Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp. 1887,
"By the spring of 1887, the Santa Fe Railroad had secured a right-of-way between Los Angeles and the mouth of Ballona Creek, four miles south of Santa Monica, and had built two wharves into the surf. By August 1887, the first train reached La Ballona.
" . . . Jones and Baker were now selling lots near the beach in their Ocean Spray tract (south Santa Monica) . . .
"J.W. Scott, the energetic proprietor of the Santa Monica Hotel (the city's first hotel), had reaped enough . . . to launch a resort on the south side of town where, on the crown of the palisades, he built the grand Arcadia Hotel." p. 12
"The Arcadia Hotel, on Ocean Avenue between Railroad Avenue (now Colorado) and Front (now Pico). . . . city's first skyline building. Opened in late 1887. . .
[For several years around 1887, people constructed beach shacks on the beach. On page 20 they are referred to as squatters.]
"Frederick Hastings Rindge (1857-1905) purchased the Malibu Rancho in 1887 and was "a founder of the Santa Monica branch of the YMCA that made its home in Ocean Park." He also helped found Union Oil, Southern California Edison and Pacific Mutual." p. 22