On the SWC Marine and Neilson, the Masonic Temple building, home to the Ocean Park Lodge 369 Free and Accepted Masons, is built in 1905 and demolished in 1965.
In 1903, Ocean Park civic leaders and businessmen1 petition the Masonic Grand Lodge of California to form a new lodge.2 In 1905, Ocean Park becomes the 369th Masonic Lodge chartered in California.
In 1906 A.R. Fraser, a thirty-second-degree Mason and past Master of the Ocean Park Lodge, builds the 3-story Masonic Temple building on the southwest corner of Marine and Neilson.3 California Mason Grand Master M.H. Flint (1864 – 1930),4 previously postal inspector and now Los Angeles postmaster, lays the cornerstone in 1905, and the Masonic Temple is dedicated in February 1906.5
The boundary between Santa Monica and Venice transects the building. The front door is on Marine St. in Santa Monica, and the building backs onto an alley over the Santa Monica border in Venice.6
In 1906 there are very few buildings between Speedway and Neilson on either side of Marine St. - Ocean Park’s commercial center is on Pier Ave. In a shock to Pier Ave businesses, the Ocean Park post office is moved from Pier Ave to the Masonic Temple building (158 Marine St.) - where it remains till the building is demolished in 1965.7
The post office plus, over the years, a variety of retail occupy the Masonic Temple building’s ground floor. The Masons occupy the 2nd and 3rd floors, but also rent their space to a variety of businesses and non-profit organizations.8
In 1965, as part of the Ocean Park Redevelopment Project, the Masonic Temple is demolished - along with everything else west of Neilson between Ocean Park Blvd and the south city border.
Except for the Marine Street Telephone Exchange building, it’s all gone.9
The Ocean Park Masonic Temple Association is formed by A.R. Fraser (1856-1926), H.R. Gage (1848-1930), M.R. King (1847 – 1924), H.E. Lavayea (1852 – 1908), C.W. Damerel (1851 – 1916), W.H. Anderson (1866 – 1954), and C. E. Lovelace (1870 - 1926).
There already is a Masonic lodge in Santa Monica - Santa Monica Lodge 307, granted a charter in 1891. It meets at the Masonic Hall at 3rd St. and Santa Monica Blvd. The current Santa Monica-Palisades Lodge 307 is located at 926 Santa Monica Blvd.
The ownership of the property (building and the land) is vague. In 1905 A.R. Fraser sells his share of the land for $8,427 to the Ocean Park Masonic Temple Association. A.R. Fraser, credited with building the $45,000 brick structure, is said to own two-thirds. During the Joint Temple discussions in 1911, it is clear that Fraser is leasing the space to the Masons. In 1923 H.R. Gage sells (gifts) his share of the land for a “ ridiculously low figure” to the Masons.
Motley H. Flint plays a central role in the Julian Petroleum stock scandal of 1927. Flint, formerly a vice-president of the Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank, is indicted several times, but the charges are dismissed or he is acquitted. Testifying in a Los Angeles courtroom in 1930, he is shot and killed. He is the Flint in Flintridge. His brother Frank Putnam Flint (1862 – 1929) is the US Senator for CA from 1905 to 1911.
Between the formation of the Ocean Park Lodge in 1903 and the 1906 dedication of the Ocean Park Masonic Temple, the City of Ocean Park is formed (in 1904). The Ocean Park Masonic Temple building remains in Santa Monica. In 1923, a group of members break away from Ocean Park Lodge and form the Triangle Lodge 548 in the City of Venice.
Masonic lodges are symbolically laid out from “West” to “East”, with the Master stationed in the “East” end of the room. Geographically, the Ocean Park lodge room runs North and South. The Master’s chair, referred to as being in the “East”, is geographically situated at the South end of the room which is in the City of Venice.
In 1911, the Santa Monica Lodge 307 is planning to build a temple. Masons at the Santa Monica and Ocean Park Lodge enthusiastically form a Joint Temple Association. However the Ocean Park members want the joint temple to be in Ocean Park, and the Santa Monica members want the joint temple to be in Santa Monica. Real estate developer, Carl F. Schader, seeking to improve his Vicente Terrace and Seaside Terrace developments, offers to donate a site on the NWC of Pico and Ocean Ave for the joint temple. Nothing comes of the joint temple idea.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints occupies 158-1/2 Marine St. from at least 1913 until 1922 (when their chapel is built at 2nd & Strand).
O.A. Kirkelie Company undertakers occupies the ground floor until 1921.
The Marine Furniture Company occupies 164 Marine St. from 1921 until 1927 (when they move to 2905 Main St).
In 1968 the Ocean Park Masonic Temple Association acquires a commercial property at 1720 Ocean Park Blvd and converts it into the Ocean Park Masonic Temple. As the result of the consolidation with the Palms Lodge 512, the West Adams Lodge 565, and the Triangle Lodge 548, the Ocean Park Lodge 369 in 1994 is renamed the Sunset Lodge 369, F & A M.
At the California Heritage Museum, there is a rock of unknown origin with an April 25, 1985 bronze plaque by the Ocean Park Lodge 369 F & AM commemorating Alexander Rosborough Fraser (1856-1926), Charter Master of the Lodge; Herbert Richmond Gage (1848-1930); George Merritt Jones (1862-1932); and Abbott Kinney (1850-1920) - who are the four partners of the Ocean Park Improvement Company.