Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1987, 1909, 1907, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1902, 1900,1899, 1898, 1897, 1896, 1895, 1894, 1892,1890, 1889, 1888, 1887, 1886, 1885,1882,1880,1880s, 1879, 1878, 1877, 1876, 1875, 1874, 1873, 1872, 1864, 1862, 1850s, 1828,
"This book completes the history of Santa Monica Bay's three great amusement piers. It is the companion volume to my Venice of America-Coney Island of the Pacific that covers in detail each of Venice and Ocean Park's piers. While the Santa Monica Pier was the smallest and financially the least successful of the three, it is the only survivor of those bygone days of fun and frivolity. In a sense it is the last important link to our past.
"Unfortunately amusement piers during the last half century were considered unimportant low class enterprises and consequently were ignored by the historians that followed. The few articles written for the Santa Monica Evening Outlook's various anniversary editions were poorly researched rehashes of earlier articles, each riddled with errors and misnomers. Worse yet, recent Santa Monica histories have used this material as their source without spending the necessary time and effort to verify it.
" . . .
Chapter 1: Santa Monica's North Beach (1875-1907)
" . . .
"One of the visitors to the Santa Monica area in 1872 was a wealthy San Francisco merchant named Colonel Robert S. Baker. He made his fortune in the sheep ranching business in Kern County's Tehachapi Mountains and had come south to investigate Southern California's booming wool industry. He arrived by steamer at the Shoo Fly Landing, a small pier several hundred yards south of the present pier, near what is now the foot of Pico Blvd. The pier was used for loading shipments of "asphaltum" that was brought overland by wagon from Henry Hancock's Rancho La Brea tar pits. The tar was bound for San Francisco and its roofing and ship building trades.
"Col. Baker found the nearby grassy mesa of the San Vincente Ranchero perfect for sheep raising. The 30,000 acre tract had been granted to Francisco Sepulveda by the Mexican governor in 1828. It was a large ranch that extended south from Marquez and Reyes property to the La Ballona Rancho marked by the stream bed at Pico Blvd., from the Ocean east to Westwood Village, and into the mountains. Like most ranches at the time, it was virtually unused since the drought of 1862-1864 killed off most of the cattle.
"Baker's business partner, General E. F. Beale arrived at the end of 1873. He had been an army surveyor who helped map out the 35th parallel route that pioneers bound for Los Angeles followed across the Mojave desert. He and Baker developed a scheme for a full blown port near the Shoo Fly Landing. In 1874 they bought the Sepulveda's heir's entire San Vincente Ranchero for $55,000, and a one-half undivided interest in Boca de Santa Monica's 6,500 acre Ranchero from Maria Antonia Villa Reyes, Ysidro's widow.
"Baker and Beale acquired a franchise for a fourteen mile narrow-gauge railroad designed to link their port with Los Angeles. They then tried but failed to convince Los Angeles merchants and officials to back the venture. They did manage to secure some financial backing from New York interests and christened their dream the Los Angeles and Truxton Railroad.
"Los Angeles, however, attempted to entice Southern Pacific to build a line into their city with an offer of $602,000. They even offered a twenty-one mile railroad to San Pedro harbor as an inducement. but soon they began to have second thoughts. They were afraid that once Southern Pacific established a railhead on the Tehachapi Pass, the lucrative Inyo County mining trade would be diverted away from Los Angeles to the San Joaquin Valley and hence to San Francisco.
"In 1874 former California governor John C. Downey and the Workman Bank in Los Angeles decided to form their own railroad. The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad would keep the silver ore flowing over Cajon Pass and into Los Angeles to the port at San Pedro.
"Senator John P. Jones was looking for a way to stop high freight rates from cutting into the profits of his Panamint city mines in Inyo. When he heard the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad's plans, he invested $220,000 and became its president. Baker realized that his Los Angeles and Truxton Railroad would be a natural extension to Jones' line so they sought a merger. His port would be seven miles closer to Los Angeles and several hours less sailing time from San Francisco.
"Baker sold Jones a three-quarter interest in his Santa Monica property for $165,000. Together they decided to create the townsite of Santa Monica complete with railroad and pier.
"The new railroad posed a threat to Southern Pacific interests because its Santa Monica terminus could kill their San Pedro facility. There was a rush to claim a route through the Cajon Pass since only one of the competing railroads could fit through the narrow pass. Los Angeles and Independence's general manager and chief engineer reached the pass first on January 7, 1885 and staked out a claim only one hour before Southern Pacific's surveying crew arrived. Southern Pacific owners then tried to stop them by obtaining an exclusive rail franchise from Congress, but Senator Jones quickly squashed their attempt.
"By February 1875, road gangs of Chinese laborers were cutting through the soft palisade at the end of a Santa Monica arroyo to create rail access to a 1,740 foot long wharf. A freighter arrived at the Shoo Fly Landing on April 19th to unload a shipment of Oregon fir logs. Three days later workers, using a steam driven pile driver, began pounding piles for the wharf into the bay's sandy bottom. Construction was also started on the Santa Monica Hotel located on the bluff north of the wharf. It served as lodgings for the railroad workers and later became Santa Monica's first tourist hotel.
"Senator Jones travelled to New York City to negotiate with Union Pacific president, Jay Gould, for purchase of rails and rolling stock. Despite pressure by Southern Pacific for Gould not to cooperate, they were too late. By June, the pier was completed and the first ship landed. Rails were laid from Santa Monica to Los Angeles at a rapid pace.
"Collis P. Huntington, who was the principal owner of the Southern Pacific, next began to pressure shipping companies to allow only half their ships to dock at Santa Monica. Jones counterattacked by purchasing the Panama Railroad to gain leverage on Atlantic-Pacific trade as it crossed the narrow isthmus. He insisted that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company schedule regular stops at Santa Monica.
"Meanwhile the two partners hired J.E. Jackson, a civil engineer to survey their townsite. It was initially a modest town that stretched eight blocks along the shore atop the bluffs just north of the railroad terminal, and inland twenty five blocks. They filed a subdivision map for their city with the county recorder on July 10, 1875.
"Advertisements announcing a land auction on Thursday July 15th were placed in Los Angeles and San Francisco newspapers. They boasted that Santa Monica was to be the site of two transcontinental railroads. Senator Jones hired Tom Fitch, a former Congressman and persuasive orator as auctioneer. Fitch stirred up enthusiasm in San Francisco and accompanied prospective buyers on one of two side-wheel steamers that left San Francisco in time to arrive at Santa Monica on the morning of the sale. Hundreds more eager investors traveled by carriage and stage over a crude road from Los Angeles to attend the sale.
"The crowd of nearly two thousand bidders converged at the foot of [Wilshire Blvd.], where Senator Jones had set up bleachers facing the bay. A makeshift tavern called Grand Palace Saloon was set up nearby and stocked with kegs of beer. After denying rumors that the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad was nothing more than a "paper" route and the city's title was in question, Senator Jones opened the bidding.
"The first parcel, now at the corner of Broadway and Ocean Av., started at $250, and sold for $510. Others on that block went for $300, while those further inland sold for as little as $75. By the end of the day $40,000 in lots were sold, and another $43,000 were auctioned off the following day.
"Work continued steadily on the railroad. A brass-trimmed locomotive accompanied by a string of flat cars and gondolas arrived by side-wheel steamer at the town's new pier in late September. It's maiden voyage on October 17, 1875 over ten miles of track took just 19 minutes. Travelers rode in open cars because of a shortage of passenger coaches, but the tremendous improvement over stagecoach times was worth the inconvenience. The train mostly hauled freight at a dollar a ton, but by December they had regular passenger service twice daily for a dollar fare.
"At first, Santa Monica sought to capitalize on its seaside location and blossom into a commercial port. The new town experienced a building boom. By the end of the year there were more than one hundred buildings completed or under construction. The railroad brought quick prosperity, and weekend visitors spent freely on beach outings.
" . . .
"A thousand lots had been sold by summer 1876 and the town contained more than two hundred buildings, mostly within six or seven blocks of the beach. . . .
"In August 1876 financial panic hit the Comstock securities market when news revealed that the Inyo silver mines were failing. The Workman bank that was involved with the railroad went bankrupt and work stopped only eight miles east of Los Angeles. After the Southern Pacific Railroad completed its route to Northern California in late 1876, much of the freight between San Francisco and Los Angeles was shipped by rail rather than by sea. Passengers also chose the faster rail service rather than risk seasickness, [or their lives] although fares were twice the cost of an ocean passage.
"Although Jones' Los Angeles and Independence Railroad soon began losing money for lack of freight, it was still doing well with its weekend excursion tourist business . . .
"Senator Jones knew he was licked. He initially tried to sell the railroad to Los Angeles County. In March the presidents of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads visited Santa Monica to look over the property and begin negotiations. On June 4, 1877 Southern Pacific announced that they had purchased the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad for $195,000, less than one fourth the capital originally invested.
"Southern Pacific had no intention of competing with itself in San Pedro harbor. The company immediately raised railroad and steamer rates, and when business in Santa Monica dwindled it announced that only two small steamers, Senator and Anchor would ply the coast. [The Senator last docked in September 1877.]
" . . . The Santa Monica Hotel closed, and even the local newspaper, the Evening Outlook, folded Christmas Day, 1878. When the wharf was ordered removed in 1879, the remaining citizens protested and offered to purchase it. The offer was refused . . .
"By 1880, Santa Monica was experiencing a deep business depression. The population had bottomed out at 350 citizens, the hotel was closed and only a saloon, restaurant, and several grocery and dry goods stores remained . . . Santa Monica Hotel reopened in 1882, when J. W. Scott bought the hotel. He remodeled it and added a twenty room addition the following year.
" . . . In 1885 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad managed to break Southern Pacific's monopolistic grip on Southern California when it completed a line to San Diego. The company laid rails north and secured a right-of-way to Ballona Creek, just three miles south of Santa Monica. The railroad in partnership with Ballona Harbor and Improvement Company, planned a massive seaport there. They built two piers and began digging a channel from the sea into the inland lagoon. Track was laid toward Palms and Los Angeles.
" . . . J.W. Scott purchased a tract of land between Railroad and Front St. from the Southern Pacific for $3000. He subdivided this property in south Santa Monica into forty lots and sold thirty lots for $30,000. He then used the money in 1886 to begin construction of a first class hotel called the Arcadia. " p.10
{Photograph p. 8: 1888 view north from the Arcadia Hotel, showing the tourist facilities of North Beach. In the immediate foreground is a woodburning locomotive, and two people looking away from the locomotive across a ravine to a dune road leading to a sign on the side of a fragile looking shed, Vawter'*s Choice Groceries, No. 10 Third. In the mid-ground is Eckert & Hopf's Pavilion Restaurant, and on the beach beyond the Santa Monica Bathhouse and set well back on the bluffs above the two-story Santa Monica Hotel. Tents for beach businesses were manufactured by William I. Hull there and one can see an advertisement for tent rentals at the foot of the stairs leading down from Eckert & Hopf's. It is remarkable how forested Santa Monica appears, trees already taller than the four chimneys of the Santa Monica Hotel, thirteen years after its founding.}
{The Arcadia Hotel photo on page 11: The 125 room Arcadia Hotel opened January 24, 1887. It spills down to the Arcadia Bath House, the Royal Cafe to the boardwalk on a narrow beach above the high tide line. There are houses immediately to the south on the bluffs with wooden walk ways to the beach on what might now be Bay St. A high picket fence seems to shut the houses off from the hotel. Just at the southern edge there is a wooden water tower. }
{The useful synthetic diagram on page 9 indicates the placement of structures and piers south of Railroad St.: (7) Los Angeles and Independence Wharf (1875-1879), described above; (9) Eckert & Hopf Pavilion Restaurant (1879-1900); (10) Thompson Scenic Railroad (1887-1889), which connected the Arcadia Hotel across the railroad gorge to Ocean Av.; (11) Arcadia Bathhouse (1887-1905); (12) Arcadia Hotel (1887-1909); (13) Jackson Hotel (1889- ) across Ocean Av., from the Arcadia Hotel; (14) Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (1878- ); (15) Southern Pacific Railroad Tunnel (1892- )}
{Page 12 1887 photo of the Thompson Switchback Gravity Railroad, forerunner of the roller coaster which connected the Arcadia Hotel to Santa Monica across the railroad gorge.}
{Page 13 Undated photo cable-driven steam-powered Ferris Wheel.}
{Page 15 1898 photo taken from the North Beach Bathhouse looking south shows a tented merry-go-round operated by the Davis Family in the foreground, pony carts, the truncated Los Angeles and Independence railroad wharf with a sign advertising 500 New Bath Suits Fish 6th and Rooms, the Arcadia Bath House, and the Arcadia Hotel followed by high bluffs covered with trees, and three quarters of the way a windmill which may be atop a water tower, and then Kinney* & Ryan*'s Ocean Park Pier, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula and fog behind that. The whole coast seems to be developed between the Arcadia and the Ocean Park Pier.}
"His [J.W. Scott] elegant 125 room hotel which was named for Colonel Baker's beautiful wife Arcadia, became the finest seaside hotel in California when it opened on January 24, 1887. It was a huge, long rectangular, wooden structure located on the edge of the bluffs, just south of the railroad tracks that led to the old wharf. Its five stories rose from the beach on the ocean side, but it was only three stories high at its inland entrance that was topped by an observation tower. It had a dining room for two hundred guests, a sitting room, parlor, ladies' billiard and reading rooms on the first floor. There was a ballroom and conservatory on a lower floor. The beach was accessible through the bottom floor where one could sit at the cafe or lounge on the sand. There were also therapeutic salt water baths available.
"The Arcadia had a unique Thompson Switchback Gravity Railroad which carried passengers from the top of the bluff across the arroyo and back, on a short 500 foot undulating track that used natural gravity. La Marcus Thompson came to Santa Monica during the winter to supervise the ride's construction. One end of the gravity railroad terminated at the Arcadia Hotel and the other end at the Pavilion on the north side of the Southern Pacific track. This early style roller coaster, whose gentle dips thrilled passengers of the day, had a reverse track so visitors could ride both directions.
