Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176 pp., 1964, 1956, 1949, 1947, 1935, 1930, 1926
"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.
" . . .
"Los Angeles greeted each [Tenth Olympiad] national contingent in the spirit of La Fiesta: the Czechs were entertained at the Deuville, the Germans at the Surf and Sand. . . .
" . . .
"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 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 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."