1923 (1922) (1924) (1910-1920) (1920-1930) Table of Contents
Reyner Banham Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, Pelican: NY, 1971(1976), 256 pp., 1976, 1971, 1923 See Text
Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963). 140 pp., 1923 See Text
Alice B. Emerson Betty Gordon at Ocean Park, Or School Chums on the Boardwalk, Cupples & Leon Company, Publishers: New York, 1923. 206 pp. See Text
Paul J. Karlstrom and Susan Ehrlich Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956, Barry M. Heisler Introduction Santa Barbara Museum of Art 1990, 1923 See Text
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1977, 1923, 1913, 1900, 1882, 1875 See Text
Lionel Rolfe Literary L.A., Chronicle Books: San Francisco, 1981, 102pp., 1923 See Text
McKinley 1923, Karl Rydgren's Class, Unknown photographer. From the collection of Alyssa Navopanich. See Picture
1923 Santa Monica Municipal Band Programs for Ocean Park Concerts: Week of Jan. 9 to Jan. 14, 1923 See Text
Santa Monica Band Program Advertisements, January 1923 See Text
Amanda Schacter (ed.) Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1990.
Jack Smith The Big
Orange Ward Ritchie Press: Pasadena, CA,
1976. 252 pp.
Watts Towers 1959, 1923 See
Text
1916-1928 Third Street Spanish Colonial Revival Style, built 1923. 1999, 1992, 1990, 1923 See Image and Text
2118 Third Street , Spanish Revival style built by S.A. Logan 1923. 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1923 See Image and Text
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1923 See Text
Notes:
Don't the Amusement Piers predate the movie lots? Weren't they fantasies of work and travel before the movie lot?
Documents
Reyner Banham Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, Pelican: NY, 1971(1976), 256 pp.
"They are also at diametrical variance with the special brand of 'innocence' that underlies the purely personal fantasies of Los Angeles. Innocence is a word to use cautiously in this context, because it must be understood as not comprising either simplicity or ingenuousness. Deeply imbued with standard myths of the Natural Man and the Noble Savage, as in other parts of the US, this innocence grows and flourishes as an assumed right in the Southern California sun, an ingenious and technically proficient cult of private and harmless gratifications that is symbolized by the surfer's secret smile of intense concentration and the immensely sophisticated and highly decorated plastic surf-board he needs to conduct his private communion with the sea.
"This fantasy of innocence has one totally self-absorbed and perfected monument in Los Angeles, so apt, so true and so imaginative that it has gained the world-wide fame it undoubtedly deserves: Simon Rodia's clustered towers in Watts. Alone of the buildings of Los Angeles they are almost too well know to need description, tapering traceries of coloured pottery shards bedded in cement on frames of scrap steel and baling wire. They are unlike anything else in the world-especially unlike all the various prototypes that have been proposed for them by historians who have never seen them in physical fact. . . .
"And in the thirty-three years of absorbed labour he devoted to their construction, and in his uninhibited ingenuity in exploiting the by-products of an affluent technology, and in his determination to 'do something big', and in his ability to walk away when they were finished in 1954, Rodia was very much at one with the surfers, hot-rodders, sky-divers, and scuba-divers who personify the tradition of private, mechanistic satori-seeking in California . . ." p. 129
Donald M. Cleland A History of the Santa Monica Schools 1876-1951, Santa Monica Unified School District, February 1952 (Copied for the Santa Monica Library, July 22, 1963). 140 pp., 1923
" . . .
" . . . and in 1923 a cafeteria bungalow and lunch pavilion were added [to Washington School.] . . .
Four New Elementary Schools
The second big "building boom' of the early 1920s caused an upsurge in tract development and again gave impetus to the construction of many new homes, so that the existing elementary schools could no longer provide for the additional enrollments. The Board had priorly purchased three new elementary sites and had torn down the original Lincoln School building to provide a fourth. Thus, in 1923, when the need became urgent, it was possible to start construction on two of the four schools ultimately to be built: the John Muir School at Ocean Park and Lincoln Boulevards, and the new McKinley School at Santa Monica Boulevard and Chelsea. [30. Board Minutes, Dec. 30, 1921.]
Similar in design, these two schools each contained eight classrooms, a large kindergarten, an auditorium and administrative offices. They were of two-story brick construction with tile roofs and were of the Mediterranean type of architecture. Each was built on a site of nearly six acres.
" . . .
Special Services
Many special services have been introduced in the Santa Monica schools during the years, some of the earlier ones being these: [46: Martin, op. cit., p. 60.]
1923 Dr. Wm.T. Atkin authorized as first School Dentist.
" . . .