"Legend had it that the town's early-day prostitutes and their pimps took it over one night for a joy-ride and frustrated the hotel patrons efforts to ride for an hour. Another account mentions a drunk who one night became trapped when the car he released began traveling back and forth between two of the larger dips." p.16
"In February [1887] Southern Pacific officials visited the Arcadia Hotel. They soon announced that they would build a new deep water wharf to compete with Santa Fe's nearby Port Ballona project. . . .
"The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads . . . became locked in a deadly rate war. Fares from Kansas City to Los Angeles, normally about $100 began plunging. On the morning of March 6, 1887, the fare was down to $8. At noon, Southern Pacific lowered it to one dollar, a fare the Santa Fe . . . didn't match. . . . The fares rose steadily, but remained about $25 for the next few months.
"Easterners and midwesterners, . . . came to California by the thousands. Real estate agents eagerly awaited the newcomers, and offered them free transportation and meals in exchange for attending land auctions. Long Beach and Glendale were a few of the new towns that were instantly created and subdivided out of the remaining rancheros. . . .
" . . . New businesses, many built of brick, filled in much of Santa Monica's unpaved downtown area along Second, Third and Fourth Streets. The Santa Monica Evening Outlook newspaper began publishing again, and W.D. Vawter*, who opened the town's first general store in 1875, applied for a franchise to operate horse drawn trolleys on narrow-gauge tracks. His line, when it opened in June 1887, began at Ocean Avenue and Railroad Street, weaved through the business district, and ran to 7th St. and Nevada (Wilshire).
" . . . The Port Ballona developers suddenly discovered that a hard layer of clay lay under the marshes at the mouth of the creek. When their dredging machines couldn't dent it, they were forced to abandon the project. Once the threat of a competing port evaporated, the Southern Pacific, too, scrapped plans for its new wharf in Santa Monica.
" . . . The First National Bank that Vawter* and others planned in 1887 finally opened in 1888. The trolley route was extended south along Ocean Avenue to Pico and along Nevada to 17th Street, then out to the Old Soldier's Home in 1890.
" . . . Southern Pacific brought 200,000 tourists to Santa Monica in 1889, and thousands more arrived by their own conveyance. On one warm Sunday 12,000 visitors arrived to watch a balloon ascension. Although the Santa Monica Hotel was destroyed by fire on January 15, 1889, . . . The owners promptly rebuilt directly across the street from the Arcadia Hotel.
"The influx of newcomer's and the growth of trade during the late 1880s led to the need for an improved deep-water harbor in Southern California. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pacific preferred the San Pedro location. Senator Jones and Santa Monica civic leaders campaigned for a harbor nearby.
" . . .
" . . . Southern Pacific . . . changed their mind. . . . the real reason [being]the success of Santa Fe's Redondo Beach wharf which opened in 1889. Except for coal and lumber, 60% of all seaborne shipping in and out of Los Angeles area was handled by that wharf. . . .
"Southern Pacific acquired a fifty foot right-of-way along the beach along the bluffs from Senator Jones and Colonel Baker after threatening condemnation proceedings. They dug a tunnel through the palisades in March 1892 and extended their rail line to a point one half mile beyond Santa Monica Canyon. . . .
"Santa Monica experienced its third business boom in its short history. It is estimated that Southern Pacific spent more than $200,000 in the town during construction of its wharf. The Arcadia Hotel which had been closed for more than a year reopened in July under new management. Its new owners, the Pacific Improvement Company, a subsidiary of Southern Pacific spent $10,000 to remodel and expand the hotel. The hotel attracted so much business that cots had to be placed in some of the rooms instead of beds." p. 18
" . . .
"The Edison Company's installation of an electric power plant on the bluffs above the old railroad pier in 1894 gave the city the look of prosperity, especially at night. It was also the year that Senator Jones bought the town's bank from Vawter* and renamed it the Santa Monica Bank.
" . . . in 1892 [when] Abbot Kinney* and his partner Francis Ryan* bought a strip of the old Rancho La Ballona property south of Strand Street. The terrain in what was to become Ocean Park was different from most of Santa Monica. It was hilly rather than flat, and its beach was at the end of a gentle slope rather than at the bottom of steep cliffs.
"It was Kinney* and Ryan*'s intention to build a modest beach resort similar to Coney Island in New York. They persuaded the Santa Fe Railroad to extend its line from Ballona Creek up the coast, and donated the land for a depot at Hill St. in exchange for a promise that they would build a substantial pier and pavilion. A much larger tract was given to the Y.M.C. A. in hopes that construction of an auditorium and bathhouse would attract conventions and assemblies in Ocean Park. The remainder of the property was subdivided into small 25 x 100 foot, $45 lots that sold well. Unsold lots were rented for $15 per year with the understanding that "neat and substantial cottages" would be built on them.
"Kinney* and Ryan*, who were both sports enthusiasts, built a golf course, race track, tennis club, and country clubhouse. The pier, which was completed by the railroad in 1895, was a mere stub and offered nothing to attract visitors. Several years later the partners replaced it with a 1250 foot long pier built over the town's sewer outfall.
" . . . Sherman and Clark extended electric trolley service to the city [Santa Monica]. . . on April 1, 1896. Two thousand residents and a band greeted the passengers as they embarked . . . By summer Sherman and Clark had extended service south to Ocean Park.
"In January 1898, a businessman named J.C. Elliot proposed to build a sixteen foot wide $25,000 pleasure wharf at the foot of Railroad Av. He even talked about building a small rock breakwater to make boating possible near the wharf. . . . the city denied the franchise.
"Two months later the Santa Monica Beach Improvement Company was organized with a capital stock of $100,000. It was a syndicate headed by F.A. Miller*, proprietor of the Arcadia Hotel, Sherman and Clark of the Pasadena and Pacific Electric, and Robert Jones*, president of the Santa Monica Bank. [Their plan to build a 1300 foot long pier at the foot of Railroad Av., but their plan was scotched by Southern Pacific which claimed an exclusive franchise.]
"Instead they built a 700 foot long pleasure pier north, midway between the old railroad pier and the North Beach Bath House. . . . [The project was only partially completed.] . . . .
"Sherman and Clark's trolley lines eventually led to the Arcadia Hotel's closure in 1899. The hotel was a holding company for the Southern Pacific. When their railroad was the only road into Santa Monica, it was to their advantage to maintain a first class hotel. After the trolley lines came to Santa Monica, their interests turned elsewhere.
"While North Beach was much more strait-laced than Ocean Park, each summer a few carnival ride operators set up their attractions on the beach near the pleasure pier. . . .
"Santa Monica's citizens and city government were becoming more and more puritanical as the turn of the century neared. In 1900, the town voted 305 to 218 to ban saloons, but allowed restaurants and hotels to continue to serve alcoholic beverages. That year Ocean Park citizens became paranoid and circulated petitions advocating secession from Santa Monica. An election was finally held in the fall, but separatist's efforts failed; 341-59.
"In 1902, Fredrick Rindge's (sic Rindge?) Good Government League swept into power [ in Santa Monica]. A total prohibition ordinance, at the urging of the Anti-Saloon League was placed on the June 1903 ballot. It lost 543 to 286.
" . . .
"Abbot Kinney* was a dreamer who had the knack of making his dreams come true. After he and his partners split up their Ocean Park property in 1904, Kinney . . . [chose] the salt marsh.
"He used his share of the profits of his family's tobacco business to create a planned community complete with a . . . Three trolley lines provided transportation for thousands of visitors from Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
". . . His former partners in Ocean Park were forced to compete and they too built a beautiful new plunge and expanded their pier facilities. Santa Monica's more conservative business community sat back and watched." p. 19
{Photo caption, p.19, A spring 1905 storm did considerable damage to North Beach's pier and promenade}
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1875, 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1914, 1912, 1911, 1910, 1909, 1907, 1895, 1890, 1889, 1880s, 1876,
Chapter 2: Construction of Municipal & Looff Piers (1909-1918)
"The growth of Santa Monica and the need to dispose of the city sewage became the primary impetus in building it first Municipal Pier. The city had been dumping its sewage at the Pier Street outfall beneath Ocean Park's Pier, but by 1907, its capacity was becoming overloaded and its agreement with Ocean Park ended. In those days it was necessary for health reasons to build a long pier or wharf to carry the outfall pipe far enough so that the tides would carry the untreated sewage out to sea.
"Since the city wasn't able to make alternate arrangements they had no choice but to hold a sewer bond election on September 27, 1907. . . .
"The funds were to be used to construct a municipal pier . . . . whose concrete construction specifications were specified on the ballot , and a sewage pumping plant near the foot of the pier.
"The city engineers advertised for designers to submit plans after the War Department approved the project in November. . . .
" . . .
" . . .Stutzer Cement Co. of Venice won the contract . . .
" . . ." p. 21
" . . . In August 1908 Mr. Stutzer's crane at the concrete pile works fell and knocked down the power lines at the nearby Edison plant. Later that month heavy seas damaged both his false pier and the nearby North Beach Pier . . .
" . . . on Friday, February 12, 1909, a severe winter storm struck and carried much of the pier's temporary scaffolding (false work) out to sea. Many wooden pilings snapped and the pile driver rested on the bottom of the ocean. The concrete piles, which were out to the 1060 foot mark, held like a rock." p. 23
". . . the City Council [decided] to change the pier's deck from asphalt to concrete, delayed the pier's opening until Admissions Day.
" . . .[North Beach interests] They envisioned a first class cafe overlooking the ocean on one side of the pier and a pavilion on the other side which could be used for picnic parties. The plaza, which the city was pouring at the foot of Colorado in front of the pier would feature a bandstand.
" . . . There were pipes for drinking water, toilets, and a two inch galvanized railing. The pier's T's would be fitted with a sun parlor, cafe, and concessions catering to the fishermen. The $10,000 electrolytic plant, established on shore for purifying the sewage, was tested and ready to discharge its sludge at the end of the pier.
"A flotilla of Navy warships, two cruisers and four torpedo boats arrived in time for Admissions Day. The festivities began with a parade led by Gregory's Band and a contingent of marines from the cruisers St. Louis and Albany. Five thousand people listened to the dedication speeches by Santa Monica's Mayor, T.H. Dudley, then adjourned to watch the afternoon swimming and surf boat races. A diving board was set up on the pier for the high diving contest.
"The evening's entertainment included a band concert followed by a tableau vivant, Surrender of the Rex Neptune, that began after dark. The play was a modern day equivalent of a pagan ritual where King Neptune, god of the sea, was asked to spare the new pier.
"The show began when a monster with fiery eyes was seen approaching the outer end of the pier. A bugler on watch sounded the alarm. A fairy and a queen representing Santa Monica advanced to met the monster at the pier's first T. The monster was commanded to halt and when the fairy waved her magic wand, it disappeared. A beautiful shell stood in its place.
"The pier's lights, which were then turned on, revealed a shell bordered with a row of lights. King Neptune sat on the throne beside a reclining mermaid. The Queen asked why Neptune had destroyed so many bay piers. He jested that he did it for the fun of it. She informed him that his fun was now at an end as the cement age had arrived. The new pier on which he stood was concrete and indestructible.
"Neptune surveyed the pier in amazement, surrendered to the Queen and was ordered back to the depths. The crowned Queen, attired in a flowing white robe and carrying a scepter mounted the throne vacated by Neptune. The lights went out and a blaze of fire erupted atop a 65 foot high tower. Neptune covered by flames dove into the sea. Afterwards a climatic fireworks show thrilled the thousands who watched from the bluffs, pier and beach. . . ." p.24.
"Once the Municipal pier was open, the city and others began improvements. The city committed themselves to building a twenty foot wide esplanade along the beach, south from Colorado to the Bristol Pier at Hollister St. It formed a continuous walkway to Venice when it was completed the following spring. A syndicate, headed by Carl Schader, planned to build a new luxury hotel on the site of the demolished Arcadia. . . . October 1909.
"T.J. Hampton and W.H. Bainbridge filed an application with the U.S. Engineer's office to build a breakwater 4000 feet in length extending north from the Municipal Pier. This concrete wall, which was 2000 feet from shore in 5 1/2 fathoms of water, would enclose a harbor for pleasure and fishing boats. They also planned to construct a bathhouse and hotel. The hotel would have an open court with a waterway where motor boats could come to a landing inside the hotel. Government permission to build was secured at the end of the year.
"The Santa Monica Harbor and Improvement Company . . .
" . . . closed its office and vanished with the stockholder's money."
"In Dec. [1910] the Southern Pacific dashed any lingering hopes that the city would retain . . . a harbor . . .
"Ocean Park's new Million-Dollar Pier, which opened on June 17, 1911, about a mile south of the Municipal Pier, immediately began luring away much of North Beach's tourist business. The amusement pier was huge with two roller coasters, vaudeville theater, several large restaurants, and numerous other attractions.
" . . .
"Edwin P. Benjamin purchased beach property held by Edison Electric in April 1912. That, combined with 85 feet that he already owned gave him 250 feet of beach frontage. . . .
" . . . he hired a band to entertain visitors and converted the old powerhouse into assembly rooms and a meeting hall.
" . . .
"The first test of the Municipal Pier's strength occurred on February 2, 1914. A huge storm damaged Venice's breakwater protected pier. . . .
"But by August 1915 some damage to the pilings appeared . . .
"In September Edwin P. Benjamin bought the beachfront south of Colorado for $125,000 and announced he was going to build an amusement center. This additional property, which was adjacent to his Edison property, gave him 347 feet of beach frontage that extended inland to Ocean Av.
" Benjamin assured the community that his new recreation center would be constructed "upon broad, progressive and refined lines." . . .
" . . .
