1893 (1890)(1892)(1894)(1890-1900)(1900-1910)Table of Contents
Anon. Ocean Park and Venice Timeline (1890-1909), Web Document, 2005b, 1893 See Text
Bainbridge Bishop, A Souvenir of the Color Organ, with Some Suggestions in Regard to the Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light with marginal notes and illuminations by the author, The De Vinne Press: New Russia, Essex County, N.Y. 1893 See Text
Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp., 1893, 1888, 1887 See Text
On the veranda at the Casino, 3rd
Street, Meta and Marjorie Grasett, 1893
See Image and
Text
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1973, 1948, 1920, 1893, [late] 1800s See Text
Esther McCoy Irving Gill 1870-1936 Five California Architects, 1960, Reprinted in Marvin Rand Irving J. Gill: Architect 1870-1936, Gibbs Smith, Publisher: Salt Lake City, UT, Design, Ahde Lahti; Photographs, Marvin Rand, 2006, 238 pp. pp. 219-227, 2006a, 1908, 1893, 1890, 1870 See Text
Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003. See Text
Amanda Schacter (ed.) Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1990. See Text
Jeffrey Stanton* Founding of Ocean Park, Web Document, April 6, 1998, 1893, 1890s See Text
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1893 See Text
Betty Lou Young Our First Century: The Los Angeles Athletic Club 1880-1980, LAAC Press: Los Angeles, California 1979, 176pp., 1893 See Note
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1893 See Text
Notes:
Anon. Ocean Park and Venice Timeline (1890-1909), Web Document, 2005b, 1893
"Santa Monica's 2000 residents hosted daily crowds numbering many thousands more. Pacific Electric rail cars provided transportation to and from Los Angeles in about 25 mintues."
" . . . (1893) . . . It was estimated tht there were more bicycles in Los Angeles than in any other city in America. . . ." (Our First Century . . . 1979)
Documents
Bainbridge Bishop, A Souvenir of the Color Organ, with Some Suggestions in Regard to the Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light with marginal notes and illuminations by the author, The De Vinne Press: New Russia, Essex County, N.Y. 1893
Fred E. Basten Santa Monica Bay: The First 100 Years, A pictorial history of Santa Monica, Venice, Ocean Park, Pacific Palisades, Topanga and Malibu, Douglas-West Publishers: Los Angeles, CA, 1974, 227 pp., 1893, 1888, 1887
"Opened in late 1887. . . Reported [a tabloid] in 1893: "The Arcadia Hotel is a first-class, high-grade resort, built upon the finest hotel site on the coast. To the many thousands of patrons of the past, {note that the past is five years} this famous resort . . . first floor. . . . reception parlor and hotel office . . . dining room . . . seats 200. . . . large hall leads to the sitting room and parlor, also the writing, ladies' billard and reading rooms. Directly opposite the main entrance is the elevator which runs to the {2} floors above and two below where the ballroom, a conservatory and other places of accommodation are to be found. On the basement floor access to the beach is made, where hot salt water baths may be enjoyed . . . furnished throughout with gas and electric lights, hot and cold water, bath rooms . . ." p.15 {A pier pictured on pages 17 and 21 was constructed.} The Arcadia was forced to close in 1888 for lack of business." p.24.
Title: On the veranda at the Casino, 3rd Street, Meta and Marjorie Grasett, 1893- Meta Grasett (Elliott Morgan Collection) Subject: Casino Subject: Marjorie Grasett Subject: Meta Grasett Subject: Ocean Park Credit line: Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives/ Source: donated by the photographer Collection: Elliott Morgan Date: 1893 Image number: F105
Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908, 1908a, 1893
[p. 248] Chapter VI South Santa Monica and Ocean Park
The Outlook for May 6th, 1893, says: "It is quite lively on the South Side. Three new cottages have just been completed on the Santa Monica tract, to be given away with the lots distributed on the first of June. A number of summer residences are either completed or in course of construction. The land [p.249] company is now putting down a plank walk from the tract across the sand hills to the sea, and it is on the programme to begin the construction of a bath house at an early date. Altogether we can safely say that the 'South Side' will be in the swim this summer."
The houses alluded to were built by Messrs. Kinney and Ryan on their Santa Monica tract and were given away with lots sold by distribution. Prices were $100.00 per lot, on easy terms.
