Notes

Outline

Santa Monica Past & Present

Santa Monica Past & Present The narrative text is based on a variety of resources in the Library’s local history collection.  Among these sources are: Ingersoll's Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities by Luther Ingersoll (1908); History of the Santa Monica Bay Region by Charles Warren (1934); Santa Monica Blue Book also by Warren (1941, 1944, 1948 and edited in 1953 by Carl White); Santa Monica: a Calendar of Events That Made a City by W.W. Robinson (1935); The Outlook's Story of Santa Monica by Kate Cowick (1932); The Bay Area Pageant 1542-1957 by John Daniell; History of the Santa Monica City Schools 1876-1951 by Donald Cleland (1952);  Les Storrs' Santa Monica: Portrait of a City, Yesterday and Today; and Jeffrey Stanton's Santa Monica Pier: a History from 1875 to 1990. Unless otherwise noted, all images are from the Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives.  The Archives are available online from the Library Web page at www.smpl.org.

Beginnings . . . In 1769, Gaspar de Portola sent scouts to explore the coast north of San Diego.  Eventually the soldiers camped at an Indian village near two springs, probably the present day location of the Veterans Administration at Wilshire and Sawtelle.   According to legend, the name “Santa Monica” was given to the spot because a padre accompanying the expedition said the waters of the springs reminded him of the tears shed by St. Monica over her wayward son, St. Augustine, before his conversion. Although no one knows the truth of this legend, it is generally cited as the origin of the City’s name.

Rancho San Vicente Y Santa Monica The name “Santa Monica” does not appear in records until Don Francisco Sepulveda and Augustin Machado petitioned for the San Vicente y Santa Monica land grant in 1827. Francisco Marquez and Ysidro Reyes possessed a grant to Boca de Santa Monica given in 1828.  This grant included Santa Monica Canyon.  The boundaries between San Vicente Y Santa Monica and Boca de Santa Monica were unclear and ownership of the land that is present day Santa Monica caused continuing litigation. Boundaries were set and much of the land was confirmed as that of Ysidro Reyes and Francisco Marquez. Marquez put up the first house in what would later be the City Of Santa Monica on the edge of the bluff near where 7th Street ends today.

Early Settlers

The City Is Born As part of the boundary litigation settlement, Sepulveda was declared the owner of the area known as San Vicente y Santa Monica. In 1872, Colonel Robert Baker bought the property from the descendants of Francisco Sepulveda. On July 10, 1875, Col.  Baker and his partner, Senator John P. Jones, recorded a map the town of Santa Monica at the Los Angeles County Recorder’s office.

Santa Monica By the Sea When Col. Baker died, his wife, Arcadia, inherited his estate. Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker was the daughter of Juan Bandini, one of the wealthiest and most distinguished of the early Californians. She was the widow of Don Abel Stearns, one of the earliest American settlers of Southern California, when she met and later married Colonel Baker. Arcadia and Senator Jones first envisioned Santa Monica as the “Port of Los Angeles.”

Railroads Lead to Santa Monica In 1891 the “Long Warf was built so that trains could reach the ships waiting in the harbor.

A City of the Sixth Class The 1899 Santa Monica city directory boasted that the city had: Handsome Streets and Avenues Cement Sidewalks in every direction Sewer System recently completed Santa Monica Electric Light and Power Incorporation as a City of the Sixth Class November 1886 Two transcontinental lines Three bathing establishments Three wharves Many picturesque drives Two public Parks Three School houses Free Public Library A daily newspaper, the Outlook

The Sixth Class City Gets a Charter By 1905, Santa Monica had expanded its borders, attracted industries like the Sunset Tile and Brick Company, improved its streets, added sewers and a fire department, and built schools and a library. The city had grown from the original 1875 boundaries (approximately Montana Avenue on the north to 20th Street on the east and south to Colorado) to extend approximately from Santa Monica Canyon on the north eastward to Centinela and southward to Marine. More importantly, a census taken in May 1905 showed that Santa Monica had 7,208 residents—enough to qualify as a charter city. Citizens voted to adopt the first city charter in election held on March 28th, 1906.

The Charter of 1907

Beach Town San Pedro eventually became the port for Los Angeles but Santa Monica grew as a beach town where many people came to vacation or to live in summer cottages.

Resort Town Piers, bath houses, and fine hotels were built to attract and entertain visitors from the East.

Sun and Surf

Schools By the turn of the century, Santa Monica had begun to think of itself as a city and the city needed schools. The first school opened in March 1876 on Sixth Street between Oregon (now Santa Monica Boulevard) and Arizona.  Later two one-room schools were added:  the South Side School at 4th and Ash and the Canyon School in Santa Monica Canyon.

Education Expands In 1906, school bonds allowed construction of several new schools. Garfield, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Grant were established and Jefferson School replaced the outgrown Sixth Street School.

