Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1970s
Santa Monica Pier on the Skids (1941-1974)
" . . . Nov. 1971, plans to build an island . . .
" . . . Opposition to the island was spearheaded by the Los Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club . . . spokesman Ron Allin . . . the skyscraper hotel would interfere with a clear view of the sea. . . ." p. 135
"Councilman Nat Trives [was for the project] . . . Councilwoman Clo Hoover . . . City Council 6-0 for . . .
". . . Save Santa Monica Bay Committee, headed by Pieter van den Steenhoven . . . asked for a referendum . . . City Attorney Richard Knickerbocker [technically refused] . . .
"The anti-island group's strategy was to stall for time while waiting for the passage of the California Coastal Protection Initiative (Proposition 20) . . .
"The Save . . . The Bay . . . filed their suit in Santa Monica Superior Court on September 8, 1972 . . ." p. 136
". . . Even the Santa Monica Evening Outlook newspaper campaigned against the island. They said, "Major harbor improvements is a highly desirable goal but linking it to the hoped for financial success of a towering hotel a few hundred yards offshore is a concept the public has made it clear they will not buy." Prop. 20 passed by 55% of the state voters and 61% of Santa Monica voters. . . .
"On Dec. 22, 1972 the Santa Monica City Council announced it would reassess its stand on the island . . . Mayor Anthony Dituri . . .
". . .
"Two hundred Santa Monica island foes jammed the January 9, 1973 City Council meeting as a result of a misleading radio report that the island was on the agenda . . .
"The Council . . . agreed to an island hearing plan to be held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Jan. 23rd [1974]. Leonard Clunes, who had been coordinating the petition drive to put the island on the ballot, yelled out at the meeting [where the real agenda item had been the pier lease and plans for tearing down the pier], "We have a legal right to the Pier!" . . . A group of young people let out repeated yells of "Save Santa Monica Pier" as [they] left the meeting." p. 137
"Many members of the anti-island group were young anti-war activists, UCLA students drawn to Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood by low rents and beach front living. The pier provided a focus for these radicals who were strongly conservation oriented and perceived Scott's plan as an outgrowth of a business-dominated municipal government . . .
"The . . . [EIR] . . . favored the project . . . there would be a . . . disruption of the southward drift of sand. . . .
"Councilman Arthur Rinck . . . announced his opposition to the proposed plan. "I'd like to see both piers removed and the beach returned to its natural state." He also said that the removal of the piers would make the beaches safer since it attracts many undesirables.
"Over a thousand people packed the Civic Auditorium for the January 23 Santa Monica Island hearing. . . The council voted 4-2 to scrap . . . the Council's action amounted to termination of the contract.
"The boistrous partisan crowd was jubilant . . . Councilman Arthur Rinck made a motion to demolish both piers . . . Robert Gabriel, James Reidy, Arthur Rinck and Mayor Anthony Dituri [voted for], John McCloskey and Clo Hoover were opposed . . .
"The following day, City Manager Perry Scott spoke out favoring the removing of the Santa Monica Pier . . . said city taxpayers were subsidizing the business operators on the pier. "There's a very substantial use of the pier by those who don't spend money. I'm talking about kids and the elderly who come out to dangle hooks. The pier might be charming to some folks - but I wonder how much the general public should pay for that charm."
"The pier's merchants . . . formed Friends of the Santa Monica Pier and began meeting daily at Al's Kitchen. Larry Barber, the restaurant's cook, became head . . . "We believe the pier is too central to the identity of Santa Monica to be destroyed. It's like family. You don't get rid of your grandmother because she is a little old."
"Jack Sikking, the manager of Al's Kitchen . . . Joan Crowne, owner of Al's Kitchen . . . produced a Save the Santa Monica Pier booklet . . . would be losing a unique historic landmark . . .
"Diane Cherman was co-chair of Save Santa Monica Pier Citizen's Committee . . . produced petitions, brochures, radio and newspaper advertising and . . . bumper stickers . . .
