Jeffrey Stanton Founding of Ocean Park, Web Document, April 6, 1998, 1891, 1870s
"Kinney and his partner Francis Ryan acquired a controlling interest in the Ocean Park Casino (actually a restaurant and tennis club) on June 23, 1891. Several months later they decided to purchase the surrounding tract of land for $175,000 from Captain Hutchinson, a British Army officer. The man had acquired the beach front property in the late 1870's when he foreclosed on a series of loans made to the Machado family on parts of their La Ballona Rancho.
"The plot of land which extended 1-1/2 miles south of what is now Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica to Mildred Avenue in Venice, for the most part extended inland only 1000 feet, but curved eastward to a depth of half a mile along the southern end. The northern third located in Santa Monica had development potential, while the remainder in county territory was wetlands consisting of sand dunes and marsh."