Peters 1

Acknowledgments

This project could not have been completed without the generous support of Collette and

William Peters, my parents. Through all of the many ups and downs they were always there to inspire and guide me. I would also like to acknowledge my committee chair, Professor Jeffrey

Charles. His enthusiasm and guidance both motivated and pushed me to be better. I also thank my committee members, Professors Watts and Nava, whose advice and critical eyes were invaluable to me.

Peters 2

Thesis Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, the city of San Diego, California was going through

a period of change and growth. New developments in transportation and changes in American society would help to fuel this expansion. One of the chief architects of the modernization and

expansion of San Diego was John D. Spreckels. Spreckels embraced a progressive approach to

guiding the expansion of the city, which sought to go beyond the utilitarian needs of the public

for transportation, water and power. Spreckels’ development plans not only sought ways to

improve the practical quality of life in San Diego but also tried to develop the aesthetic aspects

of that life. These efforts are exemplified by Speckles’ development of the Mission Beach

community where the decision to construct an amusement park at the center of Mission Beach

would not only shape the physical form of the development but also the “sense” of what life

could be like living in Mission Beach and by extension San Diego.

The construction of an amusement park at the center of the Mission Beach development

was an approach to urban planning and development that was unique to the West coast in the

early 1900s. As other historians, such as Judith Adams, have shown, the American amusement

park had initially evolved in the East as commercial ventures independent from real estate and

urban planning. These early amusement parks arose in reaction to urban development as their

developers sought to profit from the growing middle class. Developers on the West coast, such as Spreckels, utilized the amusement park model to help fuel the move toward suburbanization.

In doing so, Spreckels created an urban environment that combined a place to live and work with the fantasy of escape.

Keywords: San Diego, Mission Beach, Amusement Park, Urban History, John D. Spreckels Peters 3

Introduction

For nearly one hundred years, a towering wooden behemoth has dominated the skyline of

Mission Beach, California. The staccato clacking of its chains and gears accompanied by crescendos of screams of delight has filled the air as riders of the Giant Dipper rollercoaster freefall toward the earth. From atop its highest peak, the vista of Mission Beach spreads out before the eyes of tourists and locals alike. There’s little time to think of things like urban expansion, city planning, subdivisions, identity, transportation, politics and economics when you reach the apex and your knuckles whiten on the bar as you begin to fall. Yet, within the wooden skeleton of this coaster lies a rich history full of all these things and more.

At the turn of the twentieth century the city of San Diego, California was going through a period of change and growth. New developments in transportation technologies and changes in

American society helped to fuel this expansion. One of the chief architects of the modernization and expansion of San Diego was John D. Spreckels. Spreckels embraced a progressive approach to guiding the expansion of the city which sought to go beyond the utilitarian needs of the public for transportation, water and power. Spreckels’ development plans not only sought ways to improve the practical quality of life in San Diego but also tried to develop the aesthetic aspects of that life. Through the efforts of Progressives like Spreckels not only would San Diego’s physical form be shaped but so would the public’s idea of San Diego be formed. To this end, along with the cold rails of the trolley system Spreckels would also lay down the foundation of what it meant to live in San Diego. These efforts are exemplified by Spreckels’ development of the Mission Beach community where the decision to construct an amusement park at the center of Mission Beach would not only shape the physical form of the development but also the Peters 4

“sense” of what life could be like living in Mission Beach. Through Spreckels’ efforts San

Diego would justly earn the nickname of “America’s Finest City.”

The construction of an amusement park at the center of the Mission Beach development

was an approach to urban planning and development that was unique to the West coast in the

early 1900s. The parks which developed in the eastern United States were independent

entrepreneurial ventures by their builders, who sought to cash in on the changing dynamics of

societies’ growing middle class. These parks catered to the newly risen culture of consumption

which had sprung up amongst workers who found themselves with time for leisure and

disposable income. The eastern parks were designed to separate the park visitor from the worries

and drudgery of life in the real world by offering an escape into fantasy on an afternoon or

weekend getaway. The West coast approach to urban development broke down the walls

separating workplace, home and leisure. The amusement park became a part of the community,

instilling within it a sense of fantasy and adventure. Prior to the Spreckels’ inclusion of an

amusement park in Mission Beach, development had stagnated. By drawing upon the park

model developed on the East coast, Spreckels used the Mission Beach Amusement Center to

rekindle the public’s interest in the development and helped fuel suburban expansion in San

Diego.

Furthermore, Spreckels’ amusement park did more than simply help recover a floundering development. The Mission Beach Amusement Center and its Giant Dipper, bathhouse and dancehall helped to indelibly link San Diego to the California leisure lifestyle.

The concept of a leisure lifestyle, where work and play existed hand in hand, would come to permeate the very essence of Mission Beach. Long after Spreckels, the pursuit of the leisure lifestyle would continue to be the guiding factor in later development plans of the area. By Peters 5

marrying the domestic with amusement, Spreckels had laid down the foundations of the

successful beachfront community of Mission Beach.

Historiography

John Diedrich Spreckels was described by his biographer H. Austin Adams as “one of

America’s few great Empire Builders who invested millions to turn a struggling, bankrupt village

into the beautiful cosmopolitan city San Diego is today.”1 Between 1887 and 1926 Spreckels

would indeed bring many improvements to the city. Austin’s biography, completed before the

opening of the Mission Beach Amusement Park, provides a detailed account of Spreckels’ life

and efforts to develop San Diego and is the basis upon which much of the scholarly work on

Spreckels is based. Later researchers would delve more deeply into the individual enterprises

undertaken by Spreckels in San Diego. Richard Dodge, for example, explored the efforts to

bring the railroad and the modernization of the transportation system in San Diego by Spreckels

in Rails of the Silver Gate. While Dodge touches on a few of the contributions Spreckels made

toward San Diego’s development, his main interest lies in transportation, particularly the San

Diego and Arizona Railroad. Within Dodge’s framework, the success of San Diego was most

dependent upon Spreckels’ efforts to connect San Diego to the rest of the United States via rail.

Spreckels’ business interests and the development of San Diego would further be

examined in Dana Alan Basney’s Master of Arts in Business Administration thesis entitled The

Role of Spreckels Business Interests in the Development of San Diego. Basney argues that it was

Spreckels’ influx of capital and ability to attract outside investors that rescued San Diego from

obscurity and elevated it to a metropolis capable of competing against Los Angeles. Basney’s

1 H. Austin Adams, The Man: John D. Spreckels (San Diego: Frye & Smith, 1924), 14. Peters 6

thesis, however, centers on Spreckels’ involvement in securing water and transportation for San

Diego and his development projects within the downtown San Diego area. Although Basney’s

analysis stops short of examining Spreckels’ activities in Mission Beach, it nevertheless provides

important insight and documentation of his earlier efforts within the larger metropolitan area.

There are several other academic works which have focused directly on Mission Beach and or John D. Spreckels’ role in the early development of the city of San Diego. For example,

Kenneth LaMar’s paper The Real Beginning of Mission Beach: The Story of the Mission Beach

presented in 1988, presents a historical overview of the Mission Beach area with a fairly simple

argument that the development area began with the construction of the amusement park.

LaMar’s history of Mission Beach begins with the opening of the amusement park and traces

later development of the area. LaMar is typical of many local history writings that would fall

under the umbrella of public history. These writings, however, treat Mission Beach as though it

was insulated from other historical forces and do not include the influences of other parks or

urban development. Nor does LaMar delve into the importance of transportation to urban expansion. He merely presents a historical research paper on the story of Mission Beach and its beginning.

Other academic works outside the discipline of history which center on Mission Beach

provide an understanding of the importance of Spreckels’ involvement and the effect the

amusement park. Henry Wayne Powell concentrated on Mission Beach in his Master of Arts in

Geography thesis Mission Beach: The Creation of Space. This geographical analysis of the

Mission Beach area uses topophilia, “the affective bond between people and place,”2 as the

2 Yi-Fu Tuan, Topophilia, (Englewood Cliffs, N..J: Prentice-Hall, 1974), 4, quoted in Harry Wayne Powell, Mission Beach: The Creation of Place. (M.A. in Geography Thesis, San Diego State University, 1981), 3. Peters 7

foundation for the exploration of the “various elements of the identity of place of Mission

Beach…as they relate to the community.”3 In simpler terms, Powell explores what makes

Mission Beach look, feel, and smell like Mission Beach. Powell’s examination, however, includes only a light historical analysis of Mission Beach, and focuses more directly on geographical interests. Yet, Powell’s examination of the architectural style and layout of

Mission Beach as they relate to the creation of the idea of being in Mission Beach are important in understanding the impact of Spreckels’ efforts there.

To fully explore the role of the amusement park in the development of Mission Beach, however, it is necessary to look beyond the borders of the community and establish a solid foundation in both urban history and the history of amusement parks. For example, Streetcar

Suburbs by Sam B. Warner describes how the development of suburban Boston was fueled by both the revival of the rural ideal and the development of mass transportation such as streetcars.

Of particular interest in Warner’s work is the connection he establishes between advances in

technology and the sprawling expansion of urban areas, or sprawl.

The history of American amusement parks begins much earlier than the creation of

Mission Beach, or even of Coney Island. In her work, The American Amusement Park Industry,

Judith Adams, for example, traces elements of the American amusement park industry back to

“the medieval church sponsored and trade fairs held throughout Europe…as early as the 12th

century.”4 Adams provides a sweeping history of the development of the amusement park form,

from these early fairs to the more modern forms of trolley parks, expositions and Coney Island

3 Harry Wayne Powell, Mission Beach: The Creation of Place. (M.A. in Geography Thesis, San Diego State University, 1981), 3. 4 Judith Adams, The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills, (Boston: Twayne Publishers: 1991), 1. Peters 8

through to the most recent parks such as the Disney EPCOT Center.5 According to Adams, the

American amusement park is based upon a utopian ideal of the perfect city and would became symbolic of America’s technological prowess at harnessing industrial technologies for leisure pursuits.

Of all the early American amusement parks, the history of Coney Island is perhaps the one which has been written about most often. Many books, articles, research papers and films can be found which examine the rise of Coney Island, its impact on mass culture, its influence on the American amusement park industry and more. Four books in particular stand out in the historiography of Coney Island; The First Resorts: Pursuing Pleasure at Saratoga Springs,

Newport, & Coney Island by John Sterngass, The Kid of Coney Island: Fred Thompson and the

Rise of American Amusements by Woody Register, Amusing the Million: Coney Island at the

Turn of the Century by John F. Kasson and Coney Island Lost and Found by Charles Denson.

All four books approach the history of Coney Island from slightly differing angles from early development to public experiences.

When looking toward amusement parks along the West coast, however, the historiography often focuses on the development of large scale parks post-1940, such as

Disneyland in 1955 and Six Flags Magic Mountain in 1971. John M. Findlay’s Magic Lands:

Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940 examines four Western urban landscapes:

Anaheim’s Disneyland, Silicon Valley’s Stanford Industrial Park, Sun City, Arizona and

Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair. While Findlay’s examination of Disneyland is interesting, particularly in regards to creation of an oasis of fantasy amongst urban sprawl, it is presented as a new model of urban planning. Because Findlay’s examination is concerned more with post-

5 J. Adams, see Chapters 2-4. Peters 9

World War II developments it gives only a passing mention of earlier parks and their interaction

with urban development.