"The four Councilmen refused to be intimidated . . . "The pier is a tired, old and dingy thing and the economics of fixing it up are not worth it," the Mayor asserted. "After it is down maybe the people will support a bond issue to put up something else. I'm not in favor of the taxpayer's subsidizing the businesses that have been drawing the criminal and drug elements to the city."
". . . the Council refused to hear the overflow 350 people who attended the February 13, 1973 City Council Meeting. . . p. 138
" . . . on April 10, 1973 . . . Incumbents Robert Gabriel, James Reidy, Jr. and Arthur Rinck were defeated . . . electing Fred M. Judson, Donna Swink, John McCloskey and Pieter van den Steenhoven and an initiative that required voter approval of Santa Monica Bay development.
"The new City Council elected Clo Hoover as Mayor, and . . . decided not to renew Perry Scott's contract . . .
". . .
". . . Maynard Ostrow and his partner Harold Kleinman in August 1973 opened a bumper car ride on the site of the defunct La Monica Ballroom . . . p. 141
". . . City Manager James D. Williams . . .
". . . March 4th, 1974 Carousel Fire set by two sixteen year old youths who were never apprehended. . . ." p. 144
". . .
"The City Council voted 5-0 to approve the pier pact on June 29, 1974, [establishing its ownership, dissolving any liability for Mrs. Winslow and controlling its own liability.] p. 145
Chapter 6: City Owned Pier (1974-1990)
"The city, aware that their newly acquired pier would require money to rehabilitate, hired . . . an outside consultant, Economic Research Associates, to prepare a financial plan . . . . [It was necessary] to bring the Newcomb Pier up to building code requirements.
"The group studied the demographics and spending habits of the 2.4 million yearly visitors and found that 70% were either young people age 12-18 or senior citizens . . .
". . . George Gordon who owned the carousel . . . reopened for business on Oct. 11, 1974 . . .
"On October 18, 1974 Santa Monica unveiled a . . . plan to rehabilitate the pier . . . In addition, the plan recommended that the city clear the blighted area near the pier by acquiring . . . two run-down apartments and four dilapidated houses in the crime infested area south of the pier.
"Councilman John McCloskey raised doubts . . ." p. 146
"With Nat Trives absent that night . . .
"The $1.5 million program for restoring the pier and clearing out the blight around the pier was approved by a 6-1 margina at the following Council meeting. McCloskey remained opposed. The city decided to issue revenue bonds for the two and one half year project, and spend . . . from a federal grant to buy the Seabright and Purser Apartments, breeding grounds for crime.
"The Council's action guaranteed that the quaint, small town character of the pier would be preserved, and that it would not be developed into a grandiose commercial venture. Clo Hoover said, "the plan shows the City Manager really listens and responds to what the city wants." . . .
"Frank Gehry & Associates was chosen in January 1975 as the architect for the pier. The Beach Committee's choice was unanimous because Gehry's proposal showed the needed sensitivity to the special character of the pier and its environment . . .
". . .
"Meanwhile the group called the Citizen's Initiative to Preserve the Piers was campaigning on behalf of Proposition #1, the initiative to preserve both piers for all time. It took them two years to get the initiative placed on the April 8th ballot . . . " p. 146
"Prop # 1 won on April 8, 1975 by a 2 to 1 margin, assuring that both the Santa Monica Pier and the Newcomb pier would be preserved indefinitely. The measure permitted any resident of Santa Monica or its surrounding communities to file a lawsuit to stop a violation of the ordinance. [It] did not preempt enforcement of existing health and safety regulations . . .
"Los Angeles County decided to dedicate the Santa Monica Pier as an official L.A. County Historical Landmark on Pier Day, Sunday May 18, 1975. It was the opening day event for Santa Monica's centennial year, and James Hayes, chairman of the L.A. Board of Supervisors did the honors. Thousands attended the event that included an art contest and a beachwear fashion show featuring styles from 1875 to 1975. The Jaycees sponsored pie eating, bubble gum bubble blowing, corn eating and whistling contests. Radio station KIIS broadcast the Jerry Mason show live from a 8 x 50 foot hot-air gondola tethered to the pier.
