In this illustration of Southern California, we can see how truly separated the various towns were in the early 1910s. Waaaaay off in the distance we can see (what we now refer to as) downtown Los Angeles, with great expanses of land separating it and

– Hollywood, Sherman (now called West Hollywood
– Sawtelle (which was its own municipality until 1922)
– the Soldier’s Home on Wilshire Blvd (which was quite a large development back then)
– Santa Monica
– the then-newly opened canals of Venice
– the circular Los Angeles Motordome, which opened in 1910 in Playa del Ray (then called Palisades del Ray).

Given the distances involved, the dubious state of the roads, and comparative unreliability of those horseless carriages, it’s little wonder then that when people went to Santa Monica or Venice, it wasn’t just for the day, but for a week’s vacation!