USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs : also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I > Part 75
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During the Civil war the government estab- lished Camp Drum and Drum Barracks at Wil- mington, and spent over a million dollars in erecting buildings. A considerable force of sol- diers was stationed there and all the army sup- plies for the troops in Southern California, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico passed through the port. The Wilmingtonians waxed fat on gov- ernment contracts and their town put on metro- politan airs. It was the great seaport of the south, the toll gatherer of the slough. After the railroad from Los Angeles was completed to Wilmington in 1869, all the trade and travel of the southwest passed through it and they paid well for doing so. It cost the traveler $1.50 to get from ship to shore on one of Banning's tugs and the lighterage charges from Wilmington to anchorage out beyond Deadman's Island made the heart of the shipper sad.
In 1873 the government buildings were sold at public auction to private parties, and what cost Uncle Sam over a million dollars returned him less than ten thousand. The hospital build- ing and officers' quarters were donated to the Methodist Church South for educational pur- poses. Wilson College, named for B. D. Wilson, the donor, was established in the buildings and for a time was well patronized. Having no en- dowment it was found impossible to support it from tuition charges alone and it was closed.
In 1880, or thereabouts, the railroad was ex- tended down to San Pedro and wharves built there. Then commerce left Wilmington and drifted back to its old moorings at San Pedro.
For two decades after the railroad was ex- tended down to San Pedro the town of Wil- mington remained in statu quo. Property de- clined in value. There was still considerable business transacted at the old port. The fishing industry was carried on quite actively. Tribu- tary to the town was a large agricultural district that brought in trade. With the general awak- ening of business that began in Southern Cali-
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fornia with the first year of the present cen- tury shrewd business men, foreseeing the pos- sibility of making a deep water harbor at Wil- mington, have been investing in real estate in and contiguous to the town. This has aroused the old burg from its lethargy. The maps of the United States survey designate the body of water on which Wilmington is built as the "bay of Wilmington." The work of dredging the in- ner harbor at San Pedro now in progress under the direction of the United States engineering department will eventually be extended up the bay, or sloughi as it was once called, to Wilming- ton. When this is accomplished Wilmington bay will be a commodious seaport, ranking among the most important harbors on the Pacific coast.
During the year 1905 building was active. The Bank of Wilmington was organized, and a bank building costing $6,000 erected. The Con- solidated Planing Mill gives employment to one hundred men.
SANTA MONICA.
Early in 1875, Senator J. P. Jones and Col. R. S. Baker subdivided a portion of the rancho San Vicente lying on the mesa, adjoining the bay of Santa Monica. The town was named after the bay and was of magnificent proportions on paper. On the 16th of July, 1875, a great sale of lots was held. An excursion steamer came down from San Francisco loaded with lot buyers and the people of Los Angeles and neigh- boring towns rallied in great numbers to the site of the prospective maritime metropolis of the south. Tom Fitch, the silver-tongued orator of the Pacific slope, inaugurated the sale by one of his most brilliant orations. He drew a fasci- nating picture of the "Zenith City by the Sun- set Sea," as he named it when at a day not far distant the white sails of commerce should fill its harbor, the products of the Occident and the Orient load its wharves and the smoke from its factory chimneys darken the heavens. Lots on the barren mesa sold at prices ranging from $125 to $500. The sale was a grand success.
The town's growth was rapid. In less than nine months after its founding it had one hun- dred and sixty houses and a thousand inhab- itants. A wharf was built by Senator Jones ; and the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad, which he was pushing eastward, was supposed to be the western terminus of a great trans- continental railway system. The railroad reached
Los Angeles and there it stopped. A financial blight had fallen on Senator Jones' projects, and the town shared in the misfortunes of its pro- genitor. After a time the railroad fell into the hands of the Southern Pacific Company. That company condemned the wharf, took down the warehouse and transferred the shipping and trade that had grown up at Santa Monica back to Wilmington.