In the spring of 1893 the Young Men's Christian Association of Southern California, after considerable discussion and looking about, decided to accept the proposition of Messrs. Kinney and Ryan to donate them a strip of land between the Santa Fe tract and ocean, 250 feet on ocean front and extending back to the Santa Fe right of way, about five acres included. June 21st, the Young Men's Christian Association Ocean Park Company was duly organized with a capital stock of $10,000, and the following incorporators: J.C. Salisbury, M.H. Merriman, F.H. Rindge, A.D. Childress, S.H. Wheeler, A.A. Adair, of Riverside; Charles E. Day, president; R.G. Lunt, vice-president; George W. Parsons, secretary; F.M. Potter, treasurer; O.T. Johnson, J.H. Brawly, W.F. Bosbyshell, C.C. Reynolds, Lyman Stewart, and other prominent men of Southern California. In announcing its decision, the incorporators give as reasons for their selection: "The land is about three-fourths of a mile south of Arcadia Hotel, is close to the railroad station of the great Santa Fe route, which reaches nearly every hamlet and village in Southern California. It has a fine, clean, sandy beach, of gentle slope, making a safe and delightful place for bathing. Near this land is a fine 70 by 1000 feet grove, with pavilion erected therein, making a pleasant place for a picnic and the only accessible place where a grove and the beach are so close together. A fine wharf will be constructed close to this land in the near future, when the coast steamers will connect with the Santa Fe route for all points on their line. It will be one of the most popular lines between Los Angeles and Catalina Island." Which shows that the Y.M.C.A. people were no better at prophesying future results than the sanguine "wharf boomers" of Santa Monica.
In consideration of the donations by Messrs. Kinney and Ryan and Messrs. Vawter, the "Ocean Park Company," named from the eucalyptus grove of the Vawters, was to build a commodious bath house and an auditorium, which it was expected would be the scene of many religious conventions and assemblies. The bath house was built during the summer and many new cottages were put up. In July an auction sale of lots took place, 80 lots, 25 by 100 feet , being sold at about $45.00 apiece.
During this summer St. David's Mission, Episcopalian, held services in [p. 250] the school house and the South Santa Monica Baptist Mission was organized by Rev. H.S. Baker.
" . . .
Schools
. . . [p. 267] In 1893, two more rooms were added to the Sixth street building . . .
" . . .
[p. 269] School Trustees of Santa Monica
" . . .
[p. 270] Supervising Principals of Santa Monica Schools:
1893-00: N.F. Smith.
" . . .
[p. 275] Public Library
. . . March 1st, 1893, the library was made free to the public, the occasion being celebrated by an evening gathering, speeches etc. The library now had 1,800 volumes on its shelves.
" . . .
[p. 282] Newspapers
. . . and during 1893 he [L.T. Fisher] published very full and exultant accounts of the building and business of the long wharf and Port Los Angeles, making predictions of future commercial importance for Santa Monica, which time has not yet verified.
" . . .
[p. 283] PostOffice
. . . In 1893 Mr. Vawter resigned [as Post Master] to be succeeded by J.C. Steele. During his [J.C. Steele's] administration the office was located in the Cates block.
" . . .
[p. 298] Chapter VIII Churches and Societies: Baptist Church
During 1893-4, Rev. H.S. Baker, pastor of Palms church, preached regularly in the chapel ["The Baptist Mission"], assisted by Mr. Charles Baird as singer.
" . . .
[p. 323. 1893, 1905] Chapter X. The City of Ocean Park
In 1893 John Metcalf purchased 55 acres of marsh, lying to the east of the tract on which Venice was located for $3,000. During the summer of 1905 this land was platted and put on the market as the Venice Gateway tract.
" . . .
[p. 328] Chapter XI Venice of America and Its Founder
. . . In 1893, [Abbot Kinney] issued, The Conquest of Death, dealing with a sociological subject, and Tasks by Twilight, which sets forth some original theories as to the training of the young. As the author is the parent of five sons, he had practical data to deal with. He devoted much study to the workings of the Australian ballot system and published a pamphlet on this subject and earnestly advocated its adoption in this country. He has also published a strong argument on the tariff question; made a study of climatology, particularly with reference to Santa Monca, and written many valuable lectures and monographs upon various topics. In all of his writing his use of English is direct and forcible and his course of reasoning clear and logical.
[p. 329] He has served as president of the Southern California Academy of Science and of the Southern California Forest and Water Association; and as vice president of the American Forestry Association of California.
