mexican-Americans were released by Judge Art Guerin . . .
"Later, similar riots in downtown Los Angeles would escalate into the ugliest of racial confrontations.
"A large Japanese-American population lived in Venice. They had started settling in the area as early as 1913, buying and leasing truck farms where they had planted snap beans and celery crops. A number of Japanese-Americans were also attracted to the pier and bingo parlors along the beach front.
" . . . the federal government issued an Executive Order . . . West Coast residents of Japanese heritage were ordered to report to . . . internment camps . . . Manzanar.
End of an Era
ˆ " . . ."
Champagne Music
"The once-steller Aragon Ballroom on the Lick Pier had fallen on sad times by early 1951. The dance hall suffered peeling paint and broken windows. The most recent orchestra to occupy the bandstand had drawn only eight couples onto the dance floor. KTLA, a local television stattion, had canceled its weekly telecast of Argaon concerts because of low viewer interest.
ˆ "In a effort to salvage the sagging ballroom trade, Gordon "Pops" Sadrup, the Aragon manager, turned to a bandleader who had been a success on the pier five years earlier. In 1946, Lawrence Welk's brand of light popular dancable music had drawn crowds at the Aragon despite the competition of Tommy Dorsey at the nearby Casino Gardens.
"Welk agreed to play at the Aragon and KTLA was persuaded to reconsider the telecast of the program. The first televised show ws May 2, 1951, and viewer interest was high, despite the late 11:50 p.m. time slot. . . . It was not long before the "champagne music" of Lawrence Welk, live from the Aragon Ballroom, became a popular national television attraction.
"Welk left the Aragon Ballroom for the larger Hollywood Paladium. Joining him later were the four daughters of a talented Venice family. The girls, known as the Lennon Sisters, became one of the most popular attractions on the Welk show.
"The Aragon again fell into disrepair. It was reopened in the late 1960s as a rock music hall known as the Cheetah. Jim Morrison, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge and The Seeds were booked into the large hall, now psychedelically refurbished. The house band, called The Gnads was later to gain fame under the name Alice Cooper.
Venice West
"In the late 1950s . . . a lifestyle . . . in favor of a Bohemian life with a background of poetry, art and jazz. . . . the Beat Generation.
"The Beats . . . wote poetry about disenchantment and nuclear overkill. Visual artists experimented with the limits of abstraction and new forms of assemblage works . . . low rents and toleration settled into Venice. Lawrence Lipton chronicled the coffee houses, personal searches, artists and ennui of "Venice West" in his book The Holy Barbarians.
" . . . included painters John Altoon, Ben Talbert, Mike Angeleno, Fowad Magdalani, and Tony Landreau. Poets included Lipton, John Thomas, Frankie Rios, James Ryan Morris and Stuart Perkoff. . . . folksinger Julie Meredith, light-show impressario Jimmy Alonzi, sculptor Tai, ex-fighter Joe Greb and [others] . . .Ole, Nico and Tamoo."
[photo page 96 artist Wallace Berman, 1955]
" . . . Stan Roberts, leader of the (Venice) Civic Union, vowed to end Bohemianism in Venice and urged his supporters to "get on your feet and scream and get these people out of here."
" . . .
"Stuart Perkoff founded the Venice West Cafe on Dudley Avenue. Proprietorship was eventually taken over by John and Anna Haag. Haag, a Harvard honors graduate and one-time technical writer had dropped out of a promising career to write poetry and struggle making ends meet at the small coffee house.
" . . .
""Big Daddy" Nord left town, bound for Hawaii. Frank Rios and Stuart Perkoff eventually found themselves incarcerated. Mike Angeleno . . .comitted suicide. . . .the Beats were being replaced by a new generation of "flower children," "hippies" and counter-culturists."
Slum By The Sea
"Lawrence Lipton had called Venice a "jerry-built slum by the sea." . . . .
" . . . Pawnshops and liquor stores had replaced the bingo parlors and souvenir shops . . . Drug addicts and motorcycle gangs had replaced the tourists.
"A theme amusement pier called Pacific Ocean Park was opened that same year. It attracted large crowds at first but after several years of operation the pier began to quickly deteriorate. The rest of Venice joined it on a downhiill slide.
"Los Angeles City Councilman Karl Rundberg formed a Venice Planning Committee in 1961 in hopes of checking the blight. . .
" . . ."
Marina Del Rey
" . . ."
Venice Waterways Project
" . . .
" . . . Los Angeles Councilman Paul Lamport, Mayor Sam Yorty, Councilwoman Pat Russell, 1971, Hughes Tool Company, Western Center for Law and Poverty . . . 1973 People's Park and Superior Court Judge Jerry Pacht ruled that the City of Los Angeles had to prepare an environmental impact report on the canal project . . .
"The sharp schism between landowners and tenants was to continue, . . . and the newly created California Coastal Commission was used to slow and control new building . . .
Art
"The Venice area was attracting another element . . . Artists. lured by the availability of low-rent studio space and good light, began to move into the older commercial buildings. In many cases they had national or international reputations. Their ranks included Billy Al Bengston, Claire Falkenstein, Charles and Ray Eames, Ron Cooper, Larry Bell, Chuck Arnoldi, Guy and Laddie Dill, Alexis Smith, Chris Burden, Ann McCoy, Peter Alexander, Linda Benglis, DeWain Valentine, Robert Irwin, Eric Orr, Loren Madsen, Chris Georgesco, Tom Wudl, Martha Alf, Gloria Kisch, and John McCracken.
"The artists of the 60s and 70s were not united by any pronounced exterior philosophy or life-style as the earlier "beats" were. Although there was social and professional contact between them, the Venice artists worked individually and resistedt he easy application of geographic or regional labels. Except for the wall murals created by artists such as Terry Schoonhoven and the L.A. Fine Arts Squad, these artists left very little outward manifestation in Venice of their work.
"And yet their presence was soon recognized and commercialized when property owners began offering new specially-designed and expensive artist's studios on the real estate market. The low costs that had originally enticed the creative personalities to the beach area wer fast disappearing and many of the artists found themselves displaced to areas away from Venice.
Roller Revival
" . . . in 1977 the first outdoor rollerskating shop opened. The development of polyurethane wheels allowed the skaters to glide easily over rough concrete and asphalt surfaces. . . . Within two years thousands of skaters were clogging Ocean Front Walk . . ."
Art and Laurie Pepper Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper, Da Capo Press: Introduction by Gary Giddens; Discography by Todd Selbert; Afterward by Laurie Pepper (1979), 1994.
Gary Giddens, Introduction:
". . .
"Art Pepper was born in 1925, in California, to a merchant seaman and his fifteen-year old wife. He was so sickly his family didn't expect him to survive; when his parents divorced, he was placed in the care of his paternal grandmother . . ." p. vi
" . . .
"Pepper had . . . achieved a measure of stardom . . Benny Carter's band, and for five years (1946-1951), following his stint in the Army, he emerged as the most admired soloist in the Stan Kenton orchestra. . . ." p. vii
" . . .
"Then, in 1956, he started making the rounds as a sideman. He appeared on numerous sessions led by Shorty Rogers, Chet Baker, Marty Paich, Hoagy Carmichael, John Grass, Mel Torme, Barney Kessel, June Christy, Henry Mancini, Andre Previn, Helen Humes, and others. During the same years, 1956 to 1960, he hooked up with Les Koenig's Contemporary Records, and produced a series of masterful albums.
"It's astonishing to read in Straight Life that Art had to be propped up to play on sessions that became epiphanies of the West Coast jazz movement. Pepper's intonation was clear and balmy (on clarinet and tenor as well as alto), but the texts of his solos were shaded wtih longings. the tensile and deliberated phrasing was a means to a direct and manly emotional expressiveness that was virtually antithetical to the cool posturings of those improving beach boys who tried to recreate California jazz as fun in the midnight sun. . . ." p. viii
" . . .
