| Our diversity is our strength
The Palms–Village Sun
News, opinion and features about Historic Palms,
including Westside Village
www.PalmsVillageSun.info
This site is not affiliated with any group. Opinions are those of the writers.
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Remember the flood of 1941?
This photo from the Los Angeles Public Library shows the northeast corner of Venice Boulevard and Motor Avenue after a storm. That's the U.S. Post Office on the corner, next to E.K. Morrow's Sweet Shop, where you could get a malted milk for a dime, if you had a dime left after paying your light bill in the DWP office next door. No, there was no traffic light at the corner in those days.
That bldg. was also at one time a branch of Security-First National Bank. Today it is a surplus store.
The Palms post office was at one time across Motor, at 10425 Venice Blvd. There's a moving-supplies store called A Better Way to Move at that spot today.
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Palms, California, U.S.A., is the oldest community on Los Angeles’s West Side — and vies with East L.A. for the title of the oldest suburb in the entire city. The first streets were laid out in 1886.
 This sketch shows the restored Palms Railroad Station, built in 1887 and now serving as the visitors' center of Heritage Square in the Arroyo Seco.
Our community was known as The Palms when it was founded.
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“As Los Angeles bulged at its Pueblo’s seams, it was only natural that developers would fan out to acquire less expensive property. Three such developers, Joseph Curtis, E.H. Sweetser and C.J. Harrison, had agreed that La Ballona Valley would be their bonanza. They purchased 500 acres and laid out a triangular tract bounded by Washington Boulevard [on the southeast], Overland Avenue [on the southwest]” and Manning Avenue [on the north]
Lucinda W. Pennington and William K. Baxter, A Past to Remember. |
The Palms
That was the original name of the little settlement. For an interesting story about bygone days of Palms, go to the memoirs of David I. Worsfold, My Fifty Years in Palms.
Our Southern Boundary
Did you know that the southern boundary of Palms dips down below Venice Boulevard into Culver City postal zone 90232?
That goofy boundary line was caused by the way property changed hands during the days of the ranchos.
An Excellent Source on the Area's History
This site, written by Julie Lugo Serra.
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 Where People Waited for the Trains
"The Palms Depot originally stood along the Southern Pacific Railroad at a site known as the "Grasshopper Stop" in what would soon become the city of Palms. Believed to have been built in 1887, it became part of the Pacific Electric Railway in 1911 and continued to provide service until 1953.
"The Palms Depot was declared an historical monument in 1963; nevertheless, it fell into disrepair and was finally condemned. In 1975, S.O.S. (Save Our Station), a grass roots organization, succeeded in moving the depot to the museum, thus saving it from demolition.
"The exterior and interior have been restored to their original Eastlake style."
From the David I Worsfold history page.
Today the depot serves as the Museum's Visitor Center. Tours begin on the station platform. |
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| WHY IS MEDIA PARK CALLED MEDIA PARK?
Because it is halfway between Los Angeles and the beach. A Palms druggist named the park in a contest and, it is said, was given a trip around the world as his prize.
To see the relation between Los Angeles, the beach and The Palms in the early days,
go to this 1907 map.
For more on Media Park and the Ivy Substation, click here. You will find out why this little hunk of Palms is maintained by Culver City.
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PALMS JOINED L.A. IN 1915 — BUT THE BIG STORY WAS IN THE VALLEY
Palms voted to annex itself to Los Angeles on a rainy May 4, 1915, by a vote of 38,829 to 20,845, but on the same day, most of the San Fernando Valley also voted to join L.A. And that was the BIG story: The Valley brought in 169.89 square miles to the city in contrast to 7.3 square miles of Palms and the surrounding area. The vote in the sparsely populated Valley was very small — 628 in favor of L.A. and 25 opposed. In contrast, almost 60,000 people voted in the Palms election.
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And this link takes you to the story of the Helms Bakery, by Julie Lugo Serra.
Well, it's not exactly in Palms, but it's pretty close. |
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1951 map of Westside Village and western Palms, when Palms Blvd. was Ocean Park Avenue, and neither it nor Rose Avenue had been cut through between Sepulveda and Overland.
There was no San Diego 405 Freeway, either.
The Red Car still ran on Venice Blvd.
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| But going much, much farther back . . . |
In 1781, Mexican settlers under the direction of Spanish Governor Felipe de Neve founded what later became the city of Los Angeles.
Land to the west of the pueblo comprised four large ranchos. The largest of these was Rancho San Vicente and Santa Monica, encompassing most of the Santa Monica Mountains, Brentwood, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica.
Rancho Boca de Santa Monica included the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica Canyon.
The present-day Palms area was situated within Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes, while Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres encompassed present-day Westwood, land near Bel Air and Beverly Hills, and land to the north of today’s Pico Boulevard.
During the 1800s, many of these rancho lands were sold to several individuals and families. |
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FIVE WATER PUMPS SERVED OUR AREA IN 1925
by Sandy Burton
(From Culver City Highlights, a publication of the Culver City Historical Society, spring 2005)
Looking through the dusty pages of the Culver City News dated Nov. 24, 1925, I was attracted to an article entitled "The People's Water Co." . . .
Located at 3392 Motor Ave, [northeast corner of Woodbine and Motor], the People's Water Co, existed when Culver City wasn't much more than a small, little-known barley field. Anticipating the increasing demand for water, the company drilled for additional wells and installed pipelines before additional capacity was necessary. . . .
According to R.M. Moore, the manager, . . . the People's Water Co served over 5,000 residents within the area roughly bounded by the California Country Club on Cheviot Drive to the north, to Baldwin Hills on the south, and from Sawtelle Blvd. on the west over to the eastern city limits near La Brea Blvd. [This area at the time was within unincorporated county area, west of Los Angeles proper.]
Back then, the five pumps, each 300 feet deep, had the capacity to pump twice the required amount for its customers, amounting to about 3,000 gallons a minute. The power to pump the water was purchased from the city of Los Angeles and the Edison Co. Three wells were located north of Palms at the top of the hill. The other two wells were located on Centney Street off Washington Blvd.
The water company employed 25 people and sometimes as many as 75 when pipelines were being laid. . . .
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Landmarks of Palms and Westside Village
Take this guided tour of the landmarks of our area.
These two landmarks are in Culver City, just across Washington Blvd. from Palms:
These landmarks, all on the same site on National at the north end of Vinton, were destroyed in early 2004:
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