The development of San Diego has recently been the subject of examination by Mike

Davis in his work Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See. Davis frames the

development of San Diego not in terms of technological, economic and population changes, but

as a tale of corruption, white collar crime, political maneuvering and shady real-estate schemes.

While there can be no denying that corruption and less than ethical business practices played a

role in the development of San Diego, the extent of the conspiratorial corruption alleged in

Under the Perfect Sun is questionable. The Mission Beach development, in particular, was not

an attempt by an overzealous developer to bilk the last few dollars from the public, but rather an

attempt to revitalize a floundering development effort.

The form of this thesis project contains two parts; a written component and a film

component. The written portion of the thesis is divided into three parts; an introduction and two

chapters. The first chapter presents a summary of suburbanization and the early development of

the American amusement park. The second chapter begins with a biographical sketch of John D.

Spreckels and his early dealings in San Diego before delving into an account of the

establishment of the Mission Beach Amusement Center and community up to approximately

1930. The documentary film, which makes up the second part of the thesis project, presents the

development of Mission Beach from 1914 to 2013. While a portion of the film will overlap with

the written component, the film will extend the chronological coverage and add a visual aspect to

the textual analysis of the influence of the Amusement Center on the development of Mission

Beach. The text and film are meant to work together with the text establishing the historical

context of the amusement park in American cities, Spreckels’ efforts to develop San Diego Peters 10

culminating with Mission Beach leading into the film portion of thesis which portrays the development of Mission Beach from Spreckels’ involvement into the 1970s by which time the

modern community had established itself.

Within San Diego’s urban historiography, Mission Beach may only be one small part of

the larger story. Yet, an examination of Mission Beach offers an important insight into the

processes and ideas which shaped San Diego. By turning to the amusement park to attract public

interest, John D. Spreckels would not only shape the physical form of the area, but also the idea

of Mission Beach. The community of Mission Beach would combine domesticity and leisure to

create a way of life that is uniquely San Diegan.

Peters 11

Chapter One

Early Suburban Development

The use of the amusement park in the development of an urban area was, at the time, a

uniquely West coast approach to urban development at the turn of the century. The amusement

park model had developed along the Eastern seaboard as commercial ventures independent from

real estate development and urban planning. In many cases the location of an amusement park

would be influenced by the presence of urban development, but they were not meant to

specifically effect that development. The amusement parks in the East were designed to present

the public with an escape from the urban world. Although this would still be an attractive aspect

of going to an amusement park for the western public, what Spreckels had done by opening his

Mission Beach Amusement Center in 1925 was to incorporate it within the dynamic of the

creation of urban space. Unlike the amusement parks which had evolved on the East coast in

reaction to urban development, Spreckels used the amusement park on the West coast to cause

urban development to react to the amusement park. In doing so, Spreckels used the amusement

park within his development of Mission Beach to create an urban setting in which the public

could live and work alongside the fantasy of the escape. In turn, this helped to shape the public’s

image of life in San Diego.

An understanding of how the construction of the Mission Beach Amusement center was a

shift in the development of amusement parks and urban space must first begin with an

examination of the history of urban development and the process of suburbanization. In the

nineteenth century the urban environment was evolving rapidly into what would become the

modern city. As advances in technology helped to fuel this evolution it is easy to see why John

D. Spreckels believed that “transportation determines the flow of population” as new Peters 12

neighborhoods began springing up along the radiating rail lines from the urban core.6 With the

rise of the middle class this trend toward suburbia increased in speed and scale. However, just

how far early expansion could go was restricted by the practicality of the need to return daily to

work in the city center. Each new development in transportation technology enabled residents to

move further and further from the core of the city as longer commuting distances became more

easily overcome. These advances in transportation technologies helped to fuel the expansion of

the urban environment as suburbs began growing further from the city core. Yet, as shown by

many urban historians, transportation alone does not account for the growth of suburbia. Other

factors including intellectual movements, economics, social and cultural forces all had a hand in

the shaping of urban space. Transportation technology alone could not guarantee urban growth,

but it did make it easier.7

In addition, changes in society and cultural movements also helped to fuel the shift in

population towards the suburban. In particular, what has come to be called the California Dream

would help to fuel the population growth of California cities.8 Historian Kevin Starr traces the

California Dream back to Gold Rush of 1848 when the idea of California began to shift from

desolate frontier land to the opportunity rich paradise of the West coast. Like James Truslow

Adams’ American Dream, the California Dream was a dream of a “land in which life should be

better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or

6 H. Austin Adams, The Man: John D. Spreckels, (San Diego: Frye & Smith, 1924), 191. 7 For more on the influence of transportation on suburbanization and the urban environment see Sam Warner, Jr.’s, Streetcar Suburbs: The Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962) and Becky Nicolaides and Andrew Wiese, eds., The Suburb Reader (New York: Routledge, 2006). 8 For more on the California Dream see Kevin Starr’s Americans and the California Dream, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) and Inventing the Dream: California through the Progressive Era, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). Peters 13

achievement.”9 But, the California Dream went beyond the Puritan notions of hard work being

rewarded. As historian H.W. Brands describes it, it was the “dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck.''10 The capitalization of the natural resources of California

provided the early environment which allowed for the rapid accumulation of wealth that helped

to fuel the California Dream. Over time, the fantasy of a better life in California would continue to be fueled by the get rich dream, though for many the dream would shift from gold toward the

silver screen or by the end of the twentieth century to the digital wonders of Silicon Valley as the

means for their instant success.

The California Dream meant the highest possible standard of living for not only the

middle class, but for blue collar workers as well. The dream of California, however, went

beyond the get rich notion that had kicked off a massive migration movement during the Gold

Rush. Over time the Dream evolved to include the belief that the quality of life in California was

better than elsewhere. The California Dream meant a better and more affordable family life. In

Southern California, for example, the homes may have been smaller, such as the Californian

bungalow, but they were more open than those of the East. Lush backyards provided a personalized playground to enjoy the warm sunny climate. The California Dream meant good jobs, excellent roads, plentiful outdoor recreational opportunities and a quiet family life in a

warm Mediterranean climate. It is these qualities of the California Dream that John D. Spreckels

would attempt to tap into in the late 1800s. In Mission Beach, Spreckels would meld the

idealism of the California Dream with progressive plans for urban development. The tool with

9 James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America, (New York: Taylor & Francis, 1938), 415. 10 H. W. Brands, The Age of Gold, (New York: Doubleday, 2002), 442. Peters 14

which Spreckels would fulfill those efforts was the amusement park model that had evolved

along the East coast.11

The Amusement Park and Suburbanization

The early development of amusement parks in the United States can be tied directly to

the growth of commuter rail lines. While the rail lines made operators a tidy profit during the

work week, weekends proved troublesome for the operators. In order to encourage weekend use

of the streetcars and trolleys, the owners began to extend their lines beyond the suburban

neighborhoods. Often ending at or near existing resort locations, the rail company would build

what would become known as the trolley park. These parks also allowed the rail companies to

capitalize on the rise of the Romantic ideal of returning to nature. These areas which previously

had been traditionally accessible only to the social elite were now opened up to the rising middle

class. Soon other entrepreneurs began to notice the popularity of these parks and their potential

for profit. Small food kiosks, band stands, and other attractions began appearing in and around

the parks. Eventually, these parks would evolve into the recognizable amusement park form

with a midway of games, food, and souvenir stands surrounded by rides like Ferris Wheels,

carousals and roller coasters.12

The American amusement parks which developed in the late 1800s evolved over time, in

much the same way as the American cities in which they were built. Like the urban spaces they

often bordered, amusement parks in America evolved from elements imported from Europe and

the technological, social and economic changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution, which

11 Starr, Americans and the California Dream. 12 This evolution of the trolley park is detailed in several historical examinations; including articles presented in Becky Nicolaides’ Suburb Reader, as well as, Judith Adams’ The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills. Peters 15

were mixed together with a good dose of American entrepreneurial spirit. Because the

development of the amusement park was fluid, involving the coming together of various

elements and the various ways these elements were used within the parks, it is difficult to say

specifically an exact date that the first amusement park appeared. However, the majority of

historians agree that the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 marks the first time that all of the major

elements of the modern amusement park were brought together in one place and that provided

the blueprint for future park builders to follow.13 It was there in Chicago that, for the first time,

all the disparate elements of amusement that historians have traced were brought together. What

was known as the European pleasure garden was wedded with the technology and spirit of the

Industrial Revolution and put on display for the public’s amusement.

European pleasure gardens, which first developed in the sixteenth century, became a

major influence on the early concept of the amusement park. These gardens were modeled on

the gardens that lined estates and palatial grounds of the aristocracy. The gardens were funded

by aristocrats who believed that by bringing these gardens into the public realm they could be

used to show what the world could and should look like. The first of these gardens to achieve

international acclaim was London’s New Spring Garden in 1661. After renovation in 1728 the

garden also became the first to establish an entry fee of one shilling. The park included “garden

walls, arbores, mazes, shops, dining pavilions, paintings, statuary and replicas of ruins.”14 In addition to the amusements of music, dancing, sports and spectacle these gardens provided the thrill of unexpected sociopolitical intercourse as aristocracy mixed with merchant and the

emerging working-class patrons. This mixing of the classes, particularly later in the Victorian

13 Dale Samuelson and Wendy Yegoiants, The American Amusement Park, (St. Paul: MBI Publishing Co., 2001), 10. 14 Ibid., 11. Peters 16

era, led to complaints of the gardens becoming centers of vice and “social infection,” which of

course added to the thrill the public felt as they walked the garden paths. This thrill of the

unexpected encounter, of mixing with representatives from all social classes, would be mirrored

in the future amusement parks.15

The idea behind the European pleasure gardens, the reflection of the idealized world,

made its way across the Atlantic and into the cities and suburbs of America. In particular, when

mixed with the concepts of the return to nature popularized by intellectuals and suburban

boosters of the mid-1800s, one can see the influence of the garden ideal on the development of

what would become known as the trolley parks, the precursors to amusement parks. The trolley

parks were, to a degree, the American equivalent of the European pleasure garden with a

capitalist twist.16

As advances in transportation technology made accessing the hinterlands easier, suburban

expansion of the cities began reaching out along these lines. Often, though not always, these lines ended near existing resort locations that had previously been largely accessible only to the wealthy who had the means and time to make the trek out to these isolated areas. Resorts like

Newport and Rhode Island had existed before the Revolutionary War, but the advances in transportation made in the 1800s made a broader range of resorts more accessible. Resorts such as Long Beach, New Jersey, Nahant, Massachusetts and Saratoga Springs, New York, were among the popular resorts of the period which catered to a moneyed crowd who could afford the expensive accommodations.17 The Industrial Revolution and the new industries, businesses and

work forces it created were changing the socio-economic landscape beyond the workplace.