"Santa Monica's business community was introduced to Charles I.D. Looff at their weekly Chamber of Commerce meeting on Feb. 22, 1916. He was a well-known Long Beach amusement operator who had just purchased the northern 200 feet of Benjamin's beach frontage adjacent to the Municipal Pier for $50,000. . . " p. 25
{P. 22 Photo of the casting site for the Santa Monica Municipal Pier concrete pylons shows an unmentioned Union Stables in the background.}
{P. 23 & 24 Photos of the September Day opening was taken by H.F. Rile}
{Photo on page 26 indicates that the Looff Pier was built by Charles I.D. Looff and his son, Arthur.}
{Photos on pages, 26, 27, 28 showing both the Santa Monica Municipal and Looff Piers, July 1917, somehow "joined at the hip". There seems to be two structures on the Municipal Pier T's, a fish market and a fish diner, while at the tip of the Municipal Pier there is what seems to be a boat hoist and a few dinghies. The focus of the scene is the Looff carousel bldg., the Blue Streak Racer Roller Coaster and a large picnic area between the carousel building and the Looff Pier Tract Bldg., which sold real estate; The What Is It Funhouse; A Giant Twirler, The Aeroscope, which twirled 6 boats at 35 miles per hour; The Whip; and two buildings beyond the Carousel, one of which was the Billiard Room, with seven billiard tables and also which included 8 bowling lanes. }
{Photos on pp. 34 and 35 show The Blue Streak Racer where two trains would race side by side for 3500 ft.}
{Photos on page 28 and 29 show the Airline Trolley Line terminus on the Looff Pier, the interior of the Billiards Building, Looff's Aeroscope, and Episcopal Church Picnickers. The Looff Pier hosted picnics nearly every summer day the caption says.}
{ 1918 Photo and Diagram on pp. 30 and 31 identify a bandstand near the picnic area; Aeroscope; Blue Streak Racer; Whip Ride; Bowling & Billiards Hall; Restaurant and Banquet Hall; What Is It Fun House; and Fish Concession.}
"Charles Looff had a remarkable reputation for building quality amusement projects. He built Coney Island's first carousel in 1876. Success in hand carving two more carousels in the early 1880s encouraged him to open a carousel factory. By 1890, he employed four carvers in his Brooklyn, New York shop.
"In 1895 Looff set up a showcase carousel at Crescent Park in Rhode Island. The four-abreast machine was housed in a domed building with stained glass windows. New models of the factory's horses and menagerie animals were adorned with glittering jewels, gold and silver leaf paint, and lavish ornamentation. Prospective customers visited the carousel to select figures that they wanted included in their carousels.
"When Brooklyn city officials in 1895 condemned the land on which Looff's factory stood to build a park, Looff packed and moved his business to Riverside, Rhode Island. His carousel business boomed there and he soon expanded into the production of other amusement rides and fun houses. He soon became a self-made millionaire.
"Charles Looff decided to expand his business in 1910 by moving his entire factory, wife Anna and his six children to Long Beach, California. He set up his factory near the harbor and installed another showcase carousel at The Pike, Long Beach's amusement zone. The family lived in a second floor apartment in the carousel's hippodrome building. . . . . An earlier carousel venture at Ocean Park's Million Dollar Pier ended with a disastrous pier fire in 1912." pp. 26 and 29
"Looff said he chose Santa Monica to build his amusement pier because, "the bathing beach at Santa Monica is well-known as one of the finest on the Pacific Coast, it attracts the highest class of people, and transportation facilities afforded are unequaled."
"Charles Looff didn't waste time in starting the mammoth project. He began buying all available creosoted wood pilings in Southern California including salvaged piles from the Long Beach Wharf that was being dismantled. The first load of 75 stout pilings arrived just three days after his announcement at the Chamber of Commerce meeting. He also contracted with Hammond Lumber Co. of Los Angeles for delivery within thirty days of forty-seven carloads or a half million feet of lumber for the pier platform. Additional piles were shipped from the northwest. He also increased his ocean frontage to 247 feet with an additional purchase from Benjamin at $250/foot. By March 7th there was a sign at the corner of Ocean and Colorado Aves. that announced the development of a "Refined Amusement Center."
"Edward Benjamin and his partner B.N. Moss, who retained 350 feet of beach frontage north of the pier and the property east of Looff's ocean frontage, had filled and graded the entire east half of the property. They improved access to the Municipal Pier and Looff's construction site with a wide graded approach from Colorado Av.
"They also built a roadbed for the extension of the Pacific Electric's Air Line route from Sixth and Main Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The track, which passed under the extension of Appian Way, allowed passengers to arrive at Santa Monica's beach adjacent to the pier. The trolley route was the old Southern Pacific route used to haul freight from the Long Wharf to Los Angeles and the shortest route to the beach.
"The trolley line also made it easy to transport pilings the length of two flat cars to the pier. Initially a single track was laid down the center of the roadbed so that cars carrying materials could make the wide turn under the Appian Way viaduct. A two track roadbed replaced it by early summer. The first train on the Air Line extension arrived Saturday March 12th with a troop of one hundred Hollywood Boy Scouts. They were treated to lunch by Benjamin and Moss.
"Looff and his two sons Arthur and William arrived on Monday March 13, 1916 to supervise construction. Arthur, who was born in 1889, was Charles' youngest son. Although he only had an eighth grade education, he took a correspondence course in engineering and drafting. When he was sixteen he built a roller coaster at Crescent Park in Rhode Island. His father recognized his talent and gave him full rein on numerous family amusement projects. He was given the job of civil engineer and superintendent of the Looff Pier Project. William, an older son, had managed the family hippodrome in San Francisco before he was summoned south.
" . . .
"Charles Looff on March 27, 1916 made a formal written application to the City Council for a twenty year pier franchise. He said he was willing to abide by the decision of City Attorney Heney that all amusement piers must obtain a franchise and after the first five years of the franchise, he would pay the city 2% of gross receipts." p. 30
" . . .
"Carl Schrader, a local businessman, tried to derail Looff's pier project on April 5th by offering the city $5000 for a franchise to build a pier west of the mean tide line and the right to connect with the Municipal Pier. He then protested at the City Council's next meeting that it didn't protect the public's interest if Looff were allowed to connect his pier to the Municipal Pier via a steel apron. He felt that the close proximity of Looff's wooden pier, in the event of fire, endangered the city's Municipal Pier. His calculation was based on the amount of yearly interest the public paid for the pier's bonds.
"Several others opposed joining the two pier structures because it would make it difficult to repair the sewer pipe and electrical outlets on the Municipal Pier's south side. There was also the precedent of allowing Looff to build without a permit since the pier franchise had not been granted yet.
"Mayor Berkley declared that he was in favor of Looff's pier project. Commissioner Carter added, "We have talked for twenty years about Santa Monica being a dead town and now we have the opportunity to establish an important project. I don't think we should let one or two men spoil it."
"Neil Nettleship on behalf of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce went even further. He regretted that the beach had been permitted to lie idle for so many years without erecting a pier, and that the first effort to give the city its pier was met with opposition. "I believe that the majority of people are in favor of even going beyond strict legal limits to encourage the construction of this pier."
"But opposition among a small minority of citizens continued to smolder. Schrader publicly challenged Looff's project with a large advertisement in the April 15th editions of the Evening Outlook and The Daily Sun newspapers. he claimed Looff didn't hold title to his beach property, that he was building his pier without a franchise, and that by connecting his pier to the city's Municipal Pier, he was turning it into a commercial pier at the taxpayer's expense.
"First Looff had to dispel rumors that he didn't actually hold clear title to his property. On April 15th he stated that he purchased the first 200 feet of frontage for cash and received the deed, which was a matter of record. Further, he was currently taking title to the 47 feet balance of beach frontage that he paid Benjamin $250 per frontage foot." p. 35
"Letters began arriving at city hall supporting Schrader and urging the city to get $5000 per year for the pier franchise. Local preachers, obviously riled up by Schrader, demanded that all gambling concessions and the sale of liquor be prohibited by the terms of the franchise. Schrader said that he only wanted a pier with proper amusements and no liquor.
"Despite Looff's intention not to sell liquor or allow gambling on his pier, he initially opposed the insertion of a clause in the franchise prohibiting the sale of liquor on the pier during the life of the twenty year franchise. He felt that it discriminated against his pier and did not apply equally to others in the amusement business.
"Eventually Looff conceded the point pressed by preachers and others and he consented to the insertion of a clause in the franchise forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors on the pier. By appeasing his opponents, it enabled the City Council on April 28th to pass a resolution advertising the sale of the pier franchise. While it was unusual for an entrepreneur to build a pier before the franchise was granted, Looff had to proceed without one if he was to complete his pier for the 1916 summer season.
"The auction for the pier franchise was held on May 31, 1916 . . . Looff submitted the only written bid . . . Looff paid $200 cash for the right to erect a pier 900 feet into the Pacific and connect it to the Municipal Pier. He agreed to maintain a twenty foot wide public promenade belonging to the city between the two piers, install a large capacity pump for fire protection, and pay the city 2% of the pier's gross receipts after the first five years." p. 36
". . .
"A beautiful brand new three row menagerie carousel . . . . operated on the ground floor [of the hippodrome] when it opened Saturday June 10th. It had goats, giraffes and camels on it in addition to horses. A Wurlitzer Band organ provided the music. . . . The ride was so popular that by fall Looff extended the platform and added an outer row of 24 horses to make it a four abreast merry-go-round.
"On the Hippodrome's second floor, surrounding the center dome, were sixteen rooms that served as offices, storerooms and quarters for carousel employees. The office occupied the largest tower. Eventually many of the rooms would be rented as apartments.
" . . . the longshoreman's strike at San Pedro hit in mid June. . . Work abruptly stopped until July 3rd when a lumber schooner carrying piles arrived and anchored offshore on July 3rd. The piles were tossed overboard and towed shoreward. Chains were attached and the timbers were pulled ashore by teams of horses.
" . . .
" . . . The Blue Streak Racer opened on the evening of August 3rd.
"Both The Whip and the Aeroscope were installed on the pier in early August . . .
" . . . When the [Aeroscope] reached its 35 mph top speed passengers were pasted to their seats . . . at night a thousand colored lights hung from the crown and down the cables. When it spun it created a whirling blaze of color that could be seen for miles.
"Looff's pier was . . . crowded throughout the remainder of the summer, and on weekends throughout the fall . . . .
" . . . His single story bowling and billiards building immediately west of the Hippodrome opened as a concession on January 17, 1917.Eight Brunswick-Balke maple bowling alleys with patented pin-setting devices occupied the rear fifty foot width of the building. The front twenty five feet was devoted to billiards: one billiard and seven pocket billiard tables.
"J.L. Ferris, the billiard hall's manager, scheduled as the opening event, a bowling tournament between the Los Angeles City All Stars and the Santa Monica Home Guard. Five hundred spectators watched the home team beat the All Stars, and Police Chief Ferguson out bowled Mayor Berkley two games out of three. . . .
"In May Looff opened a . . .fun house called What Is It? . . .
"A large picnic area, supplementing the one provided in the center of the roller coaster, was added along the pier's southeast corner. Rows of tables were shaded by a large . . . redwood lathed pergola. Picnickers could use its electric stoves free of charge.
"The beginning of the pier's summer season featured Professor Caesare La Monica and his Royal Italian Band. They performed concerts to large enthusiastic crowds at the new pier bandstand adjacent to the Promenade. The pier's 12% incline entrance opposite the bandstand enabled Looff to build rows of tiered seats that could accomodate 1600 people. The pier's buildings behind provided both shelter from the wind and afternoon shade. After the Royal Italian Band performed their last concert on June 29, 1917, the local businessmen demanded music everyday because it was good for business. They filed a petition with the City Commissioners asking that the city's municipal band be stationed on the Looff Pier half time and play alternate days at Ocean Park.
"The city government as usual stalled on the issue of providing a municipal band for the Looff Pier. Two weeks later the businessmen contributed $1600 to hire the Santa Monica Ladies Symphony Orchestra to play for the following eight weeks.
"Fourth of July weekend brought the largest crowd ever to visit the Santa Monica Bay district: over 100,000 people. The Pacific Electric ran three car trains from Los Angeles at three minute intervals, while others arrived in a steady stream of 20,000 automobiles along Pico and Santa Monica Blvds.
"As far as the eye could see, the beach was black with people and the Ocean Front Walk was a mass of surging humanity. 60,000 bathers used the area's four bathhouses. The hotels were full and also every rooming house and apartment in the area. Since many had no place to stay, Santa Monica and Venice permitted people to sleep on the beach under police protection.
" . . .
"It was fitting, when Santa Monica voted in December 1918 for Prohibition of alcoholic beverages, that the pier required no changes since drinking and gambling were never allowed. In fact, it pleased the town that the Looff Pier was a resort of character and refinement lacking the "honky-tonk' ribaldry that characterized many other sea side resorts. . . .
"The initial 475,000 raised from the sale of stock was used to build a first class restaurant . . . on the seaward side of the bowling pavilion. . . Construction began . . .in time . . . to finish for the Christian Endeavor Convention on March 15th.
" . . .
" . . . Arthur Looff, president and general manager of the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier Corporation, . . . . wanted to complete the attractions by the end of the year.
"The Beach Marine Band under the direction of Signor Chiaffarelli was hired for the summer. . . . The twenty five member band opened at the pier's bandstand on June 15th.
" . . . Charles Looff . . . died at his home in Long Beach on Saturday July 1, 1918. He was 66. . . . .
{Page 36 1917 Photo of Professor Caesare LaMonica and his Royal Italian Band which played from the bandstand adjacent to the Promenade in 1917 to widespread acclaim.}
{The page 40 photo of the Looff Pier shows the Whirlwind Dipper, an announcement that the La Monica Ballroom is under construction and a sign for Webster's Cafe}
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1928, 1921, 1920, 1919, 1875,
Chapter3 Pier Expansion and Rebuilding (1919-1928)
"The United States' triumph in World War I brought a spirit of infectious patriotism to the nation. . . . When the Pacific Fleet visited Santa Monica Bay on the weekend of August 16-17, 1919, thousands came to the area's three large amusement piers to board navy transports bound for tours of the fleet.
"It was a large fleet that anchored in the bay. The key ships included the U.S.S. New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Arkansas, Nebraska, and the flagship New Mexico. The battleship, Texas, the supply ship Prairie, destroyers, Wicks, Woolsey, Anthony, and Sprotsum, anchored directly off the Santa Monica Pier.
