Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1935, 1930s, 1928, 1929
4 Santa Monica Harbor and Breakwater (1928-1941)
[Chapter 4 is a very detailed account of the politics and engineering which enabled the Santa Monica Habor Breakwater . . .]
"Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Feb. 24, 1928 endorses harbor breakwater and pleasure harbor; endorsed by the Beverly Hills CC and Los Angeles CC in March.
"State Senator Charles Lyon and State Assemblyman Walter Little tried to pass state legislation to form an assessment district which would include Beverly Hills, Westwood, Hollywood, inland to Western Av. and south to Pico. Passed in both the Senate and the Assembly, May 2 and May 9, 1929. Govenor C.C. Young refused to sign it because of opposition by both the Hearst newspapers and the Los Angeles Times. For some reason they feared Alphonzo Bell, a large westside landowner, would commercialize the port. The Los Angeles Playground Commission was also opposed to any piers or breakwaters in Santa Monica Bay.
"William Randolph Hearst didn't want a harbor in Santa Monica and Young was his man.
"Judge Arthur W. Weber had authored the legislation but his pleading was to no avail.
"The amusement pier business was competitive during the summer 1929 season. Ocean Park added a $3,000,000 five hundred foot extension to their pier with a Chute-the-Chute ride and numerous attractions . . . Pickering with much less capital [replaced] the Aeroscape with a smaller yet more exciting Captive Airplane Ride . . .
"He offered numerous free children's activities. There was a Punch and Judy puppet show, movies, and ballroom dancing accompanied by the famous La Monica Dance Orchestra from 2-5 p.m. On weekends Matt Gay, the world's highest diver, dove from a 97 foot platform into a twelve foot square tank of water." p. 68
"Expositions were held on the Santa Monica Pier and sport fishing remained viable from offshore barges.
"Unexpectedly severe weather conditions which trapped off-shore fishermen and capsized a sports fishing boat led Santa Monica officials to tighten up or down regulations. They awarded an exclusive franchise to Captain Olaf C. Olson, who had a small landing on the Looff pier. He sublet dock space to the Hernage family, Owl Boat Company and Morris Pleasure Fishing run by Captain Morris' widow and brother.
"Charles Arnold soon joined them in late 1930, when he bought a 300 foot long, 43 foot wide all steel sailing ship called the Kinelworth. It had been used for salmon fishing in Alaska during the 20's. Since it was constructed in Scotland in 1887, Arnold renamed in the Star of Scotland, converted it into a fishing barge, and anchored it midway between the Santa Monica and Ocean Park piers. He operated a water taxi service to the barge.
" . . . Eugene Craven . . . His Santa Monica Harbor Co., June 14, 1930.
" . . . " p. 71
"Jonathan Beach Club and Santa Monica Breakers Club protested the sealed auction for the harbor which Craven was awarded Aug. 4th.
"The summer 1930 amusement season was exceptionally slow. . . . Pickering . . . cancelled everything . . . the Santa Monica Amusement Co . . . owed the city $1200. The Whirlwind Dipper Co. went bankrupt at the end of the summer, and they tore down the roller coaster in October. The space was used to build a Tom Thumb Miniature Golf Course that was the latest fad . . .
" . . . the Santa Monica Harbor Co. was also affected. . . . Feb., 1931
" . . . On May 5 the state legislature passed bill #1140. It was the same as the one vetoed by the governor two years previously, but James Rolph Jr. was the new governor. . . .
"Despite rising unemployment during the darkest days of the Depression, Santa Monica Pier businesses were fortunate during the 1931 summer season as crowds at the beach were larger than in the previous two years. Water temperatures hovered between a record 76 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit, only a degree or two colder than the waters off Hawaii. Hammerhead sharks were sighted in the bay for the first time. World wide weather was bizarre that summer, extreme heat and drought in North America with record rain throughout Europe. Inland Los Angeles temperatures hovered around the 100 degree mark . . . The Sunday July 26th crowd that packed the narrow beach solid from Del Rey to the Santa Monica Pier was estimated at 450,000 people. Hundreds took a midnight swim near the pier." p. 72
"The Santa Monica Amusement Co. wanted to extend their franchise, which included a sports fishing franchise on the Looff pier, but were opposed by Captain Olaf C. Olson who held the exclusive fishing franchise on the Municipal Pier . . .
