Photo postcard of the Westport Beach Club in Playa del Rey, circa 1940. (Credit: Calisphere, Pomona Public Library)
In an earlier post, we talked about the origins of Playa del Rey, the beachfront community south of Ballona Creek.
The new settlement opened for business in 1902, when housing lots went on sale in the area.
In 1924, the Minneapolis real estate firm of Dickinson & Gillespie began selling lots in the Palisades Del Rey development, on the bluffs above the beach at Playa del Rey.
The arrival of the Westport Beach Club, one of the first deluxe beach clubs along the Santa Monica Bay, became part of its plans to entice homebuyers to the area.
The posh club was situated on a triangular piece of land between Vista del Mar and the beach. Its address was 7301 Vista del Mar.
(Credit: Google Maps)
Stephen Gooson was its architect, and the Leonard C. Woelz firm handled construction.
The club had 460 feet of beach frontage. Its main Spanish-style building was brick and stucco, and the complex also included a lounge room, mens and womens locker and dressing rooms, an enclosed beachside seawater outdoor pool, paddle ball courts and a service wing.
In addition to parking lots, the area around the club contained 45 small beachfront residential sites.
Ad from the May 7, 1925, Los Angeles Times, Page 14, announcing construction of the Westport Beach Club. (Credit: Los Angeles Times)
Construction on the foundation began in early May 1925. The total cost for the project was estimated at $375,000.
The Westport Beach Club officially opened on Sept. 26, 1925, with 1300 invitations sent out for the ceremonies. Membership in the club was capped at 600 members, with more than half of those spoken for at the time of its opening.
From the beginning, Wesport was a hub for high society, serving up a busy schedule of debutante balls, weddings, galas, formal balls and many other social wingdings.
Celebrities who were part of the club’s scene included film director Cecil B. DeMille, Norma Shearer, Edward Everett Horton, and, later, Bob Cummings and California Gov. Goodwin Knight, among others.
Many of its activities were undertaken by “The Kanakas,” an informal group of members that came up with events for the club’s busy social calendar.
Entering the Westport Beach Club through the beachside gate. 1937 photo. (Credit: Calisphere, Los Angeles Public Library)
Of course, there was more to the club than just fancy galas. The beach just beyond the club’s gates was a major attraction, as was its 30-by-90-foot wall-enclosed swimming pool.
In addition to water sports, club members played paddle tennis outdoors, or bridge and other games inside the clubhouse.
Though the mad social whirl continued over the years, some of its more glamorous denizens, the movie stars and the very rich, began to drift away with the advent of harder times during the Depression and the availability of more beach club options along the coast.
The Westport began to tone down its toniness, moving away from the super-rich toward a more upper middle class membership.
A swimming show at the Westport Beach Club swimming pool in 1937 draws a crowd. (Credit: Calisphere, Los Angeles Public Library)
Membership also began to decline in the 1950s, down to about 200 members. The Westport and surrounding property was sold for a reported $500,000 in April 1956, its owners the Del Rey Development Co. selling to the Morehart Enterprises & River Oak Corp.
The new owner planned to build family housing units on the sand lots surrounding the club, while keeping the main facility intact.
A year later, a group of members pooled their money and paid off the mortgage for the club itself, become its owners in 1957.
On June 21, 1964, a faulty compressor started a raging fire that totally destroyed the club house.
The three-alarm blaze caught the attention of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who happened to be flying over the area in a U.S. Army helicopter on his way to Los Angeles International Airport.
Hilary Hilton on the cover of womenSports, the sports magazine started by Billie Jean King. February 1976 issue.
Plans for a new building to be designed by William Rudolph & Associates of Los Angeles were announced that August. The new facilities would be less glitzy and more family-oriented, and would include saunas, an exercise room, a snack bar, a new heated pool, a handball court and more paddle tennis courts.
The new Westport Beach Club formally opened with a fancy Gold and Silver Ball event on Oct. 23, 1965.
Paddle tennis, a feature at the club for decades, grew into a major attraction. Westport hosted tournaments and regularly filled its courts with players.
How popular was it? In 1973, a female paddle tennis pro at Westport, 23-year-old Hilary Hilton (now Hilary Hilton Marold), took on Bobby Riggs in a paddle tennis match at Bear Valley Springs near Tehachapi, and beat him, 8-3.
This was shortly after Riggs had defeated Margaret Court in a “regular” tennis match on Mother’s Day in 1973, and four months before his tennis defeat to Billie Jean King on Sept. 20,1973 in the “Battle of the Sexes.”
Photo postcard of the Westport Beach Club in Playa del Rey circa 1940, looking north across Santa Monica Bay. Walled swimming pool is at center. (Credit: Calisphere, Pomona Public Library)
Unfortunately, membership took a nose dive in the 1970s as the club’s base aged and new memberships dwindled. Also, the rising value of the property meant the member-owners were responsible for rising property taxes, which they couldn’t afford. The club went into debt.
After a few years of searching for a buyer, the Westport was sold in 1978 for $2.1 million. The sale to a limited partnership that planned to build a residential development on the site also included the rights to the Westport Beach Club name.
A final celebration party was held at Westport on Feb. 17, 1978, with some members holding out hope that the club would survive the new owners’ development plans.
Uh, no.
The new owners’ first plans to build an 18-story condominium complex on the land were stymied by L.A. City Councilwoman Pat Russell, who downzoned the property to prevent such a large-scale project.
A smaller-scale development was approved, and, on July 18, 1981, the 82-unit Westport Beach Club town homes held its grand opening on the site.
Though the complex, which still occupies the site at 7301 Vista del Mar, does include paddle tennis courts, the original Westport Beach Club was lost to history.
The Westport Beach Club, center, in 1926. Note the mostly vacant bluffs where the Palisades Del Rey lots were being sold. (Credit: Save Ballona website)
Sources:
Calisphere website, University of California.
Daily Breeze files.
Los Angeles Times files.
Video tour of the Westport Beach Club town homes complex:
