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In the 1920s and ’30s, Palms was shedding its agricultural roots.
A Palmsian — Clarence E. Coe, 3743 Mentone — was City Councilman from 1931 to 1933 (his father, Nathan, had given him five acres on Ballona Creek in 1895). Film crews used Palms streets and sites as outdoor sets — the Air Line depot hosted Laurel and Hardy in a talky, Berth Marks, in 1929. The City Council banned bee-keeping in Palms in 1931 because “it is now a residential area.”
But Palms still had plenty of open space and vacant lots. Community life centered about Motor Avenue and National in the north and Venice Boulevard in the south. Boys could ride their bikes screaming down Overland Hill (Lowe’s Hill) without fear of traffic.
In 1930, there were 185 meetings for children, free, at the Community Hall, 3458 Motor Avenue, and 10 adult meetings, $1 each. The hall was used for Bay Clinics, Boy and Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Boys Aviation Club, PTA round-up, Little Theater Dramatic Club, and “anti-diphtheria serum” clinics. It had benches, stoves, tables, books of reference, and “the use of a microscope for study of specimens.”
- April 1923, court fight over a will by deceased Palms founder Joseph Curtis.
- September 1924, barbecue to support baseball park at Venice–Overland — including contest to catch greased pig.
- February 1927, Chamber announces plan to make Palms a “city of trees.”
- January–February 1931, gas explosions injure barber, kill woman. Kids write essays on “Why We Should Trade in Palms.”
- September 1931, Venice Boulevard roped off between Jasmine and Clarington for lively fiesta honoring L.A.’s 150th anniversary.
- June 1938, dedication ceremony at Media Park opening Venice Boulevard as “ultra-modern automobile artery” and “shortest route to the beach” Autos draped in flags and streamers.
- March 1941, five bids, ranging from $18,848 to $21,340, submitted for new fire station at Vinton and Exposition.
- December 1941, Sunday morning quiet broken by radio news of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
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