"Commissioner of Finance Frank Helton tried to mediate . . . "Pier interests have gotten away with murder and robbed the public." . . .
"City Engineer, Howard B. Carter . . .
"Contract eventually was let to the Puget Sound Bridge Co. in partnership with W.F. Way of Los Angeles.
". . . Gilman Hot Springs where Commissioner of Finance Frank Helton vacationed . . .
"Plans were approved September 25, 1932 . . . p. 74
"A series of construction setbacks delayed and significantly modified the construction . . .
"The Breakwater Committee . . . the Ocean Park Municipal League . . . June, 1933
"Superior Court Judge William P. Hazlett upheld the City . . . 1933
"Work began July 6 dumping Catalina quarried rock in the breakwater area. . . .
". . . .
"On December 13th, during the first big rain storm of the season . . . Johnny McPherson, a thirty-one year old Ocean Park fisherman on the rain drenched walk between two of the barge's five hoppers . . . slipped on the wet gunwale and lost his balance just as ten tons of rock thundered down into the water. He was caught in the load and undertow, then he disappeared. His body was found the next day under several pieces of core rock in twenty feet of water." p. 81
"Santa Monica engineer, Walter Young, was inspecting the sea wall on April 16th when he was swept off the top of the breakwater by a huge wave. He narrowly escaped death as he was carried one hundred feet before being released by the surf's powerful undertow.
"Santa Monica assumed control over their Municipal Pier on April 17, 1934. G. T. Mills, deputy pier manager. Commissioner H.C. Sanborn . . . p. 82
" . . .
"The breakwater was dedicated on Sunday August 5, 1934 . . . Congressman John Dockweiler spoke . . .
" . . . speeches by Mayor Carter, County Supervisor Quinn and Congressman Dockweiler. "The plaque ritual, conducted by Charles A. Koenig, grand president of the Native Sons of the Golden West . . ." p. 84
"SERA (Social Economic Recovery Act) funds were used to pay workers to repaint and repave the pier.
"Leases were granted to Morris Pleasure Fishing, Hernage and Bray, Kern and Tedford, and Charles Arnold. Santa Monica Bait and Tackle and later Frank Volt offered fishing supplies. Both Union Oil and Standard Oil serviced the fishing fleet, piped from tanks buried on the beach.
" . . .
"The city, in need of a convention center, leased the La Monica Ballroom in October to serve as a 4000 seat convention hall. It was a two year lease . . . The building would also be used to house the lifeguard headquarters, offices for the harbor and the city's publicity departments, and concessions catering to fishermen and yachtsmen.
"In some ways it was a sad fate for the famous ballroom, but hard times had hit the financially strapped Santa Monica Amusement Co. Pier patrons had little money to spend during the Depression and company had to close virtually all their amusements except the carousel, shuffleboatd and shooting gallery concesssions. Ernest Pickering resigned at the end of the 1934 season when the amusement conpany couldn't afford his salary. The company eventually declared bankruptcy the following spirng.
"SERA carpenter crews began the remodeling job shortly before Christmas with lumber salvaged from motion picture studios. They began work on the lifeguard headquarters and sleeping quarters located on the northeast corner of the building. The guards planned to furnish their offices with used nautical gear from a salvage company in San Pedro . . .
