Keith  Kyle - South Bay Brokers
2501 N. Sepulveda Blvd. 
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 
310-251-2344
Keith.Kyle@SouthBayBrokers.com

About Playa Del Rey

Tucked in between Marina Del Rey to the north, the Ballona Wetlands to the 
east and LAX to the South, Playa del Rey offers beautiful beaches overlooking 
the Pacific Ocean just a few miles just about everything. With downtown Los 
Angeles 19 miles northeast of here, the commute is far shorter than neighboring
cities such as Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach which makes the area an
ideal combination of small town, beach front and a shorter drive for downtown and 
Westside commuters.  Click here to see recent Marina Del Rey home sales.

Housing in the area consists of a number of condominium complexes, large
single family homes located on the bluffs with spectacular ocean and marina 
views, and beautiful homes located right on the sand.  The residential 
community is built along streets that dead-end into a lagoon near the ocean 
and run on top of towering bluffs that have sand beach and ocean views.  
The beach ends at a rock jetty and channel for boats entering
the Pacific Ocean from the Marina del Rey harbor. 

Playa del Rey appears to be one of those sleepy neighborhood beaches
where residents want to keep secret and prefer fewer people knowing about their  
tucked away treasure.         

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History
The Playa del Rey area, located about two miles south of Kinney's Venice of 
America resort, was once, centuries ago, the mouth of the Los Angles River. 
But after the river shifted course to begin emptying in Los Alamitos Bay in 
Long Beach, it left behind a sleepy lagoon more than two miles wide and one 
fifth of a mile wide with a trickle of fresh water flowing to sea along La Ballona 
Creek. 

Del Rey Lagoon formed the southwest corner of the 13,920 acre (15 square 
miles) Rancho La Ballona that stretched inland from the ocean into what is now
Palms and Culver City and north to Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. It was a 
land grant that was awarded by the Mexican governor in 1839 to Ygnacio and 
Augustin Machado and Felipe and Tomas Talamantes.

In 1874, when the widow of Augustin Machado brought suit to evict Tell, he packed 
up and moved to Santa Monica. However, in 1877 an Irishman named Michael 
Duffy opened "Hunter's Cottage" in Tell's old location. 

During the late 1880's land boom in Southern California, one visionary named 
Moye L. Wicks saw the potential of Playa del Rey as a harbor. In 1886 he 
organized the Ballona Harbor and Improvement Company  to dredge out "Port 
Ballona."  The company's plans included a 200 foot channel linking the ocean to 
the inner harbor which would be two miles long, 300 to 600 foot wide and twenty 
feet deep.          

After the Santa Fe Railroad broke the Union Pacific's railroad monopoly in Southern 
California by building a line north from San Diego, they were searching for a major
ocean terminal near Los Angeles for the markets of the Orient. When the railroad 
agreed to extend tracks to the port, Wicks' company began round-the-clock 
dredging operations. The first passenger train, carrying 800 prominent and well- 
fed Angelenos, arrived at "Port Ballona" on August 24, 1887. 

In June 1902, Sherman and Clark announced the formation of the Beach Land 
Company, a syndicate of fifteen investors who had teamed up with Henry P. 
Barbour. He had previously purchased 1000 acres around the lagoon and 
renamed the community Playa del Rey (The King's Beach). The company 
intended to develop the marshy land into a Venetian style resort. The landscape 
architect, Alfred Solano, intended to take advantage of a channel previously 
dredged in 1885 for a proposed harbor. His design included Venetian bridges and 
towers, a bathing pavilion along the beach, and a 250 room luxury hotel on top of 
the bluffs. Some additional dredging was required but there were no plans to build 
an extensive canal network. 

Nearly 100 lots were sold for prices ranging from 0 to 00 at a July 16th auction 
and more were sold in August and September. With the completion of the 
Sherman andClark owned Los Angeles Pacific electric trolley line, the "Short 
Line," to Los Angeles on October 19, 1902, hundreds began visiting the new
resort. A pavilion and small hotel were eventually built in Oriental craftsman rather 
than Venetian style, around the lagoon in 1904, but few investors actually built on 
their lots. While Playa del Rey was considered a modest success in attracting 
day tourists, it proved to be Abbot Kinney's inspiration and served as an example 
of a resort that wasn't largeenough in scope to attract investors or excite the public. 

The company built an impressive three-story, pavilion with restaurant and dining 
rooms, bowling alleys and dance floor. Sherman and Clark's Los Angeles Pacific 
Railway  Company built the Hotel Del Rey with fifty guests rooms. A boat racing 
course was laid out and a grandstand and boathouse erected on shore.  A bridge 
spanned the lagoon's ocean entrance and a 1200 foot long fishing pier was built 
nearby. 

While Playa del Rey wasn't nearly as popular as nearby Venice, it partially owed 
its success to C.M. Pierce who included it on his Balloon Line Excursion Route. 
Tourists could ride big red electric streetcars from downtown Los Angeles and visit 
Hollywood, the Sawtelle Old Soldier's home, Santa Monica, Venice, Playa del Rey, 
Redondo Beach's Long Wharf, and return to Los Angeles. They would often move 
2000 peopleto Playa del Rey and back on a Saturday or Sunday excursion. 

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