It must have been a warm and sunny LA day sometime in the 1910s when this photo was taken of Venice Beach as there are beach umbrellas as far as we can see. Given how covered people were back then (note the guy on the right in a full suit) I’m not sure how necessary they were. But the Venice Bath House seemed to be doing okay. Look at their prices: 25 cents for 3 hours, 50 cents for the day, $1 for the week, and $2-something for the month. Also, surfboards 10 cents per hour. These prices seem rather steep for the 1910s. I had to google was a “Joy Fish” was. It refers to a brand of fishing equipment, primarily known for their cast nets, traps, landing nets, and multi-use baskets. (Source: waterandpower.org)
So there was surfing in the 1910s? I thought the common wisdom was that the Duke brought surfing over in the 20s.
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Just googled. Yeah, Duke Kahanamoku did popularize surfing in the 20s, but there had been surfing in SoCal since around 1906.
I wondered about that, too, and would never have guessed it was happening that early.
There was a different type of wide board that you stood on and held the ropes to ride on waves. They were very common even after the new style of Hawaiian long boards had arrived. Eventually, they gave way to the inflatable rafts with steering ropes that could be rented along the beach. The left side of the sign reads “Put Joy In Life Ride A Joy Fish”. Maybe that’s what they were calling their own brand of these surf sled things? The right side was just to blurred to make out the words…maybe something about “…Swim” before “For Those That Can”?
Ahh…maybe it reads across as “Put Joy In Life For Those That Can’t Swim/Ride A Joy Fish For Those That Can”. I guess they want you to put on a free spectacular spectacular for the umbrella crowd, if you can Can Can!
Love the pix, Martin. You are right. A dollar in 1910 would equal about 32 dollars today. I Googled it — the average wage in 1910 was about 22 cents an hour! WOWZER. Although surfboards for 10 cents seems reasonable, if you’re making 22 cents an hour. The beach styles are something to see. One person in the foreground is wearing shorts, and to the left it looks like a guy is wearing a tank top! Guess back then you had to dress formally to go to the beach. I’ll bet this was taken on a Sunday, where you’d wear your Sunday threads for church and dinner.
PS: Whoever was selling umbrellas probably made the most cash!
These valuations are always debateable depending on what the item is the guns versus butter realm, but I believe the current line is that the Federal Reserve $1 note of 1913 has lost 97 cents of its’ buying power over time. That means a current dollar purchases about the equivalent of 3 cents from that 1910 era. A ten-cent rental per half hour (20 cents per hour) would translate roughly to about $3.50 per half hour ($7.00 per hour) in modern prices. So, about four hours of board time would be $28.00 today, along with your $500 deposit (or total access to that plastic card account).