"Finally, at the nadir of his life, he retreated to Synanon. The Sixties were in full gear, and he wore an earring and hit the rock joints with his tenor; but his life was empty and even his mother refused him lodging. The description of life at Synanon is as uncompromising as the jail sequences; he is alternately damning and grateful. The best thing to happen to him there was meeting Laurie, who became his wife, lover, mother, babysitter, manager, editor, and co-author.
"Art left Synanon in 1971. Four months later, his father died . . . He started working as a musician again, playing casuals and clinics, touring colleges, sitting in. . . . In 1977 . . . in March, he played a concert series in Tokyo with Cal Tjader . . . in June, he toured the East Coast as a leader, playing two dates at the Village Vanguard . . . in September he was busted after an automobile accident . . . Les Koenig died in November. He went back to Japan in February 1978, Galaxy signed him in September and Straight Life [was published] . . . in 1979." p. x
{P. ? Photos of Synanon activity board and jamming at Synanon.}
AP: "Two guys came in one time and they said, "There's these two rats that are going to come here soon. They turned over on us got us busted, and if we leave before they get here, really take care of them." Everybody said okay, and these guys were shipped out to max at the farm, Biscaluse* Center. . . ." p.143
Chapter 21 Synanon: 1969
AP: "There wasn't anything left in the house but a few clothes. We threw them in the back of the car and drove to Synanon, which was way out in Santa Monica on the beach. . . . Christine . . .went in. Finally, here she comes with three guys from Synanon. One of them looked at me and just shook his head. They helped me up the stairs into the place and told me to sit on this bench. It was a big, old building. It looked like an old-time hotel. I sat down, and everybody was staring at me, and it was altogether diffferent from what I thought it would be. Instead of being dopefiends and people like me, the people there were all young or old square people. I wanted to get out of there. I started to stand up, and they said, "Where are you going?" I said I wanted to get my things. They said, "You stay there. We'll get them." I said, "Oh, no, I want to get them myself." I started to walk out the door, and they just grabbed me and dragged me back to the bench.
"You have to have an interview before you can be taken in, to see whether you really want to get in , if you're really hung up, to see if you've got any money. They helped me up the stairs - the place was full of stairs - and we finally got to this room, and I nearly fainted I was so beat. Greg Dykes* was in the room. I was so juiced I was seeing double, triple . . . Somebody said, "Well, we have some rules here, you know. No physical violence. We don't allow any stealing." . . . . I raved and raved. Christine was trying to cool me down, and Greg was trying to calm me because he wanted to get me in. He's acting like my atttorney or something." p. 386
" . . .
" . . . It was only a little way from Synanon to the VA Hospital. . ." p. 387
" . . .Merle didn't know where the place was. We stopped at a gas station and somebody told him, "Just go down Pico till you get to the ocean. Just go all the way as far as you can go." Finally I saw the big sign that said Synanon but one of the letters was gone-SYN NON - and I remembered thinking of sin. It was a foreboding, old building made of brick. It looked like a gigantic YMCA or one of the old billets the army used to take over. . .
" . . . He opend the doors - big, glass, swinging doors-helped me inside up the little flight of stairs. There were people standing around and all kinds of activity going on. I heard people going upstairs and I think I heard music." p. 394
" . . . You could see an area going into an enormous room, where there were lots of people walking back and forth. I noticed a blackboard with times and meetings posted on it. Somebody asked me if I'd like a cup of coffee. I said no. . . . I had the same feeling I had before. I just wanted to get out of there. I thought that once they got their hooks into me there was not telling what they might do. I was frightened. They didn't look like dopefiends to me. They weren't like me. They all talked like New Yorkers. . . ." p. 395
" . . .
" We walked into a gigantic room. I expected to see a globe with flashing lights like the old ballrooms had that I used to play in. There was an area that looked like a bar in the back, and I saw tables and people eating. On the right there were eight or ten big, high windows. It was a huge place. And there were couches and chairs and people sitting around, young people, old people. I asked Greg, "Who are all these people?" He said, "These are just the people that are here. These are Synanon people." They had great big couches, a whole bunch of them in lines. I saw somebody else lying on a couch. He looked terrible. Greg said, "That's somebody like you that's kicking. They look after him and get him things." I remember Greg saying, "This is the only time you're really treated good, so anything you want, ask for it. Anytime they offer you something and you want it, say yes." Somebody put sheets over an old couch and a blanket. They got a wastebasket and put a plastic liner in it in case I vomited. I sat down. There was a guy that was going to sit with me; he introduced himself. Greg said, "I gotta go. I'll see you in the morning. Relax and get some sleep. don't be scared. Everything's fine. We're all friends here."
"I stayed on the couch a couple of days, I guess, and there were just too many people bothering me, coming around. That's what they do there. In Synanon people won't leave you alone. They wake up in the morning and spend the whole day putting their noses in other people's business: "What's wrong?" "How do you feel?" That's Synanon - bothering and bugging everyone. That's supposed to make you well and make you all one big, happy family. I'd be lying on the couch feeling horrible when all of a sudden some stupid-looking broad or a couple of them would come over and say, "Hello! I'm Margie, and this is Wilma, and what's your name, and how are you, and we're fine. We're from so-and-so. Where are you from?" Oh God! I told the guy who was sitting with me, "I can't stand this. I've gotta get someplace where these people won't be bugging me."p. 396
"I found out I had a "tribe leader." Everybody was in tribes, like the Indians use to be, and I had a leader. I said, "Well, where's my leader at? Let me find him." He's a real important personage. They don't know if he can be bothered now or not. Finally he came. He was a black guy, and, it turned out, he was a guy like me, a guy that had been around , an older guy and a nice guy, and he like jazz, and thank God for that. His name was Bob Holmes*. . . .
"Bob talked to some people and came back and said, "You're still not well enough to go to one of our dorms because then you'd be required to carry on like everybody else does - with a job and the games. It would be too hard. But since you are in such bad shape I'm gong to get you into the infirmary." The infirmary was in a building in a place they called the Clump, an apartment complex. I took a ride on the Synanon bus and checked in. . . .
"So I'm in this little infirmary in Synanon, and I hear these voices talking Puerto Rican just like lightning . . . . Synanon was filled with Puerto Ricans, blacks and people from New York - who of all the white people have the least regard or respect for anyone. There were maybe one or two Mexicans in the whole place. There were maybe five or six people that I called real dope fiends that were from the coast. Righteous people. Regulars." p. 397
"They moved me to a bedroom where my new roommate was a young guy, the son of a doctor. . . Peter Kuhn*, . . . about 16 . . . [said]
"Synanon had gone to Puerto Rico and recruited dope fiends. They go so much money from the government and a tax-free stamp for recruiting people. The went to Puerto Rico and New York and got these guys, who were now so far from home they couldn't leave. Synanon couldn't get people from California to come and stay. I found out that the young kids were put in Synanon by their parents or by the courts. some had dabbled in pot and some had actually messed around a bit with dope. And then people brought little children in with them - little, teeny children and babies. Sometimes women gave birth to children there. And sometimes people left and left their children behind for Synanon to take care of. So there were the babies, there were the young people, the Puerto Ricans, the New Yorkers, the blacks, a lot of blacks, and then, of all things, there the squares. "Life-stylers." Game players who had moved into Synanon." p. 398
"There were squares that came down and played the 'Synanon game,' which is like group therapy. It was a club for them. They met and played a game one night a week. When I first got into Synanon they had their own games, just squares, and then the residents, the dopefiends, one or two of them would play in each game with the squares, which seemed like an interesting thing to have happen. There were all kinds of people in the "game club" - businessmen, real players, those phoney gyus that say they're writers. Everybody had some kind of line, but in the games they'd be ripped apart. In the games you study people and try to find their weaknesses. You point out the bad things. The squares were people that were lonely, searching for companionship. Some of the women were just beautiful, some of them had a lot of money, and I used to wonder why they came to a place like this. At first I thought they came to hang out with dopefiends, to have some excitement in their lives, but after I was aroud them and observed them, I saw that even though that was part of it, the main thing was it was a place to go. They'd play their game, and after the game they'd congregate in one area of the club where there was a bar with big windows overlooking the ocean. It had tables and was like a real bar except there was no liquor served. They served coffee, ice cream, things like that. the squares sat there and talked. You could talk to any girl you wanted. Any girl could talk to any guy. If they didn't talk they'd be ranked later on in the games. It was an open sesame to meet people. They went out together. they were in games together and could find out about each other.