In 1880 the town and its suburb, South Santa Monica, had only 350 inhabitants. Its attrac- tions as a seaside resort began to be recognized and it took on new life. The boom sent property values away up. The magnificent Arcadia hotel was built in 1887 and the location of the Sol- diers' Home, three miles eastward, stimulated the town's growth. The Los Angeles County Railroad was built from Los Angeles in 1888 along the foothills to Santa Monica. It was not a success and eventually went into the hands of a receiver and was numbered with the enter- prises that have been and are not. The Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad, an electric road, se- cured its right of way and has become a valu- able line of travel. The road was opened in 1896. In 1891-92 the long wharf at Port Los Angeles was built and shipping again returned to the bay of Santa Monica. The Santa Fe Railroad system built a branch line into Santa Monica in 1892. The Santa Monica Outlook, founded in 1876, is one of the oldest newspapers in the county. The population of Santa Monica in 1890 was 1,500, and in 1900, 3,057.
In the summer of 1905 the city trustees or- dered a census of the city. The population was found to be 7,208. This entitled the city to be governed under a freeholders' charter. A com- mittee was appointed and a charter drafted which will be presented to the next legislature for approval. Three new brick school houses, costing $65,000, were completed and occupied early in 1906.
San Vicente boulevard, 130 feet wide, and extending from the Soldiers' Home to the sea, was completed in 1905. A new pleasure pier, costing $30,000, was recently erected at the foot of Hollister avenue. Work has been begun on an electric railway that is to run up the beach through the Malibu rancho and eventually on to San Buenaventura and Santa Barbara. A tract of land, known as the Palisades, has been sub- divided into large building lots. Building re-
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strictions have been placed so high that only costly residences can be built on the tract.
Few of the coast cities have shown so sub- stantial a growth as has Santa Monica. In the summer of 1910 Senator John P. Jones, the founder of the city, sold all of his remaining property except his Ocean avenue home, Mira- mar, to the Santa Monica Land Company. The purchasers placed the property on the market and disposed of a large amount of it. A build- ing boom followed. The building permits for 1911 amounted to nearly one million dollars.
In 1912 a Union high school representing an outlay of $250,000 was built. In 1914 a hand- some Women's Club house was erected at an outlay of about $25,000 for building and furnish- ing. Two new school buildings were completed in 1914. The population of Santa Monica in 1910 was 7,847, in 1900 3.057, in 1890 1,580.
REDONDO
Redondo is comparatively a new seaport. The site was surveyed and plotted in 1887. A large tourist hotel was built and the town was adver- tised as a seaside resort. One of the most at- tractive features of the place is its carnation gardens. Redondo carnations have a reputation all over the west. They are shipped to different points in Southern California and as far away as Denver, Dallas, Omaha and Chicago. The floral business is growing. Carnations, violets, smilax, sweet peas, chrysanthemums and ferns are shipped from the floral gardens.
Redondo is an important shipping point for lumber and fish. In 1905 over one hundred mil- lions feet of lumber were landed on its wharves and one million four hundred thousand pounds of fish have been shipped away. A union high school was opened during the past year.
In July, 1905, H. E. Huntington bought the holding of the old syndicate that founded Re- dondo. The report of the purchase started a boom similar to the frenzied fakes of 1887. Men and women stood for hours in a line before a tent where syndicate lots were for sale waiting their turn to make a deposit on a piece of real estate, no matter where located, provided it was in Redondo. The buying went on for three days and then the tide turned and selling or at- tempts to sell began. An army of self-consti- tuted real estate agents besieged the new arrivals to buy choice corners, business frontages, house lots with magnificent marine views and strips
of sand dunes with free bathing privileges. The Los Angeles Times of August 20, 1905, com- menting on the wild rush to Redondo, said : "The fake boom created at Redondo a month ago is bearing fruit every day. That fake has hurt every bit of beach property on the ocean front of Southern California. Women pledged their jewels, heirlooms coming down for gen- erations, to speculate in Redondo lots at ten times their intrinsic value. Business men went crazy for the time being, and took checks which never could be cashed, and thus tied up property which might have been sold at high figures. Contracts flew from hand to hand so fast that 110 one knew where the chain of title ran. Some buyers thought when they had paid $1,500 and upward for a lot, that was the end of the mat- ter. When they came to get a deed they found there was $800 to $1,000 to be paid some former owner, the second seller having made only a partial payment. So the wild business ran. It is a month since it all passed. It only lasted three days, but its fruits ran longer, are running still. Those who 'got left' with the property on their hands now find there is no sale for the property at the price they paid, and they have no use for it. They bought on speculation, and their money is where it will stay. There is good value in Redondo property at the right price for those who want it. But that is now lost sight of by those who are 'stuck.' The lamentation of those who were trapped has reached many ears and now 'beach lots are beach lots' to many minds. They are so afraid they will not touch a beach lot anywhere at any price. So much for a wild boom and its effects. It is a thou- sand pities the thing ever broke loose to hurt the sale of property which is all right in itself. The market may not soon recover its tone."