Samohi—Santa Monica High School The first high school, organized in 1891, used rooms in the Sixth Street School.  This space was outgrown by 1898 so Lincoln High School opened at Tenth Street and Oregon. By 1910 the high school had again outgrown its building.  Bonds were passed and in April 1912 the cornerstone of the new high school was laid at the site on Prospect Hill between Fourth, Sixth, Michigan, and Fremont (now Pico Boulevard).

Junior High Schools Lincoln Junior High School opened in 1912 in the building vacated by the high school classes at Tenth and Oregon.  In 1923 the school moved to a new building at California and Fourteenth. John Adams Junior High School opened in 1914 to serve children on the south side of town.  It first occupied a site at Sixth and Ocean Park Boulevard but soon outgrew the facility and moved to a new building at Sixteenth and Pearl.

More Elementary Schools John Muir and Franklin Elementary Schools opened in 1924 and 1925 respectively to accommodate a growing youth population. These and the earlier established elementary served Santa Monica until another population boom in the 1940s when the Will Rogers, John Webster, and Kansas Avenue Schools were built. Webster opened in February 1948,  Rogers in April 1948, and Kansas Avenue, later re-named Edison School, in 1951.

Santa Monica College Organized in 1929, the “Junior College” first occupied the second floor of the high school. In 1930 the college moved to the old Garfield School site at Sixth and Olympic. After the earthquake of 1933, the brick school building was abandoned and the college consisted of tent-framed bungalows. In 1933 the Board of Education purchased the present site but classes in temporary structures continued until  1950, when the first new, permanent buildings were erected.

Aviation in Santa Monica History Santa Monica’s climate and location attracted more than summer visitors.  It was important in the new airplane industry.  Donald Douglas built an aircraft factory in Santa Monica in 1921. In 1919 the city leased 15 acres of land to be used for aviation and in 1920 awarded W.T. Kendricks rights to build hangers and fly passengers from the new flying filed. The airport was named Clover Field in 1922 to honor Lt. Greayer Clover.

Moments in Aviation History The first pilots to fly around the world took off from Clover Field in 1924.

Automobile Races Santa Monica was also a well-known venue for automobile races. An excellent book on the subject is Real Road Racing: The Santa Monica Road Races by Harold Osmer and Phil Harms (Harold Osmer Publishing, 1999). From 1909 to 1919 racers could challenge the 8.4 mile track that ran in a loop along Ocean Avenue, San Vicente, and  Wilshire Boulevard. By 1919 Santa Monica had enough of races that drew over 100,000 spectators and the March 1919 event was the last Santa Monica road race.

Growth in the 20s Santa Monica prospered through the 1920s and continued growth convinced  the City Council to pass the first zoning ordinance in 1922.  By 1929 a more comprehensive zoning plan was necessary.

Gambling Ships in the 30s Gambling was popular in the 20s and 30s as were the infamous gambling ships that moored off the coast beyond the three mile limit to escape State regulation.  Water taxies ferried clients back and forth to the ships. The Texas, Rex, Bunker Hill, and Showboat provided entertainment and slot machines until the end of the thirties. In 1938 Tony Cornero sailed the Rex into Santa Monica Bay along with a couple of other gambling barges.  Citizens were outraged and the next year Earl Warren, then California Attorney General, sailed out with an army of deputies to demand the ships’ surrender.  Cornero held out for nine days before surrendering the ship.  This put an end to the gambling ships of Santa Monica Bay.

Motion Pictures Santa Monica attracted movie makers from the beginning of the industry.  Thomas Ince made films in the area in the early 1900s and the Vitagraph studios later became the home of Douglas Aircraft. Later, movie stars found the beach attractive and built homes along the Gold Coast, a section of the beach.  Marion Davies’ home, Oceanhouse, was a tourist attraction. The Sand and Sea Club occupied the Oceanhouse site from 50s to 90s. The City of Santa Monica took over the property in 1991, renamed it 415 PCH, and is presently considering its future use.

The Gold Coast The stretch of beach along Palisades Beach north of Santa Monica Pier to Santa Monica Canyon was known as the Gold Coast because of the number of wealthy and famous residents, many of whom were movie stars.  Many of the homes have since been torn down or put to other uses.

The 1940s:  Growth and Change Douglas Aircraft employed almost 40,000 workers during the war years and at the end of the war continued to make their homes in Santa Monica. Population increased from 37,146 in 1930 to 53,500 in 1940 and to 71,595 in 1950. Santa Monica’s climate and beaches attracted not only workers but returning servicemen and women as well.

Muscle Beach The legendary Muscle Beach was not planned by the City.  In the mid 1930s, men and women interested in fitness began to congregate at a spot on the beach just south of Santa Monica Pier. Most of the beach areas were christened by local residents for some feature or aspect of use so the interests and physiques of those who gathered at Muscle Beach soon provided its name.  By the late 1930s the beach was drawing crowds to watch the muscle men and women perform. By the 1950s the crowds and some unfavorable publicity convinced the City that the nature of the beach should be changed.  The equipment and stage were removed in 1958 and when the beach area reopened in 1959 there was no weight lifting equipment and public events or demonstrations were by City permit only.  The original Muscle Beach no longer existed. Eventually the “body builders” found a spot on Venice Beach but it never attained the following of the original site.