Alice B. Emerson Betty Gordon at Ocean Park, Or School Chums on the Boardwalk, Cupples & Leon Company, Publishers: New York, 1923. 206 pp.
School children in Ocean Park, California, probably read books like this. The fictional setting in Emerson's book is the East Coast, but there is still a very astute Betty Gordon, solving crimes in the Country and the City, on the Boadwalk, the Beach and the Sea, on bicycle, canoe, train and sea plane, at a time when the circus might make money and could well have engaged the attentions of young women who were interested in seeing how solving mysteries developed Betty Gordon's character, much like it had Ruth Fielding's.
Paul J. Karlstrom and Susan Ehrlich Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956, Barry M. Heisler Introduction Santa Barbara Museum of Art 1990, 1923
" . . . Nevertheless, a respectable and thoroughly sophisticated community of modernists developed in and around Los Angeles despite the odds. Most, in fact, were well-established by the thirties and some even earlier. For example, when Ben Berlin arrived in 1919, he could already join forces with others of similar interests. In 1923, he exhibited with Stanton Macdonald-Wright,* Boris Deutsch, Nick Brigante, Morgan Russell, and Max Reno at the first Group of Independent Artists exhibition. The modernist "tradition" in painting and sculpture did not arrive with the emigrés but in fact was represented by this small group of advocates two full decades before the war. . . " p. 27
"The importance of Los Angeles as an early modern art center is frequently overlooked. In the person of Stanton Macdonald-Wright* the city had one of the founders of Synchromism, introduced in Paris by Americans. . . ."
James W. Lunsford The Ocean and the Sunset, The Hills and the Clouds: Looking at Santa Monica, illustrated by Alice N. Lunsford, 1983, 1977, 1923, 1913, 1900, 1882, 1875
Ocean Park
"41. Former First Methodist Episcopal Church Building, 2621 Second Street. Now a private residence, the north portion of this building was originally built in 1875 at the southwest corner of Sixth and Arizona and may be the oldest standing wood-frame building in the city. In 1882 it was moved to the southwest corner of Fourth and Arizona, then in 1900 to Ocean Park, where it became the Ocean Park Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1923 the church built a new brick structure and the old church became a meeting hall known as Patriotic Hall. It was purchased by the Stephen Jackson Women's Relief Corps No. 124 of the Grand Army of the Republic Auxiliary and used as a meeting hall until 1971, when it was sold and became a residence. It was designated a Santa Monica City Landmark in 1977.
"42. Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill Street. A United Methodist Church established in 1913, the present brick church building was built in 1923.
"44. Ocean Park Communtiy Organization, 237 Hill Street. The organization is located in a building orginally moved here in 1923 from the present vacant lot at the northwest corner of Third and Ocean Park; the building was used for many years as the parsonage for the church next door."
Lionel Rolfe Literary L.A., Chronicle Books: San Francisco, 1981. 102pp., 1923
" . . . in 1923, [Upton] Sinclair was jailed in San Pedro during a "Wobbly" strike. He was arrested while speaking to seven hundred strikers. He stood on private property, and he had written permission from the owner to be there. He was reading the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment to the Constitution. He was held incommunicado overnight-and out of the incident came the Southern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. . . .
" . . ."
McKinley 1923, Karl Rydgren's Class, Unknown photographer. From the collection of Alyssa Navopanich.
McKinley 1923, Karl Rydgren's Class, Unknown photographer. From the collection of Alyssa Navopanich.
1923 Santa Monica Municipal Band Programs for Ocean Park Concerts: Week of Jan. 9 to Jan. 14, 1923
"For the week of Jan. 9 to Jan. 14, 1923, Alfred Tommasino, Director and Louis Gasdia, Manager, of the thirty-four member Santa Monica Band presented the following program:
Tuesday Afternoon, Jan. 9, 1923, 2:30 o'Clock
Intermission
Tuesday Evening, Jan. 9, 1923, 7:30 o'Clock
Wednesday Afternoon, Jan. 10, 1923, 2:30 o'Clock
Intermission
Wednesday Evening, Jan. 10, 1923, 7:30 o'Clock
Thursday Afternoon, Jan. 11, 1923, 2:30 o'Clock
Intermission
Thursday Evening, Jan. 11, 1923, 7:30 o'Clock
Friday Afternoon and Evening, Jan. 12, 1923.
