Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182 pp.
[1930 photo on page ii of Rosemary and Vincent Romero and their cousin, Perfecto Marquez posing with a float, built by Ysidro Reyes II, based on a carreta from 1830, for the Ocean Park kiddie parade. The entry won first place. Rosemary Romero Miano]
Black and white Postcard p. iv S.M. 2 Santa Monica Canyon, Santa Monica, California, ca., 1918, Young Collection
1. Santa Monica Canyon: The Land and Its Peoples
" . . .
" . . . the voyage of Juan Cabrillo up the coast from Baja in 1542, . . . sailed into Santa Monica Bay on October 5. . . .
"After Cabrillo, only the yearly passage of the Manila galleons disturbed the coastal waters. For two-and-a-half centuries, these great sailing ships carried passengers and cargoes of gold and silver from Acapulco to Manila and returned laden with the riches of the Orient, crossing the ocean to a point near Cape Mendocino and sailing down the California coast to Acapulco. . . ." p. 4
" . . .
"The rancho period began in 1784, as soldiers, planning retirement, were granted permission to establish homes and run cattle on their own lands outside the pueblo. While these were little more than grazing permits, subsequent grants were accorded official status. The earliest such grant along the northwestern fringe of Santa Monica Bay was for Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit, issued by the Spanish to José Bartolomé Tapia in 1802. To the south, Augustin and Ygnacio Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes were given grazing rights to Rancho La Ballona in 1820-the low-lying flatland bordering Ballona Creek, the present site of Culver City.
"In 1822 Mexico won its independence from Spain. Therefore, in 1827, Francisco Javier Alvarado and Antonio Ignacio Machado were given a grazing permit for "the place called Santa Monica" by Guillermo Cota, the alcalde (mayor) of Los Angeles in the name of the new Mexican government. Machado is believed to have relinquished his share to Alvarado in 1831, but Alvarado's sons kept the grant until June 14, 1838, when they relinquished their rights to Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes." pp. 5, 6
" . . .
" . . . One of the lengthiest disputes in the history of the ranchos began in December 1839, when Francisco Sepúlveda applied for his grant for Rancho San Vicente, which adjoined Rancho Boca de Santa Monica on the north and east, and somehow included in it portions of all three adjacent ranchos. Two subsequent surveys went farther and placed all of Rancho La Ballona within the Sepúlveda grant, leading him to rename his enlarged property Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica.
"An even greater threat arose when the United States army marched into Los Angeles in 1846 and again in 1847, leading to the surrender of Alta California to the United States in 1848. . . . The Board of Land Commissioners rendered its decision on April 14, 1854: the confirmation of an undivided one-half interest in the Boca de Santa Monica . . . Rancho to Ysidro Reyes and the denial of the other undivided one-half to the Marquez widow and children . . . On December 10, 1856, the U.S. District Court reversed the ruling on the Marquez half-share, but the issuance of the patent, or final deed, was delayed until 1881.
"Meanwhile, Ysidro Reyes died at home in the pueblo during the smallpox epidemic of 1861. . . . A fifty-inch rainfall in 1861 was followed by the great drought of 1862-64. . . .
" . . . Easterners drifting south from the Sierra Nevada gold fields . . . acquired large tracts of land at bargain prices. The Santa Monica area attracted the attention of Colonel Robert S. Baker, . . . [who had] sold supplies to miners. Later he added to his sizable fortune by raising cattle and sheep in northern California and the the Tejon country in Kern County.
"Baker established himself in Los Angeles and on September 3, 1872, purchased Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica, paying the heirs of Francisco Sepúlveda $55,000 for over thirty thousand acres. A year later, on August 14, 1873, he bought an undivided one-half interest in Rancho Boca de Santa Monica, without patent, for $6,000 from Maria Villa de Reyes. In 1874 Colonel Baker married the widowed Arcadia Bandini de Stearns, a major landholder in her own right . . .
"Baker was eager to resolve the boundary disputes between the two ranchos and to take possession of his land, but it was 1881 before the United States patent for Rancho Boca de Santa Monica was issued and signed by President James Garfield on July 21 . . . The case for partition remained to be settled and came before the court on July 6, 1882. In the meantime, Colonel Baker had sold a three-quarters interest in his landholdings to Senator John P. Jones of Nevada for $150,000, and the remaining one-fourth to Arcadia for $50,000, but asked that the partition be continued in his name.
"On June 8, 1883, the Decree of Partition was filed giving the allotments. Robert Baker received 2,112.80 acres, including what is now the Riviera, upper Santa Monica Canyon, Rustic and Temescal canyons and the intervening mesa which would become the heart of Pacific Palisades.
"Each of the five surviving heirs of Francisco Marquez . . . received three allotments-a large parcel of agricultural land on the western mesas, several acres in lower Santa Monica Canyon for a homesite and crops, and a small parcel at the mouth of the canyon for commercial use . . . approximately 4,543 acres.
"By 1907 all of the large agricultural parcels had been sold. . . ." p. 12
2. Santa Monica Canyon As A Resort
"Los Angeles in the 1860s was still an adobe pueblo-raucous, filthy, and lawless. . . prosperous migrants from the east began flocking to Southern California to get their share . . . and brought with them a taste for more civilized pleasures.
"In spite of the resulting land boom, the Santa Monica coastline and plateau remained a grass-covered range where sheep and a few cattle still grazed. . . . perhaps the first true resort in Southern California. According to an article in the Los Angeles Express in 1872: "Seventeen years ago [1855] Santa Monica was selected as a summer resort by Dr. Hayward and until the last five years [1867] he and his family were the only ones who availed themselves of its delights and benefits. Santa Monica proper is a farm house located on the ridge one and a half miles from where the camp is located. At this log house the road descends into a deep ravine or cañon, at the foot of which near the confluence with the ocean, is a thick growth of old sycamores. Here is the camp."
