1875 Lunsford

James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1977, 1923, 1900, 1882, 1875

     "At one o'clock we will sell at public outcry to the highest bidder, the Pacific Ocean, draped with a western sky of scarlet and gold; we will sell a bay filled with white-winged ships; we will sell a southern horizon, rimmed with a choice collection of purple mountains, carved in castles and turrets and domes; we will sell a frostless, bracing, warm, yet languid air, braided in and out with sunshine and odored with the breath of flowers. The purchaser of this job lot of climate and scenery will be presented with a deed of land 50 by 50 feet. The title to the ocean and the sunset, the hills and the clouds, the breath of life-giving ozone and the song of birds is guaranteed by the beneficient God who bestowed them in all their beauty."

     Tom Fitch, announcing the auction of the first Santa Monica lots in 1875

Ocean Park

     "41. Former First Methodist Episcopal Church Building, 2621 Second Street. Now a private residence, the north portion of this building was originally built in 1875 at the southwest corner of Sixth and Arizona and may be the oldest standing wood-frame building in the city. In 1882 it was moved to the southwest corner of Fourth and Arizona, then in 1900 to Ocean Park, where it became the Ocean Park Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1923 the church built a new brick structure and the old church became a meeting hall known as Patriotic Hall. It was purchased by the Stephen Jackson Women's Relief Corps No. 124 of the Grand Army of the Republic Auxiliary and used as a meeting hall until 1971, when it was sold and became a residence. It was designated a Santa Monica City Landmark in 1977.

(Return to Sources)

 Kelyn Roberts 2017