Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1960s
Santa Monica Pier on the Skids (1941-1974)
" . . . City Manager George Bundy . . .
" . . .
"While the Chamber of Commerce supported the oil petition, Mayor Barnard spoke out against it.
" . . . Santa Monica Committee for Harbor Development [led by Dr. Cyril Gail] obtained signatures on its petition . . .
"The Evening Outlook newspaper exposed the group as being financed by the John M. Stahl Oil Company . . .
" . . . the voters . . . rejected the oil drilling measure by a 2-1 margin. . . "
" . . .
"Santa Monica Harbor officials in May spruced up the pier with a new coat of paint for the 1962 summer season. They were expecting two million visitors. the pier's attractions included twelve restaurants and snack bars, merry-go-round, shootiing gallery, two arcades, a roller rink, two fish markets, novelty store, two bait and tackle shops and room for one thousand fishermen.
"In July, Mrs. Enid Newcomb Winslow permanently closed the La Monica Ballroom . . ." p. 129
". . .
"The Chamber of Commerce revived Santa Monica's traditional summer sport's festival on the pier, . . . including a Malibu to Santa Monica outrigger canoe race, the National Lifeguard Championships, a Junior Fishing Derby, a surfboard ballet, and an aquacade at Santa Monica College. The festivals would continue until the early 1970s.
" . . . Nov. 1963 causeway controversy . . ." p.131
" . . . Assemblyman Robert S. Stevens and State Senator Thomas Rees . . . March 1965 . . . p. 132
" . . . State controller Alan Cranston, . . . Governor Brown vetoed
" . . . [Santa Monica] mayor Rex Minter . . .
"In December, City Manager Perry Scott . . ." p. 133
" . . .
"Assemblyman Paul Priolo, . . .
" . . . signed by Governor Ronald Reagan on August 31, 1967.
" . . ." p. 134
"The fate of the Pacific Coast Freeway that would link with the Santa Monica Freeway and extend north through Malibu and south to Los Angeles' airport was decided several years later. Enormous public pressure, first in Venice and later in Santa Monica and Malibu . . . Alan Sieroty's bill deleting the southern portion of the freeway was passed in 1971 . . .
"The defeat of the Harbor Bond Measure in the April 1967 election only postponed the city's desire . . . Mayor Herb Spurgin advocated purchasing the Newcomb Pier . . . Councilman Virgil Kingsley favored waiting . . .
"Ironically, while the general public in the mid to late 1960s were becoming disinterested in Santa Monica's Newcomb and Pacific Ocean Park piers, many of Los Angeles' avant-garde artists and musicians were becoming fond of the dilapidated Newcomb Pier, particularly the pier's carousel. The seven unheated apartments above the carousel, since the early 1950's, were rented by writers, actors and ordinary people. By the mid 1960's it was home to people like James Elliot, chief curator at the Los Angeles Museum of Art, graphic artist Clare DeLand, Coleen Creedon, Herb Alpert's secretary at A & M Records, Jan Butterfield, public relations director for L.A. County, and artist Robert Irwin. Music people like Joan Baez, who lived nearby in Santa Monica often dropped by to visit Coleen Creedon.
" . . .
"It became fashionable in the late 1960's to attend weekend parties hosted by James Elliot. Many upcoming artists would gather at the carousel and then venture off for an organized picnic at the beach . . ."