"By the mid-sixties, picnicking and camping under the sycamores in the canyon drew many Angelenos. . . . One intriguing item in the San Bernardino Guardian reported that almost the entire Jewish population of Los Angeles rode to Santa Monica Canyon in four six-horse coaches on September 22, 1867, shortly before the Jewish New Year, to enjoy the pleasures of "ocean swimming and surf side festivities."
"In 1871 . . . B.L. Peel put up a huge tent to accomodate thirty families . . . one busy Sunday . . . three hundred visitors arrived for the day and remained for an all-night dance. . . . .
" . . . [1872], a real hotel was opened in Santa Monica Canyon . .
"By 1874, two canyon hotels kept by Wolf and Steadman, the Morongo House and the Seaside Hotel, were popular . . . A road ran from Los Angeles to the shore at the foot of . . . (Colorado) St. in Santa Monica, where facilities at Shoo Fly Landing were used for shipping asphalt from the La Brea pits to San Francisco, the first sea-borne commerce in Santa Monica Bay. . . .Wagons and carriages [continued on] the beach to the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon.
"Colonel Robert Baker . . . envisioned a new wharf at Santa Monica and a connecting railroad into Los Angeles.
"[Baker] teamed up with the newly arrived senator from Nevada, John P. Jones . . . Jones had made his first fortune in the mines of the Comstock Lode. . . . he invested in mines all over the world. backed a variety of patents and inventions, [making and losing] several fortunes. Appointed to the United States Senate in 1873, he continued to serve for thirty years, maintaining his official residence in Virginia City, . . . When he arrived in Los Angeles in 1874, he was given a royal welcome.
" . . . the two men . . . organize[d] the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad Company to provide a link to Los Angeles and the eastern seaboard, as well as an access to Jones' Panamint mines. They also began work on a new wharf at Shoo Fly Landing . . .
" . . . Jones and Baker laid out the townsite of Santa Monica and scheduled a land auction for July 15, 1875. On July 14 the steamer Senator arrived at the pier, carrying 150 passengers from San Francisco, bringing . . . Tom Fitch . . . [to] conduct the proceedings . . .
""On Wednesday afternoon at one o'clock we will sell at public outcry to the highest bidder, the Pacific Ocean, draped with a sky of scarlet and gold; we will sell a southern horizon, rimmed with a choice collection of purple mountains, carved in castles and turrets and domes; we will sell a frostless, bracing, warm, yet in languid air, braided in an in with sunshine and odored with the breath of flowers."
" . . . .
"The new railroad began passenger service on December 1, 1875 . . .
"Santa Monica Canyon was perceived by developers and customers as a scenic extension of the town itself . . . The Santa Monica Outlook began publication in 1876 . . .
" . . . in 1876 . . . Ludwig Louis Salvator, Archduke of Austria, and author of Los Angeles in the Sunny Seventies: A Flower from the Golden Land . . . described . . . the seventeen-mile trip by stage from Los Angeles, following the old Indian trail to New Santa Monica-an "unprepossessing town" supported by shipping, the railroad, and sea bathing. . . . .
" . . .
" . . . in 1876, . . . the first school, operated by the county, held sessions in the Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica from March until June under Professor McKissick, and opened again in the fall in a fine, new building with one new teacher. The district included all of the Malibu and La Ballona ranchos, as well as the incorporated Santa Monica area. Some of the children came long distances on foot or horseback, or stayed with families in town. There is no record of names in the first class , , ,
" . . .
" . . . [1879] . . . Santa Monica attracted vacationers with hotels and a lavish new bathhouse that offered private bathing and showering facilities-each cubicle with water that ran hot or cold, fresh or salt-as well as changing rooms, steam baths, and a swimming tank.
" . . . the Southern Pacific Railroad, in September 1876, finished its line to Los Angeles . . . absorbing Senator Jones' Los Angeles and Independence Railroad (in 1877)-its Los Angeles depot abandoned, the wharf condemned, and shipping transferred to San Pedro . . . on December 8, 1878, the Outlook suspended publication . . ." p. 22
3. Abbot Kinney and His Trees
"The land boom of the 1880s reversed the area's downward trend and saw the population of Los Angeles grow from 12,000 to 87,000. For Santa Monica the magic year was 1886, when subdivisions multiplied and work was begun on the elegant Hotel Arcadia. Southern Pacific trains made four round trips to Santa Monica on weekdays, six on Sundays, . . . In November of that year[1886], Santa Monica was incorporated . . .
"By the end of the decade, Santa Monica had become a full-fledged resort, with hotels, restaurants, and an opera house. George Grimminger had a beer garden at Third and Utah (Broadway); a gospel tent was pitched at Third and Oregon (Santa Monica Boulevard); and . . . citizens objected to people camping on the beach. . . . In July, 1888, 5,000 visitors came to Santa Monica, 500 to Long Beach, 400 to Redondo, and 100 to Catalina. . . .
" . . .
" . . . Mendel Meyer [a violinist, known from San Francisco to Tombstone] maintained salons and saloons in Santa Monica and the Canyon in the eighties and nineties . . .
" . . .
"The attention of horticulturalists was drawn to the Santa Monica area in 1887, when Abbot Kinney established the nation's first forestry station in Rustic Canyon. Kinney, an urbane eastern gentleman of distinguished lineage, a scholar and world traveler, tobacco millionaire and idealistic dreamer, came to California in 1880. Attracted by the climate, he settled in Sierra Madre, planted a large orchard, and earned renown as a horticulturist. He moved to Santa Monica in the early 1880s for the benefits of the sea air and in 1885 was appointed to the newly created state Board of Forestry.
In 1887 Kinney organized a syndicate that purchased 247 acres of land on the bluffs west of Santa Monica Canyon . . . Huntington Palisades . . . and announced plans to [plat?; subdivide?] a fashionable residential district . . . the Santa Monica Outlook Railway was organized, with Kinney as President, to build a steam road from Santa Monica along the base of the bluff to the mouth of the canyon. . . . .