15 Judith Adams, The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991), 3-7. 16 Ibid., 57-60. 17 Ibid., 16 Peters 17

Work days and hours fell and people discovered the meaning of 'earned leisure.' The transportation companies that carried commuters made a fair profit during the work week. The lack of commuter customers on weekends, however, cut into those profits. Seeking to capitalize

the idea of ‘down time’ and responding to the growing public interest in the naturalist movement,

traction companies began to extend their lines beyond the suburban borders. There at the

terminus of these lines, the traction companies created small parks and picnic areas and offered

special weekend fares to encourage the public’s interest. Examples of this can be seen

throughout the country at places such as Coney Island, where in 1829 horse drawn street cars

first began service or the later Sea Breeze Park in Rochester, New York, which opened on

August 5th, 1879 where picnic groves and the lakefront were the main attraction. Many of these

small trolley parks would attract outside investors who would later build amusement parks on or

near these sites.18

Unlike the urban factory worker and the rural farmer, the growing middle class in

America began to find itself with extra time outside of the workplace. The new concept of

‘down time’ and the growing desire to escape from the work spaces of mundane life clashed

against the genteel self-conscious elite who believed they should determine culture. As with the

dissatisfaction voiced by London’s elite over the “social infection” by the lower classes in ‘their’

gardens, the gentry of America, often masquerading as reformers, voiced their concerns over the

expansion of the working-class and took it upon themselves to “instruct, refine and discipline

this new urban-industrial society by preaching Victorian values of moral integrity, self-control,

and industriousness to the masses.”19 The architects of public amusement of the late 1800s

18 Dale Samuelson and Wendy Yegoiants, The American Amusement Park, (St. Paul: MBI Publishing Co., 2001), 16. Also see J. Adams, 60-66. 19 Samuelson and Yegoiants, 11. Peters 18

embraced this reformist vision and sought not simply to amuse, but to instruct the public with

lessons of aesthetic tastes and social responsibility. Through public amusement the reformists believed that they could inspire a respect for cultural standards in what they deemed a fractious

people by presenting a model of social order, cohesion and tranquility. They believed that by

simply manipulating the environment, they could elevate public taste and reform public

conduct.20 This would be the guiding concept behind the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where the

technological marvels of the age were blended with the idealism of the European gardens to

create a utopian vision of what the world could and should be.

Attendees of the World’s Fair were awestruck at the brilliant stuccoed White City, which

stood in stark contrast to the dark tenements of Chicago’s urban slums. Chicago was the

fourteenth World’s Fair and the first to have a separate area for amusements away from the

exhibition halls known as the Midway Plaisance. It was here that the term “midway” was first

introduced to the English language by Sol Bloom, the organizer of the amusement area, to

describe the central “avenue at a fair, carnival, or amusement park for concessions and

amusements.”21 It was on the Midway that organizers, in hopes of outdoing the spectacle of the

Eifel Tower built for the previous World’s Fair in Paris 1889, gave George Washington Gale

Ferris the concession to build his Great Wheel.22 The 250 foot diameter wheel carried thirty-six

gondolas capable of carrying sixty passengers each and would become a staple at nearly every

amusement park and carnival even to this day.23 Chicago would also host another important

20 Ibid., 11-12. 21 “Origin of Midway” Meriam-Webster.com, 2012, http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/midway (10 September 2012). 22 Meehan, Patrick, “From the Hyde Park Historical Society newsletter – The Big wheel Spring 2000,” Hyde Park Historical Society, 2000, http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/newsletter.html (10 September 2012). 23 Samuelson, 12 Peters 19

attraction on its midway, one of the earliest coasters constructed in the United States. Thomas

Rankin’s Snow and Ice Railway was essentially a roller coaster running on an ice paved track. It

featured two trains of four six seat bobsleds which would be drawn by cable to the high point of

the track, then freed and allowed to slide down inclines and around the track.24 At the close of

the Exposition, the Snow and Ice Railway was moved to Coney Island, but the direct sunlight and

insufficient refrigeration there resulted in the ride closing shortly afterwards. According to historian Robert Cartwell, "it would seem that if certain entrepreneurs had their way, the complete Midway Plaisance would have been moved to Brooklyn."25 Indeed, the Chicago

World’s Fair would have a great number of influences on the development of the American

amusement park, particularly the development of Coney Island as one of America’s premier

amusement playgrounds. Two attendees of the Chicago World’s Fair, in particular, would play

critical roles in developing Coney Island’s amusement parks, George Tilyou and Captain Paul

Boyton.

Coney Island: The Model of Amusement

Prior to 1823, there had been little development on Coney Island until the Coney Island

Road and Bridge Company built a wooden bridge over Coney Island Creek, allowing carriages

to begin crossing over the bridge to the island regularly. In 1829 the Coney Island Road and

Bridge Company branched out into the resort business by building the Coney Island House hotel

to provide accommodations for the visitors. Soon other hotels would follow, and by the 1840s

Coney Island had become a popular resort getaway for those wealthy enough to own their own

24 Treffman, Stephan, “Ferris Wheel followup,” The Hyde Park Historical Society, 2003, http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/ferrisfollowup.html (10 September 2012). 25 Robert Cartmell, The Incredible Scream Machine: A History of the Roller Coaster (Fair Oaks, Ohio: Amusement Park Press, 1987), 66. Peters 20

carriages for excursions. In 1862, the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad expanded their

operations by opening a horse drawn streetcar line into Coney Island, which allowed easier

access to the public.26

The late 1860s and early 1870s would see new growth on Coney Island as multiple hotels

began popping up to cater to the middle class which now had easier access to the area thanks to

improved transportation options such as steam powered railroads and ferry boats. By the 1880s

access to the island was readily available to all levels of society. While social lines may have

become blurred by this point, the division of American class structure remained intact on the

island. The social elite held sway on the eastern portion of the island in Manhattan Beach. To

the west of Manhattan Beach lay the middle class dominated Brighton Beach and then the main

amusement area of West Brighton, which was patronized by mostly middle and working classes.

Furthest west lays Norton’s Point, which was home to the lower working and under classes and

where prostitutes, gamblers, drunkards and thieves could readily be found. Despite the

seemingly symmetrical division of the classes, the boundaries which divided the sections of the

island were not impassable. Upper and middle classes often went “slumming” into the more

raucous areas and likewise, gamblers and prostitutes could be found around the upscale lavish

hotels.27

The importance of the advances of technology of the middle to late 1800s in the

development of Coney Island goes beyond the ease of access provided by newer transportation.

The entertainments of the island were also influenced by and became increasingly more

26 Charles Denson, Coney Island Lost and Found (Berkley: Ten Speed Press, 2002), 6-7.; See also Jeffrey Stanton, “Coney Island – Early Years (1609-1880),” Coney Island History Site, 1997. http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/earlyhistory.htm (10 September 2012). 27 Robert Snow and David Wright, “Coney Island: A Case Study in Population, Culture and Technical Change,” Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 9, Issue 4, pp. 960-975. Spring 1976, pp. 963-964. Peters 21

dependent on technology. In 1881, for example, The Philadelphia Exposition Observation

Tower was moved to Coney Island and became the island’s first technological spectacle.

Visitors rode steam powered elevators to enjoy the view of the seascape and city from 300 feet

up.28 Indeed, the history of Coney Island’s amusements could be laid out in a line of

increasingly complex mechanization from the arrival in the 1870s of the first of the mechanized

attractions to arrive on the island, a merry-go round, to the latest modern three-dimensional

motion simulator rides. Looking back through modern eyes it may be difficult to see how the

seemingly mild rides of early Coney Island could provide the public with same combination of

thrills and titillation today’s sensational entertainments. But, when examining the period, one

must remember that these were new experiences for a public that was more used to moving at a

walking pace. Modern cinema and television, for example, have taken much of the mystery out

of the projected image, but we must remember that it was just over one hundred and ten years

ago in 1895 that the Lumiére Brothers were causing audiences to leap from their seats with their

film Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. Today we think nothing of traveling down a highway at 65

miles per hour or cruising along in a Boeing 747 at over 400 miles per hour. Contrast these

experiences with the fact that in 1900 the top speed of new cars was a mere 8 miles per hour and

the sensations created by the early amusement park rides must have seemed otherworldly to the

average visitor.29

Beyond allowing for bigger, faster, rides, technological advances in ride and park

construction aided in the creation of fantasy. This is especially true in a period where most

Americans were still just being introduced to the wonders of the modern world. Amusement

28 Ibid., 964. 29 Antique Automobile Club of America, The Ah-ooo-ga Times – The First 35 Years of the Automobile, “1900,” local.aaca.org/bntc/mileposts/1900.htm Peters 22

parks became a center of active play where children and adults alike could divert themselves

from their typical daily regimes and experience play, thrill and challenges. These parks were

playgrounds which offered excitement through a unique controlled exposure to fear. The

technological advances in mechanization produced by the Industrial Revolution were used by the

purveyors of entertainment on Coney Island to excite and thrill their customers with the rush of

wind on their face, the fluttering of a skirt, and the sense of danger from being out of control.

This sexualization of mechanized amusements was a winning strategy for the entrepreneurs of

Coney Island and they were not very subtle in exploiting it. For example, a sign in front of the

Cannon Coaster at Henderson’s Walk & Boardwalk in 1901 boldly asked “WILL SHE THROW

HER ARMS AROUND YOUR NECK? WELL, I GUESS YES!”30

In 1895 Captain Paul Boyton would borrow the concept of the midway and open Coney

Island’s Sea Lion Park. The park featured several trained seals, water rides and the famous

Shoot-the-Chutes ride. What set Sea Lion Park apart from the other attractions on Coney Island

was the fact that Boyton fenced off the property and charged admission at the gate. Seeing the

potential of the new system, and inspired by the crowds at the nearby horse tracks, George

Tilyou would soon build his own closed off complex, Steeplechase Park, at Coney Island in

1897, one of the most unique and successful amusement parks ever built. George Tilyou had

visited the Chicago Fair on his honeymoon, where he recognized the potential of the midway and

even offered to buy Ferris’ wheel. Undeterred by the fact that the wheel had already been sold,

he ordered a much smaller version of the wheel and in true amusement park fashion promptly put

30 Snow and Wright, 966. Peters 23

up a sign claiming, “On This Site Will be Erected the World’s Largest Ferris Wheel.”31 Other closed off parks would soon follow, including Fredrick Thompson’s Luna Park in 1903.

Before Thompson’s arrival, the thrills of Coney Island rides typically came from going higher and faster than what normal life provided. Thompson added to the thrill by including the element of fantasy. His enclosed park not only guaranteed exclusive profits from the gate, but also walled off the real world from the fantasy realm he created and controlled. Thompson had taken the concept of the utopian ideal that was behind the White City of the Chicago World’s

Fair and added a hefty dash of Peter Pan’s magic dust. Thompson’s amusements heralded a new era of expressive pleasure oriented urban culture, that would supplant the genteel Victorian assumptions that respectable recreation would elevate the spirit, instruct the mind, and purify the body. Thompson sold fantasy to the masses and they loved it. He removed the visitors to his park from the everyday world of and told them it was alright to indulge in pleasure for pleasure’s sake.

