Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1888
" . . . In 1888 St. Augustine's Episcopal Church moved into its new building on the site of the present church in the 1200 block on Fourth St., although Episcopal services had been held in a variety of places ever since 1875."
". . .
"By 1888 Santa Monica was beginning to feel like a city, especially so after the first bank was organized and opened for business. The First National Bank of Santa Monica had for its President G.H. Gonebrake, a Los Angeles man. Steere was vice president, E.J. Vawter, cashier; directors included the officers named plus Nathan Bundy, founder of the family still widely known in Santa Monica, H.C. Baggs and W.S. Vawter.
" . . .
"The First National Bank of Santa Monica, afterward converted into a state franchised bank and renamed the Bank of Santa Monica . . . organized in January, 1888, with G.H. Bonebrake as president. Directors included in addition to Bonebrake, John Steere, G.S. Van Avery, Nathan Bundy, H.C. Baggs, W.S. Vawter and E.J. Vawter, the latter being cashier.
"Senator Jones when he placed the town of Santa Monica on the market in 1875, had reserved the block bounded by Ocean Avenue, Nevada Avenue (Wilshire Boulevard), Second Street and California Avenue as a site for a future hotel.
"Thirteen years had passed, and no hotel. The Senator decided that the block would be a suitable place for his own home, and in April [1888] the contract was let for Miramar, at a cost stated by Ingersoll to have been "between $30,000 and $40,000," a huge amount for a home in those days.
"The Senator had a son and three daughters, plus numerous more distant relatives who could be expected to drop in from time to time, not to mention the visiting dignitaries entertained by the family.
"Thus is was that Miramar, in addition to having large and well landscaped grounds, also had luxurious facilities, including seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms, most unusual in those days.
"There was no guest house, the idea of segregating guests from family members not being consistent with the Senator's idea of hospitality.
"Also in 1888 the town trustees engaged in a program which many citizens branded as rank extravagance and likely to lead to bankruptcy. They appropriated $23,000 for grading streets, installing curbs, and laying gravel over the existing adobe mud. Even worse, they authorized the expenditure of $30,000 for sidewalks.
"One of the trustees in question was Juan J. Carrillo, who continued to serve in that office until 1900.
" . . .
"The Southern Pacific . . . offered four round trips a day on week days, six on Sundays, the round trip fare being 75 cents on week days, 50 cents on Sundays, but the line served only the area near the present Colorado Avenue.
" . . . in 1888 . . . the Los Angeles and Pacific . . . ran from Burbank to Santa Monica via Hollywood, the Soldiers Home, and a number of communities which long since have disappeared . . . the first train into Santa Monica January 29, 1889 . . .
" . . . it lasted until September [1889] and went into receivership . . .
" . . . [1888] the horse drawn street car line set up by W.D. Vawter. This connected with the Southern Pacific near the depot, ran up Ocean Avenue to Utah, on Utah Avenue to Third Street, on Third to Arizona, and on Arizona to Seventh Street. In 1889 this was extended to Seventeenth Street. Popularly known as "the mule line," it now boasted that it served most of Santa Monica. In 1890, a franchise was granted to connect a new street railway with the terminus of the Vawter line, and extend to the Soldiers Home.