The Street Seen: 2015 Main Street
2015 Main Street between Bay & Bicknell
In 1923, an automotive sales showroom is built at 2015 Main St. During WWII, a variance is approved to allow plastics manufacturing on the property. Between 1960 and 1982, the space is used for furniture and antiques. In 1982, fresh fruit and vegetable store Santa Monica Farms moves in.
Before Current Building (1904 to 1922)
In 1904, B.J. Higuera1 buys a vacant 60 ft x 150 ft lot at 2015 Main St (between Bay & Bicknell,)2 and builds a single-family dwelling. Higuera lives in Culver City, and from at least 1913, the cottage is a rental property.
Around 1915, another house is built on the lot, and the two cottages are rented to a succession of people.
Current Building
The lot has two side-by-side addresses. In 1922, B.J. Higuera obtains a building permit for a 30 ft x 65 ft 1-story 1-room $3,400 brick building at 2015 Main St. And in 1923, a building permit for a 30 ft x 100 ft 1-story auto sales showroom $4,700 brick building at 2017 Main St. The street front exterior is glazed white brick. Santa Monica contractor J. L. Schimmer is the architect and builder for both projects.
Automotive Uses (1923 - 1928)
The first occupants of the new building, W.F. Sharples (1886 – 1945) and D.W. Brummett (1880 – 1956), open Paige-Jewett3 Sales in 1923.
From 1925 to 1927, Paige-Jewett Sales is run by W.A. Stillwell (1877 – 1955) and A.H. Meng (1891 - 1981). The Paige-Jewett automobile brand is discontinued in 1927.
Vacant (1928 - 1944)
During the Depression, there are no references to the property, and the building seems to be vacant from 1930 to 1944.
Light Manufacturing - Plastics (1944 - 1960)
In 1944 (during WWII), widow4 Elizabeth S. Merry (1871 - 1959) of Kansas City, MO, obtains a war emergency variance (valid only until 6 months after the end of the war) for light manufacturing of plastic products in a commercial zone. The Plasticast Company makes plastic caskets.5
In 1947, Hosmer,6 an artificial limb manufacturer, occupies the building. From 1952 to 1960, Field Plastics is manufacturing retail store fixtures and displays.
Cabinet Shop / Antiques / Rattan (1960 - 1982)
From 1960 to 1967,7 the building is occupied by a cabinet furniture shop (W.L. Rock Cabinets). In 1978, Antiques Fair moves in from 2716 Main St. From 1978 to 1982, Harvey’s is selling rattan furniture.
Opening on Melrose Avenue in 1969, Harvey Schwartz has rattan and deco furniture stores at 7955 - 7957 Melrose and at 2015 Main.
Santa Monica Farms (1982 - 1985)
In 1982, Kevin T O'Neil, displaced from his Colorado and Ocean Ave corner, moves Santa Monica Farms8 into the vacant building.9
Grocery Deli (1985 - )
Unfussy family-owned Santa Monica Farms Jr opens a produce market with groceries, sundries, and deli sandwiches.
Santa Monica Farms is sold in June 2024. Santa Monica Market moves in.
Stripper Herk / Greg’s Refinishing
At 2015 1/2 Main in the rear of the 150 ft deep lot are Stripper Herk (furniture stripping)10 and Greg's Refinishing (furniture refinishing).11
Bernardo J. Higuera (1857-1933) is a descendant of the Higuera family, the oldest non-indigenous family to live on the land (Rancho Rincón de los Bueyes) that becomes Culver City, Palms, and Cheviot Hills. He marries Concepción Rocha (1861-1942) – her own family owned Rancho La Brea. Higuera a farmer, is active in local social and political circles. He is appointed to Culver City’s inaugural board of trustees in 1917. Higuera Street in Culver City is named for him in 1921.
The 60 ft x 150 ft property is Lot 3, Block 6 of the South Santa Monica Tract. The South Santa Monica Tract, formerly a part of the Lucas Ranch, is subdivided by Ivar A. Weid in 1876. He advertises "SOUTH SANTA MONICA, Lots 60 ft x 150 ft Villa Sites purchased by Judges Bicknell and Glassell, Captain Thom, and others."
The Paige-Detroit Motor Car Company was founded by Fredrick Osgood Paige in 1908, and the automaker’s original offering is a two-seat model powered by a 2.2-liter, three-cylinder, two-stroke engine. The Jewett (1922 - 1926) is named after Harry M. Jewett, president of Paige-Detroit. Smaller and sportier than the Paige-Detroit, the Jewett offers six-cylinder power and, eventually, four-wheel hydraulic brakes. When the Graham brothers (Joseph, Robert, and Ray) acquire Paige-Detroit in 1927, the Jewett is rebadged as a Paige, then a Graham-Paige, and then discontinued.
Charles Lawrence Merry (1852–1920) founds the Merry Optical Company of Kansas City, MO.
Wood becomes a critical World War II material needed for barracks and cantonments, ships and docks, war plants and war housing, gun stocks, explosives, airplanes, boxes and crates for war supplies, and hundreds of other essential uses. The Armed Forces use a greater tonnage of wood than of steel.
Hosmer, located in Campbell, CA, is founded by D.W. Dorrance, who lost an arm in an industrial accident. By 1912, he has designed the first split hook and begins manufacturing them in San Jose, CA. In the 1940s, A.J. Hosmer, MD, develops a line of wrist and elbow components that are later added to the Dorrance line when the two companies merge in 1952.
In 1960, 2015 Main St is owned by James Saporito (1918 – 2013).
Kevin T. O'Neil starts Santa Monica Farms in 1977 in the abandoned Phillips 66 gas station on the corner of Ocean & Colorado opposite the Santa Monica Pier. Fruit and vegetables from the downtown Los Angeles produce terminal are trucked in daily by O'Neil or bartered from local gardeners. In 1981, redevelopment of the site sends Santa Monica Farms looking for a new location.
A permit is required for the change of use to a produce store. As always with stores on Main St, the required parking is an issue. The issued permit specifies no alcohol sales.
Established in 1976, Michael Miller’s Stripper Herk specializes in cold solvent stripping of furniture, cabinetry, and metal.
Greg Konblett’s Greg's Refinishing is a cabinet and furniture refinishing shop offering wood furniture restoration and refinishing, and kitchen renovation and remodeling services.