The Street Seen: Merritt Jones Hotel
127 Marine Street @ Speedway
Following the 1912 Ocean Park Pier fire, the Merritt Jones Hotel is built on Marine St near the pier. For many years, the hotel is very fashionable. The building is demolished in 1965 to make way for the Ocean Park Redevelopment Project.
In 1909, Ocean Park founder, George Merritt Jones,1 builds a 3-story, fireproof brick apartment building on the north side of Marine St.2 The apartment building is destroyed in the September 3, 1912, Ocean Park fire.3 G. Merritt Jones is a major Ocean Park property owner and suffers a large (partially insured) loss.
By October 13, 1912, G. Merritt Jones has design renderings by architects MacGibbon-Frary Company for a new E-shaped plan 7-story hotel on the Marine St site.4
In 1913, a less ornate, 4-story (but capable of expansion to 7-story) hotel is built - the design attributed to architects Russell and Slingluff. The cost of construction of the reinforced concrete (“absolutely fireproof”) building is $250,000.5 G. Merritt Jones names the hotel after himself.
Directors W.W. Canon, G. Merritt Jones, and I.H. Shattuck form the Merritt Jones Hotel Company to operate the hotel on a 10-year lease. William W. Canon6 and Ward McFadden7 manage the hotel. They invest in their idea of a first-class hotel and palace of epicureanism - a hotel where people of wealth and refinement may enjoy the comforts and luxuries to which they are accustomed.
The Merritt Jones Hotel opens in February 1914. In May 1914, Canon sells his hotel lease interest to McFadden. In December 1914, lessee McFadden closes the hotel restaurants, returns the remaining provisions to the suppliers, and announces that, henceforward, the hotel will operate on an accommodation-only basis. Owner G. Merritt Jones closes the hotel.8
The hotel re-opens in March 1915 with E.G. Washington9 as manager. Prices in the hotel and cafe are reduced to a popular level. The hotel is very fashionable - the food ranks with the best, and the prices are among the most reasonable in the Bay District. However, there is continuous turnover of operators (and owners).
In May 1915, J.E. Davidson takes over as manager - and is replaced by O.D. Jones in August 1915. When Santa Monica goes dry in 1918, the Merritt Jones Hotel loses its liquor license.
In 1923, the 10-year operating lease expires, and Merritt Jones sells10 the hotel to retired physician and agricultural real estate investor, Dr. J.M. Glaze.11 In 1924, a fire destroys the Ocean Park Pier, but the Merritt Jones Hotel survives.
In 1926, Glaze trades the Merritt Jones Hotel to the Los Angeles and Fresno Land Company12 for 1,200 acres of grapes in Tulare County. In 1928, manager Harry T. Muir13 announces plans for an extensive remodel.
The hotel struggles through the Depression, with a short-lived revival in 1939 when it is renovated by Venice real estate man O.H. McQuary.14 But then, as with most of Ocean Park, declines through the 1950s and 1960s.
The building is demolished in 1965 to make way for the Ocean Park Redevelopment Project.
George Merritt Jones (1861 - 1932).
Merritt Jones’ 1909 3-story apartment building near Speedway is 60-ft along Marine by 80-ft deep. The $65,000 construction is wood roof and floors supported on unreinforced brick perimeter walls. The entire ground floor is leased to retail grocer Lee H. Young. The two upper floors are furnished apartments.
On September 3, 1912, starting at the Ocean Park Casino, a fire breaks out and quickly spreads to other buildings near the pier. The fire covers 6 blocks and takes 12 fire companies nearly 4 hours to contain.
The Merritt Jones Hotel property (lots 6, 8,…,14, and 16 of Block 10 of the 1901 Bay View Tract) is 180-ft along Marine St by 85-ft deep.
The reinforced concrete Merritt Jones Hotel is advertised as fire and earthquake proof. Changing and shower facilities for guests who indulge in surf bathing, and the kitchen are located in the basement. The ground floor includes a palatial barbershop. Above the ground floor, the hotel has an E-shaped plan with three wings. The upper floors are reached by electric elevators. On the upper three floors, there are a total of 153 guest rooms, each with an outside view, and 75 of them with adjoining private baths.
William W. Canon. From 1911 to 1914, Canon is the assistant manager of the 1911 Seminole Hotel on Flower St in downtown Los Angeles.
Ward Earl McFadden (1880 – 1953). In 1908, McFadden is the proprietor of the Ship Café. He sells his interest to Baron Long in 1913 and takes over the lease on the Merritt Jones Hotel. In 1915, he is briefly back managing the Ship Café, then he opens a liquor store in Culver City until Prohibition. In 1920, McFadden takes over the Atwood Café in Venice. In 1925, “Commodore” Ward McFadden is the manager of the new Ship Café. In 1926, he is the manager of the Edgewater Beach Club, and in 1927, the manager of the Breakers Beach Club.
At the Merritt Jones Hotel, McFadden claims he is being unfairly treated (including spying on guests) by the Santa Monica police. Merritt Jones obtains an injunction to prevent McFadden from removing the hotel’s leased furniture. With debts of $75,000, McFadden files for personal bankruptcy in August 1916.
Eaton Greenwood Washington (1883 – 1958). Born in TX, Eaton Washington comes to Los Angeles in 1902. He is involved in the management of various (Westminster, Lankershim, Merritt Jones) Los Angeles hotels. From 1924 to 1934, Washington is the assistant manager at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco. He retires to his orange ranch in Kern County.
In May 1923, Merritt Jones sells a ranch in Kern County to Dr J.M. Glaze for $92,000. In June 1923, Merritt Jones sells the Merritt Jones Hotel, valued at $500,000, to Glaze for a ranch in Tulare County, plus two ranches in Kern County, and $180,000 in cash.
Dr. Jerome Montgomery Glaze (1864 – 1942). From 1890 to 1910, Glaze is a physician in New Harmony, IN. In 1892, he marries Mary Cooper. He retires in 1908 and acquires extensive agricultural property in Tulare County, where he is a pioneer orange grower. Glaze owns (and resides at) the Merritt Jones Hotel from 1923 to 1926, when he trades it for agricultural land.
Originally, the Fresno and Tulare Land Company, the name is changed to Los Angeles and Fresno Land Company in 1924. The company directors are Pasadena investors.
Harry T. Muir (1878 -1934). Muir manages the Merritt Jones Hotel from 1925 to 1926 for J.M. Glaze. He returns from 1928 to 1930 under the Los Angeles and Fresno Land Company ownership. Muir returns for a third time to manage the hotel in 1932.
Oscar Hal McQuary (1883 – 1943).