"A large crowd, awaiting transport to the fleet, had gathered at the end of the Municipal Pier on Sunday afternoon when the north side at the end of the pier suddenly trembled, groaned and slowly slumped seaward.
"Within seconds it settled two feet lower than the main deck. . . . Mayor Berkley, who was on the pier at the time, tried to reassure those involved. The police moved to evacuate the pier. those already on the battleship were returned to Venice's Windward Pier.
"W.H. Carter, commissioner of public works, made an immediate statement to the press that he thought the pier had been damaged several years earlier when wreckage from the Long Wharf battered the end of the pier. he also felt that the unusual weight of the spectators didn't help. Carter, declaring the pier unsafe and the city liable if anyone were hurt, ordered the pier closed on Sept. 4, 1919 for at least sixty days . . .
"In early November, the engineers condemned the Municipal Pier. . . Their report showed that sixty piles were rusted in their reinforcement, six were utterly gone, ninety-one were cracked above the water line, and thirty cracked below the water line. . . .
". . . in the December election . . . voters . . . approved the bonds, 2042 to 599.
" . . . .
[Because all the contractors' bids were high, the City decided to build the new pier itself, and this time with creosoted pilings . . .]
" . . .The pier officially opened without fanfare on January 19, 1921. . . "
" . . .
"Cutthroat competition began in 1920 when Ernest Pickering doubled the size of his Ocean Park Pier . . . He rebuilt and enlarged the pier's dance hall and added eight new amusement rides including a new racing roller coaster. The Kinney Company, in answer to the competition, upgraded their Venice Pier with a new roller coaster and several other attractions, but then faced disaster when their pier was destroyed by fire five days before Christmas.
" . . .
"The Looff family agreed that their pier needed a dance pavilion and entered into a lease agreement with Cramer and Reed. . . . The completed building's style would be oriental with turrets and towers.
"The Palisades Pavilion dance hall opened Saturday June 4, 1921. It was managed by P.A. Bishop who had operated Abbot Kinney's Venice Pier Dance Hall before the disastrous fire. Silvey's Orchestra featuring Frank Lewis, Harry Rowe, Bernard Saenz, and Chadwick Silvey [played] Friday and Saturday night and on Sunday afternoons.
""During the following year there was talk about extending the Municipal Pier another thousand feet to accomodate more fishermen, and the possibility of constructing a large harbor. Speakers at a dinner of the Greater Santa Monica Club at the Sunset Inn on June 9, 1922 discussed the proposed harbor. Five hundred diners, representing all the bay cities, listened to Jack Davis of Douglas Aircraft Company explain that his company was building torpedo sea planes for the government and they needed a protected harbor for practice. They hoped to interest the federal government in funding a Santa Monica Harbor.
"Commodore Soiland of the Southern California Yachting Association said, " a safe anchorage in the Santa Monica Bay will make it a haven of the yachting fleet on the Pacific, if not the world." . . .
" . . . There was the 1921 mid winter expo and carnival that featured an aerial circus, huge electrical displays and an auto show, and a weekend in 1922 when Ted Miller, the star rider of the L.A. Motorcycle, jumped from the pier into the ocean. . . . The 1923 [annual picnic] attracted ten thousand people who came for a free lunch. They were served from several hundred picnic tables loaded with food. Children were treated to free amusement rides that day.
" . . . it was announced on February 26, 1923 that [the Looff family] would sell their pier. . . ." p.45
"Finally, in mid September a syndicate headed by E.B. Conliss, D. B. Pascoe and C.D. Terry, all local businessmen, made an offer to the Looff estate that was accepted.. . .
"The syndicate's Santa Monica Amusement Company had ambitious plans. . . . Frank Prior and Fred Church, Venice's famed roller coaster builders were commissioned to design a superlative $75,000 twister coaster . . . Arthur Looff . . . would supervise its construction. . . .
"E.B. Conliss assured the public . . .quality amusements, . . .Kramer as Pier Manager, . . . freedom from rowdyism . . .
"The eighty foot high Whirlwind Dipper roller coaster opened on March 30, 1924 . . . Mayor Steele was present to handle the brakes for the first car . . .
" . . .
"The Whirlwind Dipper was a 'Bobs' design, short for bob sled, that Fred Church had perfected first on the Venice Pier then refined in his Ocean Park Pier designs. His newly patented cars with three point suspension and a shorter wheel base enabled the cars to negotiate the banked sharper turns he favored. . . . This allowed Church to design fast but compact roller coasters especially suited for the limited space on amusement piers. . . .
". . . during April and May. . . The Aeroscope ride was moved seaward of the coaster and installed on a new platform . . .
" . . . owners . . . selected T.H. Eslick to design the La Monica Ballroom and supervise its construction. He had achieved international fame in designing amusement palaces worldwide. Since the building would be the largest ballroom on the west coast, Eslick had to sink extra strength pilings down to bedrock to support its weight. He chose a Spanish theme for the La Monica's exterior and a modified French Renaissance motif for the interior of the huge 227 x 180 foot building. To add grace to the building, the ballroom's gray Spanish stucco exterior was crowned with a dozen towering minarets, each was twelve feet square and rising fifteen feet to twenty feet above the roof line. The minaret's caps were outlined with hundreds of lights at night.
"The La Monica's interior was ingeniously designed to handle 5000 patrons at a time. The architect's simple yet perfect system of checking wraps, many spacious entrances to the dance floor, numerous ticket booths, a beautiful promenade and a mezzanine balcony furnished with upholstery chairs and doge divans gave everyone a pleasant experience. Refreshments were available at the La Monica Fountain and Cafe located on the east side of the mezzanine level.
"The ballroom's 15,000 square foot hard maple floor had beautiful inlaid patterns to break the monotony of its immense surface. Thirty-six thousand strips of maple in ten foot lengths were used to achieve the effect. Beneath it was a 'spring floor' made by layering the dance floor on an especially constructed subfloor.
"Thirty six bell shaped transparent chandeliers were suspended from the ballroom ceiling by gold ropes. The wall decorations, painted by Russian artists, depicted a submarine garden. The effect gave patrons the illusion of dancing on coral. The final cost of the building exceeded $150,000.
"The La Monica Ballroom opened with great fanfare on Wednesday evening July 23, 1924 at 7:30 p.m. The wealthy, the famous and numerous Hollywood silent screen stars arrived in limousines to attend the dedication of the structure by Mayor John C. Steele and his fellow Commissioners. . . . dance[d] to the sounds of the twenty member La Monica Orchestra. Don Clark, director, had come directly from Paul Whitman's Orchestra in New York City.
"Customers, who bought dance tickets for a dime, danced the Charleston, fox trot, waltz and pivoting, a dance where couples turned continuously as they moved rapidly around the dance floor. At the end of each five minute dance, attendants used a big long rope to herd the couples off the dance floor and keep them separate from the new group coming onto the floor. Single women would watch from the side until an eligible male would ask them to dance. Couples, who usually came together, traditionally occupied the loges.
"Roy Randolf operated his La Monica School for Dancing within the building. He offered classes primarily for adults in all aspects of ballroom dancing. In the late fall he staged a series of free Saturday matinees by and for children. Each week he featured a session devoted to folk and old fashioned dances of a particular country like Spain, Russia, China or Japan." p. 51
"While the Santa Monica Amusement Company's initial success was attributed to the opening of the La Monica Ballroom and the Whirlwind Dipper coaster, it also benefitted from the fire that totally destroyed Ocean Park's competing amusement zone in January 1924 and the growth of Santa Monica's nearby beach clubs. The Santa Monica Athletic Club approximately a half mile north of the pier debuted in 1922. It was followed in 1923 by The Beach Club and the Santa Monica Swimming Clubs that were built side by side. These clubs provided a steady stream of wealthy clientele who would patronize the pier's amusements and dance hall.{?} {I'm not sure what this would mean other than the clubs were someplace people could drink.}
"In December Jack and Tilford Harter of the H & H Holding Co. announced plans to build their two million dollar Casa del Mar beach club on the ocean front at Pico Blvd. . . .They obtained the Pico Pier franchise from the city in February 1925 . . .
" . . .There had been live bait boats like Mel Sheares' Ursula that serviced the pier as early as 1920 . . . in late 1921, Captain T.J. Morris began operating the first fishing excursion boats.
"In 1925 Morris became head of . . . Morris Pleasure Fishing Company., charter boats that cruised for rock bass, barracuda, and yellowtail. His smaller boats were used as water taxis . . .
" . . . A.A. Hernage operated two fishing boats . . . The Owl Boat company [1926-1933] . . . .
" . . .F.S. Volk, the proprietor of the tackle and bait house. . .
"At the end of March 1925, the Southern California Steamship Co. applied to the city to land their 660 passenger steamer 'Long Beach' at the Municipal Pier. The ship was equipped with a big ballroom . . .
" . . .
"The company's La Monica Ballroom continued to do fabulous business. Guest orchestras led by Paul Whitman and Glen Oswald appeared throughout the spring and summer seasons. The La Monica Ballroom Orchestra directed by Carol Laughner was hired for the 1925-26 winter session. the east coast band was unique in that all its members could sing like a glee club. They were on hand when Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner sponsored its first dance contest. The newspaper offered a $5000 prize to the best couple who danced the Charleston.
"One of the La Monica's most exciting nights was the Friday before Halloween 1925 when the ballroom was almost robbed. It started when four young men driving a car with red wheels held up the Montana Bus Lines office. The police set up a dragnet and located the car in the La Monica parking lot on the pier. Police headquarters telephoned Lincoln Hart, the ballroom's manager, to inform him that the dance hall was in danger of being robbed. He was advised that the police were on their way and to close if possible."
"Plain-clothes men arrived shortly afterwards to round up the bandits. The manager opened up the arsenal and issued pistols to his responsible help. The nightwatchman had palsy so instead he was given a cutlass. Each man was responsible for guarding a ticket booth. The police arrived in force shortly afterwards. They even brought a shotgun squad for backup. . . .
" . . . Garfield Leon, Hart's assistant manager, explained that the young men were his friends and frequented the dance hall often."
"On Monday February 1, 1926 waves from a huge mid Pacific storm began to threaten the Santa Monica Bay piers. The waves built up throughout the day until they were breaking during the night atop a fifteen foot high building at the end of Ocean Park's pier. The landing stage at the end of Santa Monica's Municipal Pier soon crumbled under the highest breakers since 1916.
"The storm continued throughout the following day as the giant waves began pulling up pilings by their roots and hammering the standing timbers into kindling wood. The night watchman notified the owners that the dance hall's floor was buckling. Workers arrived immediately after midnight to remove everything of value including a $2000 grand piano. Even boats that had been dragged onto the pier for safety were taken off the pier to shore.
"Word spread quickly . . . that the pier's collapse was imminent. Thousands swarmed the ocean front and atop the palisades . . . Police had to establish fire lines . . ." p. 57
"High tide peaked shortly after noon on Wednesday February 3rd. William Murdoch, a noted construction engineer, predicted that if the structure could survive until 1 p.m. that day, it would survive. . . .
"When the storm subsided slightly later that day, construction workers found the ballroom floor buckled beyond repair. It had sunk three feet on the west side near the orchestra pit. The three principal owners were making determined plans to save the ballroom, but they were philosophical about the outcome. . . .
"Reconstruction began on Feb. 5th. Workers tore a hole in the side of the ballroom and moved a heavy pile driver inside. . . .
"The owners blamed the city. . . .
"The La Monica's interior was restored with loving care. the owners employed one hundred local artisans and construction workers. A.B. Rice, the famed dance floor builder, laid down the new dance floor. The ballroom's decorations were the conception of the Russian artist V. Ulianoff and his partner John Thackento who painted the unusual motif, a mixture of Oriental, Russian and barbaric art. They used pale tints to blend in quietly with the lights and decorative schemes.
"Thousands including numerous Hollywood celebrities attended the La Monica's gala reopening on March 25, 1926. Sally Rand, Follies girl and movie actress danced the Charleston and demonstrated various steps of the latest dance craze." p. 58
"The winter storm season wasn't over yet. On April 8th high seas, some say worse than the awesome February storm,tore the fishing fleet loose from their moorings near the Municipal Pier. Captain T.J. Morris, Paul Brooks and Lee Gregory tried to prevent a floundering launch, the "W.K." from wrecking the Municipal Pier. They were washed overboard and the unattended boat was later dashed to pieces south of the pier in front of the Edgewater Club. When Charles Trecy and Jack Dugan tried to rescue the drowning men, their small skiff was capsized by a huge breaker. Lifeguards rescued them but were unable to help the three fishermen who were swept south under the Crystal Pier and crushed against its pilings. Morris's body was found a week later offshore in El Segundo.
"These two destructive storms prompted the Greater Santa Monica Club to revive their harbor plan to protect the pier. They hired Taggert Aston, consulting engineer, . . . His plans were presented to members of the club and to Howard B. Carter, city engineer at their May 5th meeting.
" . . .
". . . R. J. Conners, the Edgewater Club's president opposed the harbor because it would end surf bathing in front of his club . . .
"Santa Monica's eleven beach clubs by the summer of 1927 were becoming a major political force in matters relating to the beach front. These clubs with a membership of 25,000 . . . extended one and a half miles from Pico Blvd. to the city's northern limit. The Casa del Mar, Edgewater and Breakers were located south of the pier, while the Deauville, Sea Breeze, Miramar, Club Chateau, Wavecrest, Santa Monica Athletic, The Beach Club, and Gables were located north of the pier.
"Most of the clubs had swimming pools, beach cabanas, banquet rooms and extensive social and sports programs. . . . the Del Mar drew its membership from Santa Monica's and Los Angeles' business and professional people . . .
" . . ." p. 61
"In September 1927 the Santa Monica Amusement Company, which owned the Looff Pier and controlling interest in the La Monica Ballroom and the Whirlwind Dipper, was sold to a syndicate headed by Dr. Frank J. Wagner. . . Wagner was one of the four previous owners. . . .