The "hurt to beach lots" was of short dura- tion even in Redondo. Those who put their money "where it will stay" in most cases have gotten it out without loss. Redondo has forged ahead notwithstanding the "fake boom."
Redondo has continued to forge ahead in the decade that has passed since the Los Angeles Times chronicled what it called a "fake boom." In 1910 the lumber received at its wharves ex- ceeded 100,000,000 feet. During that year the Pacific Light & Power Company doubled its immense plant at Redondo. Its original invest- ment was $1,750,000, to this was added an out-
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lay of $1,500,000, making it one of the most effective plants in the United States.
Redondo has a $200,000 salt water plunge recently built ; a sewer system that cost $80,000, and new Union high school for the erection of which the people of the district voted bonds to the amount of $150,000. Redondo city had a population in 1910 of 2,935. In 1900 its in- habitants numbered only 855. Redondo has a public library of about 5,000 volumes. It occu- pies the entire west wing of the city hall.
HERMOSA
Hermosa is a nineteenth century city. It was founded in 1902 and made a city of the sixth class at the close of 1906. It is a seaside resort. Its resident population is about 600, but during the summer it is a city of 2,000 inhabitants.
ALONG THE SHORE
Manhattan, North Manhattan, Peck's Beach, Shakespeare and Hyperion are villages on the sea shore between Del Rey and Redondo. They are all of recent origin and are accessible to Los Angeles by the Los Angeles-Pacific Electric Railway.
AVALON
Avalon, the metropolis of Santa Catalina Island, bore the name of Shatto City at its founding. It was one of the boom towns of 1887. For several years after the bursting of the boom the town made little or no progress. When the Banning Brothers purchased Santa Catalina Island they set to work to develop Avalon as a summer resort. A number of improvements were made, and during the summer season now daily steamers (the Hermosa and Cabrillo) con- vey passengers across the channel. The loca- tion of Avalon makes it an ideal summer resort. The absence of breakers in its bay makes boat- ing and fishing safe and pleasant pastimes. Its resident population is about a thousand, but dur- ing July and August the transient population often reaches six or seven thousand.
PLAYA DEL REY
Playa del Rey (Beach of the King) was known to the old-timers as Will Tell's. It was a popular seaside resort thirty years ago, where sportsmen went for duck shooting on the lagoon. The southeasters of the great flood year of 1884 destroyed its hunting grounds, and for two de- cades it was deserted. With the great boon of ocean frontage that began in 1902 the capa-
bilities of the place for a seaside resort were brought to the front and extensive improvements begun. In 1904 fully a quarter of a million dollars were expended. A new pavilion was built at an outlay of $100,000 and was dedicated on Thanksgiving day, 1904.
On the lagoon side, and extending from the level of the pavilion to the water's edge, an am- phitheater with a seating capacity of 3,000 was erected. From this a fine view of the boat races and aquatic sports can be obtained. A hand- some three-story hotel was erected at a cost of $20,000 and a number of fine residences were erected. During the year 1905 extensive im- provements were made at the King's Beach. The lagoon's banks were bulkleaded for miles on either side. Two suspension bridges of con- crete were constructed to connect the strand with the mainland, and an incline railway was built from the beach to Mount Ballona, as the eminence is called that rises above the beach. A two-story bank building was constructed, and the Los Angeles-Pacific Electric Railway ex- pended $5,000 in building a passenger depot in the so-called mission design. Gold has been found in the black sands of the beach. It is one of the possibilities of the future that gold min- ing may be made to pay.
OCEAN PARK
In 1892, Abbot Kinney and F. G. Ryan bought a long strip of sand dunes along the shore line of the Pacific ocean, a portion of which was com- prised within the municipal limits of Santa Monica, the remainder being south of it.
