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and orchestra balcony. All food and pastry items were prepared on the
premises, including ice cream.
Luxurious details like hand-hewn beams, California red gum
woodwork, massive corbels, tile floors, brass and copper fixtures, and
wrought-iron lamps blended beautifully with the Spanish architecture.
Paintings by local artists adorned the walls, which were decorated with
the colors of Spain and of the United States.
At the official opening of the Pavilion on May 18, though bathing
suits and lockers were available, food service was not yet possible.
Visitors could, however, purchase cigars, cigarettes, candy, chewing
gum, chocolate, pop, and “things of that character.” All the things that
the public health officer had banned from West Cabrillo Boulevard!
Four months later, Mrs. Frederick Forrest Peabody (Kathleen
Burke) and her 350 Wolf Cubs “in jockey caps and bright kerchiefs”
descended on the new bathhouse to dedicate the new wading pool
and stoa constructed just east of the Pavilion. These adjuncts to the
Pavilion were donated by the late Frederick Forrest Peabody.
The PTA annual summer playground was installed on the beach
at the foot of Milpas Street. Besides swings and slides, there was also a
raft, a medicine ball, volleyball, and supervised games along with burro
rides from 1-5 pm each day. Summer Sundays saw 600 youngsters
frolicking at the beach. The following year, it was replaced by a
playground near the wading pool and Pavilion.
When fall arrived and the Pavilion closed for the season, the
improvement of East Cabrillo Boulevard seemed well underway.
THE AMUSEMENT PARK
T
hen, in October 1927, the Santa Barbara Lumber Company,
which owned the beach lands immediately east of the wharf,
threw a spanner into the works by revealing plans to build an
amusement park next to the pier.
Designed in the popular Spanish style by the local architectural
firm of Edwards, Plunkett, and Howell, the park was to be of the
highest caliber so it would attract the best class of people. “None of the
cheap tawdry things seen in the average beach will be incorporated in
our plan,” owner Clyde Boyd promised.
Although Boyd made a plausible case for his plan, it never came to
fruition. Instead, old-timers wrote to warn the public that the lumber
company was built on tidal lands that had been reclaimed from the
ocean with pilings.
In 1928, however, city council passed an ordinance allowing the
lumber company to reclassify its property to Class D, which would
allow business development. Women’s Club president Mrs. Max Schott
(top) By 1928, a playground had been installed next to the
wading pool
(bottom) Santa Barbara Lumber Yard circa 1920
(Courtesy SBHM; John Woodward; SBHM)
MOGULS
&
MANSIONS