"So the people in the game club were lonely people, and I found out that even the ones that had money and were good-looking and had way-out cars were just as hung up as everybody else. They didn't know how to communicate, they felt inferior, they were self-conscious, they didn't feel adequate. Synanon was great; it enabled them to release their hostilities in the games. They could make fun of people and say things they could never say outside. After awhile they felt free . . .
"There were squares who after a certain length of time decided they liked the Synanon way of community living, so they moved in. They moved into apartments across the street from the club and worked outside at different jobs and gave most of their money to Synanon. They spent all their free time in Synanon playing games and hanging out, and they could live there with their friends, away from the violence of the outside world, because there was never any violence in Synanon. . . . The main rules were no dope or alcohol and no physical violence, so Synanon was very safe in a world that's awfully frantic and crazy." p. 400
" . . .
" . . . Chuck Dederich*, the founder, Mr. God, with his bullfrog voice . . . An old wino. Well, I guess he drank whiskey, gins and stuff, but here's a guy that had a big, old line of bullshit, some phoney salesman out of the midwest who happened to land down on the beach and in order to live had to run some kind of game up under somebody. He was a great bullshitter, so he found a little, beat pad, and he found some winos, and he got some dopefiends to come in, and he gave them some soup, and pretty soon he got some money from somebody. By the time I got there they had this huge, old luxury hotel and other places all over - Frisco, Oakland, San Diego - half a dozen places he'd built up from this scam. . . .
"I saw a guy I'd known in jail . . . "You have to wait and see. Wait until you play some games. I couldn't explain it to you in a million years. The best thing to do is keep an open mind. You've got to stay here. You know you can't leave. Try to be cool and then when you get in a game you can rage and call everybody every name under the sun and get rid of your frustrations. That'll enable you to stand it until the next game. Believe me, it'll really be interesting. It's a hell of an experience, man." . . . " p. 401
"They started taking me out by the swimming pool. The Clump was like one of those Hollywood apartment complexes. There was a little coffee sho where you could get coffee and peanut butter and bread for nothing. . . . " p. 402
" . . .a guy took me to an apartment in the Clump right near the pool. It was a large, two-bedroom apartment with two baths, and the front room was filled with bunk beds . . .
"It had a feeling like jail, only there were no cell. The Clump had a lot of units and little walkways. I learned that a couple of blocks down, on Kansas Street, they had another complex and more people lived there; that's where they had a school for the little kids. A few people lived at the club and in the apartments across the street from it, but they were squares or people who's been in Synanon for a long, long time." p. 402
" . . .
" . . . Bill Dederich*, Big Chuck's brother, had an apartment at the Clump. . ."
"The residents were divided into tribes of about sixty people who played the Synanon game together, and each tribe had a certain section of the Clump, maybe three apartments for the men and two for the women. . . .
"In each tribe, there were so many "elders", people who'd been arond for a number of years . . . There was a Store where you got your clothes for free, but the good things weere in another store for the big shots; we got the old things they didn't want. . . ." p.404
" . . . they assigned me to the bookkeeping department, which was in a building a little ways down from the Clump, a gigantic, old warehouse where they kept all the stuff they hustled for Synanon, all the donations, furniture, food. They had offices upstairs . . ." p. 405
" . . . If Chuck Dederich* or Jack Hurst* were to tell them to jump out of the sixth-story window of the club thy'd all jump because they'd thing that that's the "Synanon Thing,", the "Synanon Position," to jump out the sixth -floor window. . . ." p. 406
" . . .
"The thing of it is, the people that ran Synanon had to keep everyone off guard and keep everything different. If they fell into a routine, if life became boring and fell into a pattern, they'd lose the people. So they would change. All the time. Just make changes for changes' sake. . . . Every single room in Synanon, whether it was in the club, the Clump, Kansas Street, the school, each room had been maybe fifty different things in the last three years. You'd be here, so they'd move everybody over there. They move these people here, move you there, move this here, paint that. Make a rule: you can't have this. Then you can have it. . . ." p. 407
" . . . They did all this to keep everybody messed up. That was the basis of Synanon because dopefiends and nuts can't stand routine and when they get bored they have to do something crazy, so Synanon made the insanity. Themselves. The people that ran it caused the insanity.
"Shortly after I arrived, the insanity took the form of changing the hours. Ordinarily people get up in the morning and set certain hours aside for this or that. Synanon decided to do away with this. . . . They decided on the twenty-four hour day. . .
"I'd go to work at 11 p.m. and at 3 a.m. a jitney would come pick us up and drive us to the club to eat. We'd ride down the street; we wouldn't see a soul, no life, no cars; it was like death outside; and we didn't say a word to each other. We'd go to this ridiculous, old-time club that used to be a millionaire's hangout, now fallen into disrepair, a junk heap full of ignorant ex-dopefiends or whatever you want to call them, nuts, running around trying to be painters, carpenters and carpet layers. . . .
"We'd get out of our jitney at 3:20 and walk into this club that looked like some old movie set for Rudolf Valentino or Theda Bara. And here were these tired-eyed musicians. They were playing music, and the crazy people were standing around; chicks with no bras were dancing. We'd walked into this mad revelry without drinks, without dope, and go into the kitchen and eat. We'd eat the same thing we had at supper: if we had breakfast at supper we'd have breakfast for breakfast; it we had meatballs and spaghetti for supper we'd have meatballs and spaghetti with dripping water running off the plate for breakfast. When we finished eating, the musicians would play a "hoopla," which was the standard dance of Synanon. Some nut invented this togetherness rock-and-roll dance: instead of dancing separately they all danced together, following the same steps." p. 409
" . . .
Chapter 22: Synanon: Laurie, 1969
" . . . Synanon had a private beach, and there weren't many people out at the time. . . ." p. 415
" . . . Laurie Miller* . . ." p. 417
" . . .she had been a photographer doing album covers and publicity pictures . . . rock groups . . . about twenty-five . . ." p. 421
" . . . She said, "Art Pepper*. I knew some people that knew you at Westlake School of Music." She named a bunch of people, Les McCann, Charlie Haden. I said, "I used to blow with Les McCann and Charlie Haden - I gave him his first jazz job with my quartet. . . .
" . . .
"The Synanon beach is right behind the club, and it has a fence around it with two little openings down by the water. . . ." p. 419
" . . . Paul Rainbolt* . . ." p. 420
" . . . a dopefiend and a criminal . . . he'd been in Synanon for about four years. . . ." p. 424
" . . . There were really only three places we could walk to. We could walk toward Venice, past the Pacific Ocean Park pier, which had been closed down and then had caught fire several times. It was a strange fairyland that was all black and destroyed. There were twisted tracks where the rollercoaster had been, stand and old tin cans, and a diving bell where people used to go down and look at sea monsters. There were fences all around, but you could walk along the water and look up and see parts of it. Beyond that there was a walkway that went along the sand past the city of Venice. There were old storefronts on it; a fruit stand; centers for elderly Jewish people where they could go dance; and then there were the beat shops, where the kids, the hippies, sold jewelry and candles. Beside them there were the winos and the dope culture, which encompassed a lot of people, young and old. You had all these people wandering around, sitting on benches, and there was always some excitement. Every now and then you'd run into a group playing bongos and conga drums or somebody playing a flute, and a couple of these freaky, half-naked girls would dance. We could go to Venice, or we could walk into Santa Monica, to the shopping mall, or else we could walk north up the walkway and go to the Santa Monica pier." p. 422
"We walked toward the Santa Monica pier. It was a beautiful day. Laurie was wearing a short, green dress, suede, like velvet, and she looked very cute. We walked to the pier and down to the end. On the way back we stopped at the merry-go-round. They have an old, old one there, still working. This old-time organ music was playing. . . . " p. 423
" . . .
