The Street Seen: Dwight is Gone
Ocean Park Boulevard @ Main St
From 1900 to 1918, the segment of Ocean Park Blvd between Barnard Way and Main St is named Dwight Avenue. Originally, Dwight Ave ends at Neilson, but nine years later, it is extended through to Main St. In 1918, Dwight Ave is absorbed by Ocean Park Blvd.
Dwight Avenue is established with the 1900 subdivision of the Central Beach Tract by Los Angeles investors George Hart and A.R. Fraser. Dwight Avenue is named for Dwight Howard Hart1 - the brother of George Hart.
The entrepreneurial Hart brothers (George and Dwight) are downtown Los Angeles hotel people. They are not actively involved in Santa Monica affairs - although George Hart has an oceanfront cottage on Hart Ave.
In the 1900 sub-division of the Central Beach Tract, the 40-ft wide Dwight Ave dead ends at the railroad right-of-way (at present day Neilson).2 In 1901, Main St. grocer C. Johnson builds sidewalk on the north side of his store that connects to the Dwight Ave sidewalk - providing pedestrian access to the beach.
In 1909, Dwight Ave is extended across the railroad right-of-way (across present-day Neilson and city parking lots) to intersect Main St.
This requires the condemnation of two 25 ft wide lots on Main St ( lots 33 and 34 of Block R of the Santa Monica Commercial Company Tract) and the demolition of a Main St. fuel (firewood and coal) shed. Dwight Ave now dead ends at Main St.
In 1918, Central Ave (Lincoln to 4th St) is extended from 4th St to Main St – and connected to Dwight Ave. Dwight is renamed Central Ave – and the Dwight name disappears from Ocean Park. In 1926, Central Avenue is renamed Ocean Park Boulevard.
Dwight Howard Hart (1874 – 1942). Born in Ohio. The entrepreneurial Hart brothers (George and Dwight) start their hospitality careers working at their father’s Natick House hotel in downtown Los Angeles. In 1903, they acquire the Rosslyn Hotel and, in 1906, the adjacent Lexington Hotel.
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In 1905, Dwight Hart is at the center of a scandal played out in the newspapers. May Godfrey, a “well developed girl of 16” and former waitress at Hart’s Natick House hotel, claims Dwight has agreed to marry her. May says she has spent much time in Hart’s company. She has letters and inscribed jewelry. On August 25, George Hart drives Dwight to the Ocean Park Pier, where May works. They then drive May to the downtown Los Angeles police station, where Dwight has May arrested on an insanity charge – on the grounds that May claims that Hart wants to marry her. May is confined to an insane ward at the County Hospital pending an examination before the County Lunacy Commission. On August 30, May and her mother leave for Kansas.
In 1906, Dwight marries Mabel Sophia Runge (1878 – 1970). They live at the Rosslyn.
In 1913 the Hart brothers build, own, and operate the New Rosslyn At that time, the combined property is one of the largest hotels in the world. From 1919 to 1923, Dwight Hart is a California State Senator. In 1936, he commissions Paul Williams to design the Dwight Hart House on Sunset Blvd as a wedding gift to his daughter Maizelle (1916 – 1997) and her husband Felix H. McGinness.
There is no overall development plan for Ocean Park. The Kinney & Ryan resort along the ocean, and the Lucas Ranch in the hills to the east are independently subdivided. The result is dead ends, non-aligned, and confusingly named streets. In pre-automobile days this is less of a problem.