Click on the above photo to get a larger view.
This panorama photo was taken (I’m guessing) from the Santa Monica pier looking south toward the stretch of Ocean Park Beach where the Moorish-style bathhouse opened in 1905. By all accounts it was quite the wondrous place. An ad from 1906 claimed it had the largest swimming pool in the US, which strikes me as odd considering the Pacific Ocean was a few steps away. Still, I’d love to have seen it. Fortunately, there is no shortage of photos, some of which I’ve collected here.
The lady, Katie Mooring Porter, from whose estate my parents purchased our home on North Monroe Street in Newborn, Tennessee when I was three years old in Oct 1933, spent an extended stay in the Venice area of Santa Monica in 1920. When she returned home, she completely remodeled the upstairs in the mission style of Frank Lloyd Wright which became our home 1936-1955 and until about 1975 for my mother after my father died.
The lady, Katie Mooring Porter, from whose estate my parents purchased our home on North Monroe Street in Newborn, Tennessee when I was three years old in Oct 1933, spent an extended stay in the Venice area of Santa Monica in 1920. When she returned home, she completely remodeled the upstairs in the mission style of Frank Lloyd Wright which became our home 1936-1955 and until about 1975 for my mother after my father died.
Hi Charles, I’ve to have heard what she thought of that rather magnificent bathing pavilion!
Sadly, Martin, Katie Porter passed away March 28, 1928 after almost four months in the Baptist Hospital in Memphis. But her first cousin, William Jordan “Bill” Houston, and his wife, Georgia May “Pet” Houston, became my “other grandparents across the street.” Miss Pet taught me how to tie my shoes and served tea in one of her fabulous silver (sterling, mind you) mugs. She also taught me how to churn butter from milk from a cow they kept in the lot on North Jackson behind their house. My mother would take a sterilized fruit jar across the street for my milk. When the city of Newbern passed a “no cows within the city limits” ordinance, it too me almost a year to become accustomed to Pasteurized milk. Halcyon memories of yore.
What a wonderful collection of memories Miss Pet gave you. It’s little wonder that you’ve treasured them all these years. Thanks for taking the time to share them.
Newbern. Not Newborn.