"Offices, concessions, and conference rooms facing inwards were built in a square around the huge dance hall floor. Each conference room resembled houses of different countries and periods, complete with roofs and chimneys. The row of cottages on the east side included a Swiss Chalet, and English cottage, Pompeian reception room, Italian room, and a garden room. A stage accomodating 300, sixty feet long and forty foot deep, was constructed at the south end of the ballroom. Offices for the convention center as well as for the California Naval Militia, the Santa Monica Sailing Club, and lifeguard services were on the mezzanine level. Six store-fronts were built along the north side of the auditorium and leased out to defray rent of the entire building." p. 87
" . . . The Wrigley interests approached the city about inaugurating an experimental line if the city was willing to build pier docking facilities. Commissioner Sanborn conferred with Captain W.H. Leisk of the steamer Cabrillo and determined that it involved extending the lower deck by eighteen feet so that tidal surges wouldn't throw the steamship against the pilings . . .
"Daily summer service to Avalon Bay started June 1, 1935. The 600 passenger, 611 ton steamer left Santa Monica in the early afternoon on a three and one half hour voyage to the offshore island. It returned the following morning . . .
"The 1935 Fourth of July weekend was one of the busiest on record with 250,000 people cramming the beaches and piers. The aircraft carrier Saratoga was anchored in the bay and the throng awaiting the launches was the greatest ever assembled on the pier. Nine thousand people visited the Saratoga during the weekend and eight hundred paid passengers booked passage on the pier's day fishing boats. . . . The naval and military ball held at the La Monica that evening was attended by over one thousand people.
"Passenger service business to Catalina was far below forecasts . . .they discontinued service between September 15, 1935 . . . and didn't resume the next summer." p.90
"Security First National Bank foreclosed on [Santa Monica Amusement Co.'s] property which they received but the bank didn't get the twenty year franchise.
" . . .
" . . . Commissioner Plummer . . ." p. 93
"The $1,750,000 beach erosion suit finally went to trial during the early summer. The beach clubs south of the pier were involved in what was known as the the Carpenter case. Carpenter represented Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. who had bought the old Del Mar Club in 1934. The club's southwest boundary was the mean high tide line on what had been a very wide beach. The clubs alleged that construction of the yacht harbor breakwater interfered with south bound currents that normally deposited sand on their privately ownd beaches in front of their properties and instead caused them to erode.
" . . .
" . . . Pacific -American Fire Insurance Co. were suing for $578, 967.52 , and offered to sell their property for $75,000. They owned 197 feet of frontage between Grand Hotel and the old Edgewater Club. (The case would drag on until 1944.)" p. 94
"Except for the lifeguard headquarters, the city decided to abandon their questionably titled lease from Security National Bank, in 1937.
"The Bank leased out the La Monica to Austin McFadden who announced that he would operate it . . . as the Rollaway Roller Rink. He renovated the former ballroom so that it would be the most beautiful and up to date rink in the country. He purchased hundreds of skates and had his paid attendants help put on patron's skates without charge. . . .
" . . .
"The late 1930s brought back the popularity of the offshore gambling boats. Several of these boats began operation in 1929 beginning with the Johanna Smith that anchored five miles directly west of the the Venice Pier. Water taxis would deposit gamblers at these floating casinos that sometimes offered entertainment and dancing in addition to crap tables and roulette.
"In 1938 Tony Cornero bought the Star of Scotland fishing barge, a 51 year old four-masted barkentine, and converted it into a gambling ship. . . . . His investment . . . was financed by Bugsy Siegal and George Raft. He towed his boat exactly 3.1 miles offshore, and announced with radio and newspaper advertisements on May 4, 1938 that he was open for business. He offered a challenge . . . to anyone who could show that any game on the Rex was rigged.
"It was a first class operation with good food, top name dance bands, unwatered booze and honest games. Gamblers had a choice of playing craps, roulette, blackjack, chuck-a-luck, high spade, wheel of fortune, chinese lottery , stud poker , and faro. There were tango layouts between decks and 150 one armed bandits.
"The McGough brothers' Santa Monica Boat Service began operating eleven water taxis to the gambling barge once the Rex was open for business. . . . Commissioner Milliken served notice on Roy and E.J. McGough that the city would revoke thier lease on the grounds that it did not permit the operation of taxis to the barge or anywhere else in the harbor. . . . the brothers filed suit in Superior Court . . .