"City Council granted Dr. Wagner permission to expand the pier at their February 20, 1928 meeting . . . [who] died of a heart attack . . . June 27, 1928, age 55.
"His widow hired Ernest Pickering to manage the pier for her. Pickering had been very active in the area since he installed his first rides on the Abbot Kinney Pier in 1909. He had owned the Pickering Pier in Ocean Park from 1919 to 1923, then moved to San Bernardino to manage Pickering Park, a small amusement area. He proved to be a capable general manager.
"The La Monica reopened for the 1928 season with T.S. Eslick as the new manager. Each week featured novel attractions, surprises and personal appearances. The opening night's attraction was the beautiful transcontinental horseback rider, Miss Vonceil Viking, whose horse galloped from New York City to Los Angeles in 120 days. Management held a La Monica Club night featuring old time dances staged with an old time orchestra, Carnival night on the lines of the big annual festivals in Europe and Collegiate Night featuring college dancing and prizes for the winning contestants.
" . . ." p. 64
{Page 46 1924 photo of the Municipal and La Monica Piers shows the La Monica Ballroom and the Whirlwind Dipper roller coaster behind the Carousel building. There are signs for the Overlook Hotel & Apartments; the Royal Cafe serving fish and clam dinners; La Monica Ballroom Auto Park; . . .House Auto Park; a Fish Market, Hollymaid Ice Cream; The La Monica School of Dancing (in what looks like Sinbad's) in front of the La Monica Ballroom;, but there seems to be a Fish Bait and Tackle and Auto Park immediately in to the east of the Ballroom; and the photo on page 47 shows "The 80 foot high Whirlwind Dipper roller coaster's track outlined by thousands of lights at night. The coaster, a Prior & Church 'bobs' design, had tight twisting turns along 3300 feet of track . . ."}
{p.48 1924 photo shows the La Monica Ballroom and the banquet hall next to the billiard hall had not yet been moved next to the ballroom; there is also a building on the seaward side of the Promenade, immediately to the south of the La Monica Pier which includes or is adjacent itself to a boathouse: there seems to be windows overlooking the beach and separated roofs or courts inside.}
{p.49 is a 1928 diagram of the La Monica & Municipal Piers showing the location of the Looff Carousel & Hippodrome; Whirlwind Dipper Coaster; Bowling and Billiards; Bennett's Seafood Grotto; Auto Parking Area; Whip Ride; Circle Swing; Eli 24 Ferris Wheel; Shooting Gallery; Restaurant; Aeroscope ride; La Monica Ballroom; and at the very end, a Cafe.}
{Photo page 50 undated but shows the La Monica Ballroom nearly awash, afloat and captioned "The La Monica Ballroom was the largest ballroom on the west coast. It's 15,000 square foot dance floor could accomodate 5000 dancers. The building's Spanish Stucco exterior was crowned with a dozen minarets that were lit up at night. The Aeroscope ride was moved west of the roller coaster and raised on a pedestal.}
{Pages 52 and 53 1926 double page photo American Legion Long Beach Post #123 sponsored beauty contest during their annual Interpost Water Carnival and Mardi Gras on and in front of the Aero . . . and one can see in the mist Casa Del Mar Beach Club, the midway entrance to La Monica Pier and on the north side, a sign advertising Tango. On the right side among the spectators are the Santa Monica Municipal Band in Salvation Army uniforms and in the middle behind the contestants are members of another band in World War I helmets. At the very center is a trumpeter in a fez and pilot goggles.}
{Page 54 is a 1924 postcard of the crowds at Crystal Pier at the foot of Hollister St., The Rendezvous Ballroom on the Crystal Pier Appears to be at the foot of Hollister on the sand.]
{Page 55, mid-1920s south of the pier view of the Breakers, Edgewater and Casa del Mar.}
{p. 56 1927 Movie Shoot south of the pier}
{p. 57 1922 Barr's Flying Circus Flight over the Ocean Park Pier, the Dome Theater is clearly a dome.}
{Spectators gathered on the beach and on the playground equipment to watch the 1926 storm batter the SM Pier.]
{P. 59 1926 Photo of the La Monica Ballroom nearly falling into the sea.}
{P. 62 1927 photo of Evening Outlook newsboys; Owl Boat Co., fishing boats.}
{P. 63 1927 Sunday View north from the Crystal Pier to the Santa Monica Pier, packed solid with sitters and umbrella, as though it were a concert with "Tom's Place Pacific Fish Dinners Sandwiches Coffee East Side Drink Coca Cola Sealed in Sterilized Bottles" in front of the Del Mar Club and others. A difficult to read sign which may be repeated is EZ2TAN Salon, deciphered from a later photo.}
Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990.
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 Harbor 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 Mar.
"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. Governor 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 Randolf 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 Aeroscope 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 Kenilworth. 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, shuffleboard and shooting gallery concessions. Ernest Pickering resigned at the end of the 1934 season when the amusement company couldn't afford his salary. The company eventually declared bankruptcy the following spring.
"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 accommodating 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 owned 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 their 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 their 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 as a 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 Park, 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 dinghies built by Tedford's Boat Service next to the Carousel.; bottom 1937 photo shows the Santa Monica Municipal 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 (1941-1974)
" . . . Sunday, December 7, 1941 . . .
"Sam Reed, the city's harbor master, . . . the following morning refused to allow several boatloads of Japanese fishermen to put to sea. The harbor had become home base to 46 mackerel fishing boats when naval activity in San Pedro caused them to relocate to Santa Monica. . . . [instructed by] the 11th Naval District Headquarters, he prohibited any boats from leaving the harbor and that afternoon a naval patrol was established . . .
" . . . FBI arrested suspected [people] Forty-five Japanese were arrested in Venice and West Los Angeles on Dec. 8th, and hundreds more the following day.
" The harbor fog horn was mounted atop city hall . . . The city was blacked out at night . . . The first black out Dec. 11th at 9:50 p.m. . . . When neon signs and other lights continued to illuminate downtown buildings, angry citizens moved through the streets and smashed dozens of lights that had been left on when store owners closed for the day." p. 100
"A citizen's defense militia was formed along the beach front to guard against possible infiltration by the enemy . . . Men and later women stood watch in four-hour shifts at fourteen stations strung along Santa Monica's waterfront. The beach, protected with barbed wire entanglements, was effectively closed during the day. . . .
"The battery of the 3rd Battalion, 144th Field Artillery, was housed at the Municipal Auditorium in Ocean Park. Other army groups manning anti-aircraft batteries were set up at Clover Field to guard the camouflaged Douglas Aircraft plant that from the air resembled a suburban housing tract.
". . .
"Santa Monica's mackerel fishing fleet resumed operation on May 11th under the Coast Guard's new rules." . . . and with no Japanese American fishermen . . .
"By the summer most young men in the area between seventeen and thirty -five had either volunteered or were drafted into the armed services. But the piers and beaches still played host to thousands of soldiers on leave from nearby military bases and the cadre of defense workers at plants like Douglas Aircraft. Since most had never seen an ocean , the lifeguard service urged residents to publicize safety rules for beach visitors.
"The area's normally brightly lit amusement piers were forced to curtail operations after dark because of dimout regulations. Santa Monica's pier, which had far fewer amusements, had less of a problem remaining open in the evening. Dance halls on Venice and Ocean Park piers offered one of the few forms of evening entertainment and were especially popular with swing-shift defense workers whose shift ended at midnight. By October the city passed laws . . ." forbidding people under eighteen from attending swing-shift dances and those between eighteen and twenty-one had to leave by 2 a.m.
"Santa Monica's mackerel fleet was busy during the war providing food for the nation's war effort. In October 1942, a three ton weight limit was placed on pier vehicles due to a weakening structure. . .
"A series of winter storms wrecked havoc on the fishing fleet . . . on January 14, 1943 . . . then seven inches of rain during a 56 hour storm in late January and forty eight boats washed ashore . . . and then the fish market crashed going from 21 c to 13 c per pound.
"In February 1943, Security First National Bank sold the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier to Walter D. Newcomb, who was managing their pier under a lease agreement. Newcomb, who owned the pier's gift shop and arcade, had taken over management at the beginning of the war when Lt. Commander Harry E. Walker entered naval service.
" . . . the city . . . assigned Newcomb the bank's twenty-one year franchise that began on June 7, 1936.
"Johnny "Tarzan" Weismuller was a frequent pier visitor and an honorary captain of Santa Monica's Municipal Lifeguard service and actually leaped from the pier to save a tiring swimmer, August 6, 1943.
" The city toughened its lease policy, limiting extent and canceling leases that allowed alcohol sales. Olaf Olson had ben operating a cocktail bar, but had recently vacated the premises.
" . . . the Santa Monica area became a rest and recovery area for returning soldiers and airmen. In late November, the Army began leasing the beach club hotels, first the Grand Hotel, Del Mar and Edgewater Clubs. Later they leased the Miramar, Ocean Palms and Shangri-La to quarter 1500 men returning from combat service. The beach club hotels operated like hotels rather than like an army base, and rotated about 2500 men per month through 14-21 day periods.
"The La Monica Auditorium reopened in the spring of 1944 as the Palisades Dance Hall, considering its proximity to their hotels, it was only mildly popular with the visiting troops. Most soldiers preferred either Ocean Park's or Venice's more exciting amusement zones that offered roller coasters, fun houses, theaters, games of skill, and various spinning rides in addition to several dance halls. Santa Monica's Palisades Dance Hall closed several months later with . . . unpaid debts. When new management tried to reopen, the head of the National Musicians Union refused to sanction . . ."
"Both Pacific Mutual Life Insurance's beach erosion lawsuit, better known as the Carpenter case, and Los Angeles Athletic Club's beach accretion lawsuit were retried in April 1944 by the U.S. District Court of Appeals. The court ruled in both cases against the plaintiffs and for the City of Santa Monica." p.101
"The court found that the city was not responsible for either the erosion or sand accretion caused by the construction of the breakwater. It also ruled that the city had a legal right to protect its harbor and the property of others within its boundaries from the action of the ocean. In the Carpenter case it found that all the eroded beach in front of the Del Mar Club had been artificially created from 1875-1921 by man made structures in the Santa Monica Bay and that they belonged to the stare and city, not the upland owner. Therefore it was state tidelands that had been damaged. . . .
[The ruling was appealed to the California Supreme Court who refused to hear the appeals.]
" . . .
"Los Angeles County's Regional Planning Commission had much more ambitious plans for the ocean front along Santa Monica Bay. T.D. Cooke, their division engineer, unveiled plans on July 10, 1945, that called for the elimination of the Santa Monica Breakwater and all the amusement piers along the coast. . . ." p. 102
" . . . Both Los Angeles City and County . . . insisted that all man-made structures. . . be removed because they interfered with the free movement of sand by the prevailing currents.
"Finally, . . . commissioners W.W. Milliken and D.C. Freeman opposed the plan. . . " They would only support a plan that preserved the identity of Santa Monica's waterfront . . .
"In response to a proposal for even further development north of the pier, protests included Morton Anderson who was the Santa Monica member of the State Shoreline Planning association. who said that to permit a carnival construction on the beach would be a "return to the horse and buggy days and would wreck Santa Monica's development as a leading resort city."
" . . ." p. 103
" The city . . . placed deputy city clerk Ralph Kruger in charge of all Municipal Pier leases in February 1946. He instituted new lease procedures that put expired leases out to public bid. The first was the Porthole Cafe . . . Then when Bay Fish Market . . . the Commissioners out of a sense of fairness overruled him and extended the lease until those of California Seafood and Santa Monica Seafood companies lapsed.
" . . .
"Beach activities were beginning to return to normal during the spring. The Army vacated all the hotels and beach clubs . . . and those that were owned by insurance companies were sold to private investors. . . . The Del Mar Club reopened in June and both the Grand and Edgewater Hotels remodeled in time for summer reopening as a tourist hotel and beach club respectively.
"Santa Monica scheduled its first annual Santa Monica Fiesta at the Municipal Pier . . . Hundreds of thousands . . . while fifty combat aircraft from Alamitos Bay Naval Air Station . . .
"Foremost was the bathing beauty contest to crown Miss Santa Monica. Leo Carillo, a noted Santa Monica actor was the master of ceremonies. Judges, mostly from MGM Studios, judged the thirty eight contestants and crowned eighteen year old Mary Joe Devlin . . . . Governor Earl Warren presented her with the trophy.
"The Manoa Paddleboard Club opened their show with a fifteen girl paddleboard ballet, then held races and an exhibition polo paddleboard contest in the calm waters north of the pier . . .
"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 the 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.
"These exhibitions, that were usually held on Memorial Day weekends since 1935, featured weight lifters, gymnasts, balancers, muscle control artists, and tumblers. Some of the better known performers included Wayne Long*, Glen "Whitey" Sunby*, Pudgy Stockton* "queen of the barbells" and Beverly Jochner* who was known as the strongest girl in America. She could lift three people weighing 350 pounds overhead. Russ Sanders*, the gymnastic coach would fill out the program with high school and college athletes. The Fiesta, however, marked the first time that they had staged a men's physique competition for the title of Mr. Santa Monica.
'Business on the Newcomb Pier increased during the first postwar summer. Band leader Spade Cooley* rented the La Monica Ballroom and his style of country-western music attracted large evening crowds. Then business was also helped somewhat by the elimination of the competing Venice Amusement Pier. It had been forcibly closed down in the spring when the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation refused to renew the Kinney Company's tideland's lease. The closing, however, deprived Walter Newcomb of much of the income that he needed to remodel his[the Santa Monica] aging pier and turn it into a modern tourist attraction. He had operated the merry-go-round and the popular Venice Fun House on the condemned pier.
"While Newcomb was preoccupied with removing his attractions from the Venice Pier, he found a buyer for his Parker carousel located in the Hippodrome building. He then moved his 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan carousel, PTC #62 from the Venice Pier into the building. He had purchased the carousel before the war for $25,000 from an amusement park in Nashville, Tennessee.