"The same year [1887], thanks to Kinney's enthusiasm over the forestry movement, Senator Jones and Arcadia Bandini de Baker donated six acres of land in Rustic Canyon to the state as a site for the nation's first forestry experimental station. One of the projects to be undertaken was a study of the newly introduced eucalyptus trees, thousands of which had been planted across the state under a variety of conditions. The need was recognized a more scientific approach to the problems of planting and use.
"The Santa Monica Forestry Station was formally established on December 20, 1887, to test trees from other countries for their usefulness and adaptability to the soil and climate of California. Fourteen more acres were added in 1889, and the deed was officially recorded. By then, the original plot had been cleared and planted, and a building for offices, seed storage, and exhibits had been constructed. A residential manager was housed in a cottage on the grounds.
"The tract extended over several levels of land in Rustic Canyon and across the mesa to the east, where it commanded a view over Santa Monica Canyon. The Outlook reported brisk sale of trees to communities across the state-18,000 were shipped to Pasadena to landscape new subdivisions and 12,000 to Los Angeles to be placed in parks. Overall management was in the hands of Abbot Kinney, who was chairman of the state board of forestry. In fact, orders for trees were originally placed with Kinney himself.
" . . . At the same time as the Forestry Station was being launched, Santa Monica Heights [Kinney's development] was being graded and coincidently planted with eucalyptus trees. In 1893, the state legislature . . . liquidated the forestry board and turned management of the Rustic Canyon operation over to the Agriculture Department of the University of California at Berkeley.
" . . . vague accusations [of mismanagement]. In 1897 the value of the research was enhanced by an affiliation with the United States Forestry Department, which by then had experimental stations in thirty states.
"In October 1904, a fire that began in the mountains back of the Soldier's Home raged for two days before descending into Rustic and Santa Monica canyons. The handful of residents in Rustic Canyon fought the fire successfully in the early evening, but a breeze fanned the flames the following morning, burning all of the Forestry Station structures except a windmill and a tower. Although much of the growth and seedling stock was lost, the trees survived and the essential structures were replaced the following year.
" . . .
" . . . some of the large specimens Kinney planted near the bluffs in Huntington Palisades and those at the Forestry Station in Rustic Canyon remain as a . . . legacy of his enterprise . . . As for Kinney, he abandoned his subdivision plans-perhaps as a result of the economic downturn of 1888-and in 1891 sold his entire property on the mesa to Collis P. Huntington." p. 27
4. The Long Wharf
" . . . Ernest Marquez Port of Los Angeles . . .
"The major player in the drama was Collis Huntington of the Southern Pacific Railroad, whose reputation for ruthless business dealings had preceded him. Years before, during the gold rush, he had made his fortune in the hardware business in Sacramento, selling necessities to the miners at cutthroat prices. Now that competition from the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad had been eliminated, Huntington moved to reinforce the Southern Pacific's monopoly in the area and raised rates on the San Pedro line to an exorbitant level.
"At the same time, in the mid-1880s, the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads sought their own outlets to the sea, threatening the Southern Pacific stranglehold on shipping. Congress recognized the need for an improved deep-water port for Los Angeles and began a series of investigations and hearings to decide on the most suitable location. Senator William B. Frye of Maine, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, visited Senator Jones at his palatial new home in Santa Monica overlooking the bay, and became a zealous champion of Santa Monica's bid for the harbor. The contest gained momentum when Collis Huntington and the other top nabobs of the Southern Pacific decided to build their own harbor in Santa Monica and to push for Senate support.
"As the new owner of Abbot Kinney's land, . . . Huntington went on to acquire a right-of-way across the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon . . .
" . . .
"Work was completed on July 14, 1893. The imposing structure was 4,700 feet long; it included huge coal bunkers, a complete depot facility, warehouse areas, accommodations for employees, and a public dining room . . . Collis Huntington . . . predicting that a new town would rise in the canyon and . . . a future industrial site offshore behind a massive breakwater.
" . . . That summer, a carnival atmosphere prevailed, as The Great Harmon made flying seventy-five-foot leaps from the Long Wharf into the ocean, and the canyon offered a Great Balloon Ascension and Double Parachute Drop featuring aerialist Wesley Woodford and the "Queen of the Air," Mlle. Leroy. . . .
" . . .
"The Outlook [1896] . . . observed that other [port] sites-Redondo, San Pedro, and Long Beach-[couldn't preserve both] port facilities and resort accommodations. . . . Santa Monica placed its new YWCA on the south side of town, as far from the canyon as possible.
" . . .
"Meanwhile, the fate of Port Los Angeles was to be decided by the Senate, with Senators Frye and Jones both on the Commerce Committee. Jones moderated the tone of his support when eastern newspapers noted that properties adjacent to the wharf were owned by Senator Jones and Arcadia Bandini de Baker and by Frank Davis, who represented Collis Huntington. In the final debate in June 1896, Senator Stephen M. White of California proved more persuasive . . . and the victory went to San Pedro. . .
"Work on San Pedro Harbor began in 1899; Huntington died a year later, and E.H. Harriman, who assumed control, became president of the Southern Pacific in 1902. Six years later, as business declined and expenses rose, Harriman permitted the Santa Monica rail line to be leased to the Los Angeles Pacific, an electric railway system owned by the Southern Pacific. . . . the Balloon Route Excursion Trolley Trips . . . " p. 33
" . . .
"There was a Japanese fishing village from 1899 until 1920 near the Long Wharf . . .
"The Pacific Electric Railroad continued to provide trolley service as far as Santa Monica Canyon until August 22, 1933. . . .
5. Turn of the Century
"The boom years of the late 1880s and the port fever of the 1890s brought weekend excursionists and a steady surge of development to Santa Monica, but the crowds largely passed the canyon by. When the new electric rail line from Los Angeles went into service in 1896, visitors flocked to the coast for a variety of social and sports events or a day at the new North Beach Bath House.