" . . . Betty " Greek"* married to Jimmy Georgelos* "old timers . . . p. 425
" . . . Synanon security. They had, like, police cars that said Synanon on the sides, with walkie-talkie radios, and they rode around in these cars trying to find someone drinking a can of beer. . . ." p. 426
" . . . Frankie Lago . . . p. 428
23: Synanon: Games, Raids, the Trip 1969-1971
" . . .
"The Stew was the only game that allowed spectators. There was a room se aside for it with twenty chairs for the participants and bleachers so people could watch. It ran twenty-four hours a day, every day, . . . You picked up all the information about whatever was happening there, and it was the major entertainment of the place. Jack Hurst, the director and one of the sharpest, funniest game players, would drop into the Stew a lot to play . . . I began to get hooked on the game and I started studying it, but I wanted to be original and have my own style, which I gradually developed . . ." p. 433
" . . .
"I started woodshedding down in the basement of the club. . . . They had "hooplas" after games, sometimes two or three in an evening. . . . There were some excellent professional musicians in Synanon. We had Wendell, a black tenor player, really played well; Marty Meade, "the Troll," a crazy little guy who played good piano and wrote music; Lew Malin, a very exciting drummer, and Lou Loranger, who played bass. We had a Puerto Rican, Jaime Camberlin, who played congas. Later on we got Frank Rehak on trombone; he was on some of Miles's albums. . . .
" . . . Then Tom Reeves, an old-timer in Synanon, began organizing the musicians and even instituted musical games." p. 434
"In Synanon your mind was completely free of the fears people outside use up their energy worrying about. You didn't have to think about food or rent or doctor bills. You didn't have to worry about what you were going to do when you got old, if you got ugly, if you lost a leg. The first tribe leader I had, Bob Holmes, had kidney trouble. He'd had an operation and the only way he could live was through a dialysis machine. Those machines are hard for people to get the use of, but because he was in Synanon and because of the money and power and influence Synanon has, Bob had access to a dialysis machine each week, as he needed it. If he'd been on the streets, living in some beat shack in Cleveland or Watts, he would have died. So all you had to do was accept these changes and periodic humiliations and you had nothing to worry about."
" . . . Every now and then somebody would come in from the oustside to play. Phil Woods dropped by, one of the greatest alto saxophone players living. . . ."p. 450
"Then something happened that turned everything around. There was an old guy in Synanon, Reid Kimball, a close friend of Chuck's, and he was dying of emphysema. He had to stop smoking. . . . the kids in Tomales Bay, the fanatical followers, they got together with Chuck and said, "To help you stop we're going to stop smoking."
"At first it was a voluntary thing . . . they could get everything donated except cigarettes. Cigarettes was our biggest expense.
"It didn't stary voluntary long. Soon another general meeting was called and Chuck appeared in person and told us smoking cigarettes would henceforth be as forbidden as the use of drugs and physical violence. After that meeting I . . . took my cigarettes and stashed them . . ." p. 451
" . . . I'd sneak away from the Clump and smoke at Santa Monica City College. In Santa Monica they have police helicopters that fly around. I got so panicked after sneaking around for a while that I was sure that the police helicopter was watching me at Santa Monica City College or whereever I was.
" . . .
" . . . Blackie Levinson* . . . [ha]d been in Synanon two or three times while I'd been there, but I knew him from before, from jail. . . ." p. 452
"Laurie and I were friends with a couple, life-stylers, who had an apartment in the Clump. They were going back east to visit their families for the holidays and told us we could stay at their place for a whole week while they were gone. Laurie sensed that I was leaving, even though I couldn't tell her. We had a wonderful week together in that apartment and when it was over I gave Blackie a call and told him to come pick me up." p 453
Chapter 24 The Return of Art Pepper, 1971-1978
" . . .
"Bob and Nikki Deal had a proposition to make me. Bob recently opened a health food bakery in Venice, Good Stuff Bread. They lived next door to the bakery; they had an extra room, and they told me if I'd like , I could stay with them, and work with Bob, helping around the bakery, keeping the books. . . .
"Bob made a heavy dark brown bread, . . . and a carrot cake, a banana cake, and an apple cake all out of whole wheat. . . .p. 456
Afterward
Laurie Pepper, nee Miller: " . . .
"During the summer of 1959, when I was in my teens, I worked at an L.A, coffee house called The Ash Grove. I sold records in a shop in the club. Ed Michel was the house rhythm section. He played the bass for the folkies who didn't bring their own bands. Ed was dating one of the waitresses, and he and I became good pals. When he wasn't working we'd spend hours talking and philosophizing. He was wise and old. I think he was 21. I went off to college and Ed went to work for Pacific Jazz and then Verve in L.A. So Ed and I never saw each other again. For eighteen years. Until one Saturday in 1976 or 1977, Les Konig called to say that he would be coming by Donte's, an L.A. jazz club, to hear Art play. That was rare. He was bringing two friends, both record producers. John Snyder and Ed Michel. Ed Michel! Does he play the bass? Same guy. The evening was fine; Art played wonderfully. He played some ballads, and Les, not given much to praise let alone hyperbole, remarked that Art was probably the greatest ballad player living. John agreed. Ed said, " Oh, I don't know . . ." p. 486
Jenny Pirie*, Peter Kastner* and Jeff Mudrick* A Short History of Ocean Park, Ocean Park Community Organization, 1982, (With a 1983 update.) 15pp. 1983, 1982, 1979
"The newly realized ability of people to be in control of their own neighborhood was not just limited to crime prevention: residents organized successfully to prevent the demolition of the Fourth Street Courtyard, near Hollister north of Ocean Park Boulevard. And, more significantly, over 200 residents jammed the Church in Ocean Park in the autumn of 1979 in what was the beginning of a long campaign to control Main Street development and its effects on the neighborhood.
"But the Block Club network set up by COMMUNITAS was only the precursor to the establishment of a broader "Neighborhood Congress" which was convened in December, 1979. The goal was to create a permanent, independent, and self-sufficient neighborhood organization for all of Ocean Park.
"On December 8, 1979, over 300 residents attended the First Ocean Park Congress. At that Congress, OPCO was created-the Ocean Park Community Organization - a permanent organization with a small staff and a steering committee made up of Ocean Park residents, which would deal not only with crime, but with all areas of community concern."
Kevin Roderick, Politics, Los Angeles, June, 2003, page 40-44.
"Civic Unrest: . . . As prosperity has become more conspicuous, renters in beachfront Ocean Park- birthplace of the city's liberal soul-warily eye the north-of-Montana crowd. . . .
"As Santa Monica became more desirable, soaring rents threatened to price out the beach lovers. Zane and friends, with charismatic backers like Tom and Jane (the then married Hayden and Fonda), organized in funky Ocean Park and among seniors. . . It (SMMR) sailed to victory, with it, young, liberal firebrand Ruth Yannatta Goldway (1979-1983) was elected to the city council. . . .
Santa Monica Planning
Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
34. Santa Monica City Hall, 1938
1685 Main Street
Architects: Donald Parkinson & Joseph M. Estep
Designation: 16 October 1979
"The Art Deco style City Hall was partially financed by the federal Public Works Administration. The building is a concrete structure in the Classical Moderne style, popular in the 1930s and 1940s. It carries a nautical tone to suit this oceanside community.
"The entrance is decorated with colorful tile work by the local Gladding, McBean Tile Company. The lobby murals were designed by Stanton Macdonald-Wright*, and installed under the auspices of the Federal Arts Project. The building provided jobs and pride to the community during the Great Depression; it is a standing tribute to cooperation among residents, city officials and the federal government."
38 Horatio West Court, 1919
140 Hollister Ave.
Architect: Irving Gill
Designated: 2 January 1979
"This is one of the finest remaining examples of architect Irving Gill's work in the Los Angeles area. Gill's work was heavily influenced by the region's Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture. Abstracting elements of these styles, his designs were modern interpretations of these more traditional forms. This property also shows Gill's interest in designing affordable alternatives to the single-family home. On the first floor of the two-story homes French doors lead from living areas onto an enclosed terrace. In the 1970's, the buildings were restored.