The 1950s—Pacific Ocean Park By the early 1900s, the Ocean Park Pier was established as an attraction.  In 1910 it was refurbished and christened Fraser’s Million Dollar Pier but that pier burned only a couple of years later. The Pier’s owners and attractiveness changed over the years. In 1958 it was remodeled one last time as Pacific Ocean Park—POP. For the first year POP drew large crowds but attendance quickly waned and in 1967 the owners declared bankruptcy.  Finally, in 1975, the pier was demolished.

The 1960s--Santa Monica Freeway The first segment of the Santa Monica Freeway opened in 1961 and the last segment connecting to Santa Monica opened in 1966. The convenient travel provided by the new freeway increased both residential and industrial growth. Cities argued over the freeway’s route and terminus.  Residents argued that the proposed route would split Santa Monica in half and that it would negatively affect minority homeowners who would be displaced to make way for the highway.

Third Street Mall—Predecessor of the Promenade The City began construction on a modern mall in 1965 to reverse the fortunes of the downtown business district. Third Street was closed between Wilshire and Broadway to permit wide walkways and landscaping that would attract shoppers.

Metropolis? Santa Monica’s population grew steadily: 800 in 1876; 3,057 in 1900; 7,847 in 1910; 15,252 in 1920;  37,146 in 1930; 53,500 in1940; and 71,595 in 1950. By 1960 the population reached 83,249. The beach remained a prime attraction but the city was no longer a quiet beach town—it had become metropolitan.

Libraries New and Old The “Old Library,” a Carnegie building built in 1904, had become too small by the 1960s.  In addition, the building could not be seismically retrofitted, now a requirement for City buildings. The site for a new, larger building was the corner of Santa Monica and Sixth Street—just a block from the old building. Stanton Macdonald-Wright murals created for the old library were donated to the Smithsonian Institute, but murals created by Eulalie Banks for the Children’s Room were lost when the old library was razed.

The Carnegie Libraries The first Santa Monica Library, 1890,  was on the second floor of the Santa Monica Bank building at the corner of Third and Oregon.  It was replaced by a Carnegie library at Fifth and Oregon in 1904. Another Carnegie library opened in Ocean Park in 1918.  The original building is preserved as the Ocean Park Branch today—although more space was added to it in 1985.

More Branch Libraries A Fairview Heights Branch opened in 1931 at 1903 Twentieth Street.  The storefront building was too small and a new Fairview Branch opened at 2030 Pico in July 1942.  Finally in 1956 the present Fairview Branch opened at 2101 Ocean Park Boulevard.

The “New” Library The “new” library was completed in 1965. Renovations after asbestos removal in 1986 and the earthquake in 1994 rearranged the space within the library but could not enlarge it to meet community demands for collections and services. A bond issue in 1988 purchased the lots along Santa Monica Boulevard from the existing library to Seventh Street for future expansion.  Citizens passed a second bond issue in 1998 for the expansion of library facilities with construction targeted for 2002-2004.

1970s—From Synanon to Centennial Synanon was big news during the 1970s in Santa Monica and nationally.  The substance abuse program was variously labeled “radical” and “revolutionary” but the numbers of people it drew to Santa Monica and the practices of the commune (or cult according to some) caused friction within the city. More happily, Santa Monica celebrated its 100-year birthday in 1975.

Rebuilding the Santa Monica Pier The powerful storm of 1983 destroyed large portions of the landmark Santa Monica Pier. Reconstruction of the Pier began almost immediately and the character of the Pier began to change as the City sought to revitalize its landmark and attract new visitors.

The Old Mall Becomes the Third Street Promenade By the early 1980s the Third Street Mall was showing its age and it no longer drew shoppers. Efforts to revive the Mall began in 1983, construction began in 1988, and the Promenade opened in 1989. The Third Street Promenade, with its theaters, restaurants, and street performers, was an immediate success.  A headline in the Los Angeles Times in August 1990 proclaimed “The Third Street Promenade has been transformed into the new hot spot in town.  It’s Westwood Village without the traffic, lack of parking and rambunctious teenagers.”  Of course, that would change as the Promenade became a major tourist attraction.

Snapshot of Present Day Santa Monica People

Snapshot of Present Day Santa Monica Income & Employment

Snapshot of Present Day Santa Monica Economy

Changing Face of Santa Monica Santa Monica’s amenities attract new business, from retail stores and restaurants to technology and entertainment industry companies.

The Past is Always Present Santa Monica celebrates its past with two museums:  The California Heritage Museum and the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum. The City has an active historical preservation program and many of the older buildings have been preserved.

Santa Monica—Past & Present