The man behind Dwight’s Drive In
JERRY PERSON
In the early years of the Huntington Beach Historical Society, one of
the society’s traditions was the Old Acquaintance Tea, serving coffee
and tea from a beautiful silver tea set.
This silver set would be picked up by a member of the society from
the home of Dwight and Fae Clapp at 944 11th Street. Most locals are
familiar with Dwight’s beach concession on our beach, run for many
years by both of them.
It was on a hot summer day in Los Angeles that Dwight Kenneth
Clapp was born on Aug. 4, 1902. President Theodore Roosevelt was in
office and the American people were facing the new century with
renewed pride in their country.
In 1903, his family moved to Long Beach, and this move may have
been responsible for Dwight’s love of the beach. It was during his
years in Long Beach that Dwight received his early education at
Carrol Park grammar school at 4th Street and Cherry Avenue.
By the time Dwight reached sixth grade, his family moved to a
200-acre farm in Manteca, which is near Stockton, in 1914.
This must have been a big change for a 12-year-old Southern
California boy. On this farm, the Clapps grew corn, sugar beets,
tomatoes and if that wasn’t enough, the farm was home to several
registered Holstein cows that supplied additional income from its
dairy products.
By 1920, his father was tired of farming and decided to come
south. He thought Santa Maria would be the ideal place to take his
family.
In June 1921, Dwight’s father arrived in paradise, Huntington
Beach, just as the beach town was booming from the discovery of black
gold. He entered into the real estate business here and sent for
Dwight and the family in September of 1921.
When Dwight arrived in Huntington Beach, he enrolled as a junior
at Huntington Beach High School, at a time when McClelland Gibby
Jones was principal and Ray “Feet” Walker was track coach. Dwight
played on the school’s basketball team.
But before graduation, Dwight quit school and landed his first job
at a local lumberyard with Jack Whitney.
Shortly afterward, Dwight left the lumberyard and went to work for
one of Standard Oil’s service stations, at Main Street and Acacia
Avenue. He would remain there for a year and a half before leaving to
work for the National Supply Company under its manager, Jack Fallon.
Dwight tried to run an independent gas station in Long Beach, but
this venture didn’t prove profitable.
His next employment was as a production manager under the
legendary Oscar Stricklin of the Standard Oil Company, and he would
remain with that organization from 1924 to 1929. The year of 1925 was
a special year for Dwight, as that was the year he met one of our
local girls, Fae Harris. The two were married in our Methodist church
later that year.
For the next six years, he freelanced in our oil fields and worked
full time for our fire department. It was in 1931 that Dwight acquired a small beach concession near our pier, and that same year,
their first child, Jack, was born.
The stand was only 6 feet by 9 feet, and he had to share the
second story with the lifeguards. He had a small tin box, where he
kept his ice and about two pounds of hamburger. In his first season,
he grossed $629.
For several years, Dwight worked as a volunteer firefighter and
was kept very busy when the big earthquake hit Huntington Beach in
1933, also the year his second child, Janet, was born.
Making most of his concession income during the summer months, his
little stand’s profits increased each year selling hot dogs,
hamburgers, coffee and sodas.
In 1939, Dwight built a newer concession stand with all the modern
conveniences of the time. He built another business in 1948 known as
Dwight’s Drive In at 21652 Pacific Coast Highway at Beach Boulevard,
and soon this became the “in” place for college kids.
Dwight joined the Huntington Beach Rotary Club and our Windsor
Club and he served as a director for the Huntington Beach Chamber of
Commerce and the Boy Scouts.
Dwight and Fae were lifelong, active members of our Methodist
church. They’re no longer with us, but the concession stand that
bears his name still lives on the beach as a legacy to the man who
enriched the history of our city.
* 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.
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