"Horatio West Court is on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977."
45. First Roy Jones House, 1894
2612 Main Street
Architect: Sumner P. Hunt
Designation: 2 January 1979
"This building, constructed for Santa Monica civic leader, Roy Jones, is the earliest known American Colonial Revival style work of architect Sumner P. Hunt, whose work was well known in Southern California for designing structures in both the Spanish Colonial Revival and American Colonial Revival styles.
"Originally located at 1007 Ocean Avenue, the house was donated to the Heritage Square Museum and moved to its present location on City -owned property in 1977. Today, it houses the California Heritage Museum, which specializes in decorative arts. The first floor is furnished in 1890s to 1930s styles."
Amanda Schacter (ed.) Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1990.
9 Horatio West Court
140 Hollister Ave.
Built: Circa 1919
Architect: Irving Gill
Designated 1 February 1979
"Horatio West Court is among the finest remaining examples of Irving Gill's work in the Los Angeles area. Gill's work throughout Southern California was heavily influenced by the region's Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture. Abstracting elements of these styles, his designs were a modern interpretation of these more traditional forms. In addition, Horatio West Court exemplifies Gill's interest in designing affordable alternatives to the single-family home.
"On the first floor of the two-story homes french doors lead from living areas onto an enclosed terrace. The two large upstairs bedrooms face north onto a sunporch which was glassed in during the 1920's. In the 1970's, the buildings were restored to their present state. Horatio West Court is listed on the National Register of Historic Places." p. 6
13 First Roy Jones House
2620 Main Street
Built: 1894
Architect: Sumner P. Hunt
Designated 2 January 1979
"This building, constructed for Santa Monica civic leader, Roy Jones, is the earliest known American Colonial Revival style work of architect Sumner P. Hunt. Hunt's firm was well known in Southern California for designing structures in both the Spanish Colonial Revival and American Colonial Revival styles. Originally located at 1007 Ocean Avenue, the house was donated to the Heritage Square Museum and moved to its present location on City owned property in 1977."
15 City Hall
1685 Main Street
Built: 1938
Architects: Donald B. Parkinson; J.M. Estep
Designated 10 October 1979
"City Hall was built in 1938 under the Federal Emergency Administration of the Public Works Program. The building, designed by Donald B. Parkinson and J.M. Estep, is built of concrete in the Classical/ Moderne style, popular in the 1930's and 1940's.
"Donald Parkinson was a prominent Southern California architect who, with his father John Parkinson, designed many of Los Angeles' well-known buildings including the Bullocks Wilshire Department Store, numerous buildings on the University of Southern California campus, and with Albert C. Martin and John C. Austin, Los Angeles City Hall.
"Inside, colorful tile work decorates the main entrance. The lobby murals, depicting the history of Santa Monica, were designed by Stanton McDonald-Wright*, and installed under the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project."
Andrea Schulte-Peevers and David Peevers Los Angeles, Lonely Planet: Oakland, 2nd ed., 1996(1999), 351pp., 1999, 1996, 1979
Rose Cafe, 2004, 1999, 1996, 1979
220 Rose Ave., 2004, 1999, 1996, 1979
Opened in 1979
Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176pp.
Foreword-Frank Garbutt Hathaway
The Los Angeles Athletic Club . . . own(s) bound volumes of Mercury, its magazine, started in 1911. Also see Betty Lou Young Rustic Canyon and the Story of the Uplifters, 1975, Dediicated to Frank Alderman Garbutt, President of the LAAC from 1937-1947.
1. Pueblo to City
" . . .
" . . . In 1880, when the LACC was founded, . . . Los Angeles (for its ninety-nine year history) had been isolated-first as a colony of Spain, then as a rough-and-tumble frontier town . . . Little remained of the pueblo . . .
"(In those days) social life and sports centered around the Plaza . . . bullfights, bearbaiting . . . cockfighting. . . . horse racing . . . and card games . . . Californios were inveterate gamblers; every game and contest carried some kind of wager.
" . . . first Yankee settlers in the 1820s . . . John Temple and Abel Stearns . . .
"(Visitors) were mainly interested in local bars and gambling. . . .
" . . . billiards-introduced by Joseph Paulding of Maryland in 1833 . . (in 1843) the first social club, the Amigos del Pais, met in an adobe building which housed a dance hall, reading room, and card tables.
The 1850s brought settlers. Banning, Mellus, Foy, Winston, and Downey. Jewish settlers included John Jones, Newmarks, Cohns, and Hellmans . . . whose leisure time pursuits included church socials, parlor games, songfests, gymnastics, footraces and baseball. . . .
"It took a series of disasters in the 1860s to tilt the social and economic balance in favor of the Americans. A major flood in 1861 was followed by two years of drought and an epidemic of smallpox. These events, combined with aa sharp decline in business and problems of establishing title to their lands, forced many rancheros into bankruptcy. By 1870 the Americans had taken over large tracts of land, and most of the old town houses around the Plaza either stood empty or had been converted to other uses.
"During these turbulent years, Los Angeles earned its reputation as the "wickedest town" in the U.S.A. Bandits, wanton killers, and common drunks roamed the narrow streets and frequented the saloons near the Plaza. In the name of frontier justice, the Rangers and other vigilante groups retaliated with lynchings and hangings. . . . after the transcontinental railroad line to Sacramento was completed in 1869 and scores of Chinese laborers from Northern California moved into the adobe huts east of the Plaza. . . . in 1871 . . .nineteen . . . Chinese were massacred by a . . . mob in an alleyway called the Calle de los Negros, between Los Angeles Street and the Plaza.
" . . . homes and businesses . . . toward the south . . . along with commercial nurseries and European wine and beer gardens offering outdoor dancing and games.
"The old Spanish sports-such as bullfighting, bearbaiting, and cockfighting-were outlawed in 1860 . . .
"The most visibly athletic and gregarious of the new arrivals were the Germans, who encouraged A.F. Tilden to establish the city's first gymnasium in 1860 (after) the Teutonia Verein in 1859, a singing and social club based at the Round House [an amusement center called the "Garden of Paradise."]
"By 1869, . . . 5,600 residents . . . a Dr. Kurtz and eleven others organized the Los Angeles Turnverein . . .
" . . . 1871 . . . Turn-Verein Germania . . . built "the Turn Halle, a large frame clubhouse which provided the best gymnasium and concert stage in the city.
" . . .
"The final phase of the Americanization of the city came after the transcontinental railroad line was extended to San Francisco in 1870, and a connection to Los Angeles was completed in 1876. . . .
" . . .
" . . . Washington Gardens at Main and Washington streets, the most elaborate of the private amusement parks, provided year-round fun [band concerts, picnic grounds, games and a menagerie] for the whole family. Santa Monica also learned early to cater to tourists and visitors, accommodating campers and bathers, staging old-time equestrian events, and sponsoring the first polo match played in the Southland.
"Competitive foot-races in the seventies often had a carnival air and were little more than an excuse for betting. Walking, on the other hand seemed to dovetail more naturally with the growing interest of the average man in health and physical culture. Amateur and professional walkers were turned loose in "walkathons"-endurance contests lasting for five or six days.
"Dedicated outdoorsmen began to head for the hills, emulating John Muir who made the first vertical ascent of Mount Wilson from Pasadena in the late 1870s, a three-day venture. Carrying three loaves of bread, half a pound of tea, and a blanket, it took him one full day to reach the mouth of Eaton Canyon; from there it was a stiff climb up a waterfall and through dense brush to reach the summit.
"Roller skating succeeded walking as a fad and was in turn eclipsed by the bicycle in the 1880s. The first velocipedes, unstable contraptions with a tall front wheel and a small one behind, were seen briefly in Los Angeles in 1869 . . .
"Baseball . . .
"Boxing . . .
" . . . By 1880 . . . in the fall, the circus came to town as it had each year since the 1840s . . . "Frank Gardner's famous double somersault over 3 elephants and 9 camels."
