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Secrets of Alamitos Bay
by Stan Poe 2006
New research by Stan Poe has
uncovered some very interesting information about the
development of the Alamitos Bay peninsula. Development of
the peninsula was the precursor to the settlement of Naples.
The first "interest" meeting of the principal players took
place on January 13, 1903. J. W. Hellman hosted a party at
the Del Mar Hotel which was the finest in town prior to the
construction of the Virginia Hotel. The party included Henry
Huntington, A. Borel, Chas. de Guigne, William Kerckhoff,
Mr. Randolph,the general manager of the Pacific Electric
Co.,Chief Engineer Pillsbury, and Jotham and George Bixby.
They arrived by Pacific Electic trolley and took the
tally-ho to tour Alamitos Bay. They returned to Del Mar,
lunched and left.
On September 28, 1903 Peninsula Avenue (now Ocean Blvd.) was
vacated by the Board of Supervisors to provide a railroad
right-of-way. In May of 1904 the Alamitos Bay tract was sold
by George Bixby and W.W. Lowe to George Hart, the
pre-eminent attorney at the time in Long Beach, who
represented a "syndicate of prominent citizens of Los
Angeles whose names cannot as yet be made public." The
purchase included one and three-quarters miles of frontage
at Alamitos Bay including the entire spit of land now known
as the "peninsula" for $150,000. According to the Evening
Tribune of 1904, "The Alamitos Bay Company made a pretty
good deal of the thing as it had only cost them $35,000 a
short time since." The Pacific Electric Company, a heavy
holder, ran the double track down the peninsula with the
intent of continuing to Newport Beach. The name of the area
was changed to Vista Del Mar, meaning view of the sea, and
it was originally subdivided into 800 lots.
This information seemed to be a fairly academic example of
property development until I found that Henry Huntington had
originally planned to create a "tent city" down the entire
length of the peninsula! Tent cities were established at the
Hotel Del Coronado for some time covering the Silver Strand
to the south of the hotel. The city included a boat house,
dance hall, bath house, and other amenities and marvelous
tents with wooden floors and two foot high walls with
striped canvas. They were fully furnished with the latest
Victorian decor, mirrors, oriental rugs, and electric light
bulbs. This notion might account for the construction of the
pavilion at 62nd Place on the peninsula, as well as the
hotel on the Bay side and the "duck club" as a private club
for the investors.
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"Tent City" Planned For
Alamitos Bay Pennisula
The "Tent City" of the Hotel de
Coronado in San Diego CA, circa 1915. Henry Huntington planned to
use this as a model for his development
on the Long Beach
peninsula.
"Villa Carita Houseboat in
Alamitos BayThis picturesque houseboat was
the sole survivor of the
"Villa Carita" project.
Originally a streetcar which had become obsolete before 1904
and had been used as a vacation cottage on Terminal Island,
it had been placed on a barge and floated on Alamitos Bay.
It was used by the famed artist Fran Soldini, A
UCLA graduate who began painting in 1938. Primarily a water
colorist, who exhibited in museums, colleges, and galleries
through the United States. A peninsula resident, she
had the houseboat set atop pilings in 1950 and ;taught
painting in her "houseboat Atelier" for more than a decade.
It was located at 39 56th Place.
This photo of the
houseboat was taken around 1935 with the
Naples Hotel apparent in the background.
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