About Marineland

Spaces

Marineland, and vicinity, Timeline

1. 1837 Antonio Ygnacio Avila obtained a land grant of 22,500 acres (10 miles of ocean frontage) from Mexico that was called Rancho Sausol Redondo, which was sold to Sir Robert Burnett for sheep and cattle raising.
2. 1873 Burnett leased the land to Daniel Freeman who in turn eventually purchased it. Ownership of a 1,500 acre sliver of the property was then turned over to A. E. Pomroy.
3. 1900 A.E. Pomery sold the 1,500 acres for for $35 per acre to Messrs. Burbank and Baker, agents for Sherman and Clark who organized and retained the controlling interest in the Hermosa Beach Land and Water Company.
4. 1904 The first pier was built.
5. 1907 Hermosa Beach was incorporated as city on January 14, 1907.
   At this time the city acquired ownerhsip of the two mile strech of ocean frontage from the Hermosa Beach Land and Water Company.
6. 190- "Lady Bob" Montgomery invested her money in property on Pier Avenue, over on the hills that didn't have a house on them - just a shack now and then. (Marineland?) She wanted to build a community for circus people and she even brought an expert city planner to help lay out the settlement, but the city trustees wouldn't let her do it. Later she rented to the Japanese who planted all of those hills into carnation gardens. It was a very pretty sight when in bloom. People would come from all over the country to see these carnations gardens.
7. 1908 Ben Hiss was engaged to do the grading for the streets in Hermosa. Most of the payment for services was received in land in the new community, the eventual sales of which made old Ben a good pile. On old plat maps of Hermosa you will find tracts identified as Hiss addition to Hermosa Beach, and also the Hiss 2nd addition to Hermosa Beach.
8. 1915 An illustrated map of the Hermosa Beach shows the Marineland property as having no structures, all trees.
9. 1926 Construction of Santa Fe Railroad depot at Ardmore and Pier Avenues. It had a Western Union Office.
10. early 1930's  While growing up it seemed to Larry Gray that the whole town, the entire populace was at the beach. He recalls the area between the dune and the Valley when it was uninhabited. There were no house beyond crest of hill. There the great sport was rolling down the grassy hills. The valley offered hunting opportunities too: rabbit and quail were targes for B-B guns.
11. late 1930's  Hermosa finally began to change from an summer resort and retired persons town to a year-round city in the late 1930's. Vacant lots in the downtown business area began to disappear. Young married couples began moving into the area and long neglected areas of the city began to take shape. The "no-man's-land" along Valley Dr. and up on the hills above the highway started building up, changing Hermosa from a coastal settlement to a full-fledged city