it, so the, the breakwater and the yacht harbor became a very big financial burden on the city, and by the late 1970s it was sparsely populated, and in 1983, storms did away with the breakwater altogether. Now, I mention the accumulation of sand because originally, the beach at Santa Monica was not the broad beach that it's famous for now. The, the beach actually began that, the, the waterline came all the way to the carousel building, which if you've been to the Santa Monica Pier you know it's pretty close, it's
to the Pier, but not on the Pier deck. And another thing would be the return of the boating community. When I first started on the Pier, in 1989, the, there was talk of rebuilding the breakwater and recreating the yacht harbor. And the city heard the, the US Army Corps of Engineers had put up half the money to, to do that. That money is long since gone. The city never matched their half, they never rebuilt the breakwater and there are a lot of environmentalists who think that it probably shouldn't be built, be rebuilt anyway as a
tour boat around the Bay. We're always working on something. audience member 2: Jim: Those are the remnants of the breakwater , those jagged rocks. And actually, they create, the way that, that, the way that they are now creates more of a hazard than if it was a, makes the water inside more hazardous than it does actually break the water. The current that's right behind those rocks now is extremely dangerous. That's why that you'll see Harbor
not, still not very well built. The top rock was too heavy and it kept falling off. Sand would accumulate behind the breakwater to the point where they had to keep dredging it, so the, the breakwater and the yacht harbor became a very big financial burden on the city, and by the late 1970s it was sparsely populated, and in 1983, storms did away with the breakwater altogether. Now, I mention the accumulation of sand because originally, the beach at Santa Monica was not the broad beach that it's famous for now.
So, the city manager, Perry Scott, was given the task of trying to figure out what to do with the Pier now that the causeway was dead. He came back with the idea of building a manmade island out of the rem-, out of the remnants of the breakwater . The Pier wasn't in his plans. His idea was to get rid of the Pier. Now, in 1973, or 1974, the franchise for the, the Newcomb Pier, the Enid Newcomb Pier was going to expire anyway and she was, her orders were to tear down her part of the Pier at the end of that, that lease.
the breakwater and recreating the yacht harbor. And the city heard the, the US Army Corps of Engineers had put up half the money to, to do that. That money is long since gone. The city never matched their half, they never rebuilt the breakwater and there are a lot of environmentalists who think that it probably shouldn't be built, be rebuilt anyway as a yacht harbor. But what we are trying to do is put a, a gangway at the end of the Pier.
William Randolph Hearst got involved for awhile to keep the, the harbor from being built because he was going to build his own nearby. Ultimately, in 1933, the City of Santa Monica passed an initiative where they could fund a breakwater , and they did decide to build it. They were going to build it out of concrete cribs, which I guess is a little bit questionable when you've already failed with concrete once.
that the people had put into it, all of a sudden, seemed as if it was going to go to waste. The US Army Corps of Engineers stepped in and said, "Scrap the idea of the concrete cribs and just build a rock mound." And so they did. They built the breakwater out of rock-big rock mound like what you see at, at Long Beach or Marina Del Ray today and Santa Monica had its own breakwater and its own official yacht harbor. It opened in 1934
The US Army Corps of Engineers stepped in and said, "Scrap the idea of the concrete cribs and just build a rock mound." And so they did. They built the breakwater out of rock-big rock mound like what you see at, at Long Beach or Marina Del Ray today and Santa Monica had its own breakwater and its own official yacht harbor. It opened in 1934 just in time for the first annual Santa Monica yacht regatta.
just in time for the first annual Santa Monica yacht regatta. It's, there, there was actually a little bit of stress about whether or not they were gonna get it open in time, and they did in August of 1934. The breakwater , unfortunately, was not, still not very well built. The top rock was too heavy and it kept falling off. Sand would accumulate behind the breakwater to the point where they had to keep dredging
It's, there, there was actually a little bit of stress about whether or not they were gonna get it open in time, and they did in August of 1934. The breakwater , unfortunately, was not, still not very well built. The top rock was too heavy and it kept falling off. Sand would accumulate behind the breakwater to the point where they had to keep dredging it, so the, the breakwater and the yacht harbor became a very big financial burden on the city, and by the late 1970s it was sparsely populated, and in 1983, storms did away with
The, the beach actually began that, the, the waterline came all the way to the carousel building, which if you've been to the Santa Monica Pier you know it's pretty close, it's pretty close to, to the city of Santa Monica and the cliffs. The breakwater caused all of that sand to build up, and it created the broad sandy beaches that Santa Monica is famous for today. And the Piers sign. What I love about this sign and I have to go back to a time when
I think that's pretty, pretty astounding these days to find a family that's been involved in, in a business like that for, for so long. The, the late 50s-- and throughout the 60s and even into the early 70s, were not so kind to the Santa Monica Pier. It was a financial drain, like I said, in having to rebuild the breakwater and having to, to dredge the sand from the harbor and just general upkeep. And it got to be too much for the city to where they couldn't keep up, and it began to fall into a serious state