The building in the background of this circa 1887 photo was the Arcadia, a luxury-for-the-time oceanfront hotel in Santa Monica (open from 1886 to 1909) on Ocean Ave between Colorado Ave and what is now known as Pico Blvd. In the foreground we can see the “Thompson Switchback Gravity Railroad” which looks like an early version of a rollercoaster, but was how hotel guests were transported from the Southern Pacific railway station that was 500 feet from the hotel. As I understand it, using gravity to propel the carriages meant the railroad didn’t need to use coal. And it would have given guests a bit of a thrill, too.
See also this similar shot of the railway.
The “similar “ shot would be the earlier view as the small engine house beyond the turntable was still standing. Before the hotel, this was the rail reserve area above the original wharf. (The passenger station was further inland from here.) In some shots of this structure, freights cars can be seen on the track running below by that bluff wall on the left. The canyon below (right side) led down to the ship pier. Gradually, everything is cut back or removed as the hotel grounds are improved and the roadway (in front if the property) is connected to downtown Santa Monica via a new bridge. (The electric rail will later cross over that.) With the building of Long Wharf to the north, trains will be re-routed down a canyon into a tunnel that turned up the coast. Collis P. Huntington controlled the Pallisades area and wanted this bay to remain the Port of Los Angeles. There was already a passenger and cargo trade established. (Coal came in here before the crude oil era went beserk.) But by 1910 we will see the abandonment of Santa Monica in favor of San Pedro and the end will come for both the Arcadia and the existing wharf facilities (older and newer). [For a time, the hotel was under the same management (Frank L. Miller) as the Glenwood Hotel/Mission Inn in Riverside.] It might not be a Coney Island thrill ride, but we can certainly see how Disneyland came to be on the west coast. All that’s missing is a submarine ride? Nope. Nearby Catalina Island will take care of that with those glass bottom boats soon be a Coney Island.
This is fantastic! I had never seen your other photos on the Arcadia, so completely unaware of it’s existence. Incredible place! And the means of bringing the guests in is rather zany for an upscale hotel of that period. Or maybe that era was zanier than I realize. Was going to ask what the structure on the right was, but Al answered it: a turntable, of course. How sad the Arcadia only lasted 12 years!