A Look Back -- Jerry Person

Jerry Person

I have often spoken of the Pav-a-lon at the entrance to the Huntington

Beach Pier, but how many of you can remember when it was called by its

original name?

Just prior to its grand opening in 1938, this magnificent beachfront

structure was being referred to by several different names -- Casino

Huntington, Pavilion Huntington or as most residents simply referred to

it as the “pavilion.”

This beachfront city showpiece was described by then Councilman Lee

Chamness as “. . . one of the most important links in the development of

this city as a popular and permanent resort center.”

Does that description sound familiar today?

Built as a Public Works Administration project during the President

Franklin Roosevelt administration, this project would help by giving work

to people during the great depression years. The $70,000 beach edifice

was only a part of the city’s grand design for its beachfront area. The

pavilion and city auditorium would showcase many of the area’s popular

bands over its lifetime as well as many national big bands of that era.

The building’s general contractors, Brunzell & Jacobson, oversaw much

of the early construction and was responsible for seeing that the work

was on schedule.

The superintendent, Louis P. Ronneberg, worked closely with the

project’s engineer Ervin Smith to hire the many subcontractors. These

subs included plumbing by Hickman Brothers of Long Beach, heating by the

J. Herman Company of Los Angeles and cement work by the Graham Brothers

of Los Angeles.

The steel framework came from Trojan Steel of Los Angeles and the

sheet metal work was dome by the MacCloskey Sheet Metal Works of Long

Beach.

The electrical work was done by Shamel Electric of Los Angeles and the

lumber was supplied not by our local lumber company, but from the L.D.

Reeder Company of Los Angeles.

The wood floors that would hold many of our young jitterbug dancers

came from the Long Beach Flooring Co. and the iron work came not from

Huntington Beach, but from the South Gate Iron Works of Huntington Park.

Even the painting of the new pavilion came from outside Huntington

Beach by the George K. Morgan Co. in Los Angeles.

Lathing and Plastering were done by Joseph Young of So. Figueroa in

Los Angeles and all of the beautiful finished hardware came from the

Builders Hardware and Supply Co. of Los Angeles.

It would have been nice if these subcontractors had come fromthe

Huntington Beach area.

From the start there were problems and changes were made to the

original plans.

The city’s building committee wanted the upper floor raised by six

inches and the location moved 24 feet south of the pier, and to add a

retaining wall for an addition expense of $5,400.

A state-of-the-art sound system would be installed inside the new

pavilion.

Even the businesses around were doing their part to add to

thebeautification of our beachfront.

Harry Bakre added a $5,000 French Provincial style cocktail lounge to

his Golden Bear Cafe as well as hiring Joe Noble, an ex-soldier of

fortune to manage his cafe.

Two more cafes located across from the pavilion were added to

complement the new structure.

These were the Silver Moon cafe and the Kohler-Shehan cafe in the 400

block of Pacific Coast Highway.

Even something as simple as the Standard Oil Company’s service station

at the entrance to the pier was given a sprucing up. The concession

stands next to the pavilion did their part too. Helen Darst renamed her

stand the Swing Inn from the Stop Inn. She was aided by her three

daughters -- Marge, Bonnie and Jacqueline in running the hot dog and

hamburger concession stand on the strand.

A bungalow court (small single apartments) were being built on 5th

Street by Bertha Harris in anticipation of new tourists that the pavilion

would bring to our city.

This new dance pavilion would really put Huntington Beach on the

resort maps and so the whole town was looking forward to the big three

day event.

The grand opening of the pavilion was set for May 28, 1938 and next

week we’ll look back at that big event.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.