Pacific Beach Club
Encyclopedia
Pacific Beach Club was a planned resort in Orange County, California
for African Americans. The beachfront clubhouse, bathhouse, and pavilion were planned in 1925 and construction nearing completion the next year when the property burned down under mysterious circumstances. The resort was located outside Huntington Beach
.
black people in Los Angeles and Orange County were limited to the "Ink Well" in Santa Monica
and Bruce's Beach
in Manhattan Beach
(until the property was seized in an eminent domain after protest from the growing white community surrounding it).
Board members for the resort included "a Who's Who of black business and civic leaders in Los Angeles at the time" including Joseph B. Bass, editor of the California Eagle; Frederick Roberts
, the first black state legislator in California; and E. Burton Ceruti, a founder of the Los Angeles branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
as well as a legal adviser to the group.
The isolated location for the club could be reached by driving the Pacific Coast Highway, "or riding the Pacific Electric railway from Los Angeles to Huntington Beach and walking a mile". Membership was initially advertised at $50 for an associate membership and $75 for a life membership. A white attorney from Los Angeles, Hal R. Clark, bought the land and leased it to the club.
Chris Jepsen at the Orange County Archives (part of the clerk-recorder's office) and a former Cal State Fullerton history professor, Daniel Cady, have been researching the property's history. Advetisements for the membership-only resort "promised a bathhouse serving 2,000 people, a clubhouse with "an atmosphere of ease and sociality," a recreational hall, an amusement zone "with all the concessions you will find on any beach" and more than 200 tent houses." "The California Eagle, a pioneering black-owned Los Angeles newspaper of the time", described it as "the beginning of the very foremost step of progress that the colored people have ever attempted," and its opening was scheduled for February 12, 1926 to mark Abraham Lincoln
's birthday.
Details about the fire and how it started remain a mystery. Huntington Beach had one of the highest percentages of white Southern transplants in the 1920s
because of its oil boom, and the area contained very few African Americans. One researcher believes the Ku Klux Klan
, which was active in Huntington Beach (fielding two baseball teams) "torched the club".
Property deeds, newspaper descriptions and a researcher's "own forays to pace off the site", indicate the club's location was "southwest of the current entrance to the Cabrillo Mobile Home Park on Pacific Coast Highway, about midway between Beach Boulevard and Newland Street. A lifeguard station, parking lot and public restroom occupy the half-mile of beach today".
History professor Daniel Cady theorized that blacks were seeing the influx of white Southerners in Los Angeles and "naively considered less populated Orange County a more promising place". He noted, "They had no idea. The only place with a higher rate of white Southerners was the L.A. County jail. It's irony, irony, irony."
, Newport Beach and other cities, and "Huntington Beach tried to keep electricity and water from running to the club", while "right of way across the Pacific Electric and Southern Pacific railroad tracks was won only after an appeal to the state." Contractors were also changed on the project and "whether financial problems or something more sinister caused the interruptions is unclear."
The night watchman "whose initials appear in various newspapers as A.H., A.R. and A.K., said in a news account that ran two days after the fire that he recognized one of the men he saw running off", and the landowner was years later placed on probation for mail fraud over sales of fictitious titles to Wyoming oil claims in 1934. He was reimbursed "all but $20,000 of his loss" and The California Eagle "spearheaded a nationwide appeal in black newspapers for funds to build anew, but "by November 1926, the backers of the club gave up" and "Clark sold the property and paid back their investment".
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
for African Americans. The beachfront clubhouse, bathhouse, and pavilion were planned in 1925 and construction nearing completion the next year when the property burned down under mysterious circumstances. The resort was located outside Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
.
Planning
The Pacific Beach Club was intended to be the "grandest of escapes" and to fulfill the dream of a resort where black people who were restricted from most of the California's beaches "could enjoy the sand and surf". Because of segregationRacial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
black people in Los Angeles and Orange County were limited to the "Ink Well" in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
and Bruce's Beach
Bruce's Beach
Bruce's Beach was a small beach resort in the city of Manhattan Beach, California, that was owned by and operated for African Americans. It provided the African American community with opportunities unavailable at other beach areas because of segregation....
in Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
(until the property was seized in an eminent domain after protest from the growing white community surrounding it).
Board members for the resort included "a Who's Who of black business and civic leaders in Los Angeles at the time" including Joseph B. Bass, editor of the California Eagle; Frederick Roberts
Frederick Madison Roberts
Frederick Madison Roberts was an American newspaper owner and editor, educator and business owner who was the first known man of African American descent elected to the California State Assembly...
, the first black state legislator in California; and E. Burton Ceruti, a founder of the Los Angeles branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
as well as a legal adviser to the group.
The isolated location for the club could be reached by driving the Pacific Coast Highway, "or riding the Pacific Electric railway from Los Angeles to Huntington Beach and walking a mile". Membership was initially advertised at $50 for an associate membership and $75 for a life membership. A white attorney from Los Angeles, Hal R. Clark, bought the land and leased it to the club.
Rediscovery and contemporary accounts
Assistant archivistArchivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
Chris Jepsen at the Orange County Archives (part of the clerk-recorder's office) and a former Cal State Fullerton history professor, Daniel Cady, have been researching the property's history. Advetisements for the membership-only resort "promised a bathhouse serving 2,000 people, a clubhouse with "an atmosphere of ease and sociality," a recreational hall, an amusement zone "with all the concessions you will find on any beach" and more than 200 tent houses." "The California Eagle, a pioneering black-owned Los Angeles newspaper of the time", described it as "the beginning of the very foremost step of progress that the colored people have ever attempted," and its opening was scheduled for February 12, 1926 to mark Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's birthday.
Details about the fire and how it started remain a mystery. Huntington Beach had one of the highest percentages of white Southern transplants in the 1920s
1920s
File:1920s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Third Tipperary Brigade Flying Column No. 2 under Sean Hogan during the Irish Civil War; Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in accordance to the 18th amendment, which made alcoholic beverages illegal throughout the entire decade; In...
because of its oil boom, and the area contained very few African Americans. One researcher believes the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, which was active in Huntington Beach (fielding two baseball teams) "torched the club".
Property deeds, newspaper descriptions and a researcher's "own forays to pace off the site", indicate the club's location was "southwest of the current entrance to the Cabrillo Mobile Home Park on Pacific Coast Highway, about midway between Beach Boulevard and Newland Street. A lifeguard station, parking lot and public restroom occupy the half-mile of beach today".
History professor Daniel Cady theorized that blacks were seeing the influx of white Southerners in Los Angeles and "naively considered less populated Orange County a more promising place". He noted, "They had no idea. The only place with a higher rate of white Southerners was the L.A. County jail. It's irony, irony, irony."
Racial aspects
The club was opposed by chambers of commerce in Huntington BeachHuntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
, Newport Beach and other cities, and "Huntington Beach tried to keep electricity and water from running to the club", while "right of way across the Pacific Electric and Southern Pacific railroad tracks was won only after an appeal to the state." Contractors were also changed on the project and "whether financial problems or something more sinister caused the interruptions is unclear."
The night watchman "whose initials appear in various newspapers as A.H., A.R. and A.K., said in a news account that ran two days after the fire that he recognized one of the men he saw running off", and the landowner was years later placed on probation for mail fraud over sales of fictitious titles to Wyoming oil claims in 1934. He was reimbursed "all but $20,000 of his loss" and The California Eagle "spearheaded a nationwide appeal in black newspapers for funds to build anew, but "by November 1926, the backers of the club gave up" and "Clark sold the property and paid back their investment".