NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. 1. Name of Property Historic name: __Bay Street Beach Historic District ______________________________ Other names/site number: __The Inkwell; The Ink Well ___________________________ Name of related multiple property listing: __N/A_________________________________________________________ (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Location Street & number: __ See verbal boundary description ______________________________ City or town: _Santa Monica__ State: _California__ County: _Los Angeles_ Not For Publication: Vicinity: ____________________________________________________________________________ 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: ___national ___statewide ___local Applicable National Register Criteria: ___A ___B ___C ___D Signature of certifying official/Title: Date ______________________________________________ State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official: Date Title : State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Bay Street Beach Historic District Los Angeles, California Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action ____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) Private: Public – Local X Public – State X Public – Federal Category of Property (Check only one box.) Building(s) District X Site Structure Object Sections 1-6 page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Bay Street Beach Historic District Los Angeles, California Name of Property County and State Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count) Contributing Noncontributing _____________ ______1______ buildings ______3______ ______1______ sites ______1______ ______8______ structures _____________ ______1______ objects ______4______ _____11________ Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ____0____ ____________________________________________________________________________ 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) RECREATION AND CULTURE: outdoor recreation ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) RECREATION AND CULTURE: outdoor recreation ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Sections 1-6 page 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Bay Street Beach Historic District Los Angeles, California Name of Property County and State _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions.) LATE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY REVIVALS: __Classical Revival___ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ Materials: (enter categories from instructions.) Principal exterior materials of the property: __N/A______________________ Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance and condition of the property. Describe contributing and noncontributing resources if applicable. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, type, style, method of construction, setting, size, and significant features. Indicate whether the property has historic integrity.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Summary Paragraph The Bay Street Beach Historic District comprises approximately 53 seaside and nearshore acres in the City of Santa Monica within Los Angeles County, on public trust lands owned by the City of Santa Monica and the State of California. Included in the district are four contributing resources, three sites—a grass bi-level open space, a beach area, and a nearshore area (i.e., below mean high tide)—and a Neo-Classical Revival style pergola (structure). Eleven noncontributing resources comprise a suite of visitor amenities and municipal facilities, including one building, one site, eight structures, and one object. While Los Angeles beaches were not legally segregated, the recreation and leisure site for African American Angelenos during the Jim Crow era was proximate to an important African American civic institution and historical local neighborhood. The beach was a primary seaside public resource where its visitors felt comparatively safe from harassment. The district is directly accessible from the Santa Monica Pier to the north or Venice Beach areas to the south, or through a number of public parking options. Set along a portion of Los Angeles’ urbanized coast and within one of the county’s oldest cities, the area is heavily developed compared to the northernmost (Malibu) and southernmost (Palos Verdes) portions of coastal Santa Monica Bay. The property’s contributing structure retains all aspects of integrity; the contributing sites retain integrity of location, setting, feeling, design, materials, and association. As the sites are coastal geologic resources, workmanship is not applicable. Section 7 page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Bay Street Beach Historic District Los Angeles, California Name of Property County and State ______________________________________________________________________________ Narrative Description LOCATION AND SETTING The City of Santa Monica is a coastal municipality within Los Angeles County, California, comprising 8.3 square miles along 3.5 miles of coastline.1 Incorporated in 1886, Santa Monica is one of the county’s oldest cities.2 Santa Monica sits near the middle of the hemispherical-shaped Santa Monica Bay and its coastal areas face west or west-southwest (Figure 2). Within city limits, the Bay Street Beach Historic District extends 0.2 miles along the coast and incorporates landside and nearshore public trust lands owned by either the City of Santa Monica3 or the State of California. State beach areas are managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR);4 submerged, state nearshore areas are managed by the California State Lands Commission5 (Figures 1, 9, 11). Immediately northeast of the district is the Phillips Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church—originally a schoolhouse purchased by church congregants and moved to its location in 1908. Phillips Chapel CME Church is Santa Monica’s oldest African American church.6 Wave Formation and Surfing: The Bay Street area receives surfable waves from a variety of directions: from fall and winter storms originating in the northern Pacific Ocean, and spring through fall from storms formed either in the southern Pacific basin or from equatorial hurricane (cyclonic) activity. Bay Street, as with other west-oriented beaches, is among the most consistently surfable areas in the region. Surfing is an interaction with a specific, and complex, biophysical environment. Like many forms of outdoor recreation, surfing is site-specific. Different surfing styles or performance standards are associated with specific surf breaks. Surfing is also site-dependent, requiring an explicit, and often contested, set of coastal resources. Site-specific and site-dependent surfing resources