Boyton, Tilyou and Thompson all exemplify the early East Coast amusement park developer. Their parks were built as separate entities to the development of the urban space around them. Their locations were determined by the spread of transportation technology, changing social dynamics, and a growing urban population. The coming together of these forces created an opportunity for these parks which these men seized. However, the construction of the amusement parks was a reaction to these changes, not a part of a specific plan to develop the urban space beyond their borders. Although not all East Coast parks were enclosed, the fact that

Boyton and subsequent park developers at Coney Island fenced off their parks shows that they were attempting to separate themselves both physically and metaphorically from the outside

31 Cartmell, 66

Peters 24

world of urban life. This fencing off the outside world had several implications for the

amusement park. First, in the realm of the development of amusement park design and function,

the separation from the world exemplified the escapist fantasy element of the parks. Second, it

shows that these early parks were independent business ventures whose owners’ interests lay

within the borders of their parks alone. The fantasy worlds they were creating began when their

customers entered the gate and ended the moment they walked back out.

The enclosing of the amusement parks at Coney Island held other benefits beyond aiding

the creation of fantasy for the customers. Economically, for the park owner, it meant that one

could isolate the patron from the other attractions of Coney Island. Once admission was paid

and the customer was inside the park the customer was free to pick and choose from any and all

rides within the park. But, the enclosed park also meant that the customer was restricted to

where they could eat and the side show games of the park’s midway. They could not be drawn

away by the promise of a less expensive but just as good hot dog or a game of knock the milk

bottles over with four balls instead of three at a competitors stand. The concessions of the

enclosed park were essentially a goldmine for the park owners. The competition between the

park owners was getting the customer through the gate. Once the customer made a choice of

which park to visit, the owner not only had their ticket price in his pocket, but was already

eyeing the rest of the wallet.

Another benefit of the enclosed park for Coney Island was that it helped to appease the

sensibilities of the moral authorities of the period. Society’s moral minders had been grimacing

for years at what they saw as the vulgar depravity of Coney Island’s leisure amusements.

Convinced that leisure was best spent in quiet spiritual contemplation afforded by parks and gardens, the vice ridden raucous atmosphere of Coney Island was the antithesis of what the Peters 25

Victorian mindset believed leisure should be.32 The drinking, gambling, prostitution and class

mixing of Coney Island grated against the Victorian ethos of polite society. Calls for the clearing out the ruffians and vulgarity of Coney Island were often raised by the social elites.

They went so far as to suggest the razing of the roughest and most profane portions of Coney

Island, in order to build a park similar to that of Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s

Central Park. By enclosing their parks, the amusement men not only managed to keep out the riffraff, but they were also able to more easily pass the scrutiny of society’s moral minders.

The park builders of the East Coast had molded the amusement park into a concept that both fulfilled the needs of the of the thrill seekers while passing the scrutiny of polite society.

The evolution of the amusement park that occurred on the East Coast eventually produced the model upon which all later amusement parks would be based upon; a central midway containing concessions, games, souvenirs, side-show attractions, surrounded by rides and major attractions.

By the time West Coast cities had begun to modernize and expand, that model of the amusement

had been solidified in the minds of Americans. The groundwork had been done on the East

Coast and the West Coast was ready to capitalize on it. Developers would use the amusement park model that had evolved in the East to help shape the urban environment of cities on the

West Coast as John D. Spreckels did in Mission Beach California, but would remove the enclosures of the eastern parks and blurring the lines of park and home.

32 Robert Snow and David Wright, “Coney Island: A Case Study in Population, Culture and Technical Change,” Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 9, Issue 4, pages 960-975. Spring 1976, 962. Peters 26

Chapter Two

Spreckels and San Diego

To better understand how John D. Spreckels used the amusement park to change the

urban landscape of San Diego and Mission Beach, one must first look beyond the beginnings of

Mission Beach. It is necessary to consider how Mission Beach fits into the grand scheme of

Spreckels’ plan for the development of the city of San Diego. To do that, we must first begin

with the man himself. His biographer H. Austin Adams described John D. Spreckels and his

efforts in San Diego saying:

[He was] a great man, one of America’s few great Empire Builders…He organized vast

industries, built railways and fleets of steamships, owned banks and newspapers,

employed tens of thousands of men, financed and developed no end of enterprises, and

most striking of all, he dreamed a dream of one day seeing a city rise on the shore of San

Diego’s great landlocked bay – and with characteristic grit he quietly got to work to

realize his dreams by pouring millions after millions of dollars to turn a struggling

bankrupt village into the beautiful and cosmopolitan city San Diego is today.33

John Diedrich Spreckels was born August 16, 1858 in Charleston, South Carolina. His

father, Claus Spreckels, had come to the United States in 1845 as a poor immigrant from

Germany who staunchly followed the “no nonsense” family motto of “cut out the frills.”34

Despite his humble start, through hard work Claus soon owned several grocery stores. The allure of the West, however, was irresistible to Claus and in 1856 he sailed with his wife and son to San Francisco. There Claus established another grocery as well as a brewery and began exploring a myriad of business opportunities. Claus would build his fortune in the sugar

33 H. Adams, 14-15. 34 H. Adams 43. Peters 27

business, expanding sugar refining in San Francisco and operating plantations in Hawaii, as well as, shipping.35 Claus’ success in the sugar business would earn him the nickname of the “Sugar

King of San Francisco.”36

His eldest son, John Spreckels, would attend the Polytechnic at Hanover, Germany where

he studied music, math and engineering and was instilled with what Adams described as, “the

German traits efficiency and thoroughness.”37 This is not to say, however, that he was a boring or un-colorful youth. Indeed, quite the opposite is true, he was brash and reckless at times and was even rumored to have fought duels over women and was credited as being an expert swordsman.38 Although the family was extremely wealthy, as San Diego historian Clare Crane

points out, nothing was simply handed to John. “He didn’t go to work at the top of his father’s

company . . . He had to learn all of the jobs himself. He worked actually [sic] in the factories.

He worked on the ships as a result of this kind of thing he knew how to operate a lot of the

machinery.”39 Although he initially worked for his father, seeking independence, John managed to strike out on his own, establishing his own shipping line and investing in other

projects which would make him millions. By the time he arrived in San Diego in 1887, he had further built up his empire in the north of California where he owned office buildings, banks and

the San Francisco newspaper The Call amongst other business ventures.40

35 Claire Crane, interview by Peter Hamlin, Twelve Who Shaped San Diego, Ep. 7, Public Broadcasting System, 10 October 1978. 36 Richard V. Dodge, Rails of the Silver Gate: The Spreckels San Diego Empire. (San Marino: Golden West Books, 1960), 13. 37 H. Adams, 49-50. 38 H. Adams, 52-54. 39 Crane, Interview. 40 “San Diego Biographies - John D. Spreckels (1853-1926),” San Diego History Center, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/spreckels/spreckels.htm (18 April 2013). Peters 28

According to his biographer, John D. Spreckels’ arrival in San Diego was the result of an

accident while cruising the California coast on his yacht the Lurline. Someone had left the

refrigerator door ajar and the foodstuffs had spoiled requiring Spreckels to put into the Port of

San Diego to replenish the supplies. At the time, San Diego’s Great Land Boom of the Eighties

was in full swing. As real-estate speculation ran wild in San Diego, tourists flocked in expecting

to buy lots one day and sell them the next at inflated prices. The professional boomers had taken

over and word spread quickly of the wealthy Spreckels’ arrival. With his maritime background,

it can be easily assumed that Spreckels saw the future potential of San Diego’s natural harbor,

particularly with the construction of the Panama Canal underway, and he quickly moved to

invest in several properties. His first investment in San Diego was the purchase of the wharf at

the foot of D Street, now called Broadway, where he constructed coal bunkers to profit from the

growing needs of steam ships traveling along the coast. Despite the bust of the real estate boom in 1888, Spreckels began to take advantage of the suddenly inexpensive land and to expand his interests in San Diego by acquiring control of the Coronado Beach Company, the Hotel Del

Coronado, establishing the Coronado Tent City and the San Diego street railway system.41 The

Hotel Del Coronado had been constructed by Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story at a cost of one million dollars. After Spreckels purchased the hotel he established the Coronado Tent City which would become extremely popular tourist destination in San Diego. The tent city appealed to the emerging middle class who couldn’t afford rooms at the million dollar hotel and would provide the inspiration for later developments in Mission Beach. The appeal of the tent city reflects the qualities of the California Dream, which promised the masses a better quality of life

41 Ibid., Spreckels would also modernize the San Diego street railway system in 1892 by switching from horse drawn cars to electric power and renaming the company the San Diego Electric Railway. Peters 29

in California by accentuating leisurely pursuits. The middle class might not have been able to

afford the luxury rooms at the Hotel Del Coronado, but they could still enjoy the same natural

beauty and advantages that those vacationing at the hotel did.

In 1890 Spreckels, continuing to expand his investments in San Diego, purchased the San

Diego Union newspaper to which he would later add the Tribune in 1901. Following the 1906

San Francisco earthquake, Spreckels moved his family permanently to San Diego and over the

next few decades Spreckels would continue to expand his holdings in San Diego. His

investments would eventually account for 10% of the total property taxes in San Diego County.42

H. Austin Adams, Spreckels’ biographer, would call him one of the last “great Empire

Builders” and just a quick glimpse at the type of investments Spreckels would venture into in

San Diego clearly shows that this title is well deserved.43 San Diego historian Claire Crane, less

euphemistically, described Spreckels as a monopolist, who in a “very real sense owned the city

of San Diego.”44 Spreckels controlled the transit system, the water system, real estate, banking,

and the newspapers giving him the ability to exercise a great deal of power over San Diego. But,

according to Crane, he “was not only a newspaper and transit tycoon, but a civic leader…and

civic benefactor, he was a man of social responsibility.”45 For Spreckels did not merely invest in

real estate and sit back biding his time for property values to increase. He actively sought out

ways to improve life in San Diego by investing in its infrastructure.

An example of Spreckels’ involvement in the development of San Diego’s infrastructure

can been seen in the dealings of the Spreckels-owned Southern California Mountain Water

company. Under Spreckels’ leadership Southern California Mountain Water would help to

42 Ibid. 43 H. Adams. 14. 44 Crane, Interview. 45 Ibid. Peters 30

finance the Upper Otay dam, completed in 1901, and would build the Lower Otay dam and

reservoir in 1897. Combined the two reservoirs held a reserve of more than twelve billion

gallons of water which was enough water to provide San Diego’s population with water for an

estimated eight years with no rain fall.46 Spreckels agreed to provide water to San Diego at a

“nominal price of 4 cents per one thousand gallons, a figure considerably less than that which

most communities are required to pay.”47 Spreckels knew that access to a good water supply was a necessity for the success of any city, including San Diego. He summed up the importance

of a good water supply saying, “Get your water first, for without water you get your population

under false pretenses and they quit you when the water runs dry.”48

Transportation was also an important part of Spreckels’ plans for the development of San

Diego. Adams described him as being “keenly aware that transportation determines the flow of population.”49 In his early dealings in San Diego, Spreckels had begun acquiring the existing

streetcar companies within the city. This task was made easier as many were in financial trouble

following the bust of the real estate boom of the eighties. Spreckels modernized the existing

horse drawn street car lines, moving to electric powered cars and extended the San Diego

Electric Railway service throughout the city.50 Adam’s quotes Spreckels speaking of the

importance of transportation:

46 “San Diego’s Water Systems” Pacific Municipalities: A Journal for Progressive Cities 23, 31 October 1910, No. 3, 103-109, 107. 47 Ibid., 104. 48 H. Adams, 187. 49 H. Adams, 191, 50 The San Diego Historic Streetcars association has collected several maps of the San Diego street car system between 1891 and 1925 on their website http://www.sandiegohistoricstreetcars.org. Peters 31

Before you can hope to get people to live anywhere, no matter how desirable the locality

may be, you must first of all show them that they can get there quickly, comfortably and,

above all, cheaply.51

Spreckels also understood that simply providing transportation to the public does not guarantee ridership. Nor does it guarantee the success of an urban or suburban expansion without the social and economic needs of the citizenry also being addressed.

