Summer celebration of 1924

JERRY PERSON

Over the years, our service organization and clubs members have

volunteered their time in helping out in many of our city’s events

and celebrations. From helping out during our many parades to helping

build the Scout cabin in Lake Park, our service clubs have played an

active roll in our community. When it came to planning civic events,

our Chamber of Commerce had no equal. And when it came to

coordinating these events the Lions Club excelled.

So in 1924 it was only natural for the city to turn to these

wonderful organizations for help in planning a huge summer

celebration to mark the opening of Coast Boulevard and Fifth Street.

The celebration would be run throughout the summer months and

would include music from our municipal band, vaudeville acts and a

wing walker. Two big weekend celebrations were planned.

This week we will look at two of these summer events and what took

place.

A committee was formed for the first event that included Charles

Patton, president of the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce; R.J.

Prescott, grammar school trustee and Charles Boster, a city trustee.

These men were given the responsibility of planning the first of

many summer events to be held on Aug. 2 and 3, 1924.

Mayor Bill Ridenour selected 200 men from the Chamber of Commerce,

American Legion, Lions Club and the Realty Board to help the

committee with the event. This committee searched for something

special and found it in Auggy Pedlar, a famous wing walker of the

time, to give an exhibition of his skills.

Three years prior, Seal Beach had engaged Pedlar and although the

event was a huge success, the cost of $2,500 was a little too costly

for our city to the north. But as we know, nothing is too much when

it comes to showcasing our town to the outside world, even today.

Wing walkers were a popular form of entertainment after World War

I. They used those old slow flying biplanes used in the war and not a

fast jet of today.

J.L. Kelso and his brother S.R. Kelso would pilot the plane Pedlar

would be using in his act. There would be two shows each day, one in

the afternoon and a nighttime exhibition that also included a

fireworks show.

Huntington Beach Trustee W. R. Wharton was placed in charge of

supplying our beach visitors with free coffee. Wharton contacted

several big coffee importers in Los Angeles and as a result he

received donations of several hundred pounds of coffee for the event.

Pedlar was not the only act on the program. An exhibition of high

diving skills would be given at the pier by our very first lifeguard,

Harry Lee.

The day’s program included Pedlar’s hair-raising show, free

fishing off of our pier, surf swimming in our surf, more free coffee

and our visitors could enjoy an old time picnic on the beach before

the second part of the program began.

The Huntington Beach Municipal Band donated its services with a

fine concert which begun with the Distant Greeting March and

concluded with Lassus Trombone and the Stars and Stripes Forever.

The Brown Sisters showed off their talent on their accordions. The

Plantation Quartet, a four-man singing group proved popular with the

audience.

This was then followed by Pedlar’s night performance, which

included a great fireworks show.

James Morris, William Childs and Ted Tarbox were appointed by

Mayor Ridenour to oversee the celebration’s second weekend on Aug. 9

and 10.

This new committee engaged Pedlar for another weekend of wing

walking. Pedlar and the Kelso Brothers gave an even better

performance then they did the preceding weekend.

The evening’s vaudeville program included impersonations of

Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and other famous people.

A Scottish bagpiper was engaged to play several old-time Scottish

airs.

Nell Mitchell played her violin next for the audience, and when

she finished her performance, a two-man tumbling act delighted the

people with their gymnastic skills.

Two orchestras were engaged to play between the vaudeville acts.

Our municipal band was on hand with a different program of musical

delights and this concert ended with the Stars Spangled Banner.

All during those many weeks our service club volunteers gave of

themselves to their city and to its visitors on that summer of 1924.

* 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.