Monday, November 10, 2008
Pierpont Beach erosion in 1936
Pierpont Beach Flood 1936
Los Angeles developer Frank Meline subdivided the Pierpont Bay area into small lots during the late 1920s, putting in roads, building a pleasure pier and paving Shore Drive along the beach. The lots came with design guidelines for English-style homes, on lanes with English sounding names. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 changed the fate of Pierpont beach forever; lots that had been offered for $2900 per lot suddenly were worth $10. Then, eight years later, two storms – eleven months apart – in January and December 1936 wiped out the pier, bathhouse, boardwalk and Shore Drive. These storms effectively stopped all development in Pierpont until the mid-50s. Between 1925 and 1936, few houses had been built, and after the storm some were moved to higher ground. Only a handful of pre-1936 houses remain in Pierpont. Today, the area is a eclectic mix of mid-century beach shacks and recent 2.5-story custom homes of every style imaginable, and Shore Drive is a memory beneath the dunes at the end of the lanes.
Quoted from the 2009 Ventura Architectural Calendar "Then and Now" available in local shops or by contacting schafphoto@mac.com for prices: http://www.schafphoto.com/
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coastal management