Simply extending a streetcar line into an area did not automatically guarantee that the subdivision would see any development. Spreckels would often promote new subdivisions by building some kind of a tourist attraction at the end of his streetcar line.52 In 1898, for example,

after acquiring the failing Citizens Traction Company, which had operated a cable car line from

downtown San Diego to University Heights, and purchasing a large amount of real estate nearby;

Spreckels redesigned the fairly barren Mission Cliff Park and opened the Mission Cliff Gardens

to the public. The Mission Cliff Gardens were located atop the steep cliffs overlooking Mission

Valley near North Avenue and Adams Avenue where the streetcar line from downtown ended at

the time. The park had originally been used for special events, such as traveling shows, but

Spreckels, perhaps taking a cue from the Europeans pleasure gardens, favored the creation of a

quiet, beautiful spot where the public could escape the hustle and bustle of the city. The Mission

Cliff Gardens became a popular destination known for its breathtaking views. According to

promotional reports from Spreckels’ newspapers, on a clear day one could see “the snow-clad

summits of the Sierra Madre, San Bernardino and San Jacinto ranges . . . glistening in the

51 H. Adams, 191. 52 Crane, Interview. Peters 32

sunshine more than a hundred miles to the north.”53 Other examples of Spreckels’ involvement in attractions which helped to garner interest in areas of San Diego including the Observatory in

Golden Hill and the renovation of The Casa de Estudillo, which was renamed Ramona’s

Marriage Place, in Old Town.54

Spreckels was not alone in using spectacles to attract interest in San Diego’s

development. Others saw the potential of San Diego as well and, in 1909, G. Aubrey Davidson

suggested the means by which to let the rest of the world know too. Davidson, the founder of the

Southern Trust and Commerce Bank and president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce

proposed that the city host an exposition to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal in

1915.55 Jonathon Bechtol, in his thesis on Balboa Park, describes the purpose behind the

Panama-California Exposition was an attempt “to attract future settlers, the military, and investors, the Chamber of Commerce decided an exposition would be the best route. What

commenced was an all out effort to market and develop San Diego as a urban center with the

proper resources to handle the new maritime traffic coming in from the Panama Canal while

maintaining its small town charm.”56 The idealized vision presented by the Exposition played

into the Mediterranean fantasy of California and impressed upon the public that in San Diego

they could find the fulfillment of that leisure-filled fantasy. Spreckels saw the potential benefits

which could be gained from San Diego hosting such a spectacle and became a major supporter of

53 "Mission Cliff Gardens Popular View Spot," San Diego Union, 10 January 1915, quoted in Beverly Potter, “Mission Cliff Gardens,” The Journal of San Diego History, Fall 1977, Vo. 23, No. 4. http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/77fall/gardens.htm 54 San Diego Union, 31 December1896, 3; Dydia DeLyser, Romona Memories: Tourism and the Shaping of Southern California, (University of Minnesota Press, 2005), 102-103. 55 Richard Amero, “Chapter 1: 1909-1915 Making of the Panama-California Exposition,” Balboa Park Expositions. http://www.balboaparkhistory.net (15 September 2012). 56 Jonathon Bechtol, “1915 Panama-California Exposition,” Balboa Park: An Urban History, Masters Thesis, California State University San Marcos (2009). http://public.csusm.edu/becht004/1915expopage.html (15 September 2012). Peters 33

the Panama-California Exposition, serving as the first Vice President of the Board of Directors

and promoting the cause through his newspapers. In addition, Spreckels would donate $100,000

personally to help fund the Exposition, as well as, donating the Spreckels Organ and Pavilion to the Exposition.57

Spreckels’ support of the Panama-California Exposition was part of an effort by San

Diego boosters to influence development of the city. In the early 1900s a political standoff was

developing in San Diego over the direction in which the city should take in its development of

urban growth. Two sides emerged each with their own agenda and would face off against each

other in the 1913 and 1917 mayoral elections. On one side was the progressive candidate George

Marston who was supported by other influential San Diego progressives such as sporting goods

king A.G. Spalding, newspaper tycoon E.W. Scripps and John D. Spreckels. The progressives

supported the idea of a planned development that would be guided by experts within a

centralized and more streamlined city government, which could act apolitically and would

restrict rampant industrial expansion to maintain an aesthetic quality in the development of San

Diego. On the opposing side were those who favored acquiring commerce and industry at all

cost over public parks and recreation. Charles F. O’Neal, who opposed Marston and won in the

1913 election, for example, had argued for “payrolls first, civic beauty second.”58 O’Neal’s

supporters accused Marston of seeking to buy the mayor’s job and to promote friends’ real estate

57 Amero, “Chapter 11: The Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park,” 3.; Amero, “Chapter 1,” 2. 58 John Hancock, Planning the Twentieth-Century American City, “Smokestacks and Geraniums Planning and Politics in San Diego,” ed. Mary Corbin Sies and Christopher Silver (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 171. Peters 34

schemes and referred to him as “a lover of trees and an outspoken foe of ‘Brutal

Commercialism.’”59

Marston would run for mayor again four years later in what would become, arguably, the

most famous mayoral campaign in San Diego’s history. Again the key issue of the mayoral

campaign would be the planned growth of San Diego. Marston would again campaign on a

platform which advocated a restrained industrial expansion that was a part of an overall city plan

which would include energy conservation and building and pollution regulations arguing that

San Diego needed both “manufacturing and business that fits with our natural conditions.”60 His

opponents, this time headed by flamboyant Iowa-born banker Louis Wilde, argued San Diego

needed “many large factories to help stimulate the economy and employment and argued that

city planning was a cosmetic to beautify the city at the cost of its economic prosperity.”61 Wilde would bill himself as the “Smokestack Candidate” and referred derogatorily to his opponent as

“Geranium George.” This would give the election the nickname “Smokestacks versus

Geraniums,” a term that has become synonymous with any political debate over urban development planning.62

At the heart of the “Smokestacks vs. Geranium” debate is the question of whether

rampant expansion and sprawl that would theoretically create rapid job growth and immediate

opportunity would be better than a slow comprehensive planned expansion tempered with

restraint which would, presumably, allow for economic prosperity but at a slower rate. The

slow, planned growth, advocates argued, would allow for an improvement in the environment

and aesthetic quality of life of the populace. The debate also highlights a changing tone within

59 Hancock, 171. 60 George Marston, quoted in Hancock, 172. 61 Hancock, 172. 62 Ibid., 173. Peters 35

the California Dream which had first developed during the Gold Rush. At the center of the early

California Dream was the notion of opportunity of easy wealth through the rapid exploitation of

the natural resources of California. The “Smokestacks vs. Geraniums” debate questions the

destructiveness of such rapid exploitation and offers the possibility of a more controlled development which would embrace and maintain the natural qualities of California.

Despite support by Spalding, Scripps and Spreckels, Marston would be resoundingly defeated. Of the defeat, Marston would say, “Smokestacks won. The forces of commercialism and rapid superficial growth defeated the people who stood for more conservative and sensible methods of building the city.”63 However, despite the win of the “Smokestacks,” the

implementation of their vision of San Diego would be put on hold as three days after the election

the United States would enter World War I. As a result, progressives like Spreckels would be

able to continue to argue for and to some degree accomplish their vision of development at least

until World War II, which would bring rapid development and change due to war related

industrial growth.

As exemplified by Spreckels’ activities at Mission Cliff Gardens, his efforts supporting

the Panama-California Exposition and his support of the progressive argument in the

“Smokestacks vs. Geraniums” debate; Spreckels was not just an astute business man, but an

accomplished promoter. He understood the value of marketing to the public. It was not enough

to simply provide a service, you needed people who would use, and pay, for that service. By the

first decade of the nineteen-hundreds San Diego was still struggling to recover from the

economic collapse of the late eighteen-eighties. The population numbers of San Diego had taken

a massive hit when the real estate market had imploded. The estimates of the city’s population in

63 George Marston, quoted in Hancock, 173. Peters 36

1887, at the height of the boom, range from 30,000 to 40,000 people.64 In 1890 the U.S.

Census showed that the population of San Diego had dropped to 16,159 and by 1900 it had

increased only slightly to 17,700.65 While the real estate bust had made it easier for Spreckels

to acquire property and businesses in San Diego cheaply and quickly, it also left him open to

criticism from those who did not have the same quixotic faith in San Diego’s future that

Spreckels had. “He’s a fool, anxious to part with his money,’ croaked the pessimists, ‘for no

other capitalist nor syndicate of capitalists in the country would do what he’s doing.”66 Much of

the criticism aimed at Spreckels during this period related to his announcement in 1906 of his

decision to build the San Diego and Arizona Railroad which would connect San Diego by rail to

the east. Despite the detractors, the large sums of money which Spreckels had sunk into multiple

business ventures in San Diego were beginning to pay off. Population numbers in the 1910 U.S.

Census show that the population of San Diego had more than doubled from 1900 to 39,578.67

By the 1910s San Diego was once again going through a boom period following the announcement by Spreckels of the San Diego and Arizona Railroad and the buzz created around the upcoming Exposition.

Mission Beach and the Creation of Fantasy

In response to the newly energized economy in San Diego, Spreckels began plans to develop new areas of San Diego. The area now known as Mission Beach was, at the time, a barren strip of sand and salt marsh protecting Mission Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The area held little attraction apart from some interest by naturalists, bird watchers and duck hunters. In

64 San Diego History Center, San Diego City and County Population from U.S. Census Bureau, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/links/sandiegopopulation.htm. 65 U.S. Bureau of the Census, Table 22. 66 H. Adams, 193. 67 U.S. Bureau of the Census, Table 22. Peters 37

1908, John Nolan had suggested that the beach area be included as part of the San Diego park

system. However, the cost and magnitude of attempting to tackle the fifty foot high sand dunes

had discouraged any other thought of development.68 By 1913, however, the potential gains

appeared to outweigh the troubles of developing on the sandy strip and a syndicate of

businessmen, including John D. Spreckels, formed the Mission Beach Company and purchased

the land. In June of 1914 the Mission Beach Company submitted a subdivision plan which

encompassed the entire length of the peninsula from Pacific Beach Drive in the north to the

mouth of Mission Bay in the south to the San Diego County Recorder’s Office.69

The Mission Beach development was to be a planned resort community which was

considered quite advanced and progressive for its time. So much so, that even a decade later, the

1914 subdivision plan of Mission Beach would win honors at the Second Annual Exhibition of

Landscape Architects held in Los Angeles in 1925.70 The plan was built around Mission

Boulevard, the main street running from the south end of the peninsula to the north and divided the peninsula in half. Residential zones were divided into relatively small lot sizes with each residential area requiring all homes built in them to have specified minimum construction costs.