Page 15: Poster for W.W. Cole's Circus The Only Electric-Lighted Sun-Eclipsing Big Show That Ever Crossed the Great Divide "Cheer after cheer rent the air at each surprising feature." Nashville American. The Grandest and Best Circus Ever in California at Los Angeles Wedn'sday Sept. 15. Reproducing and Reflecting All Earth's Grandest Marvels! Under the resplendent glare of the Brush Dynamo Electric Light, used exclusively with W.W. Cole's Great Concorpation of Circus, Menagerie, Aquarium, and Congress of Living Wonders. "The best trained horse in the world"-Quincy Daily Herald The Only Show that Faithfully Keeps its Word. "A better show never existed."-Lincoln Daily Journal.
2. "The Best Young Men": The Arcadia Block
(Sept., 1880) Fifty-three original members formed "a purely American", as opposed to a Germanic, Los Angeles Athletic Club, renting Stearns Hall, on the second floor of the old Arcadia Block at the corner of Los Angeles and Arcadia Streets, built in 1858 by Don Abel Stearns and named in honor of his wife, Doña Arcadia Bandini. . . . "In recent years the rooms had been used for dancing classes and as a skating rink, while the ground floor was occupied by the firm of "Harris Newmark and Co., Wholesale Grocers and Liquor Merchants." Across Los Angeles St. from the Calle de los Negros. The three-story Baker Block, immediately to the rear, contained shops, offices and the . . . apartments of Arcadia Bandini de Baker herself. . . . By November the club had installed a trapeze, long horse, flying rings, parallel bars, dumbbells and Indian clubs, and turnverein trained teachers were teaching the beginners. Boxing was introduced.
" . . .
"[Ed] A. Preuss [a charter member of the Turnverein, and an accomplished athlete, served as the LAAC gymnastics instructor] was co-owner of the Preuss and Peroni Drug Store . . . which advertised . . . nostrums, "the Lion Malaria and Liver Pad, with body and foot plasters and three remedies in one, and only one dollar for all." The shop included a soda fountain . . .
" . . . In 1881, . . . Los Angeles celebrated its own centennial. . . . population 11, 183 . . .
3. Blazing New Trails: The Downey Block [1882-1889]
"The new quarters included a carpeted billiard room, as well as showers and dressing rooms and a reading room, along with new athletic equipment. . . .
" . . .
"Gradually the mania for cycling overshadowed public interest in track and field as well as other sports. This phenomenon had its beginning in 1882 when a group of young men who had formed the Century Club for cross-country horseback riding tried to decide to continue . . . In a flip of the coin, cycles won . . . the name of the club was changed to the Los Angeles Wheelmen . . .
" . . .
"In spite of the danger involved in riding the old-style velocipedes, cycling quickly became a recognized sport. Within the year, a season of races sponsored by the LAAC on a course between Los Angeles and Santa Monica proved . . . successful . . . the safety bicycle was invented with wheels of equal size in 1886 . . .
"Interest in amateur sports and physical fitness continued to grow as the boom reached its height (1887). Trainloads of tourists and new residents arrived daily on the competing Southern Pacific and Santa Fe lines, paying as little as a dollar for a ticket from the Midwest. Excursion parties of tired travelers who had been recruited en masse in their home towns were often met at stops along the way with offerings of flowers and fruit, band concerts, and the blandishments of land promoters.
"The new Angelenos were a remarkable lot: they were cultured, conservative, affluent, and most of them were health-seekers. Afflicted with a variety of real and imaginary ailments, droves of these self-proclaimed invalids had heard the promises of the railroad publicity agents and came to California seeking the benefits of the climate and miraculous cures. . . .
"The influence of the Club and the recently introduced science of "physical culture" balanced "the salves, tonics and nostrums." . . .
" . . .
4. Riding High: The Stowell Block
"The 1890s ushered in the era of the "boosters," a remarkable set of business giants who turned Los Angeles from a bustling town into a thriving metropolis and converted Southern California into an agricultural and industrial empire. They accumulated huge personal fortunes, were active in civic life, and, almost to a man, were devoted members of the LAAC.
"Their heyday began after the decline of the land boom of the eighties when the railroads abandoned their promotional role in attracting tourists and settlers to the Southland. At the instigation of Colonel Harrison Gray Otis, the gap was filled in 1888 by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. The newly formed group assembled exhibits, sponsored lectures, subsidized writers and photographers, published books and pamphlets and produced a "California on Wheels" train to bring the sun-kissed message to every city in the Midwest.
" . . . Among those in the top echelon were Colonel Otis and Harry Chandler of the Times publishing empire; railroad tycoons Eli Clark, Moses Sherman, and Henry Huntington; oil men Edward L. Doheny and Charles Canfield; Senator Stephen White . . .; and Mayor Fred Eaton, father of the Owens River Aqueduct-all LAAC members." p. 33
" . . . (1893) . . . It was estimated tht there were more bicycles in Los Angeles than in any other city in America. . . .
"The most famous of the early cycling contests was the Annual Santa Monica Road Race, sponsored by the Los Angeles Wheelmen, who were now affiliated with the LAAC. The first race was held on July 4, 1891, on a course that began in front of the Club and ran by way of Pico Boulevard to the Hotel Arcadia in Santa Monica-a distance of seventeen miles. A gold medal with the Club insignia and other trophies were donated by the Tufts-Lyons Arms Company . . .
" . . .
"When [the bicylists started] the judges dashed for the train. The cyclists reached Santa Monica first, led by W.A. Tufts in 1:15:14. . . . Miss Marguerite Lloyd . . . was unofficially timed for 16 miles at 2:06. The following year (1892), thirty cyclists competed over an 18 1/2 mile course, while the spectators sped to Santa Monica on two rival rail lines in time to see H.B. Cromwell of the LAAC [win.]
"By 1894, the number of entries had increased to 218. . . . Passengers filled twenty-six special trains, and vehicles of every description made the trip, including a railroad handcart . . . Emil Ulbrecht set a record of 57:07 and outclassed the field again in 1895.
" . . .
"Amateur competition in cycling suffered with the subsequent rise of the professional sport. Much of the early enthusiasm drained away when such favorites as Burke, Ulbrecht, and McCrea joined the pros, and the first professional races were uneven in quality and poorly attended.
" . . . cross-country walking began to attract its share of followers. The Tramper's Annex was formed in 1894 . . .
"A favorite junket . . . was the weekend trip to Wilson's Peak (Mt. Wilson, preferably by moonlight. . . .
"In 1894 the Great Sandow appeared for two nights at the Los Angeles Theatre under the management of Flo Ziefield. His feats of strength, however, were overshadowed by the Trocadero Vaudeville Company, who appeared on the same bill and presented a whistler, lady songsters, a juggler, and Elsie Arden in her great skirt dance. . . .
" . . . the first 'Fiesta de las Flores,' held in April, 1894 . . . in 1895 L.E. Behymer was enlisted to sell tickets, launching the famous impresario's . . . career.
" . . . 1896 Fiesta Week vaudeville show. . . . included the Venetian Lady Mandolin Orchestra, banjo and guitar groups, and a minstrel show with turns by the members." p. 39
5. Disaster in the Wings: The Wilson Block
" . . . on Spring Street. . . . the building included a "wheel room" . . . a hundred bicycles . . .
" . . . Before the end of 1897 . . . private athletic clubs were going bankrupt due [in part] to competition from the moderately priced YMCA movement . . .
"In cycling, the old-style professional races were still held at Agricultural Park, but the war between the factions [League of American Wheelmen and the California Association of Cycling Clubs] and indifferent performance . . Amateur competions now preferred endurance runs, while scores of pleasure riders took off on Sunday excursions into the countryside or attempted long-distance treks . . .
"Agricultural Park burgeoned into a major racing and amusement center offering saloons and gambling, trotting races, and Sunday coursing (the pursuit of live rabbits by dogs) to supplement cycling and the winter thoroughbred racing season. Sharpshooting and gun clubs grew in popularity, while the most fashionable sports for both men and women were golf and tennis.
" . . . Los Angeles Country Club . . . 1897
"Tennis was already well-established. According to LAAC member Boyle Workman, the first court in the city was built on the grounds of the Childs mansion, and the first Southern California Lawn Tennis Association tournament was held in Santa Monica on the Casino courts in 1885. . . .