"The new carousel opened on June 27, 1947 after a two month long renovation by famed carousel builder, Rudy Illinois. It was a fifty foot diameter, three abreast machine with two chariots and forty-four horses hand carved by John Zaler. It was illuminated by 750 electric lights and had a Wurlitzer band organ that played from punched rolls of carousel music. Robert Newcomb, Walter's brother, became manager of the ride.
" . . .
" . . . Myer Simon, president of the California Seafood Company . . .
" . . . the city's second annual beauty pageant in 1947 was staged almost two weeks before the Independence Day festivities. It began with a mile long parade from the Santa Monica Pier to Ocean Park's Casino Gardens. A crowd of 100,000 watched eighty horseback riders, numerous movie stars in parade vehicles, and two bands march past. Spade Cooley*, radio western star, acted as Grand Marshal for the event. A panel of movie celebrities judged Susan Brown as the city's . . ." p. 105
"The Independence Day celebration at the pier was just a shadow of the previous year's festival. The Recreation Department staged its 2nd Annual Muscle Matinee on July 4th. A crowd of several thousand watched Charles B. Grayling*, a 24 year old studio technician, win the title Mr. Santa Monica. . . .
"The Labor Day contest for the Miss Muscle Beach title was much more exciting and included a show by Pudgy Stockton*'s Beachettes and a Thrill Circus featuring outstanding Pacific Coast athletes. A sweating, yelling, whistling, hot dog munching, soda pop drinking mob of sun-burned men, women and their children gathered to 'ooh' and 'ah' at the nearly three dozen shapely contestants. The pageant was supposed to prove that a woman could pour beauty and biceps into the same bathing suit. Mrs.. Vivian Crockett, a 22 year old housewife and free lance actress won the title.
"On September 3rd, the State Board of Health quarantined twelve miles of beaches from the Santa Monica Pier south to Hermosa Beach. This left Santa Monica with only 1.7 miles off swimming beach. The problem once again was Los Angeles' antiquated Hyperion Sewage Plant which had run out of chlorine again and was dumping large amounts of untreated sewage int the bay. While Santa Monica and Ocean Park's beaches reopened the following summer, Venice's beaches remained closed until the new Hyperion Sewage Plant began operation in June 1950.
" . . . .
" . . . City Manager Randall Dorton. . . . " p.106
"Santa Monica's harbor finally received official recognition as a government approved small craft harbor on January 31, 1949. It's approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 11 District Coast Guard entailed no administrative changes . . .
". . .
"Santa Monica officials went to Sacramento and appeared before the State Parks Commission to ask for the remaining $255,000 of the $325,000 dredging fund that was set up in 1943. They planned to move the sand southward and widen the beach by 370 feet between the Santa Monica and Ocean Park Piers. State officials finally approved the plan on April 29, 1949.
"Six months later the federal government approved the breakwater as a barrier to curb erosion of the north beaches with the understanding that the city maintain periodic harbor dredging to replenish its south beaches. . . ." p. 108
" . . .
"The city in July 1950 began to operate Pound's Bathhouse on the beach on the south side of the Newcomb Pier. Its one-hundred changing stalls gave patrons a place to change clothes when they arrived at the beach and a place to shower at the end of the day. The state bought the land for $35,000 and the city bought the building for $15,000. . . .
"Spade Cooley* "King of Western Swing" and his country-western dance band, which performed in the La Monica Ballroom on weekend evenings, had grown to enormous popularity. KTLA, Channel 5, began broadcasting the band in 1948 on Saturday night at 8 p.m. and by 1950 the show was the second most popular Los Angeles television program."p. 111
"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. His theme song was Shame, Shame on You. Spade's television guests included Tex Owens, Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rodgers, Tex Williams, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Lane, Count Basie, Desi Arnez, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis and Jo Stafford.
" . . .
" . . . additional attractions were . . . . indefinitely postponed because of a Korean War imposed amusement building ban.
"The Department of Recreation in the fall launched a two phase program for harbor improvement . . . .
"The city . . . even considered transferring its lifeguard service to Los Angeles County control. It seemed the right thing to do since title to its beaches was transferred to the state in Fall 1949, but the City Council voted against 4-3 on July 26, 1950. The seventeen man full-time lifeguard corps, which was founded in 1932 and remained under the control of the police department, was put under direct control of the City Council." p. 113
"But by January 4, 1951, the policies of Supervisor Frank Holborrow created a serious morale problem. He had set up an internal spy system. Captain George Watkins was asked to return to full command of the lifeguards to head off a threatened lifeguard 'revolt.' Three weeks later the city [asked] for the ouster of Holborrow, threatened to shift them to county control.
"Sane heads prevailed and instead a complete reorganization of lifeguard duties was effected. In addition to their guard duty, members of the corps were assigned equipment maintenance tasks and were required to teach classes on surf safety. Actually that was nothing new since they always assisted the Department of Recreation and the Red Cross in their summer water safety classes. Those nine week, weekday morning classes taught over 400 people aged 5-55 each summer how to swim and to protect themselves and others from water hazards.
" . . .
"An unusual attraction opened on the pier in March 1953 when Henry and Mary Freedman leased the former penny arcade building for the summer season. Henry Freedman, who looked like a balding, bespectacled college professor, had recently returned from the Amazon River in South America where he caught electric eels and piranha fish. Their tropical Fish Show and Electric Eel Aquarium featured six electric eels, one nearly five feet in length, displayed in large tanks.
"Henry would invite the audience to hold hands in a broken circle and would give the two participants on each end the wires from the end of two electric terminals. Then, using a pair of protective gloves, he would remove one of the larger eels from the tank, place it on a table and touch the two terminals against the creature. The audience often gasped as they received a shock when the current passed through them. Henry, to satisfy those in the crowd, who were still skeptical, then used the eel's current to light an electric bulb held overhead. . . ." p. 114
"The conclusion of the Korean War on July 27, 1953 . . .
" . . .
"O.J. Bennett, operator of the Sea Food Grotto, . . . Nov. 24, 1953. . .
" . . .
" . . . on June 15, 1954 the City Council by a vote of 4-3 chose the Civic Center site [for a new Civic Auditorium.] . . .
" . . . Walter Newcomb died . . . in Paris of a heart attack on June 12, 1954, . . . 63 years old. His widow, Mrs. Enid Newcomb, continued to run the pier, and her daughters Elizabeth and Betty helped her with the gift shop.
"That summer was Spade Cooley's last year at the La Monica Ballroom. With his popularity waning, he moved to Ocean Park's Casino Gardens for his last year on television. After several years of inactivity in Southern California he achieved notoriety in 1961 when he went on trial for the brutal torture killing of his 37 year old wife in the presence of his daughter. He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Chino prison and died there in 1969.
"George Gordon and his brother Eugene began doing business on the Santa Monica Pier in 1954. They leased the vacant arcade building where the Eel Aquarium had been the previous summer and installed a new penny arcade with extensive skee ball equipment. It was called Playland Arcade. They also began managing the carousel for Mrs. Newcomb.
"The Gordon brothers had grown up in Atlantic City, New Jersey where their father, until George was thirteen, operated a carousel at Rendezvous Amusement Park. They came to California in 1944 and after the war operated several game concessions on the Ocean Park Pier. The relatively undeveloped state of the Newcomb Pier after Walter Newcomb's death gave them the opportunity to escape from the intense competition at the Ocean Park Pier and thrive.
"Others took advantage of the business opportunities on the pier. Mrs. Newcomb's daughter Elizabeth and her husband Richard Westbrook opened Sinbad's Cafe in the old banquet hall next to the La Monica Ballroom. Al Bond and his partner Jeane Crowne began operating Al's Kitchen where Dusty's Chowder House had been, and F.J. Favares opened the Surf's View Cafe next to Mrs. Newcomb's gift shop. Edmond Friege took over Lewis Rea's boat and rental business at the end of the pier and Pete Peterson, a former lifeguard, began an aquatic supply business on the pier.
"Versal Schuler and his partner Jack Rea began operating their charter boat fishing business from the end of the Municipal Pier after Bob Lamia left. They previously operated out of the Ocean Park Pier's landing, so most of their customers were already familiar with their boats. Their company, Santa Monica Sports fishing, . . . barracuda, halibut, bass and rock cod within three miles of the pier . . .
" . . ." p. 118
"In March 1955 Santa Monica's recreation director gave the Muscle Beach weightlifters an ultimatum. They either had to form a club that collected dues and carried liability insurance, or he would remove the weights from the beach. The problem started when a small boy picked up a barbell that was too heavy for him. It pull him forward and the barbell hit another boy on the head. the injured boy's parents sued the city for $200. The city carried no insurance on the playground.
"The Muscle Beach Weightlifters Club was formed with Dr. Paul Maclin as its president. Over one hundred members signed up and paid the annual two dollar membership fee. The club agreed to police the beach and get rid of troublemakers. The city was satisfied and made plans at a cost of $10,000 to rearrange the platforms and add bleachers for spectators.
"The city . . . decided to ban pinball games because they were considered games of chance . . . and it wasn't until the early 1970s that pinball games were allowed back on the pier.
"The Santa Monica Pier's new attraction for the 1955 summer season was the opening of the Hollywood Autocade in the La Monica Ballroom. It featured one hundred unusual automobiles ranging from a 1908 Moreland fire engine to Hitler's Auto-Union Hoch given to his fiancé Eva Braun, to a $16,500 Dusenberg. One unusual car was a 1921 German Rumpler Drop Car, an amphibious vehicle designed to be dropped from dirigibles. the exhibit also included many motion picture star's cars like Jack Benny's Maxwell, Clara Bow's Rolls-Royce, and Rudolf Valentino's Lancia. . . . .
"Lamia's old charter boat office next to the Playland arcade . . . was leased to Gordon and Beryle Brunkow by Mrs. Newcomb. They operated a wholesale and retail gift shop that specialized in plaster of paris statues." p. 120
". . .
"The City Council in the spring of 1956 [studied] a report by city engineer Maurice King . . . In July the Council by a vote of 5-2 (with Wellman, Mills and Rex Minter opposed) authorized the repair work [on the Municipal Pier]. Mills [questioned] "throwing good money after bad, in light of the deteriorating breakwater"; the advisability of having commercial fishing on the pier; advocated removal of the lower deck."
" . . .
"Santa Monica began fighting the state's plan to take over its beach operations in August 1956. The city had been negotiating for more than a year for a long term lease but the state had its own comprehensive plan on the drawing board. Finally, the State Parks Commission agreed in the fall to grant Santa Monica local control with a twenty-five year lease. The city on November 14, 1956 approved the lease and instructed City Manager Dorton to retain the architectural firm of Welton Becket and Associates to prepare beach parking plans between the Ocean Park Pier and Santa Monica Piers.
"Santa Monica's beach front, like many beach fronts elsewhere, attracted numerous drifters, hustlers and petty criminals. But it was the runaways and perverts that were attracted to its famed Muscle Beach that worried city officials and the police department the most. Their worst nightmare occurred on November 21, 1956 when ten year old Larry George Rice's body was found lying in a pool of blood beneath the Santa Monica Pier. He died three hours later from thirty stab wounds." p. 121
"Two teenagers identified a tall, bushy haired, toothless man with arms of a blacksmith as the man seen with the local lad shortly before the murder. When police found Stephen Nash, a thirty-three year old drifter and pervert, shortly afterwards, they discovered the blood soaked hunting knife on the man. He confessed to the sadistic knife slaying. and ten other murders in Long Beach and Sacramento.
"When he was taken back to the scene of the crime the next day, nearly one hundred menacing people gathered and would have lynched him on the spot. Nash said that he talked to the boy for five minutes, then pulled a knife. When the boy screamed he stabbed him in the stomach, then again and again. Nash was convicted and was executed in the gas chamber in 1959. The city, in an effort to prevent similar incidents, fenced off the area under the pier.
"Welton Becket & Associates completed the master plan for Santa Monica's beach improvements in March 1957. The $724,000 project included parking for 2002 cars between the two piers, demolition of Pound's Bathhouse, and the relocation of Muscle Beach between Bay and Bicknell Streets. When the weightlifters objected and the Recreation Commission sided with them, city officials decided to let the weight lifting platforms remain near the pier.
"Workers on October 7th began demolishing the old pier harbor office that was built in 1938. They began building . . . a new eight hundred square foot building at the end of the pier that would house the harbor and harbor master's offices, sleeping quarters, and a garage. The lifeguard headquarters were placed directly beneath the new building on the lower deck. About a month later the Santa Monica Recreation Commission approved construction plans for a new lifeguard headquarters just off Seaside Terrace, south of the pier.
" . . . " p.123
" . . .
"The City Council . . . retained George F. Nicholson, a marine engineer to prepare a harbor survey . . .
" . . .
"Mrs. Enid Newcomb Winslow in the Fall of 1958 decided to form a corporation called Bay Amusement Company to manage the pier. . ." p. 125
" . . .She had recently remarried Charles Winslow. Her new husband helped her manage the company and run her gift shop, the skating rink in the La Monica Ballroom, and the parking lot. She consolidated her operations that year and sold the Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel to George Gordon . . .
"The Gordon brothers had already expanded their operations the previous year by opening a second Playland Arcade in the old Billiard's building next to the carousel. The new arcade offered archery in addition to the usual variety of amusement devices.
"A scandal broke at Muscle Beach on December 10, 1958 when four muscle men were charged with statutory rape and having a sex orgy with two runaway Negro girls, aged twelve and fourteen. Three of the men, William G. Siddall, George C. Sheffield, and David J. Sheppard, former 1956 weight lifting champion, all lived together at an apartment on Appian Way. The fourth man, John J. Carper, was also charged with additional crimes. A warrant was also issued for a fifth man, but charges were dropped when the girls failed to implicate him.
"City Manager Randall Dorton closed Muscle Beach the following day pending a hearing and a decision at the next City Council meeting. Councilwoman Alys Drobnick, who was always one of the area's detractors, said, "I don't think Muscle Beach is a proper recreational facility. I've been saying this for the last five years. It attracts a bad element to the area. If the musclemen want a weight lifting club its up to them to provide their own facilities." Then she added, "the Muscle Beach crowd has been bragging about how much publicity they have brought the city. I wonder how they are enjoying the publicity now." Other Council members like Frantz and Mills felt that the area needed more control by the recreation department, and it should be given more attention by the police.