"The McGoughs remodeled and redecorated their waiting rooms on the lower deck of the pier adjacent to the former Catalina Island terminal. Milliken countered by shutting off the water and power to their building and he refused to allow them to post signs. . . . The barge owners . . . placed a large neon sign on the Santa Monica Pier auto park that was owned by the bank. The sign had an arrow pointing to the water taxi dock on the adjoining pier.
"The city continued to try to oust the McGough brothers from the pier despite three court restraining orders issued by Judge Orlando Rhodes. Commissioner Milliken made a motion at their May 15, 1938 meeting to eject them, remove their water taxi float and gang plank. Mayor Gillette voted 'No' because the Council had informed the McGoughs previously that it would approve a plan for them to use the old Catalina Island steamer waiting room if its proposed boat service to the island "wouldn't "detour" to the gambling barge. Two days later the city, despite restraining orders, locked their waiting rooms, removed their float and raised thier gang plank. . . .
"On May 25th Judge Rhodes ruled against the Rex, Los Angeles County law enforcement officers threatened . . .Cornero . . . moved first to Long Beach, then back to Santa Monica Bay where he anchored off Redondo Beach on June 14th. . . . ." p. 94
" . . . But to obtain a PWA grant for $158,000, [the City of Santa Monica] needed to prematurely abandon their old city hall at 4th and Santa Monica Blvd. by January 10, 1939. City departments leased space wherever it was possible. The Police Department transferred all their offices, court and the city jail to the La Monica Ballroom in early December 1938.
" . . .
"On the afternoon of January 2, 1939, a giant swell out of nowhere, washed nine fishermen, one a woman, off the seawall as it swept it end to end. The wave was the forerunner of a violent storm that battered the beaches the following day. The storm accompanied by some of the highest tides of the year washed away most of the sand in front of the Del Mar Club and reached the Promenade in places . . .
" . . .
{In 1939 Santa Monica voters passed an anti-oil drilling ordinance which applied offshore and onshore.}
"Security First National Bank announced on May 15, 1939 . . . the sale of the La Monica Pier and Auditorium to a group of investors headed by Mrs. Harriet Ball, wife of a Texas oil man. . . .
"The new owners bought the ornate Parker carousel from the Venice Pier and sold their 1916 Looff carousel to San Diego's Mission Beach park. Harry Hargrove's American Amusement Company operated the new carousel. . . . One of the vacant buildings was leased out as a penny arcade. The La Monica's dance floor continued to be used as a skating rink and as a location for occasional special events." p. 97
" . . .
"In late September [1939] construction began on a 650 foot bridge from Colorado Av. to the Municipal Pier. After the Roosevelt Highway to Malibu opened in 1935, traffic in front of the pier at Appian Way caused a bottleneck. The completion of the tunnel under Colorado in February 1936 that routed traffic inland helped, but . . .
"The city continued throughout the fall to dredge the harbor despite a river of sand flowing south that built up faster than the dredge could remove it . . . Sand pumped out and deposited south of the pier in front of the Grand Hotel flowed north . . .
" . . .The harbor was losing its popularity, not just from a decrease in anchorage space, but because it lacked docks. People didn't like to approach their yachts from a dingy tied up to a pier among dirty fishing boats . . .
" . . ." p. 98
" . . . Security First National Bank repossessed the property . . . the city reassigned the pier franchise back to the bank on March 28, 1940.
"The Municipal Pier was redecked during the spring a sa WPA project. . . .
"Charles Arnold in 1940 decided to reopen his water taxi and fishing barge business. He leased the ex-gambling ship Texas from the government, renamed it Star of Scotland, and parked it about a mile offshore in front of the breakwater in eighty feet of water. The 261 foot long ship had been an British navy Q-Boat in World War I.
"He operated the boat at first as a fishing barge during daylight hours and as a floating nightclub at night . . . ." The nightclub only lasted a year and the boat sunk during World War II off the pier, still a fishing barge.
