Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1910-1920
" . . . the public schools were advancing rapidly under the able direction of Horace M. Rebok, superintendent.
"So good was the reputation of the Santa Monica schools that by the time of World War I a simple recommendation from the principal of the high school, William F. Barnum, plus the required preparatory courses would gain a student admission to a college or university known for high scholastic standards.
"Indicative of this trend in education was the fact that the old Lincoln High School at Tenth Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, was considered to be outmoded. Accordingly, land was purchased by the Board of Education on what was then known as Prospect Hill, the present site of Santa Monica High School."
"Santa Monicans, then as in later years, often felt that their local government could be improved, and soon after 1912 agitation began for charter amendment which would give the community a totally new type of government, under which three commissioners would be both council and administration.
" . . . "
Pp. 30, 31[Photo captions: "The Roosevelt School, then at Sixth and Montana Avenue, as it looked in 1908. Weeds grew luxuriantly.""; "This was room 4, B-8th Grade, Lincoln Intermediate School, November, 1913 and some of us are still around. Back row, l to r, John Robertson, Leonard Lytle, Leonard Austin, Robert Hutton, Donald Day, George Healy, Gustaw Granstrom, Frank Harrison, Louis Benson, Les Storrs, Herbert Carter, Shirley Morphis. Front row, Adrian Head, Reuben Pollack, Mr. Hamilton (the teacher, fresh out of Stanford), Sybilla McKenzie, Arta Rogers, Mary Krause, Thelia Palmer, Mildred Schriver, Harold Carter, Ray Winterard, Ernest Schreiber."]
"In the fall of 1913 the new school received its first classes, and the graduating class of 1917 was the first to complete all four years in the new plant.
P. 33 [Photo caption: "Santa Monica High School as it looked soon after completion of the first buildings on the present site. The photograph probably was made in 1913."]
"The old building on Tenth Street became Lincoln Intermediate School, and it housed seventh and eighth grade classes from the entire community. It was the forerunner of the present Lincoln Junior High.
"Some of the teachers who held forth in Samohi classes in those days and who were responsible for its fine academic reputation, will be remembered by old timers and not so old timers of today.
"They included in addition to William F. Barnum, the principal, who himself taught algebra and trigonometry, such people as Noah D. Knupp, William P. Fetherohf, Vincent Shutt, Nathan Shutt, Caroline Lucy Judd, Ruby Beatrice Weigle, Ethel Robinson, Laura M. Carver, Clara Macomber, Laura Liddle and "Doc" Claffin, the only holder of a Ph.D, on the faculty.
"A Harvard man whose command of English was perfect, he taught history and civics, and in addtion, coached highly successful debating teams.
" . . ."
" . . . before World War I . . . the Santa Monica Road Races.
"Around 1909, when the automobile remained something of a novelty, racing was getting a real start, ever moved by sporting instincts, were interested . . .
"Thus the Santa Monica Road Races came about, and a series of these thunderous events took place, the last shortly before war diverted the attention of all to more serious matters. The first races of the series started opposite grandstands which were erected on Ocean Avenue near Marguerita Avenue, and followed a roughly triangular course down Ocean Avenue to Nevada (Wilshire), thence to Federal Avenue, from there to San Vicente Boulevard (the southerly side), and back to Ocean Avenue. For the last of the series, the course was shortened and went down Lincoln Boulevard.
"Cars of those days were short and high, powered as a rule by huge four cylinder engines which developed a great deal of noise and severely limited horepower. Even so, some could do 100 miles an hour, aided by the slight down hill run on San Vicente.
"Makes then prominent were Fiat, Mercer, Stutz, Pope-Hartford, Lozier, Peugeot, Sunbeam, Mercedes, Isotta-Fraschini, and some less well known brands. Drivers included Barney Oldfield, Teddy Tetzlaff, Earl Cooper, Eddie Pullen, Ralph de Palma, Peter de Paolo and other greats of the day.
" . . . "
Pps 24, 25 [Photo captions: "Miramar, then the residence of Sen. John P. Jones and his family, undated"; "Teddy Tetzlaff and the Fiat rounding the corner of Ocean and Nevada Avenues in a cloud of dust and smoke in the 1912 Santa Monica Road Race"]
Pp. 26. 27 [Photo captions: "A dramatic production at the Women's Club. The man who is writing is the late Roy Jones and Mrs. S.J. Egleston is the acrtress looking over his shoulder. Mrs. George H. Hutton is the one seated at the left."
Pp. 28, 29 [Photo Captions: "In 1910, the Fraser Pier, later to become Pacific Ocean Park, looked like this"]
" . . ."
" . . . the council on October 5, 1914, unaminously voted . . . the appropriate ordinance . . . December 1, 1914 . . . the measure was approved, 1,021 to 782.
" . . . The new charter required what was known as a preferential ballot . . .
"[1915] . . . Samuel L. Berkley was elected commissioner of public safety, ex-officio mayor; William H. Carter, commissioner of public works; Maxwell K. Baretto, commissioner of public finance.
"Initially, the commissioner of public safely had jurisdiction over police, fire and health matters; the commissioner of public works was responsible for streets, water system, sewage disposal and public building; the commissioner of public finance was ex-officio city clerk and responsible for all fiscal matters.
"In practice, each commissioner operated his own fiefdom . . .
" . . ."
Pp. 38, 39 [Photo captions: "The Santa Monica Municipal Pier as it looked in about 1917. At that time it was built of concrete, and a roller coaster was on the site of the present [1974] Newcomb Pier. Photo courtesy of Donald Howland."
P. 46 [Photo captions: "Santa Monica's municipal pier was, at one time, all concrete, as shown in this 1915 photo. Unfortunately, salt water penetrated the concrete pilings, rusted the reinforcing steel, and caused the concrete to shatter. Rust requires more space than steel. It was replaced with wood about five years later";