The commercial zoned areas were spread out along Mission Boulevard at various distances, with the largest commercial area at the midpoint of the development where a large resort hotel and recreation area was to be built. In addition to the zoning layout the Mission Beach development was also praised by the jury at the Exhibition of Landscape Architects for its other outstanding

68 John Nolen, San Diego – A Comprehensive Plan for its Improvement (Boston: George H. Ellis Co., 1908), p. 82; Edward C. Hall, interview by Bob Wright, 17 February 1973, transcript, San Diego History Center, San Diego, 21. 69 San Diego County Recorder's Office, Map of the Subdivision of Mission Beach, as surveyed June, 1914, by D. A. Loebenstein, C.E. Map # 1651, cited in Powell, “The Creation of Place,” 14. 70 “Highest Honors Awarded Mission Beach Plan,” San Diego Union, 28 May 1925, 19. Peters 38

components, particularly pedestrian access, including the public strand walk, provisions for

public access to the bay and the ocean from interior lots by means of walkways.71

Early advertisements in San Diego newspapers for the Mission Beach development asked

the public, “Why not live happy and healthy?”72 The original sales brochure for Mission Beach

described the area as “the natural playground of Southern California located in the most ideal

climate of the world, with the Pacific ocean [sic] on one side and the quiet waters of Mission Bay

on the other.”73 Advertisements often touted the natural advantages of Mission Beach to

potential property buyers who were to have access to many recreational pursuits including

canoeing, sailing, surf-bathing, yachting and fishing.74 For those visitors who were not sports

oriented, there were to be other recreational choices such dancing and concerts.

Construction of a bridge and the grading of the Mission Beach tract began in late 1914.75

The bridge spanning the mouth of Mission Bay, completed in 1915, provided access to Mission

Beach from Ocean Beach to the south.76 Spreckels extended a single rail line across the bridge

providing trolley access from downtown to Mission Beach. In an era of horse and buggy and a

few early automobiles Mission Beach had been considered too long of a trek for San Diegans to

be a popular destination. Prior to the bridge connecting to Ocean Beach in the south, the only

method for traveling to Mission Beach had been a roundabout journey north to Pacific Beach and then south into Mission Beach. Aside from easier access, Ocean Beach’s popularity over

71 Ibid. 72 San Diego Union, 15 May 1916, 40. 73 Mission Beach, San Diego: Frye & Smith, 1914. 74 “Investors! Parents!” Advertisement, San Diego Union, 11 June 1922, 4-5. 75 “Mission Beach Name of New Tract,” The Evening Tribune, 23 September 1914, 3. 76 “New Drive is Opened Today,” The Evening Tribune, 2 July 1915, 11. Peters 39

Mission Beach was further bolstered by the many attractions available to the public such as the amusement park Wonderland which had been opened in 1913.77

Shortly after beginning the construction of the bridge, road and rail system in Mission

Beach, unforeseen economic troubles began to crop up for the Mission Beach Company. The

real estate boom had peaked in 1912 and property values within San Diego had slowly been

falling since, resulting in early lot sales being slow.78 This resulted in delays in the progress of

the work on public facilities and utilities. The Mission Beach Company’s efforts to develop

Mission Beach had stalled. A number of factors contributed to this situation. The First World

War had caused a tightening of the money markets and financing. The floods of January 1916 in

San Diego had done considerable damage throughout the city and county. Additionally,

financial losses incurred by Spreckels in his other business ventures further complicated the situation forcing him to sell off a portion of the land in northern Mission Beach to J.M. Asher.79

In June of 1916, J.M. Asher would purchase a section of the northern business zone

between Santa Clara Place and San Rafael Place where he would develop a tent city.80

According to Henry Kendall Turner, who had worked as a real estate agent in Mission Beach in

the late 1910s, the area had been subdivided into small lots of twenty five feet by fifty feet on

which “tent houses were built” for summer vacationers. Approximately 150 tents along with a

few thatched cottages and bungalows were constructed on the lots. Asher would also build a

77 Richard Crawford, “The Way We Were,” Union-Tribune, 10 May 2008, http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080510/news_1cz10history.html (22 September 2012); 78 Richard F. Pourade, The History of San Diego, The Rising Tide 1920-1941, Chapter 1: Envy of Cities, San Diego History Center, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/pourade/rising/risingchapter1.htm (22 September 2012).. 79 San Diego Union, May 28, 1925, Special Section, 20.; Richard F. Pourade, The History of San Diego, The Rising Tide 1920-1941, Chapter 11: The Rainmaker – And Who Caused the Big Flood, San Diego History Center, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/pourade/gold/goldchapter11.htm (22 September 2012). 80 The Evening Tribune, 6 June 1916, 9. Peters 40

small bathhouse and children’s pool, tennis courts, playground and a café to cater to the needs of

out of town vacationers. The newly laid trolley line would provide the visitors to the tent city

easy access to the downtown area of San Diego for day trips or to enjoy the night life.81

Asher advertised heavily in newspapers in Arizona and attracted many vacationers to his tent city.82 Asher hoped to replicate the success of the Coronado tent city which Spreckels had

built in Coronado which and had proven to be an extremely popular tourist destination. Early

accounts show that the Mission Beach tent city was a success in its first season and Asher

announced his intention to keep the tent city open year round. However, as the summer months

came to end so did the crowds in Mission Beach. Although the special events Asher hosted at

the tent city, such as auto races on the beach sands and fireworks for the Fourth of July, attracted

some local attendance.83 The majority of those coming to Mission Beach during this period

were from out of town. The locals continued to prefer Ocean Beach for their seaside pleasures.

The lack of interest in the Mission Beach area during the off season would eventually force the

streetcar line to cease operations until the summer months when ridership increased due to

vacationers.84 Although Asher did sell some lots to those seeking permanent vacation homes or

investments, Mission Beach remained largely a seasonal vacation destination for visitors to San

Diego for the next several years. However, by the early 1920s, the business conditions in San

Diego were beginning to turn around. From 1920 to 1926 “the number of building permits

issued annually increased from 2609, valued at $3,537,107, to 8320, valued at $18,198,200.”85

81 Henry Kendal Turner, interview by Edgar F. Hastings, San Diego Historical Society Oral History Program, 15 January 1959, 7. 82 “New Tent City Opens Soon At Mission Beach,” San Diego Union, 7 June 1916, 9. 83 Advertisement, The Evening Tribune, 4 July 1917, 5. 84 “Disconues[sic] Service,” The Evening Tribune, 22 January 1917, 14. 85 Pourade, The History of San Diego: The Rising Tide, Ch. 4, http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/pourade/rising/risingchapter4.htm (22 September 2012). Peters 41

In addition, the “Smokestacks vs. Geranium” debate had been put on the back burner during the

War. Coming out of World War I, the changing needs of the Navy would prove a financial boon to San Diego. Those who had sought economic growth through rapid industrial expansion were appeased by influx of federal monies and jobs as San Diego became home to Navy warships, training centers and hospitals.86 With the better business environment, the Mission Beach

Company would begin a new vigorous effort to develop the rest of Mission Beach with John D.

Spreckels leading the way.

Spreckels’ role in the early efforts of the Mission Beach syndicate had largely been

behind the scenes. In the beginning of the development Spreckels held 50% of the controlling

interest in the Mission Beach Company. By 1922, he had bought out several of the other smaller

investors and now controlled 75% of the company and had assumed a more direct involvement

in the development.87 Spreckels’ new plan for Mission Beach was based on the original business

plan of selling residential lots at moderate prices and improving public transportation for the community. In addition, he would keep the basic layout of the subdivision as it was laid out in the original 1914 plan, with one important difference. In April of 1923 Spreckels announced that the central area, which had been set aside as a large commercial zone, would now be home

to the Mission Beach Amusement Center.88 The Amusement Center replaced the large resort

hotel which had been in the original plans.89 This announcement resulted in increased public

86 Bruce Linder, “Norfolk vs. San Diego,” Naval History, Vol. 19, Is. 5, (2005), 46-53 87 San Diego Union, 22 June 1922, 5. 88 San Diego Union, 02 April 1923, 2. 89 It must be noted that an amusement park in San Diego was not an entirely new idea. It had been tried once before in Ocean Beach by D.C. Collier. Collier’s Wonderland amusement park opened in 1913 and was initially a popular attraction among San Diegans. Although Wonderland would be short lived, attendance declined in 1915 due to competition with the Panama California Exposition and fell into foreclosure. The final death knoll for the park came in 1916 when large storm surges undermined the foundation of the park’s roller coaster forcing it Peters 42

interest in the development and soon large crowds were visiting the construction site and tract

office to learn more about the improvements.90

H. Austin Adams, Spreckels’ biographer, quoted him saying that, “before you can hope

to get people to like anywhere…you must first of all show them that they can get there quickly,

comfortably and, above all, cheaply.”91 At Mission Beach, Spreckels followed this belief

closely. For years, the area had been serviced by a small single track streetcar that crossed the

bridge connecting Mission Beach to Ocean Beach. With the grand plans for Mission Beach

which Spreckels had envisioned, this small streetcar service would not suffice. At a cost of

$3,500,000, Spreckels replaced the small line with a double track express line from downtown

San Diego to Ocean Beach and then north to Mission Beach and La Jolla.92 The line would follow Mission Boulevard through the center of Mission Beach with a station at the location of the Mission Beach Amusement Center.