2:30 and 7:30 o'Clock Request Programs Send your request to Alfredo S. Tommasino, director, or Louis Gasdia, manager.Saturday Afternoon, Jan. 13, 1923, 2:30 o'Clock
Intermission
Saturday Evening, Jan. 13, 1923, 7:30 o'Clock
Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 14, 1923, 2:30 o'Clock
Intermission
Sunday Evening, Jan. 14, 1923, 7:30 o'Clock
Advertisements in Band Program, January 9-14, 1923
Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
48. First Methodist - Episcopal Church, 1875
- 1876
2621 2nd Street
Architect: Unknown
Designation: 4 January 1977
"A simplified variation of a Gothic Revival style, the building was the first church erected in Santa Monica. The site was donated by the Santa Monica Land Company of City founder John P. Jones. Located originally at Sixth and Arizona, the church was moved to Hill and Lake Streets in 1899 and occupied by the Ocean Park Methodist - Episcopal Church. Lake Street became Washington Boulevard, and is now Second Street.
"In 1923, the old church was sold to the Stephen Jackson Women's Relief Corps, No. 124 and was renamed "Patriotic Hall." In 1971, it became a private residence." p.20
Amanda Schacter (Ed.) Santa Monica Landmarks Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, 1990.
8 Santa Monica Municipal Pier
West end of Colorado Boulevard
Built: 1909, 1917, 1924
Designated 17 August 1976
"The Santa Monica Pier was originally two separately owned, adjacent piers: the Municipal Pier built in 1909, and the Pleasure Pier, built in 1916 by Charles I.D. Loof and privately owned. While the Municipal Pier was for strolling and fishing, Loof constructed amusement and food establishments on the Pleasure Pier, including the exotic Hippodrome building to house the Pier's carousel. Loof sold the Pleasure Pier in 1924 to a corporation which lengthened it that year and built the famed La Monica Ballroom. Although the ballroom was demolished in 1963, in its hey (sic) day the massive structure could accommodate as many as 10,000 people. The City has owned both Piers since the 1950's and, in 1970, assumed direct management. Since the 1970's the Piers have been known collectively as the Santa Monica Pier.
"The Hippodrome has housed three carousels over the years. The first carousel, installed by Loof, remained until 1939, when it was replaced by a carousel that had previously been located at the old Pacific Ocean Park Pier. The current carousel was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1922 and was moved from Nashville, Tennessee to the Santa Monica Pier in 1947. The Hippodrome building was designated a National Historica Landmark in 1988. In addition, the entire Pier was named a County Historical Landmark in 1975.
"Other buildings of interest on the Pier include the Billiard Building, constructed on the the Pier in 1923, and the building know today as Sinbad's, originally constructed next to the Billiard Building in the early 1920s. The building remained there until 1929, when it was moved to its present location, adjacent to the site of the La Monica Ballroom. It served as the home of the La Monica Dancing Company and Hoyt's Chesapeake Cafe until the use changed in 1955 to "Sinbad's" restaurant."
11 First Methodist - Episcopal
Church
2621 2nd Street
Built: 1875
Designated 4 January 1977
"This building, a simplified variation of a Gothic Revival style, was the first church building erected in Santa Monica. The site was donated by the Santa Monica Land Company, the development company of Santa Monica founder John P. Jones. Located originally at Sixth and Arizona, in 1883 it was moved two blocks west to the southwest corner of Fourth and Arizona. At that time a bell tower was added. In 1899, the church was moved to Hill and Lake Streets and occupied by the Ocean Park Methodist - Episcopal Church. Lake Street became Washington Boulevard, and is now Second Street. In 1923, the old church was sold to the Stephen Jackson Women's Relief Corps, No. 124 and was called Patriotic Hall. In 1971, it became a private residence."
Jack Smith The Big Orange Ward Ritchie Press: Pasadena, CA, 1976. 252 pp.
Watts Towers 1959, 1923
""They tried to knock it down, you
know."
"In the southeast corner of the section know as Watts there is a piece of 107th Street that is cut off by old Pacific Electric tracks. It can be entered from Wlllowbrook Avenue, but it runs only one short block, and there it dead-ends in the rusted old tracks that slash across the neighborhood on their way to nowhere.
"In most ways it is a typical Watts street; two rows of small frame houses, dateless houses that have outlived their time but are trying to keep up appearances, like old chorus girls, with paint and flowers. But this is a distinguished street, because at its dead end, on a small lot cut like a piece of pie by the old tracks, stand the Watt Towers. They are the most remarkable works of open air art in Southern California, and perhaps in the nation.
"They are the work of the late Simon Rodia, an immigrant Italian who gave up women and liquor at the age of forty and spent the next thirty-three years of his life erecting these implausible monuments." p. 121
" . . . The Watts Towers are a wondrous poem, built in the sky by a man who was possessed by unquenchable urgings and fancies . . . "
"'I wanted to do something big,' said Simon Rodia; and he did.
"More than anything else, the towers reminded me of the boojum tree, which is also unique and improbable. It is found only in the wilderness of Baja California, and there is nothing even close to it anywhere else. Ot the three towers, the highest is one hundred feet. They rise like upside-down ice cream cones made of lace and encrusted with costume jewelry.