"Santa Monica, with its popular taverns and restaurants, had developed a reputation as the favorite resort of the sporting element of Los Angeles and as the watering hole at the end of the carline for the Sawtelle Soldiers' Home "old boys." Outdoor sports were popular as well. Crowds came to the beach for surf bathing, ocean fishing, swimming, bicycle races, baseball and other organized games, four Californiohile tennis tournaments and polo matches drew highbrow patronage from all over the state.
"A polo club was organized in Santa Monica in 1877, but the members were so humiliated at losing a match the next year to Manual Marquez and his team of four Californio canyonites that it was disbanded. In 1889 the Southern California Polo Club was formed with play held on grounds donated by Senator Jones and Arcadia Bandini de Baker. Interest in horse-related sports persisted, and nearly forty years later polo came into its own on several playing fields in Rustic and Santa Monica canyons.
" . . .
" . . . the 1890s. Hunting, . . . for sport, to protect livestock, and to provide food had long been a tradition. . . . butcher shops in Santa Monica were accustomed to preparing deer for domestic consumption. . . . A. Mooser's store in Santa Monica . . .
" . . . County ordinances . . . prohibited saloons in unincorporated areas from staying open on Sundays or after midnight on Saturdays . .
" . . .
"Frederick Rindge, the owner of Rancho Malibu, led the prohibitionist movement in Santa Monica, and with wide community support saw a no-saloon ordinance passed at an election on April 9, 1900. Rejoicing was short-lived. The provisions were so full of loopholes and the town so eager for revenue that Santa Monica was soon back in business . . .
" . . . the establishment of Canyon School . . . The process began in 1889, when the school board instructed two of the trustees, E.J. Vawter and R.P. Elliott, to investigate the need. . . . No action was taken until 1894, when approval was given for a special election . . . on October 29, 1894, the school opened . . ." p. 44
7. Canyon School
" . . .
"The story of Canyon School at this time [1913] is eloquently told in tape-recorded reminiscences by two of its teachers, Beulah Archer Asimont* and Theresa Sletten. Beulah June Archer* came with local credentials. She attended the South Side School in Ocean Park, which was founded in 1890-a one-room frame schoolhouse with a cupola, resembling Canyon School. Her teacher was Miss Hamlin* a very young, very tall woman with long black hair which was caught up by huge bone hairpins into a bun that shifted from side to side atop her head. She was impressive in the classroom and an inspiration to her students. Beulah later observed, "I thought that, next to God and Christ and my parents was my teacher, Miss Hamlin*, and I determined that I would be a teacher some day."
"Miss Archer attended Santa Monica High School and the Los Angeles Normal School on Vermont. After graduation in 1913, she came to Canyon School, a position that paid seventy-five dollars a month, plus five dollars for janitorial duties. Her trip each day took her by streetcar to the canyon rim at Inspiration Point, then down a trail. The young teacher walked carefully, dressed in her long skirts. wearing cuban heels, and with her red hair up high in a bun-"not because of Miss Hamlin, but because that was the style.""
"The thirty-odd pupils who made up her class ranged in age from five to fifteen years and included black Americans, white Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Japanese-and Russian-Americans-the latter coming from the fishing colony next to the Long Wharf. There, on a narrow strip of sand between cliffs and surf, families lived in small houses and shacks and in old street cars brought out from Los Angeles to provide housing at four dollars a month.
" . . .
"One of the boys lived in a streetcar and was very poor. . . . Miss Archer hated to see him walk over to Jefferson School in Santa Monica for classes in sloyd (woodworking), so she bought him an outfit and had him change in the shed that housed the mechanical toilet . . . " p. 61
"In 1920 Theresa Sletten arrived . . . graduated from Santa Monica High School . . .
Virginia
8. Characters and Catastrophes
" . . .
"By 1924 . . . proposal to unite the [Canyon School] area with Los Angeles passed . . .
9 The Lower Canyon as West Coast Bohemia
" . . .
"The eccentric style was set in 1913 when the subdivsion was brand new. A wealthy dowager named Mary Kyte*, who lived in one of the grand houses on Ocean Avenue, bought the large parcel of land inside the sweeping curve of Mesa Road. She enclosed it with a fence, built two brick restrooms inside, put in ponds and trees, and engaged Roman Marquez to work full time caring for the plantings. She brought groups of nuns and parochial school children out to go to the beach, but only once during her twenty-four years of ownership did she really entertain, with an elegant catered afternoon party in the garden behind the wall.
"The strong-willed lady drove out to visit the property in her custom-built, chauffeur-driven limousine, sitting in the front seat and clutching the bulb of an air horn which she sounded vigorously while going up and down the Ocean Avenue grade. . . .
"The Kyte property remained intact until the mid-1930s, when it was bought and subdivided by Robert Donovan. Architect Thornton Abell purchased a portion and built his own widely honored International-style home on the hillside and in the 1940s incorporated the two restrooms into a small house for artist Richard Haines.
" . . ."
10. Fancy Folk and Civic Matters
" . . . The space north of Canyon School was subdivided by the Santa Monica Land and Water Company in 1926 . . .
"One of Santa Monica's favorite sons, Leo Carrillo, chose a wooded strip of land along the creek for his home, an adobe hacienda with a barn and ample spaces for horses. Leo was a true Californio, tracing his ancestry back to Raymundo Carrillo, who arrived i California in 1769 as a soldier with the Portolá party and settled in Santa Barbara. His father, Juan, came to Santa Monica in 1881, started out as a fisherman and later rose to prominence as a judge and first president of the city's trustees.
"Leo was one of thirteen children and the most famous. He began his acting career on the stage in New York, and after returning to California appeared in some fifty films. He was a familiar sight at parades and other public events, with his white horse, elaborate outfits, and fancy silver saddles . . . A good friend of Will Rogers, he was an avid polo fan . . . Another close friend was Earl Warren; after managing Warren's successful gubernatorial campaign, Leo was appointed to the state parks commission, a post he held with distinction. . . . His brothers Ottie and Jack also had homes in the canyon.
