Dome Pier
 | |
| Locale | Navy Street, Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California |
|---|---|
| Owner | Charles J. Lick |
| Operator | Austin McFadden (Bon-Ton Ballroom) |
| Characteristics | |
| History | |
| Opening date | June 3, 1922 |
| Destruction date | January 6, 1924 |
| Coordinates | 33°59′49″N 118°28′58″W / 33.997°N 118.4827°W |
The Dome Pier on the Pacific Ocean at Ocean Park, Los Angeles County, California, United States, stood from 1922 until it was destroyed in the 1924 Ocean Park pier fire. Built by businessman Charles J. Lick, the amusement pier was also known as Lick's Dome Pier and was home to the Dome Theater and Bon-Ton Ballroom. The pier stood on what was then the borderline between Venice and Santa Monica, with the pier being mostly in Venice "except for six feet of dressing room space" in the Dome Theater, which stood in Santa Monica.
History
The Dome Pier proper opened on Saturday, June 3, 1922.[1] The week of the pier's opening, it also was announced that the Dome Pier, Fraser's Ocean Park Pier, and Pickering's Pleasure Pier had been connected together into an amusement park that developers claimed was the biggest entertainment pier in the world.[2] The Dome Pier proper measured 1,500 feet (460 m) by 263 feet (80 m).[3] Featured attractions included the Zip roller coaster and the Dome Theater, which was opened with a sneak preview of the film Trouble presented by child star Jackie Coogan.[4][1] The Dome theater showed both films and vaudeville, running five shows a day on weekends.[5] The musical accompaniment was provided by Lew Lewis' Famous Orchestra.[5] The lobby was red and gold, with arched entryways, the lounge was blue and gold, the leather seats were "overstuffed," and there were no stairs to the balcony but rather a "slight incline".[6]
The Bon-Ton Ballroom, which opened first, was a social dance hall and the work of an East Coast businessman named Austin McFadden.[7] The ballroom included a dance school taught by Jack Connors and Bonnie Dunn; their specialties included the "caterpillar walk and Parisian foxtrot".[8]
A police raid in August 1923 revealed a secret illegal casino below the pier.[9] According to one account, the gambling den was equipped like "a junior Monte Carlo concession. There was a door man who determined the authenticity of the various shibboleths, with a complete ceremony, it is asserted. Just how Contreras and his men were able to break through this barrier is not rtated, but it is known that it was after great difficulty and many weeks of careful manipulation".[9] After the club had been raided four times, C. J. Lick announced that tenants of the "submarine garden" below the pier had always assured him that their operation was a legitimate pool hall,[10] but given the circumstances he would not be renewing their lease.[11]
The Dome Pier and her neighbors were destroyed in a fire that broke out on January 6, 1924.[12] As the Los Angeles Times described it, "A vivid picture was effected in the destruction of the Dome Theater. The great dome flamed like an inverted cauldron as the tongues of fire ate through the rooting, and after the flammable material was destroyed, the huge, cement hemisphere puffed smoke into the air through a vent."[12] Insurance premiums on highly flammable wooden entertainment piers were usually unaffordably high, so Lick had just $10,000 of insurance coverage on the pier, and McFadden had no insurance at all.[12] Reconstruction began quickly, and the new Dome Pier, usually called the Lick Pier, opened in spring 1925.[13]
Additional images
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"Flapper Day" at Bon-Ton Ballroom (Evening Vanguard, August 19, 1922) -
"Harry Baisden's Bonton Orchestra of Ocean Park" Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1923 -
"Famous Dome of Ocean Park Theatre Still Stands Monument to Builders" Evening Vanguard, January 8, 1924 -
Dome Theater during 1924 Ocean Park pier fire
_during_1924_Ocean_Park_pier_fire.jpg)
See also
References
- ^ a b "Novel Dome Pier Is Open at Ocean Park". Los Angeles Evening Express. June 3, 1922. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Big Piers Are Made Into One". Evening Vanguard. June 10, 1922. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ Engineering News-record. McGraw-Hill. 1924. p. 168.
- ^ "New Dome Will Open Saturday Evening". Evening Vanguard. April 13, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b "Dome Theater". Evening Vanguard. June 24, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "New Dome Will Open Saturday Evening". Evening Vanguard. April 13, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Formal Opening of Bon Ton Tonight". Evening Vanguard. June 2, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Bon Ton School of Dancing". Evening Vanguard. June 24, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b "Arrest 28 Alleged Gamblers". Evening Vanguard. August 20, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Venice Club Lease Renewal Refused". The Los Angeles Times. September 22, 1923. p. 14. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Amusement Man to Close Pier Den". Evening Vanguard. September 20, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
- ^ a b c "Ocean Park Resort Burns". The Los Angeles Times. January 7, 1924. p. 7. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Ocean Park Arises from Heap of Ashes". Evening Vanguard. April 30, 1925. p. 40. Retrieved 2024-05-26.