At this time the tendency of investors in beach properties favored bluffs. Kinney and Ryan believed that the time would come when the sand close to the ocean's rim would be eagerly sought after for residence and resort pur- poses, and time has since demonstrated the soundness of their judgment.
Kinney and Ryan immediately purchased rights of way and secured the entry of the Santa Fe Railroad to Ocean Park. They also arranged with the Y. M. C. A. to establish a branch at Ocean Park and erect an auditorium and bath- house. They also built two piers.
Abbot Kinney laid out the plan of the beach city as it now exists; a unique feature of this plan is the parking of the sand streets with side- walks in the center. He also brought in the elec- tric railroad through the sand dunes and had
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nearly completed a new electric road in partner- ship with W. S. Hook, when Mr. Hook sold his interests to the Southern Pacific, through Sen- ator Clark. This forced Mr. Kinney to sell shortly afterward.
As the property was bought with a long view to the future, it was decided not to put any of it on the market, but to encourage building. Lots were leased to persons desiring to put small cot- tages upon them at nominal rentals, water was brought in, the tract was sewered and board walks laid. Under this policy began the com- munity of Ocean Park, and before any of the original townsite was put upon the market, hun- dreds of cottages had been erected along one mile and a half of frontage, to what is now known as Brooks avenue in Ocean Park. Dur- ing this development Mr. Ryan died, and T. H. Dudley succeeded to his interest. Messrs. Kin- ney and Dudley had made arrangements to put the tract upon the market, when, in the winter of 1901, the interest of Dudley was purchased by A. R. Fraser, G. M. Jones, H. R. Gage and others, Mr. Kinney retaining his one-half.
The sale of the leased lots was made rapidly. This period also marked the beginning of a great building era. The type of houses con- structed rapidly improved with the advance in the price of lots, and Pier avenue became a busi- ness center.
The most notable improvement, begun in 1904, was the erection of a magnificent bathhouse, which was completed early in 1905 at a cost including furnishings, of $185,000. On the ocean front a toboggan railway was constructed at a cost of $25,000. On Hollister avenue a new double-decked recreation pier was built. During the year 1904 a number of handsome brick busi- ness blocks were built and about 350 residences. In 1905 a horseshoe pier was constructed. Its features include a large auditorium. Two new banks were opened during the year and a number of business blocks built. There are now three banks at Pier avenue and two in Venice. Every- where throughout the city new dwelling houses, costing from $1,000 to $6,000, have been con- structed.
In the city of Ocean Park, which does not in- clude Pier avenue nor the north beach section, municipal bonds to the amount of $85,000 werc voted. A considerable part of this fund was ex- pended in the construction of a modern sewer
system with a septic tank. Part of it will be used in building a city hall and library.
It is a curious feature of the district known as Ocean Park that the part with the postoffice of Ocean Park is in the municipality of Santa Monica, and that the postoffice of Ocean Park is Venice. Ocean Park is in two cities.
In 1904 that portion of the sand strip not in- cluded in Santa Monica, together with adja- cent subdivisions, became incorporated as the city of Ocean Park. The marvelous growth of the city in wealth and population is indicated by the increase in its assessed valuation in one year of $4,000,000. This year it is $6,000,000. The city, formerly confined to a sand strip run- ning from the ocean back an average depth of 900 feet, has spread to the hills back of it.
In the year 1904 a notable event in the history of Ocean Park occurred. It was the purchase by Abbot Kinney, from his partners, of the lands on the southern end of the tract for the purpose of building the Venice of America, with its can- als, bridges and arcades.
The boundaries of Ocean Park City are, San- ta Monica on the north and Del Rey on the south. The Pacific ocean is its western frontage. At Venice it has public improvements, such as a large surf and plunge bath house. Oriental ex- position, a beautiful country club with tennis courts, the finest dancing pavilion in the world, a grand auditorium, skating rink, bowling alleys superior to any, boat-house, power plant, ship Cabrillo restaurant, fine hotels, two banks, a large school with industrial training department, and so forth.
The first city officials were Dana Burks, G. M. Jones, W. R. Robinson, Force Parker and W. T. Gibbon. This board held over in 1906, with the exception of Mr. Gibbon, whose place is filled at this writing by David Evans.
