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), 1880s
"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 Collis 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 . . ."