The Street Seen: A Tale of Two Cities (part I)
Ocean Park (Santa Monica)
There are two “Ocean Park”s - Ocean Park (Santa Monica) and Ocean Park (Venice). Their complicated and confusing histories are intertwined. Let’s start at the beginning - Ocean Park (Santa Monica).
Founded in 1875, Santa Monica incorporates in 1886. The 1886 incorporated boundary includes South Santa Monica – mostly part of the old Lucas Ranch from Lincoln to the Pacific Ocean, from Pico to the south boundary (Marine).
In the late 1880s, Abbot Kinney (Pasadena) and Francis Ryan1 (Anaheim) spend the summers with their families in Santa Monica and play tennis at the Santa Monica Casino.2 Ryan convinces Kinney that the worthless “sand” beachfront in the south of Santa Monica has greater potential for development (as a resort) than does expensive land in the hills to the east. In September 1891, Kinney and Ryan purchase a 1-1/2 mile-long beachfront tract3 from Captain Arthur J. Hutchinson.4
With a long view to the future, none of the property is offered for sale.5 Kinney and Ryan set about improving their resort. Water and sewers are provided, boardwalks laid, and lots leased for small cottages or summer tents. In 1892, they convince Santa Fe Railroad to extend its Inglewood line north to their resort.6 In 1893, they donate a 5-acre strip west of the Santa Fe depot to the Los Angeles YMCA.7
In 1893, the YMCA forms the “YMCA Ocean Park Company” to hold this asset - this is the first use of the term “Ocean Park” as the location.8 In 1895, Santa Fe changes the name of the stop at Hill and Main from “South Santa Monica” to “Ocean Park.”
This is a more euphonious title than one with a prefix, and gives an individuality to the South Beach which it has not heretofore enjoyed - The Los Angeles Times 26 May 1895
From 1899 to 1914, Ocean Park, a Santa Monica neighborhood with undefined boundaries, has its own post office - the only instance of two separate post offices (Santa Monica and Ocean Park) being established within a single municipality (Santa Monica).
Francis George Ryan (1855 – 1898). Ryan is usually described as Kinney’s silent partner (this is Kinney’s preference in partners). Ryan born in England, emigrates to the US, and in 1885 marries Matilda Brooks (1860 – 1940) in Vermont. In 1888 the Ryans (it is in her name) buy a 750-acre orange ranch in Anaheim from Silas Holman for $24,000. In 1891 they build a new house in Santa Monica - on 4th St between California and Wilshire. Matilda divorces him (drunkenness) in 1895, but they re-marry in 1897. Ryan dies of a heart attack at 43, and his widow Matilda Brooks Ryan marries Thomas Dudley.
The Santa Monica Casino, a private club on 3rd Street between California and Washington, is built in 1888 by the Santa Monica Improvement Co - whose directors include Kinney, Baker, and Jones. The Santa Monica Casino is the center of Santa Monica’s social life and for years, the center of Southern California lawn tennis. In June 1891, Kinney and Ryan acquire a controlling interest in the Santa Monica Casino.
Here the term casino is a space used for social amusements and recreation – and only later the term comes to mean a space for gambling.
The Santa Monica Casino should not be confused (but often is) with the much later 100-acre Ocean Park Country Club built in Venice by Kinney and Dudley in 1901.
Kinney and Ryan purchase the 275-acre beachfront tract for $175,000 from Captain Hutchinson, a former British Army officer, acquires the property in the late 1870s when he forecloses on loans made to the Machado family on parts of their Rancho La Ballona.
The beachfront land extends from Strand Street in Santa Monica 1-1/2 miles south to Mildred Avenue in Venice. The northern end of the tract extends only 900 feet inland, but at the southern end, curves eastward to a half-mile width. The northern third located in Santa Monica has development potential, while the remainder in unincorporated Los Angeles County is sand dunes and marsh.
Arthur J. Hutchinson (1846 – 1926). Born in Bermuda, Hutchinson graduates from Royal Military College and serves in India retiring with the rank of captain. He comes to VA where he marries Sarah (Sadie) Lindsay Patton. Comes to CA and engages in farming. Hutchinson acquires the beach front property in the late 1870’s when he forecloses on a series of loans made to the Machado family on parts of their La Ballona Rancho. In 1889, he moves to Tulare County to grow citrus and in 1891 founds the town of Lindsay, named for his wife. In 1906, Hutchinson retires to Palo Alto.
When the Ocean Park Ostrich Farm fails in 1892, Kinney & Ryan buy the 13-acre former Lucas Ranch property east of the railroad right of way, from Harold B. Perry. In 1893, Kinney & Ryan subdivide this "Santa Monica Tract" into 25 x 100 foot lots featuring piped water, priced at $100.
For their resort to be successful, Kinney & Ryan need direct rail service from Los Angeles. Southern Pacific Railroad is persuaded by Santa Monica business interests to be uncooperative. To entice the rival Santa Fe Railroad to extend their steam-powered Inglewood line north to the resort, Kinney and Ryan give Santa Fe property for the right of way plus 12 acres of their beach tract (which Santa Fe sells in 1900 to Hart and Fraser who subdivide it as the Central Beach Tract). The first Santa Fe train arrives at the passenger depot on June 18, 1892.
As part of the agreement, Santa Fe builds a 500-foot-long, iron pipe wharf 300 feet south of Hill Street in 1895. The wharf is a disappointment as only minor shipping follows.
In consideration of the donation by Kinney and Ryan, the YMCA agrees to build an auditorium which is expected to be the scene of many religious conventions and assemblies, and a bath house. The auditorium built in 1894, burns in 1897 - a complete loss as there is no water to save the building.
Ocean Park, Maine is established in 1881, when Governor Harris M. Plaisted (1828 – 1898) approves a charter for the “Ocean Park Association” to establish a summer resort for holding religious, educational, and other meetings at Old Orchard Beach.