"Carpenter testifies on beach erosion. Appealed. p. 99
[Page 66, 1934 photo unloading breakwater capstone from a bay barge.}
{P. 67, probably 1934 aerial photo also showing breakwater construction, the Santa Monica Pier, Beach Clubs and in the distance Ocean Parks, Ocean Av., Main St. and maybe Fourth St., and then perhaps all the way to Ballona Creek.}
{1934 Photo of Girls on Breakwater, p. 68.}
{P. 69 Regatta Week, August 5-12, dedication of the harbor, spectators, and yacht races. P. 70, 1934 Regatta week paddleboard racing. Pp. 70 and 71 show the new harbor including several hundred yachts and small boats.}
{P.73 1932 photo of honorary Santa Monica lifeguard, Buster Crabbe; undated picture of Leo Carrillo weighing a billfish on the pier.}
{P. 75 late 1930s photo of Delta dinghys built by Tedford's Boat Service next to the Carousel.; bottom 1937 photo shows the Santa Monica Municpal Pier's enlarged end 'T' with a lower deck, constructed in 1934 and a large building, the harbor office.}
{Page 76 Undated photo of the Santa Monica Municipal Lifeguard Service formed in 1932 and housed along with the aquarium in the La Monica Ballroom.}
{P. 77 1936 photo of lifeguards' annual test.}
{P. 78 The La Monica was used as the city's convention center from 1934 to 1937, including in 1934 the California Federation of Women's Clubs]
{P. 82 1935 photo showing the U.S.S. Saratoga, aircraft carrier, located off the end of the pier.; p. 83, 1936 photo of lines of people waiting to be ferried to the U.S.S.Ranger.}
{P. 86 The mackerel fleet was anchored on the south side of the La Monica Pier. They sold fish to companies that made fertilizer.}
{P. 88 The Manoa Paddleboard Cub whose clubhouse was underneath on a subdeck of the pier, 1933}
{P.89 1933 Paddleboaders Bob Donnis and Pete Peterson-Pete's mom owned the Santa Monica Bathhouse, just north of the Pier; Fishemen on the Pier, 1935}
{Pp. 90 and 91 Santa Monica Pier in the late 1930s, B'low Deck Cafe; Boat Rides; Santa Monica Bait and Tackle Co., Boats For Rent;}
{P. 92 Water Taxis from the Santa Monica and Ocean Park Piers took patrons to the gambling barge Rex, closed down in August 1939.}
{P. 96 Undated photo shows children watching short films on moviolas in the arcade: Titles: Electric Chair at Sing Sing; Fire at Sea!; Dempsey-Tunney Championship Fight. The arcade provided a foot bench for shorter children.}
{P. 96 1936 photo of gymnasts working out on playground equipment south of the pier.}
{P. 97 September 1939 photos of the construction of the ramp down to the pier over Appian Way. The Fish Restaurant at Colorado and Ocean is identifiable, and there is a Snack Stand north of the ramp and a Hotel on the Promenade}
{P. 98 Dec. 21, 1941, fishing boats beached in front of the Edgewater due to high winds and heavy surf.}
{P. 99 1940 Photo of Santa Monica Yacht Harbor Sign.}
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990.
Chapter 5: Santa Monica Pier on the Skids (1941-974)
"Acrobatic and gymnastic exhibitions were featured at the playground several hundred feet south of the pier. This area that had become known as "Muscle Beach" was built in th early 30's as a Works Progress Administration "time-killer". The WPA built a weight lifting platform to provide work and recreation facilities for the crowds of unemployed and relief recipients who had nothing to do during the Depression. It was eventually taken over by the Santa Monica Recreation Department after the original users found jobs and moved on.". . .
"Spade Cooley . . .
"Cooley, who gained his nickname when he once drew a five spade flush in a poker game, came to Hollywood from Oklahoma in 1934. He showed up one day at the gate of Republic Pictures with a fiddle and six cents. Roy Rodgers liked him and gave him a job as his stand-in. Eventually he formed his own band and his "barn dance' style entertainment caught on during the war."