The new efforts of Spreckels to develop Mission Beach were chronicled and promoted in articles and advertisements which appeared almost daily in the Spreckels’ owned San Diego papers The Union and Tribune as well as the San Francisco The Call. News of the doings in

Mission Beach also appeared in California papers such as the Los Angeles Times and even on the east coast in the New York Times. Advertisements targeted both the home seeker and the investor. One advertisement, for example, which appeared in The Union was aimed at potential buyers looking for investments recounted the impressive property value gains in other California beach communities in Venice, Long Beach and Coronado and told them to, “Think of the

to be dismantled. Despite its doomed outcome, Wonderland did play a major role in attracting attention to Ocean Beach and was likely the inspiration for Spreckels’ decision to build an amusement park in Mission Beach. 90 “Project Plans Draw Many To Mission Beach,” San Diego Union, 02 April 1923, 2. 91 H. Adams, 191. 92 “S.D.E.RY. Big Factor in City Development,” San Diego Union, 28 May 1925, 19. Peters 43

happiness and profit which can be realized from buying a lot on one of California’s broadest,

longest, safest beaches with substantial improvements for as low as $350 and with a cash

payment of $35.”93 The same advertisement also made appeals to the permanent home-seeker,

asking parents “Where is your home going to be?” and answering the question with Mission

Beach, “where it is healthful!” and “where there is environment and safety for the children!”94

Parents seeking to buy a home were targeted in another advertisement which described Mission

Beach as “a home for the kiddies where every day is an adventure in endless happiness.”95

Other articles and advertisements touted the many planned improvements to Mission Beach describing the efforts as creating “a seaside playground, carefully planned to combine the advantages of a home with the refined pleasures of America’s finest amusement centers.”96 One ad of this type, which appeared in the Evening Tribune and targeted potential buyers seeking to invest in real estate, referenced the many ups and downs of past market “bubbles” claiming that

“Mission Beach is not a ‘wildcat’ real estate development in any sense of the word.”97 To assure

the investor, the ad plays upon the reputation of Spreckels as a developer who will back their

“investment at Mission Beach [with] millions of dollars for improvements.”98

The advertising campaign which appeared in Spreckels’ papers was designed to create an

image of what life could be in Mission Beach. The advertisements presented living in Mission

Beach as the perfect balance between work and play, where “you ‘really live’ when you cast

93 “Investors! Parents!,” Advertisement, San Diego Union, 11 June 1922, 4-5. 94 Ibid. 95 “What Mission Beach means to every Man – Woman – Child,” Advertisement, San Diego Union,15 June 1922, 10. 96 San Diego Union, 29 October 1923, 15. 97 Evening Tribune, 26 July 1925, 15. 98 Ibid. Peters 44

your lot with Mission Beach,” and where “it’s not a dream – it’s every day [sic] life.”99 The

convenience of the streetcars and roads were combined with the natural recreations and

amusements available in Mission Beach in advertisements to the permanent homesite buyer who

worked in San Diego. Within the advertisements and articles Mission Beach was consistently

referred to as a “residential playground.” The life they described was one of escapism where

“you’ll tackle your business duties with a vim that will surprise even yourself after you have

resided a while at Mission Beach.”100 While the majority of advertisements targeted the male

buyer, there were several which specifically targeted women. It is in these advertisements that

the merging of the domestic with the fantasy that Spreckels was creating can be seen most

clearly. In one advertisement, for example, the text implores mothers to give their children, “the

opportunity that Mother Nature has provided at Mission Beach to grow to be sturdy alert young

men and women…the purchase of a home site at Mission Beach is the best health insurance you

can buy for your children.”101 The same advertisement goes on to list the advantages of living in

Mission Beach for children saying, “think of the fun your children will have at Mission Beach

when the great amusement center is completed…To live at Mission Beach is to provide a year-

round vacation for your family.”102 Another advertisement even took into account the modern

working woman saying,

Woman has one abode – her HOME…Where Is Your Home Going To Be? Where would

any woman like to live? Ask any dozen or any hundred, and they will tell you – Amidst

the desirable environment of Mission Beach, where unexcelled boating and bathing

combines with California’s broadest and safest beach to offer healthful recreation to

99 Advertisement, San Diego Union, 13 October 1924, 7. 100 Advertisement, San Diego Union, 13 August 1924, 7. 101 Advertisement, Evening Tribune, 23 July 1924, 7. 102 Ibid. Peters 45

every member of the family, from Dad and Mother to the Baby; where good roads and

street car service spell accessibility; where soil awaits rose trellis, flower or vegetable

garden; where improvements insure comfort!103

Spreckels had taken the Peter Pan fantasy of Thompson and broken down the fence to create

what was described as a “peninsula of enchantment.”104 Through the use of such imagery the

domestic world was imbued with the same element of fantasy that an amusement park held.

Here was a world where the realities of domesticity were somehow alleviated simply by the fact

that living in Mission Beach made life better. Like the California Dream, moving to Mission

Beach was the first step toward a richer and fuller life. Through advertising such as this, the

lines of domesticity and leisure were blurred. Just as Thompson had sold fantasy within the

confines of his park in Coney Island, Spreckels was selling the fantasy of living in Mission

Beach.

The centerpiece of the creation of the fantasy Spreckels was selling at Mission Beach was

the Amusement Center. This is not to say that the natural environment of Mission Beach was

ignored in the advertisement in favor of the amusement area. Indeed, the natural advantages of

the peninsula: the climate, the quality of the sand beaches, the calmness of the bay and the gentle

slope of the geography of the ocean beach; were all selling points used to attract customers.

Further, the design of the amusement park itself was meant to showcase the environment around

it. Even if, workers had to artificially enhance it. For example, advertisements regularly touted

the “clean white sand” of Mission Beach. Yet, each morning the sands in front of the

amusement area were meticulously cleaned by work crews who removed the kelp, papers and

103 Advertisement, San Diego Union, 9 July 1922, 64. 104 “Mission Beach Luna Park to Be Brightly Illuminated,” San Diego Union, 4 April 1925, 19. Peters 46

trash from the beach.105 This would add to the illusion of the perfection of life in the Mission

Beach suburb. Artificially shaping the natural landscape to better fit this image of perfection was

not beyond the means of Spreckels. For example, Bonita Bay, later called Bonita Cove, was

dredged and shaped at a reported cost of $50,000 to create a still water swimming area on the

bay side of the Amusement Center.106 In addition, the architectural style of the buildings in the

Amusement Center added to the fantasy illusion. All of the buildings were constructed in the

Spanish Renaissance style, emulating the style chosen for the Panama-California Exposition in

Balboa Park.107 This style had been chosen for the Exposition to reflect an idealized vision of

the Spanish history of California and San Diego. By using this style Spreckels was extending the

Balboa Park fantasy of a romanticized Anglicized vision of that history to Mission Beach and further embedding it into the idea and sense of being in San Diego.

The fantasy of life in Mission Beach was a melding of the mechanical and natural. While the natural attributes of Mission Beach were a major selling point of the development and appealed to those seeking escape from the concrete enclosures of the downtown and the workplace, it was the modern mechanized marvels of the day which made the development

possible. Transportation, as has been discussed, was a major factor in the design and construction of Mission Beach. Advances in streetcar technology had made it easier for both visitors and residents to experience the ease of traveling to and from Mission Beach. In addition, the automobile was fast becoming the dominant mode of transportation and, despite his interest in the streetcar business; Spreckels ensured that the peninsula catered to drivers. Beyond transportation, though, the mechanical would also take center stage in the Amusement Center.

105 “Mission Beach Will Beckon Week-End Pleasure Seekers,” San Diego Union, 11 July 1925, 5. 106 “Mission Beach Company Speeds Up Improvements,” San Diego Union, 18 May 1924, 17. 107 San Diego Union, 01 January 1925, 16.; Evening Tribune, 03 June 1925, 2. Peters 47

The first structure completed at the Mission Beach Amusement Center was the roller-

skating rink. The rink was opened to the public in March of 1925. The rink featured a 90x100

feet skating floor which was described as “the finest and most modern roller skating rinks in the

entire southwest.”108 Two months later the natatorium, or bathhouse, was completed and opened. The bathhouse, which would later become known as “The Mission Beach Plunge” or just “The Plunge,” ran along 150 feet of ocean front boardwalk. When the bathhouse first opened it held two pools, a 60 by 175 foot an illuminated pool with a capacity of 400,000 gallons of salt water and a smaller 20 by 60 foot kiddies’ pool.109 The San Diego Union declared it to be the “largest, finest bathhouse in [the] country.”110

The “Mission Beach Dancing Casino,” the next major attraction completed, would

remain a popular attraction for many years. Situated next to the bathhouse the two story dance

hall building was 290 feet long by 142 feet wide and held two stories. The large building

contained a 20,160 square foot hardwood dance floor and large stage for an orchestra.111 A café

was located on the second floor balcony, which encircled the dance floor from above allowing

spectators to views of the dancers and the fourteen piece Mission Beach Orchestra led by Cliff

Webster.112 Thursday nights would be extremely popular at the dance hall and crowds would gather for special events such as dance contests and themed parties on.113

At the entrance to the center of the Amusement Center was the Fun Zone. Original plans

for the area were to be based largely on the Luna Park layout and amusements of Coney Island.

However, a management change in December of 1924 changed the direction of the construction

108 Evening Tribune, 06 March 1925, 13.; San Diego Union, 21 December 1924, 5. 109 “Filtration Plant Given Rigid Test,” San Diego Union, 3 May 1925, 32 110 “Mission Beach Bathhouse Largest Finest in Country,” San Diego Union, 25 May 1925, 7. 111 “Mission Beach Special Edition,” Evening Tribune, 28 May 1925, 4-5. 112 “Fine Orchestra Dance Feature,” San Diego Union, 10 April 1925, 24. 113 “Special Events On M.B. Program for Thursday,” San Diego Union, 17 June 1925, 3. Peters 48

plans. The resulting midway of rides and concessions would include a $25,000 Spillman

carousel, a Ferris Wheel, miniature train, shooting gallery, a scooter, the Mad Whirl, and the

Luna Park Funhouse114 Dominating the fun zone area, and what would become the most famous

of the Mission Beach attractions, was the Giant Dipper rollercoaster. Designed by noted coaster

builders Frank Prior and Frederick A. Church, the massive wooden coaster was 2,600 feet long

and 75 feet tall at its highest point.115 In 1921 Fred Church had patented a new type of coaster

car which had articulated couplings. The two-seater cars, set on flanged wheels and coupled

together with a ball and socket joint, could negotiate sharper turns at higher speeds than earlier

coaster car designs.116 Two six-car trains carried their delighted riders as they twisted their way

along the tracks of the Giant Dipper at forty-five miles per hour.117

The Mission Beach Amusement Center, unlike the fenced in parks of Coney Island, did

not attempt to trap the patrons. Instead the park was designed to be open. Even the bathhouse,

which fronted the boardwalk, was constructed with large windows which allowed those inside

panoramic views of the beach and ocean waters. Of course, the need for fencing off the parks of

Coney Island had served several functions. First, the fencing established the boundary between

the park and outside vendors. Creating a zone in which the park owner no longer had to compete

for patrons once they’d entered the park itself. Secondly, the fencing created the illusion of

entering into the fantasy world of the amusement park. The patron purchased a ticket and

entered through the metaphorical threshold of the turnstile and crossed into the other. Entering

114 “Construction Work is Underway on Elaborate New Fun Zone,” San Diego Union, 5 April 1925, 19. 115 “History: Giant Dipper,” Belmont Park, 2009, http://www.belmontpark.com/history- giantdipper (20 September 2012). 116 Jeffry Stanton, “Prior and Church,” Venice California History Site, (1998) http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/church.htm (17 September 2012). 117 David Boardman, “Fredrick Church,” Manchester History, http://manchesterhistory.net/bellevue/church.html (17 September 2012). Peters 49

the fantasy of Mission Beach did not require passing through a turnstile, the fantasy was meant to begin when one entered the peninsula itself. Finally, the fence separated the park from both the real and imagined dangers of Coney Island. Vagabonds and the unruly were kept out and the physical separation from the rest of Coney Island let the park owners claim a metaphoric separation from the eyes of society’s moral minders.