"A wall runs around Rodia's triangular garden, and it also bears his mark. The wall is a mosaic of Rodia's improvisations. There are panels of broken tile and panels of green bottle glass and plaques of cement in which he impressed his initials, SR, and the date, 1923, and the shape of hammer and tile cutter and the other tools of his trade, or perhaps it should be called his passion. The wall seems without design, without order. Bits of broken tile, yellow and red and blue and purple; pieces of china plates; pieces of green and blue bottles; hundreds of white seashells - all are pressed into the cement of the wall without apparent pattern; yet the wall is a masterpiece. It dazzles the eye and delights the spirit. It is all one lovely harmony." p. 122
" . . . I sat in the gazebo and studied the towers.
"They are made of steel rings and spokes and central cores, all covered with cement, set in chicken wire and encrusted with the humble materials of Rodia's art - the debris of a wasteful society. They are connected by bejeweled spars that leap from one to the other and to the other fancies in the garden - the gazebo and the Marco Polo ship and the fountain - so that all is one interlocking structure.
"Rodia was only a tile setter by trade, without any schooling at all. He owned and boasted of a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, but nobody was ever sure he could even read, Yet he had created from some infallible inner sense of order this exquisite feat of art and engineering. For thirty-three years he worked alone, rising with his towers, coming down to fill his cement pail and climbing up again to add another bit of frosting. He used no ladders. The towers themselves were his scaffold.
"Why did he work alone?
"'I no have anybody to help me out,' he said one. 'I was a poor man. Had to do a little at a time. Nobody helped me. I think if I hire a man he don't know what to do. A million times I don't know what to do myself.'
"Why did he build his towers at all?
"'Some of the people say what was he doing . . . some of the people think I was crazy and some people said I was going to do something. I wanted to do something. I wanted to do something in the United States because I was raised her you understand? I wanted to do something for the United State because there are nice people in this country. . . " p. 123
"Paul Laporte wrote: "Even the ornamentation, the bits and pieces of tile and glass and china, was essential to provide a protective shell over the reinforced cement. . . . 'Thus every part and combination of parts in these structures is a technical necessity while at the same time emerging as the character and beauty of the whole.'" p. 124
"A wood flooring has been laid over the foundations of Rodia's little house. Only the fireplace is left, and the arched doorway, which is faced with pieces of broken mirrors. Everyone come back for a second look at the doorway, seeing himself fragmented, abstracted, in that wall of broken mirrors." p. 124
{One historical consideration might be that so much has been written about the Ocean Park/Los Angeles landscape because it has changed so much so radically that it is always renewing itself, and that writers can find cheap digs from which to write about themselves in that landscape.}
"It was a dramatic day, October 10, 1959, when the main tower was put to the test. Reporters and television crews were there. A crowd gathered in the street, some hoping the tower would win, some hoping it would fail. A hydraulic jack was used to apply a ten thousand- pound load to the tower, much more than any wind or quake would give it. It was to be a five- minute test. A minute went by. The crowd was tense. The tower leaned almost imperceptibly. And then the main beam of the test rigging began to give.
"The city surrendered. The test was over. Simon Rodia's innate engineering skill was proved, and his work prevailed.
". . . Many people on the street had been there a long time and remembered Simon, the odd little Italian with the gnarled hands and the big nose.
"Simon used to sing as he worked, forty, fifty feet up, arias from operas and songs nobody in the neighborhood had ever heard anybody else sing. Funny man; complained about everything; taxes and painted women and drinking parents. But loved the country, loved America.
"'He used to go off down that railroad track walking, . . . all the way to Wilmington sometimes, with his gunnysack, picking up things. Be gone all day, come back with a sackful of junk.'" p. 125 to 126
"'You know he even put his car in those towers there?' . . . 'Old Hudson. He put the springs and the wheels and everything he could use.' 'What happened to the rest of it then?' . . . "Buried it. Right there by the tracks.' . . ." p.126
1916-1928 Third Street Spanish Colonial Revival Style, (Third Street Historic District?) built 1923. Photographed 1992 by Leslie Heumann & Assoc. for the City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1999, 1992, 1990, 1923
http://www.smpl.org/archive/0246/IMG0016.JPG
2118 Third Street (Third Street Historic District?) Spanish Revival style built by S.A. Logan 1923. Photographed 1982-83 for the City of Santa Monica Historic Resources Inventory, 1999, 1990, 1983, 1982, 1923
http://www.smpl.org/archive/0246/IMG0020.JPG
Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1923
"456 Mesa . . . Residence of scuptor 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. . . ."