" . . .
" . . . [after] the 1925 annexation, when the canyon became part of Los Angeles. The Santa Monica Canyon Improvement Association . . .
"The Santa Monica Canyon Chamber of Commerce, formed in 1938 . . .
" . . . The canyon Chamber of Commerce was resurrected in 1947 as the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association (SMCCA) . . . .
" . . . in 1953, when the Rustic Canyon Racquet Club (formerly the Uplifters Club) became available . . . The SMCC began soliciting funds . . . Al Edmundson negotiated a deal . . . The plaque on the clubhouse reads: "Given to the people of Los Angeles, November 19, 1953 by Maybell Machris in memory of her husband Alfred P. Machris." . . . [Officially opened June 1961] . . .Rustic Canyon Park . . . came into being.
" . . .
11 Canyon School Revisited
" . . .
" . . . the first Canyon School Fiesta and Art Fair in 1934 . . . In 1935 a week-long affair in May featured a juried art exhibit, with entries by sculptors Merrill Gage, Helen and Holger Jensen, photographer Victor Havenan, artists Arthur Millier and McDonald Wright*. Palisadian artist Hugo Ballin displayed his notorious painting, "Mrs. Katz of Venice," . . .
"In 1937 the Art Show added exhibits by photographer Edward Weston, watercolorist Marian Gage, painter Otto Classen, architect Thornton Abell, and the Jensens. . . .
"The following year, Susan Moultrie French exhibited her flowers in water color; Ethelwyn Conrey, etchings; George and Olive Barker of Huntington Palisades, their oils and water colors . . .
" . . .
"Higher education came to Pacific Palisades as enrollments increased. Paul Revere Junior High School opened in September 1955, on a portion of the Riviera Country Club's polo fields, and the remaining equestrian acreage was subdivided for housing. Palisades High School followed six years later in Temescal Canyon . . .
" . . . In the sixties the PTA Cultural Arts Committee purchased and framed fifty prints by famous artists to be displayed in the classrooms, with volunteer mothers acting as docents . . . The last Art Show was held in the 1950s, but the traditional Fiesta remained . . .
"Prospects for major change appeared on the horizon in 1976, with court's decision to implement racial integration in the schools through mandatory busing. Canyon School . . . propose[d] its own voluntary plan. . . .
"A voluntary plan carefully crafted by a PTA group under the leadership of the principal, Victor Tomaszewski, was set in motion in 1978 . . . The PTA was disbanded and replaced by a three-school advisory council . . . Enrollment plummeted . . . and private schools welcomed the influx. . . .
" . . .
"After three years, mandatory busing was ended by court order, but the minority children already enrolled . . . continued to attend Canyon School. . . .
" . . .
" . . . The state legislature passed the Charter Schools Act in the fall of 1992, and in June 1993, Canyon School together with Palisades High, Palisades Elementary and Marquez Elementary, was granted a charter, enabling it to operate autonomously from the Los Angeles Unified School District and free from most state rules and regulations . . .
" . . ." p. 107
12 State Beach
"The beach at the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon, . . . known as "State Beach" . . . helped set the pattern for the mythical Southern California beach culture.
"In the mid-1920s a string of newly built beach clubs lined the strand below the Santa Monica bluffs and gave the city's resort status a bright new lustre. As a safety measure for members, the first lifeguards in Santa Monica were hired by the clubs, including the Santa Monica Swimming Club, located just southeast of Santa Monica Canyon. It was here that the legendary Sam Reid and Tom Blake not only served as lifeguards, but developed their surfing skills. . .
"Surfing was introduced to the California coast in 1907, when George Freeth, who was born and raised in Hawaii, was brought by railroad magnate Henry Huntington to Redondo Beach as an attraction for his new plunge . . . He performed twice a day for tourists. He became the first official lifeguard in the Santa Monica Bay area, assembled the first volunteer lifesaving corps in Southern California, and developed a cigar-shaped metal rescue kit which he mounted on a motorcycle sidecar.
"The twin sports of body-surfing and board-surfing also arrived in Santa Monica in the 1920s. Pioneer surfer Sam Reid discovered board-surfing in Atlantic City in 1912 when, at the age of six, he saw Duke Kahanamoku in an exhibition and borrowed the family ironing board to ride his first wave. Moving to California, he was hired as a lifeguard at the Santa Monica Swimming Club in 1925. . . .
"Tom [Blake] (1902-), who had moved to the West Coast in 1921 at the age of nineteen, first attained fame when he entered a competition with a board into which he had drilled holes, lightening it . . . He used it to win the 1928 Pacific Coast Paddleboard Championships and thereafter patented a hollow paddleboard design. In 1935 he led the way again by adding a fin to the board for greater stability. . . . honored posthumously on the . . . Surfing Walk of Fame at Huntington Beach.
"A modern lifeguard station was built at the mouth of the canyon in 1930 . . . and was manned by county lifeguards from 1930 to 1949. In 1933 the city of Santa Monica established its first lifeguard team, including three Palisadians . . . and sited its own tower next to the Santa Monica Swimming Club.
"Ed Carroll was the first captain of the county lifeguard service, which was formed in 1929-30 to serve Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica Canyon . . . . Helen "Skippy" Raymond [the first woman county lifeguard] . . .
" . . . George McManus, who served from opening day in 1930 until the city took over in 1949. George began his career as one of the first gondoliers on the Venice canals in 1905 and later served as a volunteer lifeguard at the Venice plunge . . .
" . . .
"During the forties, volleyball superseded surfing as the top State Beach sport and a whole new hierarchy fought for the honors . . . The sport of beach volleyball had its beginnings in the 1920s on a public court near Santa Monica pier and on courts at the various beach clubs. In the 1930s, two of the best public court players, Manny Saenz and Bernie Holtzman, supplemented their sparse earnings b playing the various club teams for small wagers . . . They both moved on to the court at State Beach, where competition was more intense . . .
