The Street Seen: White Star Pier
Hollister Avenue @ Ocean Front Walk
The developers of the Wadsworth & Hollister Tract build the White Star Pier at the foot of Hollister Ave in 1904. The pier receives scant patronage, and the financially distressed pier is sold at a foreclosure auction in 1906.
White Star Pier & Amusement Company
In 1904, the subdividers1 of the Wadsworth & Hollister Tract form the White Star Pier & Amusement Company2 to build a privately owned, publicly accessible, pleasure pier at the foot of Hollister Ave.3 Fred W. Pearson is president.4
Sales in Wadsworth & Hollister Tract of 1902 are sluggish, and the primary goal of building the pier is to increase the value of their holdings in the adjacent Wadsworth & Hollister Tract.5
Design
Los Angeles architect Frank M. Tyler, known for his craftsman-style homes, designs the White Star Pier. The 30-ft wide pier extends 900-ft into the Pacific Ocean. There is “T” halfway, and then at the end, the pier swings south for another 200-ft (for a total length of 1,100-ft), forming an “L” shaped pier. There are 130 bathing rooms with tubs filled with (cold) salt water. A 60-ft high observation tower is placed at the ocean end of the pier.
Construction
The White Star Pier obtains US and City permits.6 T.S. Wadsworth has the $30,000 contract for the pier,7 with the work to be completed in 90 days.8 The first wood pile is driven in October 1904.9
Opening
Sunday July 2, 1905, is a big day for the beach. The White Star Pier, Kinney’s Venice of America, and Fraser’s Ocean Park Bath House all open that weekend. The cost of the White Star Pier has escalated to $80,000 and has taken 11 months (330 days) to build. However, the White Star Pier has few amenities, lots of competition, and during its first year/season, it receives scant patronage.
Sale & Foreclosure
In February 1906, the White Star Pier is ostensibly sold10 to Redlands physician, Dr. Jesse M. Crenshaw (1868 - 1917), and New York investor James A. Seely (1847 - 1932).
In September 1906, representatives of the White Star Pier announce that $100,000 will be spent on extensive improvements, including a casino, a skating rink, and a plunge and bathhouse.
In December 1906, the mortgage holder, Guarantee Title & Trust Company, forecloses on the White Star Pier.
Hollister Avenue Pier Company
In 1907, the White Star Pier is bought out of foreclosure proceedings by the Hollister Avenue Pier Company, remodeled, and renamed the Bristol Pier.
In 1904, the directors of the White Star Pier & Amusement Company are F.W. Pearson, T.S. Wadsworth, W. Thompson, M. Lissner, and Minnie C. Pearson.
The source of the odd “White Star” name is unknown. At the time, there is a British trans-Atlantic shipping line, the White Star Line, which docks at the White Star Pier in New York City.
The 1904 White Star Pier pre-dates the 1909 Santa Monica municipal pier, built in to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers, and its adjoining 1916 Santa Monica pleasure pier.
In 1904, Pearson sells Block 7 of the Wadsworth & Hollister Tract (a 537-ft by 55-ft beach sand property between Ocean Front Walk and the high tide line) to the White Star Pier & Amusement Company for $50,000.
In 1905, advertising for the Wadsworth & Hollister Tract property emphasizes its proximity to the White Star Pier.
However, the Wadsworth & Hollister Tract is restricted to single-family residential development. The commercial activity of a pier does not make for a desirable location for single-family residential. By 1909, Hollister Ave has only seven cottages.
The United States War Department requires only that the construction not be an impediment to navigation. The City’s permit is not a franchise agreement. A franchise agreement would provide the City with a share of the income from the pier on public property (although not City property).
Wadsworth is building two piers - he also has the contract for the 900-ft long, 30-ft wide Kinney Pier at the foot of Windward in Venice.
Wadsworth unloads the steam schooner bringing the lumber offshore, and lets the lumber float in with the tide. There is considerable indignation when the lumber drifts along the beach from the Palisades to Playa Del Rey. Heavy pieces of timber are washing about in the surf, menacing bathers. The City orders its removal from the beach. Wadsworth and Thomas Viges of the Los Angeles Lumber Company agree to use what has not been lost or damaged.
The wood piling at the White Star Pier and the Kinney Pier is coated with asphalt, with the expectation that the piers will be protected against marine borers (teredo worms).
By early 1906, the original owners of the White Star Pier have disposed of their interests. The terms of the Crenshaw & Seely transaction are murky - something that will be a continuing characteristic of this pier. The newspapers speculate that railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington is actually the buyer. In July 1906, without disclosing who the actual owners of the are, representatives of the White Star Pier & Amusement Company reply that this speculation is “pure fabrication” and that “the public, and especially the citizens of Santa Monica, should not be misled, but should know the unvarnished truth – the White Star Pier property is still the property of the White Star Pier & Amusement Company. The pier has a future, but its destinies have not yet been fully decided.”