"The pier hosted another large crowd in August for the city's 14th annual Sports and Arts Festival. The eleven day festival in late August featured swimming and paddleboard races, fishing contests, and life guard competition. A Keith Williams big band concert was held on the pier on August 24th.
". . . Community Development Grant . . . Gehry's plans . . . for the face lift were approved in September . . . for a wooden boardwalk between the carousel building and Moby's Dock restaurant, new stairs on both the north and south side of the pier for easier beach access, forty new benches, and additional pier lighting. . . . Work began in January 1976, and the project was completed by June . . ." p.148
"McClosky opposed using the Community Development Grant for pier repairs rather than housing for the elderly. "The pier," he said, "is no historic monument and besides it carries no fire insurance." Mayor Nat Trives said the pier fell in the category of recreation for low and moderate income persons . . .
"After federal funds were officially granted in June, a group of residents challenged their use by mounting a letter wriing campaign to HUD officials . . . City grants coordinator, Martha Brown Hicks . . .
"The city's Landmark's commission in 1976, after studying the pier's history, declared the pier a historic landmark. The commissioners did so primarily to control changes on the pier. Landmark status meant that the city was required to apply to its Landmark Commission for certificates of appropriateness to make alterations.
"In January 1977 the city decided to buy the merry-go-round to assure it would stay on the pier forever . . . .
". . . " p. 151
"The city applied for a third year of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds to complete the pier's structural repairs . . . [U.S. Congressman] Robert K. Dornan came out in favor of the carousel after Arthur Rinck of the Santa Monica Housing Commission tried to divert funds to a loan program to rehabilitate housing for the elderly. . . Newly elected Councilman Perry Scott was always against the pier . . .
". . . Councilwoman Christine Reed . . .
"Several developments were proposed as well as several rehabilitation projects . . .
"The [City's] Entertainment Facilities Department, [headed by Jack Ferris,] was now in charge of the pier as well as the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
". . . in March 1978 . . . permanently close[d] the pier to all vehicular traffic beyond the pier parking lot. . . . Most of the traffic, a high percentage of cruising teenagers, used to drive to the end of the pier not stop or patronize any of the pier business. . . .
". . .
"Santa Monica's City Council by a vote of 4-3 quickly approved the [proposed] projects at their July 17, 1978 meeting . . . Perry Scott was one of the three dissenters . . . He called the waterslide a "reincarnation of the old Pacific Ocean Park." Christine Reed defended the vote by saying, "I don't think the pier is going to turn into a POP. We're trying to get a pier to be a place where families get together.
". . .
"Approval for the project was sought from the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission at their September 11th meeting. Approval was denied. Commissioner Ruth Galanter . . . "It's not necessarily that there's anything wrong with any of these uses, its just the question of the mix of types of uses." . . .
"The pier project was approved unanimously at the Coastal Commission's October meeting.
". . . Henry Curtis [Custis] from Ocean Park, John Longenecker from Beverly Hills and Colleen Creedon, who had lived above the carousel before the fire and didn't want to give up her home, appealed the decsion to the State Coastal Commission in Sacramento. Commissioner Hank Doerfling, the South Coast body's representative [was for the project's approval] . . .
"The appeal was not heard. p. 152
". . . during the spring of 1979 . . .
". . . Moby's Dock restaurant [owned by Clarence Harmon] was remodeled and the Boathouse restaurant expanded. George Gordon tripled the size of his Beachcomber gift shop . . .
". . . Barbara Williams, who would become the head of Friends of the Santa Monica Carousel . . .
"The National Carousel Association became more involved and held their annual conference in Santa Monica on the weekend of September 14-16, 1979 . . .
"In December the city, squeezed for funds by Proposition 13, decided they would no longer subsidize pier parking . . .
" . . . " p. 153