"A crowd of more than one hundred attended the two hour hearing on December 16th in the Council Chambers. Police Chief Otto Faulkner testified that Santa Monica has a "terrific sex deviate problem" and many are attracted to the city by Muscle Beach. He quoted statistics that arrests of pervert suspects each year were between 175-200. He concluded by saying, "I firmly believe that Muscle Beach is not an activity the city should provide. I also don't feel the city should provide a place for exhibitionists to show off.""p.126
"One emotionally distraught mother said that Muscle Beach had corrupted her son and that other mothers were afraid to speak out. One letter read at the meeting asked the Council to take into consideration all the thousands of people who had benefitted from Muscle Beach. "Don't close it - Think more of supervision," it implored.
"Despite the fact that the courts eventually dismissed the four statutory rape cases for lack of evidence, the City Council indicated that it wouldn't allow Muscle Beach to reopen until it was rebuilt as part of the new Beach Park #4. The city's concern was not the cost of a new weight lifting platform but the long term expense of full time supervision . . . that would be required to keep the park safe. Even the decision to install . . . adult gymnastic equipment (rings, bars, and vaulting horses) in addition to children's swings and slides was controversial. Mayor Ben Bernard and Councilwoman Alys Drobnick said that they believed the installation of the adult gym equipment in effect restored Muscle Beach without the weight lifting platform. But the new park opened in August and one lifeguard put it, "the creeps stayed away."
"Winter and spring storms during 1959 wrecked havoc in what remained of the city's harbor. The January 5, 1959 storm was the worst in eleven years. . . waves thirty feet high. The harbor master, Pat Lister, narrowly missed being tossed into the . . .waters . . .in a 70 mph wind gust . . . De Luca's Fish Market flooded . . .
" . . . Robert L. Marples was appointed acting chief. . ."
" . . ." p. 127
" . . . 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, shooting 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 . . .
" . . . Nov. 1971, plans to build an island . . .
" . . . Opposition to the island was spearheaded by the Los Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club, . . . spokesman Ron Allin . . . the skyscraper hotel would interfere with a clear view of the sea. . . ." p. 135
"Councilman Nat Trives [was for the project] . . . Councilwoman Clo Hoover . . . City Council 6-0 for . . .
" . . . "Save Santa Monica Bay Committee", headed by Pieter van den Steenhoven . . . asked for a referendum . . . City Attorney Richard Kickerbocker [technically refused]. . . ..
"The anti-island group's strategy was to stall for time while waiting for the passage of the California Coastal Protection Initiative (Proposition 20) . . .
"The Save . . . The Bay . . . filed their suit in Santa Monica Superior Court on September 8, 1972 . . ." p. 136
" . . . Even the Santa Monica Evening Outlook newspaper campaigned against the island. They said " Major harbor improvements is a highly desirable goal but linking it to the hoped for financial success of a towering hotel a few hundred yards offshore is a concept the public has made it clear they will not buy." Prop. 20 passed by 55% of the state voters and 61% of Santa Monica voters. . . .
"On Dec. 22, 1972 the Santa Monica City Council announced it would reassess its stand on the island . . . Mayor Anthony Dituri . . .
" . . .
"Two hundred Santa Monica island foes jammed the January 9, 1973 City Council meeting as a result of a misleading radio report that the island was on the agenda. . . .
"The Council . . . agreed to an island hearing plan to be held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on Jan. 23rd [1974]. Leonard Clunes, who had been coordinating the petition drive to put the island on the ballot, yelled out at the meeting [where the real agenda item had been the pier lease and plans for tearing down the pier], "We have a legal right to the Pier!" . . . A group of young people let out repeated yells of "Save Santa Monica Pier" as [they] left the meeting." p. 137
"Many members of the anti-island group were young anti-war activists, UCLA students drawn to Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood by low rents and beach front living. The pier provided a focus for these radicals who were strongly conservation oriented and perceived Scott's plan as an outgrowth of a business-dominated municipal government. . . .
"The . . . [EIR] . . . favored the project, . . . there would be a . . . disruption of the southward drift of sand. . . .
"Councilman Arthur Rinck . . . announced his opposition to the proposed plan. "I'd like to see both piers removed and the beach returned to its natural state." He also said that the removal of the piers would make the beaches safer since it attracts many undesirables.
"Over a thousand people packed the Civic Auditorium for the January 23 Santa Monica Island hearing. . . . The council voted 4-2 to scrap . . . the Council's action amounted to termination of the contract.
"The boisterous partisan crowd was jubilant . . . Councilman Arthur Rinck made a motion to demolish both piers . . . Robert Gabriel, James Reidy, Arthur Rinck and Mayor Anthony Dituri [voted for], John McCloskey and Clo Hoover were opposed. . . .
"The following day, City Manager Perry Scott spoke out favoring the removing of the Santa Monica Pier . . . said city taxpayers were subsidizing the business operators on the pier. "There's a very substantial use of the pier by those who don't spend money. I'm talking about kids and the elderly who come out to dangle hooks. The pier might be charming to some folks - but I wonder how much the general public should pay for that charm."
"The pier's merchants . . . formed "Friends of the Santa Monica Pier" and began meeting daily at Al's Kitchen. Larry Barber, the restaurant's cook, became head . . . "We believe the pier is too central to the identity of Santa Monica to be destroyed. It's like family. You don't get rid of your grandmother because she is a little old."
"Jack Sikking, the manager of Al's Kitchen . . . Joan Crowne, owner of Al's Kitchen. . . . produced a Save the Santa Monica Pier booklet . . . would be losing a unique historic landmark . . .
"Diane Cherman was co-chair of "Save Santa Monica Pier Citizen's Committee" . . . produced petitions, brochures, radio and newspaper advertising and . . . bumper stickers . . .
"The four Councilmen refused to be intimidated . . . "The pier is a tired, old and dingy thing and the economics of fixing it up are not worth it," the Mayor asserted. "After it is down maybe the people will support a bond issue to put up something else. I'm not in favor of the taxpayer's subsidizing the businesses that have been drawing the criminal and drug elements to the city."
". . . the Council refused to hear the overflow 350 people who attended the February 13, 1973 City Council Meeting. . . p.138
" . . . on April 10, 1973 . . . Incumbents Robert Gabriel, James Reidy, Jr. and Arthur Rinck were defeated . . . electing Fred M. Judson, Donna Swink, John McCloskey and Pieter van den Steenhoven and an initiative that required voter approval of Santa Monica Bay development.
"The new City Council elected Clo Hoover as Mayor, and . . . decided not to renew Perry Scott's contract. . .
" . . .
" . . . Maynard Ostrow and his partner Harold Kleinman in August 1973 opened a bumper car ride on the site of the defunct La Monica Ballroom. . . . p. 141
" . . . City Manager James D. Williams . . .
" . . . March 4th, 1974 Carousel Fire set by two sixteen year old youths who were never apprehended. . . ." p. 144
" . . .
"The City Council voted 5-0 to approve the pier pact on June 29, 1974, [establishing its ownership, dissolving any liability for Mrs. Winslow and controlling its own liability.} p. 145
{P.100, 1946 Santa Monica Pier illuminated by searchlights .}
{P.103 1946 photos show The Palisades Dancing and the Sea Food Grotto, along with paddleboarders.}
{P. 105 Fourteen foot paddleboards of hollow mahogany on spruce frames were designed by Tom Blake and built by Tom Rogers of Venice.}
{P.109 1947 aerial photo of the Santa Monica and Newcomb Pier}
{P 110 1947 Santa Monca Ballroom Western Dancing Spade Cooley; Larry Potters Cocktails; Boats; Fishing Tackle.}
{P. 111 Undated photo of Spade Cooley and his band: "Spade Cooley 'King of Wester Swing' entertained dancers at the La Monica Ballroom beginning in 1946. He was televised live on KTLA on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. from 1948-1955. Vocalist Becky Garfield is on Spade's left.}
{P. 114 late 1940s Mr. Santa Monica Competition held on Muscle Beach.}
{P. 115 1947 Photo of Miss Muscle Beach Competition, Vivian Crockett, winner Val Njord, second, Jackie McCullah, third.; 1950 Santa Monica's Muscle Beach Contest, Pepper Gomez of East Los Angeles.}
{P. 116 Undated photo of Santa Monica Muscle Beach's platform,
"Gymnastics and acrobatics were performed by club members; photo includes the single straight platform; the Santa Monica Recreation Department Office; park bench seating for spectators; adult playground apparatuses; a volleyball court behind the platform and the Office.]
{P. 117 Undated photo "Ten year old Beverly Jochner*, known as the strongest girl in the world, performs a bridge front bend stunt while Harold Zinkin, weighing 180 pounds, does a hand stand on her stomach. She was able to support the weight on her shoulders of three people in a human pyramid weighing 350 pounds. The Purser Apartments are in the background.; Also an undated photo of four gymnasts performing a double handstand at Muscle Beach on the straight platform, looking south past the shops and stores to the Edgemar and Del Mar to the Crystal Pier and the Ocean Park Pier in the distance.}
{P. 127 1953 photo of Henry Friedman demonstrating an electric eel.}
{P. 137 1964 photo of the Santa Monica Pier lower deck including the Porthole Cafe.}
{P. 142 1973 photo Cocky Moon Snack Bar (Vienna Hot Dogs, pizza, Jumbo burgers; frosty freeze; Sinbad's (cocktails [last year for Sinbads]; seafood); Playland Arcade (Skeeball); Shooting Gallery}
Chapter 6: City Owned Pier (1974-1990)
"The city, aware that their newly acquired pier would require money to rehabilitate, hired . . . an outside consultant, Economic Research Associates, to prepare a financial plan . . . . [It was necessary] to bring the Newcomb Pier up to building code requirements.
"The group studied the demographics and spending habits of the 2.4 million yearly visitors and found that 70% were either young people age 12-18 or senior citizens. . . .
" . . . George Gordon* who owned the carousel . . . reopened for business on Oct. 11, 1974. . . .
"On October 18, 1974 Santa Monica unveiled a . . . plan to rehabilitate the pier. . . . In addition, the plan recommended that the city clear the blighted area near the pier by acquiring . . . two run-down apartments and four dilapidated houses in the crime infested area south of the pier.
"Councilman John McCloskey raised doubts . . ." p. 146
"With Nat Trives absent that night . . .
"The $1.5 million program for restoring the pier and clearing out the blight around the pier was approved by a 6-1 margin at the following Council meeting. McCloskey remained opposed. The city decided to issue revenue bonds for the two and one half year project, and spend . . . from a federal grant to buy the Seabright and Purser Apartments, breeding grounds for crime.
"The Council's action guaranteed that the quaint, small town character of the pier would be preserved, and that it would not be developed into a grandiose commercial venture. Clo Hoover said, "the plan shows the City Manager really listens and responds to what the city wants." . . .
"Frank Gehry* & Associates was chosen in January 1975 as the architect for the pier. The Beach Committee's choice was unanimous because Gehry's proposal showed the needed sensitivity to the special character of the pier and its environment. . . .
" . . .
"Meanwhile the group called the "Citizen's Initiative to Preserve the Piers" was campaigning on behalf of Proposition #1, the initiative to preserve both piers for all time. It took them two years to get the initiative placed on the April 8th ballot. . . . " p. 146
"Prop # 1 won on April 8, 1975 by a 2 to 1 margin, assuring that both the Santa Monica Pier and the Newcomb pier would be preserved indefinitely. The measure permitted any resident of Santa Monica or its surrounding communities to file a lawsuit to stop a violation of the ordinance. [It] did not preempt enforcement of existing health and safety regulations . . .
"Los Angeles County decided to dedicate the Santa Monica Pier as an official L.A. County Historical Landmark on Pier Day, Sunday May 18, 1975. It was the opening day event for Santa Monica's centennial year, and James Hayes, chairman of the L.A. Board of Supervisors did the honors. Thousands attended the event that included an art contest and a beachwear fashion show featuring styles from 1875 to 1975. The Jaycees sponsored pie eating, bubble gum bubble blowing, corn eating and whistling contests. Radio station KIIS broadcast the Jerry Mason show live from a 8 x 50 foot hot-air gondola tethered to the pier.
"The pier hosted another large crowd in August for the city's 14th annual Sports and Arts Festival. The eleven day festival in late August featured swimming and paddleboard races, fishing contests, and life guard competition. A Keith Williams big band concert was held on the pier on August 24th.
" . . . Community Development Grant . . . Gehry's* plans . . . for the face lift were approved in September . . . for a wooden boardwalk between the carousel building and Moby's Dock restaurant, new stairs on both the north and south side of the pier for easier beach access, forty new benches, and additional pier lighting. . . . Work began in January 1976, and the project was completed by June. . . ." p.148
"McClosky opposed using the Community Development Grant for pier repairs rather than housing for the elderly. "The pier," he said, "is no historic monument and besides it carries no fire insurance." Mayor Nat Trives said the pier fell in the category of recreation for low and moderate income persons . . .
"After federal funds were officially granted in June, a group of residents challenged their use by mounting a letter writing campaign to HUD officials . . . City grants coordinator, Martha Brown Hicks, . . .
"The city's Landmark's commission in 1976, after studying the pier's history, declared the pier a historic landmark. The commissioners did so primarily to control changes on the pier. Landmark status meant that the city was required to apply to its Landmark Commission for certificates of appropriateness to make alterations.
"In January 1977 the city decided to buy the merry-go-round to assure it would stay on the pier forever. . . .
" . . " p.151
"The city applied for a third year of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds to complete the pier's structural repairs. . . .[U.S. Congressman] Robert K. Dornan came out in favor of the carousel after Arthur Rinck of the Santa Monica Housing Commission tried to divert funds to a loan program to rehabilitate housing for the elderly. . . Newly elected Councilman Perry Scott was always against the pier . . .
" . . . Councilwoman Christine Reed . . .
"Several developments were proposed as well as several rehabilitation projects . . .
