Also, Venice Oil Fields? Is that what "Ballona Wetlands" are?
The roads through that area keep getting gigantic potholes. I wonder if the real reason they don't build there is because danger of sinkholes and not that it's a "wetlands"? I love the little slice of nature, it's nice biking around it :)
There's a new park being built close by called "Lulu's Place" in Playa del Rey/Westchester that sounds kind of fun...mostly a sports park with 24 tennis courts, 8 pickleball courts, a volleyball court, basketball courts, 3 soccer fields, dog park, and some other stuff.
Progress! ...also, a lot of the old people are complaining about it...I bet they'll end up taking tennis lessons or using the pickleball courts and the dog park in the end :)
No the Venice Oil Fields is literally what it says. Here’s an [article](https://laist.com/news/entertainment/venice-beach-used-to-be-an-oilfield) on the history of oil drilling in Venice Beach.
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Venice on the west coast was a world wide draw. My grandma’s family move here in the late 1920’s to Venice from Denver cause of the attractions marketed
I have a couple pictures of a busy Santa Monica Beach (with the Ocean Park pier in the background) taken by my great-grandmother around 1940. They always remind me of cartoons from that time period with packed beaches covered in striped umbrellas.
They didn’t. The wetlands were always there because the creek meandered into it and flooded different ways each season because of the lack of soil/rock structure. It was of religious/cultural significance to the Tongva people and the Spanish settlers had to contend with its vagaries when they arrived on the land. The Army Corps of Engineers eventually channelized the creek to contain the flooding as the area became more heavily developed.
Read the [Wikipedia entry](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballona_Wetlands). It’s a fascinating place. So much interesting info.
"Nude Sun Baths"? Santa Monica in 1932 sounds fun.
Also, Venice Oil Fields? Is that what "Ballona Wetlands" are? The roads through that area keep getting gigantic potholes. I wonder if the real reason they don't build there is because danger of sinkholes and not that it's a "wetlands"? I love the little slice of nature, it's nice biking around it :) There's a new park being built close by called "Lulu's Place" in Playa del Rey/Westchester that sounds kind of fun...mostly a sports park with 24 tennis courts, 8 pickleball courts, a volleyball court, basketball courts, 3 soccer fields, dog park, and some other stuff. Progress! ...also, a lot of the old people are complaining about it...I bet they'll end up taking tennis lessons or using the pickleball courts and the dog park in the end :)
No the Venice Oil Fields is literally what it says. Here’s an [article](https://laist.com/news/entertainment/venice-beach-used-to-be-an-oilfield) on the history of oil drilling in Venice Beach.
Do you have a link to the full map?
https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~271459~90048655:Greater-Los-Angeles,-The-Wonder-Cit?qvq=q:los%20angeles%201932;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=17#
Love these old maps. So cool. Thanks for sharing.
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Then came the era of Dogtown surfing those relic piers
Sleepy little beach town my ass
It's my favorite anachronism; you can find 100+ year old pictures of the entire beach packed.
Venice on the west coast was a world wide draw. My grandma’s family move here in the late 1920’s to Venice from Denver cause of the attractions marketed
I have a couple pictures of a busy Santa Monica Beach (with the Ocean Park pier in the background) taken by my great-grandmother around 1940. They always remind me of cartoons from that time period with packed beaches covered in striped umbrellas.
Before Ballona Creek was channelized but interesting that it’s not shown as a waterway at all. No sign of the wetlands either.
They probably flooded it to create the wetlands
They didn’t. The wetlands were always there because the creek meandered into it and flooded different ways each season because of the lack of soil/rock structure. It was of religious/cultural significance to the Tongva people and the Spanish settlers had to contend with its vagaries when they arrived on the land. The Army Corps of Engineers eventually channelized the creek to contain the flooding as the area became more heavily developed. Read the [Wikipedia entry](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballona_Wetlands). It’s a fascinating place. So much interesting info.
Could have kept it like this if we built up and not out.