" . . . the Spanish-American War was declared in April 1898. . . . patriotic fervor caused the cancellation of Fiesta Week and the Fourth of July parade, but the Santa Monica Road Race was run as usual . . .
[Photo page 44: The Santa Monica Cycle Path, proceeding west from Third Avenue and Washington Street in the late 1890s.]
"By the end of the century there were 30,000 cycles in Los Angeles, creating a need for more adequate paths and roads. The LAAC Wheelmen and other organizations helped finance the Santa Monica Cycleway in 1899 by selling lapel buttons . . .
"On January 5, 1901, the old Club officially died . . .
6. Born Again
" . . .
"Dramatic changes took place in the civic scene during this five-year hiatus. The population, which had reached 102,479 in 1900, now included only ten percent who were native born, the majority of new residents being fundamentalists of moderate means from the East and Middle West. The last vestiges of the old frontier faded away as the city became even more puritanical than the East. Gambling was outlawed; saloons and boxing were under attack. "Reform!" was the slogan of the day.
"A new era of vigorous expansion was set off by Henry Huntington in 1902 when he extended the Pacific Electric Railway into a network of Red Car lines crisscrossing Southern California from the mountains to the sea. This early version of rapid transit made a variety of new areas accessible for recreation and accelerated the fragmentation of the city into a cluster of suburbs.
" . . .
"After a slow start, motoring replaced cycling for thrills and excitement. The first horseless carriage appeared on . . . Memorial Day, 1897 . . .
" . . . The Southern Caifornia Automobile Club was founded in 1900 by a small group of these [LAAC members] men.
" . . .
" . . . Ralph Hamlin . . . acquired the first motorcycle west of the Rockies-an Orient model with a four-cycle engine. He opened a repair shop and agency for the Orient and in 1905 became the Southern California distributor for the famous Franklin car, retaining the dealership until the company went out of business in the 1930s. . . .
["The first automobile to reach the top of Mt. Wilson by road was Ralph Hamlin's Franklin, on May 23, 1907 . . ."]
. . . In re-establishing the Club as a corporation a small group chose Charles F. Eyton, who managed Belasco's Morosco Theatre and was a boxing referee of note . . ." p. 55
"The LAAC joined the AAU in 1907, and the following April (1908) managed Southern California's first officially sanctioned boxing tournament as part of the entertainment for the visiting Pacific and Atlantic fleet. . . .
" . . . St. Vincent's College . . . students built a boat, stored it at Playa del Rey . . .
" . . . The Los Angeles Pacific Railway donated rooms, storage facilities, and a float landing at Playa del Rey for one year, [offering] a permanent home for the LAAC's boating department . . .
" . . . Al Treloar was hired as physical director in February 1906. He had studied physical training with Dr. Dudley A. Sargent at Harvard, held the university strength and wrestling championships, and rowed on the varsity team. After graduation he served as physical director of the St. Paul A.C. and completed a year's course of physical instruction with Sandow. In 1905 he won a $1,000 prize at the Physical Culture Exposition at Madison Square Garden as the "most perfectly developed man in the world" and toured the country in a series of vaudeville engagements. . . .
" . . . Sailing and motorboating . . . gained in popularity as part of land promotion campaigns at Naples, Venice, and Playa del Rey. The South Coast Yacht Club, which had been organized in 1901 . . .
" . . .
"Developers found swimming contests and water sports to be attractive publicity gimmicks to draw crowds to the new beach resorts on Sundays and holidays. In 1907 George Cox staged the first local high-diving exhibitions in Venice; water basketball enjoyed a brief fling; and teams from the LAAC, Venice, Bimini Baths, and the YMCA played water polo at the various plunges.
"The following year [1908] at a Fourth of July extravaganza George Freeth performed acrobatics on his surfboard and dove from a trapeze into the great indoor Venice plunge. Even more astonishing was twelve-year-old Clifford Bowes who made "three circles" in the air as he plummeted from the rafters to the water below. Freeth and Frank Holborow of Venice became the leaders in local competitive swimming, entering everything from pier-to-pier rough-water distance races to sprints in the pool.
" . . .
"Harry Chandler joined the board in 1907.
"John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom were retained as architects for the new LAAC Building. Parkinson had designed the old California Club and the two of them did the Alexandria Hotel, Security Bank Building, Bullock's and the Pacific Mutual. . .
" . . . Thomas Lee Woolwine was appointed city prosecutor in 1908 and immediately declared was on vice in all its forms. Warming up with a campaign against "bucket shops" and spitting on the sidewalks, he next accused the major social and athletic clubs of operating "blind pigs" (unlicensed bars) and ordered them to take out liquor licenses . . .
" . . . Joseph Scott, speaking for the California Club . . .; Frank Garbutt . . . the LAAC; . . . the Jonathan Club and its president, Henry Huntington . . . won their court case.
"William May Garland, president of the California Club . . .
[On page 64 there is a reproduction of a cartoon from the Los Angeles Times, presumably in the 1910s showing Abbott Kinney (who) holds the Osler Championship at tennis.]
"Later, when Woolwine also threatened to restrict coursing and boxing, the LAAC tentatively arranged with Abbott Kinney to use a section of the new Venice bathhouse as an annex for boxing exhibitions and other sports. . . .
7. Seventh and Olive
" . . . the new building opened from June 13 through 15, 1912 . . . Twenty-five thousand people attended the opening . . . met by Garland, Garbutt, Kenny, Harry Haldeman and others . . . Arend's orchestra played . . Harry Marston Haldeman-a gentleman of rare warmth and burly charm . . . joined in 1911 . . . appointed chair of the new Good Fellowship committee . . . given the disciplining of a member for being drunk and boistrous, Haldeman along with L. Frank Baum formed the "Uplifters" a club within the LAAC. . . . (1914) . . .
8. Spotlight on Sports
" . . .
"The LAAC began developing its own top-flight competitors in 1913 when they engaged the celebrated George Freeth as swimming instuctor. Born and raised in Hawaii, he was discovered in 1907 by Henry Huntington who brought him to Redondo Beach as the ideal attraction for his new Moorish-style plunge and pavilion. Freeth revived the old Hawaiian custom of riding the waves stand up, using a shorter version of the heavy wooden surfboard. Throngs arrived on the Big Red Cars to watch him perform this magical feat twice a day, followed by an exhibition of fancy diving in the pool.
"Freeth was full of new ideas. He started swimming classes, developed the trudgeon stroke, organized water polo and water basketball teams. As the area's first official lifeguard, he assembled the first volunteer lifesaving corps in Southern California and developed the familiar cigar-shaped metal rescue kit which he mounted on a motorcycle sidecar.
"After leaving Redondo, Freeth taught at Venice, and by the time he reached the LAAC he had attracted an enthusiatic retinue of pupils. He taught spear-fishing and surfboard-riding, introduced the Australian crawl, . . .
"Duke [Kahanamoku] . . . recalled that Freeth had been awarded national honors for saving several Japanese fishermen from a capsized boat near Malibu. To express their appreciation, they named their fishing colony "Freeth Village" in his honor.
"Freeth moved to San Diego in 1915 . . . [He died in the 'flu epidemic of 1918.]
"Interest in motoring also remained high. George Retzer expanded the scope of his monthly hiking expeditions to include auto trips to such remote spots as Lake Tahoe and Yosemite . . . For the speedsters, road races to Santa Monica were inaugurated in 1910 . . . Oldfield wa a frequent contestant after his suspension was lifted in 1912 . . .
" . . .
"Peep shows" and "projected images" were first shown in Los Angeles in 1896 at Tally's open-front "Parlor" on Spring Street . . . In 1902 the first true theater, the Electric on Main Street, showed short comedies and educational films, and a year later Roy Knabenshue's dirigible at Chutes Park provided the first local filming."
" . . . Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, who was an Uplifter and active LAAC member, proposed dancing as the best exercise to develop strong and virile young men."