"The [City's] Entertainment Facilities Department, [headed by Jack Ferris,] was now in charge of the pier as well as the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
" . . . in March 1978 . . .permanently close[d] the pier to all vehicular traffic beyond the pier parking lot. . . . Most of the traffic, a high percentage of cruising teenagers, used to drive to the end of the pier not stop or patronize any of the pier business. . . .
" . . .
"Santa Monica's City Council by a vote of 4-3 quickly approved the [proposed] projects at their July 17, 1978 meeting. . . . Perry Scott was one of the three dissenters . . . He called the waterslide a "reincarnation of the old Pacific Ocean Park." Christine Reed defended the vote by saying, "I don't think the pier is going to turn into a POP. We're trying to get a pier to be a place where families get together.
" . . . .
"Approval for the project was sought from the South Coast Regional Coastal Commission at their September 11th meeting. Approval was denied. Commissioner Ruth Galanter* . . . "It's not necessarily that there's anything wrong with any of these uses, its just the question of the mix of types of uses." . . .
"The pier project was approved unanimously at the Coastal Commission's October meeting.
" . . . Henry Curtis* [Custis] from Ocean Park, John Longenecker from Beverly Hills and Colleen Creedon, who had lived above the carousel before the fire and didn't want to give up her home, appealed the decision to the State Coastal Commission in Sacramento. Commissioner Hank Doerfling, the South Coast body's representative [was for the project's approval] . . .
"The appeal was not heard. p. 152
" . . . during the spring of 1979 . . .
" . . . Moby's Dock restaurant [owned by Clarence Harmon*] was remodeled and the Boathouse restaurant expanded. George Gordon* tripled the size of his Beachcomber gift shop. . . .
" . . . Barbara Williams, who would become the head of Friends of the Santa Monica Carousel . . .
"The National Carousel Association became more involved and held their annual conference in Santa Monica on the weekend of September 14-16, 1979 . . .
"In December the city, squeezed for funds by Proposition 13, decided they would no longer subsidize pier parking . . .
" . . . " p. 153
" . . . Richard Koch, who owned the Westwind Sailing Club and School . . .
" . . ." p.155
" . . .
"Santa Monica didn't flinch. City Manager Charles Kent McClain on September 5th formally terminated the lease with the Carousel Corporation . . .
" . . .Acting Mayor Ruth Goldway* said, "you can't expect private parties to spend money on new pier projects unless the city makes a commitment to repair the pier." . . .
" . . ." p. 156
"Carousel restoration p. 157
"After months of painstaking work, the doors of the carousel building reopened on June 6, 1981 to allow 275 members of the National Carousel Association to preview the restored carousel and band organ. NCA president John Hayek presented the organization's Preservation Award to Santa Monica's Mayor Ruth Goldway.
"The carousel's official grand opening was on August 14, 1981 . . . included celebrities Jane Fonda,* Herb Albert [Alpert?]. Daniel Travanti . .
"Santa Monica recruited and hired Susan Mullin to manage the pier in August 1981. . .
" . . .
"In September 1981, the State Coastal Conservancy granted $30,000 . . . toward restoration . . . with the condition the city name a citizen's advisory committee . . .
"The pier task force, initially chaired by activist Ernie Powell*, . . .
" . . .
" . . . [Pier ]Task Force chairman, Paul Silvern*, . . .
" . . .
"Winter storms along the Santa Monica Bay were nothing new . . . the pier's lower deck had been damaged three times in the previous ten years. But the storm that began building up during the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, January 27, 1983 not only had huge churning breakers but occurred during the year's highest tides. . . " p. 157
"The swells at sea were only eight to ten feet at most, but their sixteen to twenty foot faces that broke on shore rapidly eroded sections of the beach from Malibu to Redondo Beach.
" . . . Shortly before 9:20 a.m., while hundreds of sightseers atop Palisades Park watched in the driving rain, the northwest corner of the pier broke off and fell into the pounding sea. . . .
" . . . Crowd control was a problem throughout the day and evening as the area was as crowded as during the Fourth of July. . . .
" . . . City Manager John Alshuler*. . .
" . . .
"Southern California beaches were designated a federal emergency area . . . Meanwhile a huge thirty ton crane was moved onto the pier's ocean end to remove the damaged lower deck.
" . . . a second storm, more powerful than the first . . . 40 mph winds and fifteen foot waves and coincided with the year's extreme high tides.
"The storm built up quickly in the late afternoon, too late to move the crane off the pier before quitting time. . . . The first hint of trouble came at 8:30 pm when the pier began vibrating and beams began to fall into the raging surf. Members of the City Council were informally meeting in the Moby's Dock Restaurant when Don Arnett, chief of Parks and Recreation, ordered it closed. . . .
"As the huge waves began to pound relentlessly against the weakened pilings, they snapped one by one until the huge thirty ton crane toppled into the surf at 10:45 p.m. The sea then used the crane as a battering ram to smash the pier further and further back towards shore. Within fifteen minutes, just before the tide reached its peak at 11:06 p.m., Peterson's boat launch crane, the Santa Monica Fishing building, a rest room, 160 feet of pier deck, three cars, and a large refrigerator truck were swept into the sea.
" . . .
"Damage to the pier was many times worse than from the first storm. . . . Debris was stacked ten foot high on the beach south of the pier all the way to Pico Blvd. . . .
" . . . President Reagan surveyed the damage from a U.S. Marine helicopter. The coast was declared a federal emergency area for the second time . . .
"Assemblyman Tom Hayden* and County Supervisor Dean Dana . . .
" . . . Mayor Ruth Goldway* . . .
" . . ." p. 159
" . . .The Pier Restoration Corporation, a non-profit [which Christine Reed and David Epstein voted against]" p. 160
"The city, in an effort to show the public that the business end of the Santa Monica Pier still stood, scheduled . . . "Save the Santa Monica Pier Week." . . .
"The opening ceremony on May 23rd featured thirty Arabian horses and numerous celebrities. Mayor Ken Edwards welcomed a crowd of five hundred . . .
"The pier hosted thousands who wandered through the art exhibit and crafts fair, watched street entertainers, or listened to the twenty bands . . . a Baby Contest; Pie Eating Contest; Build a Pier contest; hula hoops and boogie board contests, and a kite festival staged by Colors of the Wind.
". . . a film festival that featured movies that were filmed on the pier: Elmer Gantry, 1960; Inside Daisy Clover, 1965, The Sting, 1973 and 1941, 1979. In the La Monica tent, dancing. A Salute to the Pier, by Ry Cooder, bluesman, singer Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac, Billy Burnett's Band with drummer Mick Fleetwood, Blue Indigo, 50's swing, and an all-star comedy show led by Buck Henry. On Sunday, the L.A. Chamber Ballet and Ollie Mitchell's Sunday Band." p. 161
" . . .
"On September 13, 1983, the City Council appointed twelve candidates to an expanded board. David O'Malley, who was later elected Chairman, was an architect and president of Welton Beckett Associates, Herb Katz was an architect, and Mary Houha, was a planner with the L.A. City Community Development Agency. Local businessmen included David Anderson, president of General Telephone, Chris Harding, an attorney, and Wayne Wilson, a management consultant. Other members were Ruth Goldway*, former Mayor of Santa Monica, Judy Abdo*, Ernie Powell*, Henry Custis*, and William Spurgin."
" . . ." p. 162
" . . . in January 1984 . . .
"Sinbad's restaurant was physically moved back forty feet, then forward forty feet to repair the pilings beneath it. . . . Few realized that Sinbad's had been moved to its present location from its old location next to the billiard's building when the La Monica Ballroom was built in 1924.
" . . .The PRC board selected Gail E. Markens [as director of the Pier Restoration Corporation] . . . " p. 163
". . . design contest team winner, March 1983, Moore, Ruble, and Yudall, with the landscape architectural firm Campbell and Campbell, proposed a 5000 square foot children's park with a concrete boat and dragon, a two hundred seat bleacher structure to accomodate volleyball spectators, and an extension of the pier deck east of the carousel connected by stairs and ramps to the Promenade below. Metal framed pavilions, would flank the bleachers . . .
" . . . " p. 164
" . . .
" . . . the carousel managed to open in mid-August on the closing weekend of Los Angeles' 1984 Summer Olympics.
" . . . Roy Cruickshank* operated Skipper's, a fast food business in the northwest corner of the carousel building . . .
". . . [during renovations] he operated out of a popcorn cart in front of the carousel . . .
" . . . Ernie Powell* commented, "I'm of the theory that tells us a stronger pier is all we need. That's a less expensive way to go."
" . . . " p. 165
" . . .
"The Pier Restoration Corporation, in hopes of luring a more upscale crowd to the pier that summer, sponsored a series of free "Twilight Concerts" on Thursday evenings. . . . . in a blue and white tent on the approximate site of the old La Monica Ballroom . . . on June 20, 1985 with the Unlisted Jazz Band. It was followed by a chamber music concert by the New West Brass Quintet. The most popular nights were those that featured dancing with music furnished by jazz groups such as the Rhythm Kings. The concert series eventually became an annual summer event with the emphasis on a series of twilight dances: swing, country-western, reggae, roaring 1920s, folk and 1950s rock n' roll.
" . . ." p. 166
"The Carousel Park opened on June 6, 1986. Ray Carmack Shows set up a small children's amusement zone adjacent to it behind the carousel. It featured an Eli 12 Ferris Wheel, a super slide and three platform kiddie rides. . . .
"The crowds that jammed Santa Monica's beaches for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display became larger and more unmanageable throughout the decade. The crowd of 500,000 that was drawn to the beach on Friday evening July 4, 1986 created an unsafe atmosphere that two hundred police and civilian badged employees couldn't control. Some fighting began as early as 3 p.m. in the beach parking lots, then escalated after the pier fireworks ended at 9:30 p.m. Sgt. Barry Barcroft, the event watch commander, reported that most of the assaults seemed to be a result of gangs of up to ten, jumping, beating, and stabbing others. There were reports of several shootings, seven knifings, and a total of nearly two hundred fights. One victim was struck and killed by two motorcycles in a hit and run accident. The police, dealing with a whole army of attempted murders and assaults with deadly weapons, made fifty-nine arrests.
"The gang problem near the pier remained a persistent problem, especially during the annual spring school vacation. While the college crowd preferred to go to Palm Springs, gang members from South-Central Los Angeles preferred to gather on the Santa Monica Pier during the day and in the parking lot just north of the pier in the evening. . . . Santa Monica responded in 1987 with beefed up police patrols at the pier and in the adjacent parking lots."
" The Pier Corporation . . . the shooting gallery . . . . On May 5, 1987 gave lessee John Brown* sixty days to vacate. [He] had been operating it for sixteen years . . ."p. 167
"[Brown] claimed the city wanted to evict him to bring in a more upscale business. . . . Santa Monica Municipal Court issued a court order and the shooting gallery closed June 21st.
" . . .
"Summer 1987 festivities began with a dawn Fourth of July fireworks show. Surprisingly over 50,000 spectators awoke several hours before dawn to attend the unusual event. The pier, beach, and Palisades Park were packed with spectators. The peaceful event grew in popularity over the years until more than 200,000 people jammed Santa Monica to watch the fireworks . . ." p. 169
"The pier's third annual Thursday night Twilight Dance series [Kathryn King*] began on July 9th with a performance by the Rhythm Kings. Over 5000 people listened and danced . . .
" . . .
" . . . approval process by the City's Architectural Review and Landmarks committees, Planning Commission, and City Council.
"On November 1st Gail Markens gave notice . . .
"Construction on the Newcomb Pier began in early November 1987. . . .
"On January 20, 1988 a brutal winter storm with ten foot high surf struck the Santa Monica Bay . . .
" . . .The project was completed in August 1988.
"The pier merchants . . . charged that the plan would increase rents, create parking problems and force out current merchants and their lower income patrons.
" . . .
"Councilmen Herb Katz and David Finkel . . . sought to give preference to existing pier merchants . . .
" . . ." p. 170
" . . .
" . . . Santa Monica and the Pier Restoration Corporation's Board . . . chose John Gilchrist . . . as director of the Pier Restoration Corporation.
"Gilchrist had lived in Los Angeles before moving to Miami in 1972. He had worked with the architectural firm Victor Gruen Associates from 1955-1963 and was an Associate Professor of Architecture at USC from 1963-1971.
" . . ." p. 172
"Details about how the pier was constructed on pp. 173 and 174
" . . . April 6, 1990 dedication . . .
" . . . Mayor Dennis Zane said, "In Santa Monica, we like to say that the pier is the soul of Santa Monica, and the further the pier stretches to the sea the more soul we have."
"Judith Meister, the pier's manager . . .
" . . . Councilwoman Christine Reed . . .
"City officials then honored the woman who they felt was most instrumental in saving the Pier, Joan Crowne, a former pier restaurant owner was presented with the first "Santa Monica Pier Prize" in commemoration of her 'dedication and devotion' to the pier. She took out a second mortgage on her home to help finance the 1973 save-the-pier effort and was later forced to sell the house.
" . . . " p. 174
" . . .
"Russ Barnard*'s Long Walk Ltd. . . . envisions a first-class restaurant similar to his Tavern on Main in Ocean Park. . . .
" . . ." p. 176
{P. 146 1978 photo of Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke pitching pennies on the Santa Monica Pier.
{P. 147 1975, photo of fishermen on the Municipal Pier's lower deck, with Boat Rentals, Moby's Dock (cocktails, lunches); Sinbad's (cocktails; dinner); and the Holiday Inn looming at the top of the Pier.}
{P. 148 Bait Boats, New Sunbeam and the Nordica, owned by Pete Peterson, were anchored in Santa Monica Harbor, 1980}
{Pp. 153, 154, 155 1983 storm destroying the pier, with the Santa Monica Port Cafe on the lower deck.}
{P. 167 1989 Temporary trestle pier built to repair the Municipal pier and in the background Holiday Inn, the Santa Monica Freeway, and Rand Corporation, blocking City Hall's view of the ocean, Bambrick owned Fish Restaurant; Hot Dog on a Stick original location.}