Shanna gifted us a Naples Walking Tour for Christmas.
Today was the day. I called Tom Poe and arranged for a sunset tour, starting about 2:30, because I declared us "slow walkers".
Meet me at the fountain. Officially the Fontana di Napoli, but the observant call it the "Pineapple Fountain". There's a pineapple on the top.
I have to confess, I came back and took all these pictures Sunday. Hence, the Bird in the photo.
Tom explained the beginnings of Naples, back to the early 1900's. Henry Huntington (Huntington Beach, Huntington Library) developed a Red Car electric train from Los Angeles to Long Beach, and eventually along Ocean Avenue to Seal Beach. One of the perks of bringing transportation and electricity to an area was an allocation of land.
So, Henry and A.M. Parsons decided the wet lands where Naples is now would be a wonderful place for a Italian-themed beach community. Just 40 minutes from downtown Los Angeles by Red Car. They developed the wetlands by driving wooden timbers into the marsh and built walls 80' apart, to create the canals. Then they dredged between the walls, dumping the mud to raise the "land". By 1905 they had created the canals, the land had settled, they had planted beach-front palms and pines, and were open for business. Lots ran from $300 to $4500, with a 1/3 down, 1/3 in 90 days, and another 1/3 in another 90 days. That payment schedule kept them afloat after the San Francisco earthquake closed most of the banks in 1906. They still had their cash flow.
Tom Poe grew up on Naples, roughly the same age I am. This is the
commemorative bench for his mother.
He had lots of stories. In the
late 50's only about 2/3 of the lots were developed, so there was lots
of room to run. The Red Car ran until the late 50's, and left trestles over wetland, creating
great places for young boys to traverse.
Of course diving from the
bridges was essential, as well as swimming to the peninsula for Red
Cross swimming lessons.
Each spring his mother would row all the little
ones out to where the seals had their pups.
He remembers the old Hotel
Napoli that was razed in 1968 for the condominiums that are there now.
My friend Jan used to live here...
Not on the tour, but I took a picture anyway...
This was one of the original houses with a coach house. The latest remodel has incorporated it all into one building.
This white house might be where there was
a famous double murder. A couple had a very consensual open
marriage, except one day somebody heard 2 shots, and the wife and
her lover were dead. The husband was convicted and sent to prison. He
still belonged to a Catalina yacht club; his address was listed as
"Chino, CA".
The white house with the picture windows was the Poe's "activity center". Their family owned the 4th one over (notice it looks similar), and when times were good, his father purchased the lot nearest us. The in between lots were vacant in the 50's. The secondary house had a basketball court and all the trimmings to be a neighborhood hangout for all the kids.
The
current activity is replacing the sea walls along the canals. They
were repaired after the 1933 earthquake, and again in the 70's, but it's
time to do it again. This time they are lining the canals with
corrugated metal. On top of this goes another 24" of concrete topper.
The view from the houses to the canal is going to be greatly changed.
The city is taking out all the plantings between the sidewalk and
the seawall, to be replaced with a consistent planting when it is all
through. They are removing all the docks and replacing walls a section
at a time.
The entire project is slated to take 2 years. With the
recent drop in oil prices (hence, reducedTidelands income from the oil islands)
it will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
This
house is built on about 3 lots (lots are 30' by 90').
It wraps all the way around this courtyard.
The tiles that
are so common here are from the Catalina tile company.
Maybe I can
figure out a way to incorporate tiles into our steps.
This is Mike Salta's house. Remember Mike Salta Pontiac???
And Vicki Lawrence lives here. Very unassuming.
Back
in the day a lot of silent screen stars lived here. Mary Pickworth,
Upton Sinclair, now I can't remember the others that hung out together.
Albert Einstein was mentioned as a visitor.
"CARVED FROM A SALTWATER BOG during the heart of the Great Depression in
1931, Marine Stadium in the southeast portion of Long Beach conjures up
memories of simpler times. More than 700 million cubic yards of mud and
sand were dredged from Upper Alamitos Bay to create the channel. It is
more than a mile long, 100 yards wide and at least five feet deep at low
tide." from the Naples Walking Tour Facebook page.
They used Marine Stadium for a racing venue for the 1932 Olympics.
They got the framework for the
bridge in (you can barely see the 2nd street bridge in the background). The city owned the property on the east side, but there
was a lone property holdout on the west side. They ended up making a property
swap.
The
marinas are all in process of being replaced. There are 4 basins, and
this one is complete. These are all city owned.
While under construction, they got all the old stuff cleared out, but before they started on the new, eel grass started to grow. Eel grass is a protected species. They actually had to relocated the eel grass before continuing construction.
Catalina 27's are moored here for the Congressional Cup.
The Long Beach Yacht
Club is here.
These streets are so wide because they
were originally slated for big plans. Appian Way was was going to be a spur
of the Red Car that went by trestle to Seal Beach.
It was never
developed. The street by the fountain was going to be the grand canal,
but they found that the San Gabriel river silted too much, and it would
be a nightmare to keep dredged. Cecil B. deMille built an entire prop set
for the history of the world silent film. When he was done the city
told him to dump the garbage in the "canal" as fill.
This is the Marine Stadium property swap - Costa d' Oro. Not bad, eh?
The
huge property is so beautiful and so empty.
The picture doesn't really give you a sense of how really big this sea lion was. Just basking on the dock.
This house is always decked out with bears for Christmas, with a sign that says "please press your nose to the glass".
I had to have a picture of the seal carved in the style of a bear.
Here's the real bear.
This house had 6 kids of their own, and then adopted 10 more, one a year. Check out the age of that swing set!
Another empty one... But this
one is recently on the market. It didn't sell for $12M. Tom knew the
guy who lived here alone.
The owner of North Woods Restaurant built this one. No longer in Long Beach, but still in Pasadena and Corona (I think).
Affectionately termed "the Brewery".
The original Naples sales office.
Did I mention it was a sunset tour?
The "Pink House" we see from the other side"
Check this one out.
Look at the rock incorporated into the brick.
Is this "Craftsman?" Very nice.
Thank you Shanna!
My facts might be all mixed up, but we had a good time!