" . . ." p. 123
Walking Tour
". . .
"220 West Channel-Home of champion tennis player May Sutton Bundy, winner of Wimbledon in 1905 and 1907 and Pasadena Rose Parade Queen in 1908.
" . . .
"345 West Channel-Residence of Dr. George Lewin, who kept the canyon fire engine in the 1930s and who collected pit bulls, which he kept in sturdy pens at the rear of the house. In recent years, this was the home of artist Sam Francis*( -1994), who had a studio here as well as nearby in Venice. He made frequent trips to Paris, Tokyo, Point Reyes, and New York, but spent much of his time in the canyon. Confined to a wheelchair during the last months of his life, he nevertheless painted 150 new works before his death in November 1994."
" . . .
"204-219 Chautauqua- . . . a five-acre meadow between Chautauqua and Corona del Mar is significant In the early 1900s it was owned by Robert Gillis and accommodated several shacks, one used by his daughter, Adelaide's, mandolin teacher, . . .
"In 1932 the property was purchased by Will Rogers and held by the Rogers family until 1945, when it was acquired by John Entenza, publisher of Arts and Architecture magazine, for his Case Study Program. The plan featured houses of modern design, often steel-framed and utilizing low-cost elements in their construction. Today . . . four of these landmark structures, built from 1946-49, still occupy the original site. . . .
" . . . The Eames* house, designed by Charles Eames* and his wife, Ray*, is the best preserved in its natural setting and is notable for interior elements designed by Charles* and Ray Eames*. Both the Eames house and the nearby Entenza are on the list of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage landmarks.
" . . .
"503 West Rustic-For many years the residence of Jack and Peggy Hughes . . . he coached five different sports at Venice High School, including swimming and his favorite sport, gymnastics,
" . . .
"533 West Rustic-The original house, which is still located at the rear, was commissioned by a Mrs. Montgomery and designed by architect John Byers in 1930 for sculptors Holger and Helen Jensen and their family. Helen make lifelike scuptures; his were less representational. They were known for such diverse work as the statue of Senator Jones in Santa Monica [now located at the Heritage Square Museum], a bust of Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid, animals at the San Diego zoo and the popular, "Laughing Head." . . .
" . . . Later the house was occupied by Nicolai Fechin, the famous Russian artist . . . who has a permanent exhibit at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City . . .
"After Fechin died in 1955, the house was sold to Sergei Bongart (-1985), a Russian artist who had come to the United States in 1947. . . he was the subject of the opening segment on the PBS series, "Profiles in American Art." . . . He married one of his students, Patricia LaGrand. . . .
"537 West Rustic-Built high on the hillside in 1924 by John and Grace Fraser as a one-room house. Living with them was Grace's mother, Mrs. Westover, a pioneer who came to the West in a covered wagon. The house was purchased in the mid-1930s by photographer Brett Weston, whose father, Edward Weston, lived nearby. Brett installed a darkroom, where his brother Cole learned photography under Brett's tutelage. The house was sold in 1960 to Brett's friend, cabinetmaker Gerald McCabe, and his wife, Vicki, who enlarged and improved it in 1965. . . . " p. 142
" . . .
"551 West Rustic-A historic piece of property containing an access route from the mesa above to Rustic Canyon, probably used for watering cattle in the creek. In 1953 this parcel was purchased by Dr. George Bartholomew, professor of animal physiology at UCLA, and his wife Elizabeth. . . . The property contained many large native oaks and eucalyptus trees that dated back to the 1880s when the Forestry Station and Huntington Palisades were planted by Abbot Kinney*. The Bartholomews planted one hundred species of trees that included pines, sycamores, redwoods, figs, and eucalyptus. . . ."
" . . .
"349 Sycamore-Cottage built in 1947 and occupied in recent years by sculptor Ann Pollard.
" . . .
"408 Sycamore- . . . Oliver Andrews, a prominent sculptor affiliated with UCLA, and by a popular actress, Diane Varsi.
" . . .
"434 Sycamore- . . . Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy from 1956 to 1959 when they moved to Adelaide Drive . .
" . . .
"314 Mesa- . . . For many years the home of artist Harry Gesner, Sr. and his family . . .
" . . .
"320 Mesa-Residence of Arthur and Francine Millier, . . . He was known as the art critic of the Los Angeles Times and a popular artist who recorded the California scene in watercolors and etchings. . . . the Milliers were out in the desert with Metropolitan Opera star Lawrence Tibbett* when Francine went into labor. They hailed a car with a doctor aboard who delivered her baby, Mojave. In later years this was the home of photographer Victor Havenan and his wife, Dorothy.
" . . .
"370 Mesa- . . . Since 1951 it has been the home of artists Lee* and Luchita Mullican-Lee a native of Oklahoma and Luchita from Venezuela. Lee established his studio in Venice and began teaching at UCLA in 1959. His paintings, often done with a pallette knife in vibrant color, . . . inspired by the mystical and spiritual life of the Southwest and by the symbols of Indian culture. . . . Both sons, Matthew and John, attended Canyon School and became artists as well . . .
" . . .
"410 Mesa- . . . occupied in the 1930s by C.P.L. (Cecil Phillips Livingston) Nicholls, Superintendent of Aquatics, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. His wife, Josephine, was a trained artist, specializing in watercolors . . . Nicholls developed the city system of thirty-two swimming pools, the chain of public beaches, the lifeguard system, several mountain parks, and the Cabrillo Beach Marine Museum. He organized aquatic events and was involved in the Olympic Games and the building of the Olympic pool in Exposition Park. . . .
"420 Mesa-Mission-style Craftsman house, built in 1916 by William Benton. He was an artist who designed major exhibits, worked for the movie studios, and . . . created the decor for the Palace of Transportation at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco in 1915. . . . In the 1930s and 1940s . . . Mystery writer Craig Rice* was also a short-term resident.
