PAGE 22 THE ARGONAUT APRil 9, 2015

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PAGE 14 THE ARGONAUT APRil 9, 2015

Pictures of our Past

Travel back in time through the archives of the Marina del Rey Historical Society

This 1956 photo shows the wetlands and farmland north of Ballona Creek that would later be dredged to create Marina del Rey.

An Amphicar cruises the harbor in 1971. Photo by Greg Wenger

Among the very first people to live in Marina del Rey, Willie Hjorth and her husband John took up residence on a 36-foot catamaran docked outside the Tahiti Marina apartments in 1963. In short order she was leading the local live-aboard association, heading up the women’s sailing program at the California Yacht Club and helping launch what would become the Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade.

saving Marina del rey’s History

The dredging of Marina del Rey harbor’s main channel and Basin A was already well underway in 1960.

Many Marina del Rey apartment

complexes rented exclusively to

unmarried tenants in the 1960s

and ‘70s.

Call (310) 701-1073 or visit marinadelreyhistoricalsociety.org to learn more.

Greg Wenger arrived with his family in late 1969 and quickly established himself as the marina’s leading photographer, documenting harbor life for corporate clients, county government and a plucky local media start-up called The Argonaut.

As time went by they amassed thousands of pictures — Hjorth’s event albums, Wenger’s life’s work, gifted photo collections and a trove of L.A. County images dating back to the 1890s.

In 2007, Hjorth and Wenger officially incorporated the nonprofit Marina del Rey Historical Society to not only protect that collection, but to also grow it and share it with the world. Last year the society — now run by an 18-member board — opened a public gallery at Fisherman’s Village and produced “Images of America: Marina del Rey,” a 128-page photo book that includes many of the images included in this issue.

— Joe Piasecki

APRil 9, 2015 THE ARGONAUT PAGE 15

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Marina del Rey is beginning to take shape in this aerial photograph from January 1961.

A duck hunter and his dogs stalk the mouth of Ballona Creek in this 1880s photograph. Engineers contained the creek with concrete walls in the 1930s. Photo by H. F. Rile

This 1968 cover of The Dinghy, an early Marina

del Rey boating magazine, features photographs taken

during a 1963 storm surge that smashed boat slips

and threatened public perception of the harbor’s

viability. Construction of the marina’s protective

seawall began later that year.

Phyllis Diller helps Warehouse

Restaurant founder Burt Hixson feed his fish

in this 1970s photo hanging on the restaurant’s wall.

The Marina City Club was first developed

as housing for Hughes Aircraft Company

employees in the late 1960s, but converted to apartments in the

early 1970s (and later condos). This 1974 photograph shows

construction of the Marina City Club’s

east tower.

May the tallest hair win: Miss Marina

del Rey is crowned in January 1967.

(Continued on page 18)

PAGE 18 THE ARGONAUT APRil 9, 2015

p i c t u r e s o f o u r p a s t

A woman and a live tiger stand outside Jamaica Bay Inn to promote the 1969 Marina Fair, one of many

community festivals produced by local Rotarians and the former Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce.

Oil rigs can be seen lining the future Marina Peninsula in the background of this January 1960 photograph of initial dredging work to create Marina del Rey harbor.

Admiralty Way was all but empty when the upscale restaurant Charley Brown’s — now Tony P’s Dockside Grill — was built in 1965.

L.A. County Supervisor Burton Chace (right), the founding father of Marina del Rey, takes part in the early 1960s groundbreaking ceremony for the boat launch ramp on Fiji Way. With him are Ma-rina Director Arthur Will (center), the harbor’s chief administrative officer from 1963 to 1971, and Aubrey Austin, then chairman of the newly convened Small Craft Harbor Commission.

Actor William Boyd, better known as cow-boy hero Hopalong Cassidy, oper-ated a West-ern-themed amusement park called Hop-pyland in the 1950s near land-locked Lake Los Angeles — an area that would later become Mother’s Beach.

The now-defunct Marina del Rey Theatre, located off Admiralty Way near what’s now the Waterside at Marina del Rey shopping center, began showing movies in the early 1970s.

(Continued from page 15)

APRil 9, 2015 THE ARGONAUT PAGE 19

Frankie Avalon dazzled a Burton Chace Park crowd during the 2011 Marina del Rey Summer Concert Series, a seasonal tradi-tion that broke annual attendance records last year by drawing some 32,000 music fans to the park. (Photo by Mike Yokotake / L.A. County)

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Do you remember these Marina del Rey hotspots?

It was the age of gold chains and “swinging singles.”From the late 1960s to the early ‘80s, Marina del Rey was party

central. Many of the new apartment buildings that sprouted up around

the harbor rented only to unmarried tenants, and early Marina del Rey nightlife would have given today’s Sunset Strip a run for its beer money.While names like The Black Whale, Pieces of Eight, Ye Olde Sea

Chest, Donkin’s Inn, 2nd Storey and The Basement may not ring a bell with 21st-century twentysomethings, these hotspots were all the rage back in the day.Do you remember dining, drinking and dancing at any of the

places pictured below? If so, help preserve Marina del Rey’s alternative history and

share your memories with The Argonaut. Email joe@argonaut-news.com by Thursday, April 16, for a chance to win a prize and see your story in print.

Good Times PasT

Though extensively remodeled, the Jamaica

Bay Inn remains a Marina del Rey icon at Mother’s

Beach.

Fiasco was a casual restaurant and bar on Admiralty Way in the spot now occupied by Café Del Rey.

The Basement dance club and 2nd Storey restaurant,

later The Red Onion, is now the FantaSea Yacht Club on

Admiralty Way.

The Black Whale, where C & O Cucina is today, was

a fun seafood joint on West Washington Boulevard.

This undated photograph recently retrieved from county government storage was likely taken during the April 10, 1965, dedication of Marina del Rey. L.A. County Supervisors Warren M. Dorn and Frank G. Bonelli appear left of the dedication plaque, with Burton W. Chace and Aubrey Austin to the right.

Both oil derricks and homes dot the future Marina Peninsula west of Grand Canal in this aerial photograph from February 1959, five years and two months prior to the formal dedication of Marina del Rey.

PAGE 10 THE ARGONAUT APRil 9, 2015

F l a s h b a c k 1 9 6 5

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act following

the Civil Rights marches on Selma.

Edmund “Pat” Brown — father of current Gov. Jerry Brown — was governor of California.

“My Fair Lady” won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” made its television debut.

Malcom X was assassinated in New York City.

With the help of pitchers Sandy Koufax (pictured) and Don Drysdale, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Minnesota Twins to win the World Series.

President Johnson increased the U.S. presence in Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 ground troops and accelerate the draft, prompting widespread anti-war protests.

The Beatles released “Rubber Soul,” hit the silver screen with “Help!” and performed the first-ever stadium rock concert at Shea Stadium.

A $2 bill had the same buying power as $14.90 does today, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Advertising icon Poppin’ Fresh, a.k.a. the Pillsbury Doughboy, was born.

General Motors set an automobile sales record with the Chevy Impala, selling more than one million of them in the U.S.

The Watts Riots erupted in Los Angeles.

“I Dream of Jeannie” and “Get Smart” aired on television for the first time.

The first editions of Sylvia Plath’s “Ariel,” Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Painted Bird” and Norman Mailer’s “An American Dream” were published.

Sonny&Cherhadtheirfirsthit: “I Got You Babe.”

Marina del Rey officially opened to the public with a formal dedication ceremony on april 10, 1965.Here’s a sampling of what else was happening in America that year:

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