" . . . (World War I) . . . The Retzer brothers were in motor transport, and Ted Shawn had his portrait painted in his soldier's uniform. . . .
9. The Exuberant Twenties
" . . .
" A group of business men under the leadership of Harry Chandler formed the All Year Club in 1921 to attract a new and potentially rich crop of winter tourists to Southern California . . . Los Angeles itself annexed large chunks of territory to become a paragon of urban growth, its population increasing from 576,673 in 1920 to 1,238,048 in 1930.
" . . .
"In the mood of the day, the revolutionary new "LAAC System" of physical fitness was introduced by an anonymous guru in January, 1918: the perfect body working in harmony with the subconscious mind to develop the perfect man. Adherents were promised that the proper application of thought, desire, and will, leading to concentration guaranteed a life expectancy of one hundred years, with middle age beginning at seventy. The regimen included regular exercise, daily baths, correct living, two meals a day, and a proper mental attitude.
"Al Treloar's program translated theory into action . . .with before-and-after pictures of his male clients int their undershorts . . . Insructors were hired in the exotic arts of judo and jiu jitsu to foster the cause of bodily and intellectual training, will-power development, and character-building.
10. Growth and Expansion
"The boom of the twenties fragmented Los Angeles into a cluster of suburbs and kindled Frank Garbutt's dream of a chain oof affiliated sports facilities throughout the Southlandd. He envisioned yacht clubs and beach clubs along the Pacific shore, at least one golf course and country home, a gun club, and satellite town clubs, plus courtesy privileges at independent clubs . . .
"One tempting opportunity followed another as clubs sprang up all over Southern California, publicized by tantalizing ads and brochures. Many were organized by promoters who sold life memberships and built lavish facilities. They maneuvered . . . local business leaders into executive positions, then disappeared with the cash . . . making such financially distressed properties available on attractive terms.
" . . .
"In June 1916, arrangements were made with J.J. Jenkins of the Brentwood Country Club. . . . 300-acre site . . .with a small but cozy clubhouse on San Vicente Boulevard . . .
"In 1920 the Uplifters, . . . found their own bucolic hideaway in Rustic Canyon, midway between Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades . . The original clubhouse burned down in 1922 and was replaced with a Spanish-style. . .
"Although LAAC bigwigs Garland, Garbutt, Chandler, and Hall were all Uplifter members and attended some of the social functions, they took no active part in the organization. It was Harry Haldeman who reigned supreme as the "Grand Muscle" of the Social Club from its inception in 1913 until 1925 and as president of the Uplifters Country Home Corporation until 1921 to 1927. . .
"In 1930, Harry Haldeman died . . .
"In 1923 (while the purchase of Santa Cruz Island was being considered), Uplifter Joe Musgrove suggested [the Riviera tract] 640 acres to be purchased from Alphonzo Bell who had acquired extensive westside holdings from Robert C. Gillis and Arthur H. Fleming of the Santa Monica Montain Park Company. In 1925 LAAC loaned the Riviera Corporation the funds to subdivide the property and donate the Country Club to LAAC.
" . . . [For the Country Clubhouse] A fifth design by J. Bernard Richards of Santa Monica was ultimately chosen .. .
"In 1925, the builders of the Olympic Auditorium defaulted and the property reverted to the LAAC . . .
" . . . In 1924 negotiations with Alphonzo Bell for 7,000 feet of ocean frontage just beyond Santa Monica Canyon were abandoned when a parcel further west became available, includig over a mile of beach at the mouth of "Topango" Canyon and 1,800 acres of mountainous interior . . .
" . . .
"Several Santa Monica beach clubs also found themselves in difficulty and sought help. Requests from the Gables and Edgewater clubs were denied, but, in July, 1929, the five-year-old Santa Monica Athletic Club was taken over. It had 150-foot beach frontage valued at $150,000 [and] an additional 140 feet on temporary lease, anda building worth $100,000, against an indebtedness of $80,000. With LAAC backing SMAC president Robert Curry and architect J.B. Richards began immediate work . . .
" . . .
"In July, 1930, a block of stock was purchased in the Santa Monica Deauville Club, a romantic Norman structure built in 1926 as an adjunct to a projected city club at Sixth and Flower streets. Reputedly patterned after the famous Casino in Deauville, France, the building had a choice location between the SMAC and the Santa Monica pier, a beach frontage of 250 feet, and was valued at a million dollars. No courtesies were exchanged with the LAAC, however, until full affiliation took place in the mid-thirties.
11. The Tenth Olympiad
" . . . winning four AAU championships in 1930- . . . the gymnasts, led by Leo Vandendaele in tumbling and Paul Krempel in the flying rings.
"At the July swimming meet, Buster Crabbe won two freestyle events and the medley . . .
" . . . 1932 . . . The LAAC water polo team, which was chosen to represent the U.S., was unfortunately weakened when three of its strongest members were disqualified under AAU rules for working as lifeguards." p.127
" . . . the Riviera Country Club was busy welcoming the visiting equestrians . . .
"Los Angeles greeted each national contingent in the spirit of La Fiesta: the Czechs were entertained at the Deuville, the Germans at the Surf and Sand. . . .
12. Faith in the Future
" . . .
"The Wheelman of the Past Century held annual dinner meetings at the Club from 1926 to 1942, reliving their past heroics. . . . In 1936 Sheriff Biscailuz* was installed as chairman and served until the group disbanded.
" . . .
"The Depression also brought renewed emphasis to the physical and spiritual benefits of body-building. A Life Extentsion Department . . . "Why suffer from auto-intoication, lowered vitality, colds, constipation, despondency?"[Memories of Sandow, who died in 1925, were revived in the thirties as part of the physical culture movement.]
" . . .
"The sixth Allied Club, the Santa Monica Deauville, was added to the chain in 1935 when the mortgage (held by the LAAC), interest, and taxes all came due simultaneously. Architecturally attractive, the new club was famous for its handsome esplanade and for its plunge, the largest fresh water indoor pool on the coast.
"The original design for the Deuville had included a tower with athletic facilities and and guest rooms. When the City of Santa Monica decided not to let any structure interfere with the view from the palisades, however, the tower had to be deleted, taking away much of the beach club's year-round appeal. Joined in management with the Santa Monica Athletic Club, the two clubs could at least cooperate. The SMAC provided a limited number of rooms and some athletic facilities, while all of the food preparation was transferred to the modern Deauville kitchens.
"In summer business was brisk. "Club hopping" was a popular pastime in the thirties when a dozen beach clubs lined the strand, and swimming pools had not yet become backyard commodities. The Deauville provided a rendezvous for college students on Friday nights with dancing to Ted Miller's orchestra, a complete dinner for $1.50, and an economy-minded supper for $1.15." p. 142
". . .the conversion to a wartime economy brought unexpected financial relief.
"The Yacht Club was taken over by the Coast Guard, the Deauville by the Federal Government, and the Hermosa Biltmore by the National Youth Administration. The SMAC was sold to a private buyer , , ,
13. Pursuit of Excellence
" . . .
"The Deauville Club, meanwhile, was having more than its share of troubles. First it lost its shorefront to accretion; now it was in danger of being hemmed in by city parking lots built on the artificially created land. Conversations were held with the city attorney to stop the construction, but a change in the law opened the way for the city to proceed.
"In spite of these drawbacks, the Deauville was sold to a group of local investors in 1947 and was operated briefly as the California Cabaña Club, an ambitious venture which ended in bankruptcy. Two years later it was acquired by a wealthy Texan, Frank S. Hofues*, who owned the nearby Del Mar Club. He confided that he had sailed past the Deauville one day, saw it as a potential competitor, and decided to take it over.
"After Hofues* died in 1956, another Texas group purchased an interest in the club as a legal springboard for a land development and golf complex in Tarzana to be called the Deauville Golf and Beach Club. The exact ownership status was still subject to dispute in April, 1964 when fire broke out and gutted the structure in a spectacular blaze.
" . . .
14. The Club Today
" . . .
"Today, with a population of the City of Los Angeles at a record 2,936,900 . . .
LAAC and LAACO . . .