Mission Beach did not face the same scrutiny which Coney Island had to contend with during its development for several reasons. Firstly, Mission Beach, being a newly developed area, did not have to contend with a colorful past as Coney Island had. Second, as a planned community, there were restrictions on what could be built within the development. After all,

Mission Beach was not merely an amusement area; it was a melding of amusement and domesticity. As such there was a need to balance the excitement of the amusements with the wholesomeness of the hearth. With Spreckels in control of the development and his desire to create a wholesome and safe environment, unwanted elements could easily be prevented from establishing themselves in the area. The sense of danger which was part of the thrill of Coney

Island was muted in comparison at Mission Beach. The required minimum building costs of homes within the development, for example, meant that despite the reasonable lot costs, those building in the area would be of at least a middle class background. There were no slums, brothels or gambling dens to speak of at Mission Beach. Though, of course, the sexualization of amusement was present, with girls in bathing suits regularly recruited for promotional events, it was nevertheless tamer than Coney Island. The raunchiness of Coney Island’s working class roots had been replaced in Mission Beach with a sense of propriety.

Of course, this does not mean that all of the ills of society could be kept out just because lower income groups were priced out of home buying in the area. There were still trouble Peters 50

makers amongst the more affluent as well. For those that did cause trouble, the local judiciary

was quick to dish out severe punishment to discourage future problems. For example, in the

1925 case of Dayton Edman, Judge Charles B. DeLong used the sentencing of Edman for

possession of alcohol and wreckless[sic] driving to send a warning to those who thought they

could break the law in Mission Beach:

“The Spreckels people and some others have spent a tremendous amount of money to

start Mission Beach,” Judge De Long told Edman, “and it is a wonderful asset to the city.

It is, and it is going to be kept, a place where I, or anyone else, can take my family and be

assured of respectable conditions. If you think that a lot of drunken bums can go out

there and raise the dickens and get the place in wrong, you’re badly mistaken. I’m going

to put my foot down here, and put it down hard. You had heard of the Volstead act

hadn’t you? And the Wright act? And you knew that it was against the law to pack liquor

with you? All right $100 or 50 days in the county jail. You can’t pull rough stuff in

Mission Beach and get away with it, while I’m on this bench.”118

From 1914 to 1922, apart from the area in north Mission Beach where Asher had built his tent city, there had been little to no other residential development on the peninsula. Following the opening of sales in June of 1922 and the announced improvements to the area a great deal of interest was shown by the public in purchasing lots. By July lot sales had nearly hit forty according to newspaper reports.119 Based on the near weekly reports in the San Diego Union

and Tribune papers the sales continued at an average of approximately ten per week until April

of 1923, when Spreckels announced the details of the Amusement Center plans. Following this

118 “Plasters Fine For Booze at Beach,” Evening Tribune, 01 June 1925, 16. 119 “Building Boom at Mission Beach Brings Summer And Permanent Residences Close to 40 Mark,” San Diego Union, 27 July 1922, 7. Peters 51

announcement interest in the purchase of lots in Mission Beach greatly increased. Visitors, from

both out-of-town and local areas, were drawn to the Mission Beach Amusement Center

construction sites to see for themselves the work being done.120 By all accounts those that

viewed the project were impressed by the scope of the development and the improvements to the

subdivision being performed. One out-of-town businessman who visited the Mission Beach

Company offices for a tour of the subdivision was quoted upon leaving saying, “This is just what

San Diego needs to definitely establish its position as the summer and winter capital of the west.

It is one of the most important contributions which the Spreckels companies have made toward

the further development of San Diego.”121 Although the article did not state whether or not the

out-of-town businessman had purchased a lot, it is clear that work the Spreckels’ company had

performed in preparing the Amusement Center and the residential areas had impressed many

people. By the opening of the Mission Beach Amusement Center lot sales in Mission Beach had

reached a reported 1,800 sales, leaving only the extreme southern tip of the strand unsold at the

time.122 The advertising campaigns which had targeted both the investor and homebuilder had

worked well.

Conclusion

The Mission Beach Amusement Center was officially opened on May 30, 1925. In an

open letter printed in the San Diego Union addressed to the citizens of San Diego marking the

official opening, John D. Spreckels described that the “inspiration that had been the guiding

light” behind his development of Mission Beach was to provide the people of San Diego “with

recreational facilities that would equal any to be found elsewhere in the country. . .it is with the

120 “Project Plans Draw Many To Mission Beach,” San Diego Union, 02 April 1923, 2. 121 “Mission Beach To Be Ready For Opening Friday,” San Diego Union, 24 May 1925, 35. 122 “Mission Beach Special Edition,” Evening Tribune, 30 May 1925, 14. Peters 52

sincere hope that it will afford them real pleasure in availing themselves of the exceptional

opportunities now so readily accessible for wholesome, healthful recreation.”123 By

incorporating the Amusement Center into the development plans for Mission Beach, Spreckels

was cultivating the idea of Mission Beach. Here was a physical manifestation of the fun in the

sun way of life that would become synonymous with living in Mission Beach.

The American amusement park model had first appeared following the 1893 Chicago

World’s Fair. The model had evolved from earlier amusement traditions into a recognizable

form which entrepreneurs copied and refined wherever a viable population and setting allowed.

But these were independent commercial ventures by men whose concern was the financial

profits they could find within the fences of their parks. The inclusion of an amusement park in

the subdivision plans of Mission Beach by John D. Spreckels reversed the model of park

development. Unlike earlier amusement parks, such those at Coney Island, which were built on

the outskirts of urban centers, Mission Beach would be built around the amusement park,

incorporating within the fabric of the community the essence of amusement and recreation.

Spreckels’ use of an amusement park in the creation of urban space followed the tenets of

the Progressive reformer movement which sought to shape not only the physical but the aesthetic

aspects of the city. Mission Beach had been shaped by Spreckels into what has been described

as “southern California’s most alluring all-year residential playground, a place where the joys of

a modern amusement center are blended with the pleasures and comforts of real home life.”124

Within the Mission Beach community Spreckels had successfully merged fantasy and domesticity. In this way, the American amusement park, which had evolved along the East coast

123 “To the Citizens of San Diego,” Mission Beach Special, San Diego Union, 28 May 1925, 2. 124 “Mission Beach Special Edition,” San Diego Union, 28 May 1925, 17. Peters 53

in response to urban expansion and development, had been used to intentionally shape, not only

the physical form, but also the feeling or sense of the community of Mission Beach.

By 1926 many of those who had purchased their lots for a permanent residence had already completed construction. However, due to those that had purchased lots as investments, many lots remained empty. This random staggering of home construction gave Mission Beach a patchwork like appearance which would last until the post World War II real estate booms.125 A brief glance at the 1930 Census records for San Diego show that the families which had established homes in Mission Beach had come from all over the United States. The 1930

Mission Beach population had reached an estimated 2000 residents.126 In addition, the

population was made up of diverse occupations and incomes. Physicians, salesmen,

dressmakers, plumbers, firemen, tailors, and teachers are among just a few of the professions

listed in the census. This diversity, however, did not carry over into the racial makeup of the

population, which was nearly entirely white, with only a handful of minority residents.

Mission Beach would continue to grow and prosper after World War II and through the

1950's. Despite the passing of John D. Spreckels in June of 1926, the strategy he had adopted

would continue to guide the development of Mission Beach. In the late 1940's and into the

1950's the landscape of Mission Beach would begin to change as Mission Bay dredging and

expansion enabled the city to add more land and recreational space and build Fiesta Island at the

same time, further cementing the image of Mission Beach as the premiere Californian residential

playground.

125 Bryant Evans, “Realty Values Top Records in Sea-Bay Region,” San Diego Union, 11 April 1948. 126 Based on a hand count of the U.S. Census of Population, 1930 California Vol. 181 San Diego County, 37-225 available online at The Internet Archive, http://archive.org/stream/californiacensus00reel190#page/n0/mode/2up (25 April 2013). Peters 54

By the 1970s, however, the Amusement Center, which had been renamed Belmont Park

in 1954, had fallen on hard times. It was closed in 1976, and by the early 1980s after having

survived several fires, termites, vandalism and becoming a home for local transients. The Giant

Dipper coaster had become an eye sore in the heart of Mission Beach and demolition seemed

imminent. In its moment of greatest peril, however, is proof of the success of Spreckels’ efforts

to meld the fantasy of amusement to the residential community within Mission Beach as a group

of concerned citizens rose up to fight against the destruction of the Giant Dipper. This grassroots

movement of San Diego citizens formed the Save the Coaster Committee with the goal of

restoring and preserving the giant wooden landmark.127

In 1987 the Coaster Committee successfully had the Giant Dipper designated as a

National Historic Landmark, saving it from demolition and beginning the restoration process.

The efforts of the Save the Coaster Committee to rescue the coaster show the importance that the

coaster had within the hearts and minds of the community. Their strongest argument for saving

the coaster was that without the coaster, Mission Beach would simply not be Mission Beach.

The “kinetic sculpture” and its “nostalgic ticking” had become a part of the landscape that is

Mission Beach.128 On August 11, 1990 the newly restored, historic roller coaster was reopened

to the public. Local residents who had ridden the coaster years earlier brought their spouses,

children and grandchildren to see and experience the ride that they had ridden when they were

growing up.

The success of the Save the Coaster Committee in rallying the support of Mission Beach

and San Diego residents to save the coaster demonstrates the importance of the amusement park

127 Scott Rutherford, The American Roller Coaster (Osceola, WI: MBI Publishing Co., 2000), 132. 128 Loch David Crane, Loch David Crane says SAVE THE COASTER!!!, San Diego City Council, 1986, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBwc4SenpM Peters 55

to the community. John D. Spreckels’ development of Mission Beach had been guided by the

progressive ideals that had been championed by the “Geraniums” debate, which sought to take

urban planning beyond simple utilitarian needs by paying attention to the importance of the

aesthetic qualities and needs of the community being created. By including an amusement park

within the plans for the development of Mission Beach, Spreckels had been able to incorporate a

tangible element of fantasy into the fabric of the community. The amusement park became a

physical manifestation of the California Dream; imparting upon the community the visible

evidence that life in Mission Beach would be more fulfilling through the combination of

technology, fantasy and domesticity. Amusement had become an integral part of the identity of

the Mission Beach.

Mission Beach has grown into a vibrant community and is widely considered "the best

beach in San Diego." By 2010 it had been filled with about 4,700 residents who live surrounded

by beautiful Mission Bay and over 4,600 acres of parks and wetlands.129 Mission Beach is a

very popular destination for tourists and locals alike, who enjoy skating, walking, rollerblading,

biking, jogging, surfing, boogie boarding and much more. Mission Beach began with one man’s

vision to give San Diego a premiere resort community. The work and vision of a large collection

of people has helped to shape and form Mission Beach. It took nearly 100 years of building

bridges, roads, parks, rail-lines, homes, attractions, boardwalks and a roller coaster to transform

this one little set of seemingly "worthless dunes" into the world class community it is today.

129 “Demographic & Socio Economic Estimates Mission Beach,” SANDAG, 1 April 2010. Peters 56

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