1953    (1952) (1954) (1940-1950) (1950-1960) Table of Contents

 

Sources

 

Walter Mosley A Red Death Pocket Books: NY, 1991, 245 pp. (1953) See Text

Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
33. Santa Monica Pier   See Text

Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990, 1953   See Text

Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1953 See Text

 

Notes:

     "Lieutenant Governor Goodwin "Goodie" Knight had succeeded to the governorship in 1953 when the new Republican administration in Washington named his predecessor, Earl Warren, as the new chief justice of the Supreme Court." Gottlieb and Wolt, 1977

     "The conclusion of the Korean War on July 27, 1953 . . ."

 

Documents

 

Walter Mosley A Red Death Pocket Books: NY, 1991, 245 pp. (1953)
 
Chapter 32 [Easy Rawlins and Shirley Wenzler drive to Santa Monica to find her father, Chaim Wenzler, dead . . . ]
     ". . . It was a small house across the street from a park. The park was small too. Just one little grassy hill that rose up to the street on the other side. No trees or benches. Just a hill that was only fit for the two children who rolled down it, pretending that they'd lost control . . . 
     "The house was decorated in some cool, dull color, green or blue. The ceiling was so low that I remember ducking to go through the door from the living room to the bedroom.
     " . . . We got to a small coffee shop in Venice Beach. A small place that had sandy floors and nets with seashells that hung from the ceiling. Our window looked out onto the shore . . . 
     "She was shivering so I put my hand out
     "The white cook came out from behind the counter and a few people turned all the way around in their chairs to watch. . . ."  p. 199

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Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.

33. Santa Monica Pier
Foot of Colorado Avenue
Architect: Charles Looff {?}
Designation: 17 August 1976

     "In 1953, the City took over the Pleasure Pier and leased it to a private operator. Since the 1970s, the Piers have been known collectively as the Santa Monica Pier. The entire Pier was named a County Historical Landmark in 1975. After the 1983 storms that destroyed the west end of the Santa Monica Pier, the structure of the Pier was strengthened."

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Jeffrey Stanton Santa Monica Pier A History from 1875 to 1990, Donahue Publishing: Los Angeles, CA, 1990.  1953

Chapter 5: Santa Monica Pier on the Skids (1941-1974)

     "An unusual attraction opened on the pier in March 1953 when Henry and Mary Freedman leased the former penny arcade building for the summer season. Henry Freedman, who looked like a balding, bespectacled college professor, had recently returned from the Amazon River in South America where he caught electric eels and piranha fish. Their tropical Fish Show and Electric Eel Aquarium featured six electric eels, one nearly five feet in length, displayed in large tanks.

     "Henry would invite the audience to hold hands in a broken circle and would give the two participants on each end the wires from the end of two electric terminals. Then, using a pair of protective gloves, he would remove one of the larger eels from the tank, place it on a table and touch the two terminals against the creature. The audience often gasped as they received a shock when the current passed through them. Henry, to satisfy those in the crowd, who were still skeptical, then used the eel's current to light an electric bulb held overhead. . . ." p. 114

     "The conclusion of the Korean War on July 27, 1953 . . ."

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Betty Lou Young and Randy Young Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History Casa Vieja Press: Pacific Palisades, CA, 1997, 182pp., 1953

     " . . . 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."

     "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. . . ."

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