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.