"446 Mesa- . . . Photographer Edward Weston moved here from Carmel in June, 1934, with three of his four sons, Brett, Cole, and Neal, and set up a portrait studio and a darkroom. He was soon joined by Charis, who was his model and whom he later married. Some of Edward Weston's most famous works were done here, many of them on the roof, including a nude of Charis with her head lowered, photographs of the sky and of vegetables. In 1937 Weston received a Guggenheim grant to photograph scenes across America. Charis and he camped along the way to spare expenses, and for the first three months Cole drove the car-nicknamed "Heimie" for Guggenheim. Weston received a second grant in 1938, after which he and Charis returned to Carmel. Meanwhile, Brett moved into a nearby house where he also set up a darkroom, and Cole left to go to school.
"456 Mesa-Residence of sculptor Merrell Gage and his wife, artist Marian Gage, who built their . . . residence in 1923. . . .
"Gage won broad acclaim for his sculptures of Lincoln and appeared in a televised documentary, "The Face of Lincoln," which won an Academy Award for the best short subject of 1955. He created the sculptured fountain with the figure of an Indian on the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire boulevards in Beverly Hills. . . .
" . . .
"475 Mesa-In 1937, John Entenza, who was a widely recognized authority on architecture, commissioned architect Harwell Hamilton Harris to design a small house in a new and different form. The result was this International-style/Streamline Moderne design, featuring a curving carport and staircase in the front and banks of windows looking out over the canyon at the rear. The pairing of this house with the Neutra design at #491 won critical acclaim. Entenza, who lived in this house for several years, went on to become editor and publisher of Arts and Architecture magazine and to found the Case Study Program . . .
" . . .
"487 Mesa- . . . Douglas Shearer, brother of Norma Shearer and chief MGM sound technician, who was married to Marion, known for her friendliness and turned their badminton court on East Rustic Road into a social center for the lively group of artists and writers who lived in the neighborhood. It all came to an end in the mid-1930s, when she learned of her husband's infidelity and took her own life at the shooting gallery on the Ocean Park pier.
" . . .
"509 Mesa-Site of a house built in 1946 by Herbert Matter, a well-known photographer whose works appeared in Life magazine. As an associate of John Entenza, he was credited with redesigning the magazine California Arts and Architecture . . . .
" . . .
"477 Upper Mesa-Architect Thornton Abell purchased a portion of the Kyte garden in 1937 and in 1942 built a small house on the property. Its first tenant was artist Richard Haines and his wife, Nona. who were on their way to Alaska to fulfill a contract for a mural when World War II intervened and the couple were stranded. . . . After seven years [1949] the couple moved to Amalfi. . . .
"334 Amalfi- . . . The house was purchased by Neal and Jean Oxenhandler in 1962 [He a French professor at UCLA, and she an artist] . . .
"Artist Richard Diebenkorn*moved to this house in the canyon from Berkeley in 1966 and rented Sam Francis*'s studio in Ocean Park. His previous style, which had been termed representational , returned to the abstract in his Ocean Park paintings. He used the experience of driving down the hill and along the Pacific Coast Highway each morning as a source of inspiration-bright parallel bands of color suggested by the sunlit stripes of path, beach, ocean, sky and grass he saw along the way. In 1988 he left and moved to Healdsburg.
" . . .
"311 Amalfi- . . . Gracie Fields estate was sold in June 1951 to Howard and Marie Allen Beckman, who subdivided and in 1958 sold the main house . . . to Dr. Alan Warren Allen and his wife, Mary Jane* . . . .
"The neighbors' recollection [1962] of Mary Jane was that she was a tiny blonde who frequented Muscle Beach and formed the top of the muscle men's pyramid. . . .
" . . .
"247 Amalfi-A modified International-style house designed by Thomas Abell in 1951 for artist Richard Haines and his family after they moved from Upper Mesa Road. . . . He served as head of the Painting Department at Otis Art Institute from 1954 to 1974, and won many honors for his oils and watercolors. Haines' works which may be seen locally include his mosaic murals at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall depicting the history of music; on the new Physics Building at UCLA; and on the Federal Building downtown Los Angeles.
" . . .
"501 East Channel-This large estate was built recently on a portion of Pascual's land that was part of the picnic grounds and was inherited by his great grandson, Forrest Freed*. In the old days a suspension bridge spanned the creek and a portion of the natural stream was dammed to form a swimming pool. Angie recalls that her father, Perfecto, retained water and mineral rights for the family on his allotment and that the swimming pool contained creek water, spring water and tap water.
" . . .
"566 East Channel Road-The Mojica residence, La Finca de la Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, was built in 1933 on six lots, which included the site of Pascual Marquez's own home [which was moved to its present location near Canyon School.]
"The new owner was José Mojica, a famous and handsome Mexican opera star-a romantic tenor- . . . When he returned to Mexico in 1936, he build a duplicate of the house in San Miguel Allende, which he named the Villa Santa Monica and today is used as a hotel. . . .
"The new owner was Dr. H. Clifford Loos, who founded the Ross-Loos Medical Group. . . . He lived with his daughter, Mary Anita, who majored in archeology at Stanford and made her film debut dancing on the drum in the "Totem Tom-Tom" sequence in Rose Marie, wearing an Indian costume . . .
"Dr. Loos's vivacious sister, Anita, the author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and popular Hollywood personality, lived nearby on Santa Monica's famed Gold Coast and was a frequent visitor. The Aldous Huxleys also stopped by on their way down the hill from their bizarre house on the edge of Rustic Canyon. Pictures of the very tall Aldous walking on the beach with the very small Anita are legendary. Parties at the Loos home drew from an eclectic group of friends-physicians, politicians, and movie stars. Governor Warren, who spent summers at the Uplifter's Ranch, often presided over the barbecue, while Aldous Huxley specialized in tossing the salad.