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1973, 1948, 1920, 1893, [late] 1800s
Ocean Park
"One of the oldest sections of Santa Monica, Ocean Park had its beginning in 1893 when the Santa Fe Railroad contructed a passenger station and baggage room at what is now the intersection of Hill Street and Neilson Way and planted a few trees and grass on nearby plot of ground that was then called Ocean Park. The name clung and eventually was extended to the entire area. The original station was razed in 1920. There is some evidence that the trees had been planted before 1893 by either W.S. Vawter or E.J. Vawter, who wished to improve their real estate tract. Ocean Park, comprising the area south of Pico and west of Lincoln, is rich in notable sites."
Esther McCoy Irving Gill 1870-1936 Five California Architects, 1960, Reprinted in Marvin Rand Irving J. Gill: Architect 1870-1936, Gibbs Smith, Publisher: Salt Lake City, UT, Design, Ahde Lahti; Photographs, Marvin Rand, 2006, 238 pp. pp. 219-227, 1908, 1893, 1890, 1870
"In 1890, the twenty-year-old son of a Syracuse, New York building contractor set out for Chicago to work in the drafting room of Adler and Sullivan, and thus it was that Irving Gill took his first step westward, one which led him a little over two years later to San Diego, where he was to develop one of the few wholly original styles of architecture in the United States.
"He had never met Sullivan, nor even written to him, but he was quite aware of his work, just as years later he was acquainted with the avant garde architecture of his contemporaries here and in Europe. Like dozens of young men with an independent way of thinking, he looked upon Sullivan's office as the only true school of architecture.
"Gill had nothing to offer in the way of formal architectural training, indeed his education stopped with high school. The closest he had come to official architecture was a brief period in one of the offices in Syracuse. This may have prejudiced Sullivan in his favor, as Sullivan looked upon schooling as a mere facility for dipping in and out of books.
"Gill had other virtues to recommend him besides his innocence of architecural styles. Poetic and mystical by nature, he had a sensitivity to form, an understanding of how a building is put together, and a passion for simplifying. He firmly believed in the application of democracy to architecture. In addition, he was receptive to the faiths of a great teacher.
"Sullivan described his relationship to his young draftsmen in a letter to Claude Bragdon, "I supply the yeast, so to speak, and allow the ferment to work in them."
"It was the dawn of the age of steel, and Chicago had begun to think in terms of expressed structure rather than literary architectural styles. With engineer and contractor pointing the way, Sullivan anticipated the others of his professsion by integrating steel into architecture. But the lesson of steel offered by Chicago and Sullivan profited Gill only indirectly for the vertical line had no application in the town of San Diego where he did most of his work. His highest building was the 1908 five-story Wilson Acton Hotel. From Sullivan he had learned to acknowledge and respect his material, whatever it was.
"Of far greater value to him was Sullivan's preaching of freedom from Rome and the Renaissance. Sullivan turned the faces of yound men away from Europe and bade them to look to Africa, a land of the serene wall, of earth forms, of decorative details.
"Sullivan's office was a preparation, for defeat as well as success. The inevitable growth of modern architecture did not spare it from periods of eclipse. At the Columbia Exposition in Chicago Sullivan's Transportation Building was the only one that heralded the future, the others were designed in neo-classical style set by the architectural committee.
"The draftsman working on the plans for the Transportation Building was Frank Lloyd Wright, who was two years older than Gill. When Wright's son, Lloyd, was twenty years old, he went to work in Gill's drafting room.
"Before the exposition opened, Gill's health made it necessary for him to seek a warmer climate. But his two years with Sullivan had armored him with faith in his own thinking and enriched him with what Sullivan called "the luminous idea of simplicity." He had grasped well the organic aspects of architecture and regarded a building as a unified whole rather than a series of unrelated strands.
"San Diego was well known in the East, after the Santa Fe Railway had laid tracks into the town in 1885, the population had doubled within a few years. Then the bubble burst, and by the time Gill arrived in 1893, San Diego was feeling the depression of the mid-nineties. Most of the newcomers had packed up and left; the population was again around 17,000.
"He found the country unspoiled and unself-conscious. "The West," he wrote in The Craftsman, "has an opportunity unparalled in the history of the world, for it is the newest white page turned for registration." It awakened all his sensibilities. "In California we have the great wide plains, arched blue skies that are fresh chapters yet unwritten. We have noble mountains, lovely little hills and canyons waiting to hold the record of this generation's history, ideals, imagination, sense of romance and honesty."
"He opened hunself fully to all the things around him, such as the adobe earth forms that gradually began to appear in his own structures; the U-shaped plan of Ramona's Marriage Place, embracing a garden and closed at the end by a high wall. He called the single-wall redwood house, "lovable little camp houses, . . . . as natural a part of the foothills and canyons as the tawny mushroom or the gray stone." He described the mission as "a most expressive medium of retaining tradition, history, and romance, with their long, low lines, graceful arcades, tile roofs, bell towers, arched doorways, and walled gardens."