VENICE OF AMERICA.
Venice of America, the creation of Abbot Kinney, is not merely one of the notable sights of Southern California. It ranks in interest with the famous resorts of the world.
Venice of America is a phenomenal city. At the begining of the year 1904 the site of the city was made of tide-flats, sand dunes and salt- water lagoons. Its only permanent inhabitants were ducks and fish, and its visitors wild geese and sea gulls.
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The end of that year found a magic trans- formation of the once dreary expanse. A still- water swimming pool, capable of accommodating 5,000 bathers, graced the tide-flats. Three-story brick blocks loomed above the sand dunes and canals had been channeled out of the sloughis and lagoons. A recreation pier had been built out into the ocean a thousand feet. All of this wonderful transformation had been made pos- sible, had been brought about through the ge- nius, the faith in the future and in the indom- itable perseverance of one man, Abbot Kinney.
The first work on Venice was done in the lat- ter part of the year 1904. It had proceeded satis- factorily toward a proposed opening in July, 1905, when in March one of the fiercest storms seen in many years on the Southern Californian coast did large damage to the unfinished build- ings. To guard against any future disaster of like kind. Mr. Kinney obtained from the govern- ment permission to construct the only private breakwater in the United States and put upon the work an army of artisans, pushing it toward completion at enormous cost. On July 2d the splendid auditorium, built several hundred feet out from the land, was dedicated. The develop- ment of Venice since that time has been extraor- dinarily rapid. Countless thousands of people are there on all great days, cars reaching Wind- ward avenue on an average of one a minute.
The Venice of America is like the Venice of Italy in its canal system and the architectural lines of that famous art center have been fol- lowed in a measure. But it is not an imitation ; it has an individuality of its own clearly defined. Its several miles of canals are bordered with flowers and palm trees. Its arcaded streets pre- sent the only uniform architecture in the United States. It is uniform in the sense of being not discordant. There is a boldness in the color scheme that fills the eye with beauty and the soul of an artist with delight.
The Venice of America is a high-class resi- dence center as well as a high-class resort. More residences have been built in Venice than in any other tract outside of Los Angeles in the same time. It also sets the pace in things musical. The leading organizations of the country com- pete for engagements in Venice.
Roycrofters and other disciples of Ruskin de- light in Venice, as do lovers of Oriental art, because of its permanent exposition under the
auspices of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce. In this are specimens of exquisite individual han- diwork whose like cannot be found elsewhere in the United States.
Four lines of the Los Angeles-Pacific Electric Railway system reach Venice from Los Angeles. The most direct route is by way of The Palms, the distance from Fourth and Hill streets being twelve and seven-eighths miles and a little over nine miles from the city limits. The Los An- geles-Pacific has acquired rights of way and financed bonds for the construction of a new through line out Fourth street, which will make Venice from its Fourth street depot in less than twenty minutes. The other ways in which Venice is reached are via Santa Monica, Sawtelle, Holly- wood, Westgate and Redondo.
That Venice is destined to be the center of a great population within a few years is indicated by its geographical situation. The best resi- dential section of Los Angeles is now only nine miles from Venice and it is steadily growing in its direction, while the growth from the beach will naturally be along the short line of the rail- road from Venice toward the metropolis.
Venice and Ocean Park have had a checkered career since their founding. Venice celebrated the tenth anniversary of its founding last year, 1914. Ocean Park is several years older. Venice of America was originally only a legal subdivision of Ocean Park, and at that time the postoffice of Ocean Park was in South Santa Monica. In 1911 an election was held under the provisions of a bill passed by the legislature of that year and the name of Venice was given to the combined municipalities.
Playa del Rey and Wolgrove were annexed to the newly born city. The name of the school district was changed to Venice. In 1913 a devastating fire swept away a large portion of Ocean Park. The famous Frazer pier was destroyed and a number of the principal build- ings. The burnt district has been rebuilt. In 1910 Venice constructed a concrete sea wall. This structure was 1,400 feet long and was designed to protect property on the ocean front from encroachment by high tides. Old Nep- tune seemed to resent the attempt to curb his power. The building of the wall changed the ocean current and a considerable portion of the property on the ocean front was washed away.
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