"Mary Anita began her writing career in the late 1930s, collaborating on eighteen successful movie scripts for Darryl Zanuck with her husband Richard Sale and went on to write a series of novels based on her Hollywood characters . . ."
" . . .
"595 East Channel Road- . . . Dr. Rufus B. von KleinSmid, president of U.S.C. from 1921 to 1946 . . . an avid horticulturist . . . maintained a greenhouse . . . propagated a hundred ginkgo trees from seeds . . . collected in Washington, D.C., and placed the trees all over the campus and at the homes of family and friends. . .
" . . .
"687 Kingman-Home of Jeb Magruder, who moved to Washington, D. C., in 1970 as a member of President Nixon's staff.
" . . .
"620 San Lorenzo-The original Santa Monica Land and Water Company tract office/model home, a Mexican-style adobe hacienda designed by John Byers and built in 1926 for the opening of the tract.
"Architect Bill Reid designed an addition, converting the garages into an apartment for UCLA music professor Mantle Hood and his wife. Hood was an expert fencer and held matches in the garage.
" . . .
"686 San Lorenzo-House owned by Robert Hutton, newspaperman, whose father was Judge George Hutton, prominent Santa Monica lawyer and jurist. Built in 1927,
"700 San Lorenzo-One of the first houses to be erected in this area under the World War I Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act. It was designed and built in 1936 in "early California" style by W.I. Osterholt*, instructor in geology and geography at Santa Monica Junior College. . .
" . . .
"The Scott/Post/Hill/Machris Estate-Today the entrance to the historic property which spans the canyon from west to east, and was formerly known as the Machris estate, is at the end of San Lorenzo St. . . . bordered on the north by the Rivera Country Club. It was subdivided in 1970-71 . . .
"The current subdivision actually combined two separate but adjacent, estates one owned by Maybell Machris and the other owned by her son Maurice and his wife, Paquita. . . . including Sycamore Springs.
"In 1903 . . . . sold to William A. Johnson, an apiarist . . . who sold a small strip of land to William Parkinson in 1920 and the major portion of the property to Mrs. Frances W. Hall.
" . . .
"In 1925 Lester A. and Agnes Scott purchased the property . . . and in 1931 requested a change in zoning to permit them to sell to G. Allison Phelps, a popular radio philosopher, for a private club, including swimming pool, tennis and handball, pavilion, stage etc. . . . rejected by the city planning commission, they sold the ranch to Harrison Post, "an extensive traveler, scholar, landscape artist, and equestrian." . . .
""It was actually Post's friend, William Andrews Clark, Jr., who supplied the funds and who later claimed ownership. According to his biographer, William Mangam, Clark had inherited a fortune from mines in Montana, was twice widowed, and had one child, a son. He met Harrison Post (then known as Albert Weiss) in San Francisco when Post was a teenager and brought him into his household as one in a series of young men and boys whom he favored, showering him with homes, memberships in exclusive clubs, and a generous cash allowance. One such home was on Cimarron; another was on the grounds of the Uplifters Club.
"Post lived the life of a country squire-horseback riding, a box at the symphony with Clark, and trips to Europe as a patron of the arts. He renamed the estate the Villa Dei Sogni, built a combined stable and barn with a tower, and added separate chauffeur's quarters. After Clark's death in 1934, Post inherited the canyon property and a large cash settlement, while Clark's lavish mansion on West Adams Boulevard was donated to UCLA and is today the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.
"Post himself was in ill health and three years later sold the canyon property to Blanche Hill, wife of Courtland Hill, grandson of James J. Hill, founder of the Great Northern Railway. Mrs. Hill had young twins, George and Phoebe, by a previous marriage to George Hearst, son of William Randolph Hearst. The Hills promptly moved the main house from the east to the west side of the creek and made several additions. There were three smaller houses adjacent to the Riviera Country Club, the one nearest the creek for the twins, one for the servants and one for guests.
"Famous racing-car driver and vintage-car collector Phil Hill, who lived in Santa Monica, was a classmate of young George Hearst's at the Hollywood Military Academy and recalls visiting him in the canyon. George was partial to horses, motorcycles, and cars. The family had horse, kept in the stable and a quarter mile race track, with a stick-and-ball polo field in the center, for Courtland Hill, who was a polo player.
"Two of the eight stalls in the stable were turned into a shop for cars. Phil Hill had a Model T Ford, and George had a 1931 Model A. . . .
"In 1952 the Hill estate was purchased by Paquita Lick Machris, daughter of Santa Monica landowner Charles Lick, and her husband, Maurice, whose father was one of three brothers who founded the Wilshire Oil Company. . . .
"Since both Maury and Paquita were avid hunters and made frequent trips to Africa, the converted the stable into a Lodge as a showcase for their trophies . . . The Machrises also brought back the materials for one of the dioramas at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, elephants included.
" . . .
"In 1964 . . . sold . . . to developer Parker Jackson . . . [sold off] 1971. " p. 172
Postcards:
Santa Monica Canyon Before 1912, Canyon School on Sycamore Rd., Ernest Marques Collection, 1977, 1912
S.M. 2 Santa Monica Canyon, Santa Monica, California, ca. 1918 Young Collection, 1997
Port of Los Angeles, Cal. The Largest Wharf in the World, ca. 1900, Young Collection, 1997
1067 Santa Monica, Cal. First Stramer at Mammoth Wharf, May ll, 1893, Dated 9-12-07
Santa Monica Canyon, East Rustic Rd., ca. 1920, Young Collection
In Santa Monica Canyon-21, ca. 1924, Young Collection [Edmundson log cabin on Channel Rd.]
Home of Janet Gaynor, Santa Monica, California T-367, ca. 1930, Young Collection [Home of jeweler Abraham Slavick on Entrada Rd.]
Ted's Grill 146 Entrada Drive, Santa Monica Canyon, Santa Monica, Cal. "Where the Steaks are Cooked with Loving Kindness" ca. 1950s, Young Collection.