Santa Monica
Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
47.
Moses Hostetter* House, 1893
"This Victorian era single family home was constructed by Moses Hostetter,* an Iowa farmer who migrated to Santa Monica in 1893. Hostetter served as a member of the Santa Monica Board of Trustees between 1896 and 1900, acting as chairman of several committees. The house features two three-sided, two story bay windows. The exterior is clad in the original redwood bevel siding with decorative fishscale shingles. The only alteration to the structure is the removal of the upper gable, which occurred sometime in the 1920's.
"The house was carefully restored during the 1980's."
Amanda Schacter (ed.) Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1990.
"This Victorian era single family home was constructed in 1893 by Moses Hostetter*, an Iowa farmer who migrated to Santa Monica in 1893. Hostetter* served as a member of the Santa Monica Board of Trustees between 1896 and 1900, acting as chairman of the police committee and the fire and light committee. The house features a three-sided, two story bay window topped by a turreted roof along the Second Street elevation, while another three-sided, two story bay window crowned with a gable highlights the Beach Street elevation. The exterior is clad in the original redwood bevel siding while decorative fishscale shingles enhance both the Beach Street gable and the small entry gable. Other details include the turned spindles and scrolled brackets beneath the entry gable and the turned spindles along the balustrades that border the front stairs. The only alteration to the structure is the removal of the upper gable, which occurred sometime in the 1920's.
"The house was carefully restored during the 1980's." p. 10
Jeffrey Stanton* Founding of Ocean Park, Web Document, April 6, 1998, 1893, 1890s
"But it wasn't until the following spring that the first advertisements appeared for Kinney* and Ryan*'s "Santa Monica Tract." The 25 x 100 foot lots were priced at $100 and featured piped water. As an incentive to purchasers, three small four room cottages were built and lottery was held. They were given to the lucky buyers who drew the lot on which they stood. Lots naturally sold well, even in those bad economic times. Tents were erected on unsold lots and were available to campers for summer rental.
"The YMCA of Southern California, after a long search, accepted Kinney* and Ryan*'s offer of a five acre strip of land. They erected a large bathhouse there that summer and a two story pavilion for religious meetings the following year [1894]."
Les Storrs Santa Monica Portrait of a City Yesterday and Today, Santa Monica Bank: Santa Monica, CA, 1974, 67 pp., 1893
" . . . [briefly] the Long Wharf actually was the port of Los Angeles after its completion in 1893.
". . . Santa Monica had begun to accept its manifest destiny, that of a pleasant seaside residential community, and to make the most of it."
"Meanwhile progress was being recorded on the physical front, but usually over considerable opposition. For example, an election was held March 21, 1893, to vote on a proposed sewer bond issue of $40,000. The vote was negative after a heated campaign, 140 [against], 84, [for].
"Some progress was recorded, however, when J.J. Davis won a franchise, at a cost to him of $25 per year, to install an electric generating plant. On September 10, [1893], no less than 12 street lights were turned on. The generators were on the beach on the northwest side of what is now the Municipal Pier."
" . . ."
"In 1893 the Vawters* sold their interest in the bank to Senator Jones*, and Robert F. Jones* became president and cashier, soon after the name was changed.
"The Bank of Santa Monica stood on the southeast corner of Third Street and Santa Monica Boulevard until it was acquired by the California Bank many years later.
"Robert F. Jones*, nephew of the Senator, established a reputation, and the bank successfully weathered two major panics . . .
"Another nephew of the Senator* who played a leading part in the development of the bank was H.M. Gorham, who with the Senator* himself, Roy Jones, son of the Senator, N.H. Hamilton, and Judge George H. Hutton, served as Directors. Roy Jones was also vice president.
"The most colorful figure of all . . . was Henry J. Engelbrecht, cashier, a man who had been brought to Santa Monica from Nevada, the Senator needing a good man to manage his north beach bath house. Henry Engelbrecht, who had grown up in the rugged world of Nevada mining, was such a man, and when Senator Jones acquired controlling interest in the bank, he looked to Engelbrecht as a man whose rugged honesty combined with human understanding, made him qualified for the post.
"In later years, Henry Engelbrecht became president of the bank , , ,
" . . ."
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1893
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 are, accomodations 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 Ballooon Ascension and Double Parachute Drop featuring aerialist Wesley Woodford and the "Queen of the Air," Mlle. Leroy. . . ."