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233 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 130, Santa Monica, CA 90401 INTERNET www.pcrnet.com TEL 310.451.4488 FAX 310.451.5279

Memorandum TO: Scott Albright, City of Santa Monica DATE: August 3, 2009 CC: FROM: PCR Services RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: 1681 26TH STREET

This preliminary historic assessment has been prepared by PCR at the request of City staff. PCR has conducted two site visits of the former Paper Mate Manufacturing Company facility (Paper Mate) at 1681 26th Street, the subject property, and has also reviewed relevant archival data in preparing this preliminary historic assessment. The subject property, Paper Mate, is situated on the northeast corner of 26th Street and Olympic Boulevard between 26th Street to the west, Stewart Street to the east, Pennsylvania Avenue to the north, and Olympic Boulevard to the south. The two-story tilt-up concrete slab industrial building is located in east Santa Monica’s industrial area. The property encompasses Santa Monica Lots 7, 8 and 9, Block 200, which is approximately 259 feet by 903 feet. The Paper Mate building has an elongated rectangular footprint and occupies the majority of the elongated parcel. According to building permits, the original 110,000 square-foot manufacturing facility was constructed in 1956. A separate 100,000 square-foot manufacturing plant located on a separate parcel north of the property was erected in 1968. In 1992, a large warehouse addition to the east end of the original factory portion was completed.

The subject property has not been previously identified as appearing eligible for listing or designation under any criteria in the City’s Historic Resources Inventory or in any earlier surveys. In addition, the property is not located within the boundaries of the nearby “Nebraska Avenue Industrial District” that is comprised primarily of one- and two-story industrial buildings erected between the 1930s through the 1950s.

Situated near the southwest corner of 26th Street and Olympic Boulevard, the subject property consists of a large elongated two-story building erected in 1956 with a utilitarian manufacturing portion comprising the rear section and a postwar Modern office attached on the front. Rectangular in plan, the building’s manufacturing portion was constructed with tilt-up concrete panels with a flat roof supported by steel beams and columns. In contrast, the property’s Modern office wing was constructed with a steel frame and a smooth stucco exterior surface. The second story of the office wing cantilevers over the ground floor on its north, west, and south elevations. Like the manufacturing portion, the office wing is rectangular in plan and capped by a flat roof without eaves. In 1999, the cantilever was retrofitted with four V-shaped steel braces attached to the underside of the cantilever to support the second story. Colored porcelain enamel diamond-patterned panels (later painted over) clad the primary (west) second story façade of the office wing. Fenestration consists of narrow metal-framed ribbon windows on the north and south elevations, and ground floor ribbon windows on the north, south, and west elevations of the office

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RE: PRELIMINARY HISTORIC ASSESSMENT: 1681 26TH STREET

PCR Services Corporation August 3, 2009

wing. A red brick path located near the center of the primary elevation leads to the building’s glazed double-door main entrance which is flanked by floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows.

East of the building’s Modern office portion is the facility’s utilitarian factory portion consisting of concrete tilt-up walls with small clerestory windows. A paved asphalt driveway and parking area occupies the northwest portion of the parcel. Historic photographs depict a landscape setting consisting of a grassy lawn, entry paths, and three palm trees (the latter of which are gone). The current landscape includes the grassy front lawn segmented by entry paths. The low clipped hedges, mature and immature trees, and a pair of flagpoles are not original. A detached additional Paper Mate factory building of utilitarian design located north of the subject parcel was erected in 1968.

The original building permits for the Paper Mate office and factory indicate that the building was begun in 1956 and completed in 1957 for owner Birch Investment Company, Inc., with Richard E. Dorman serving as architect and the Jack H. MacDonald Company listed as contractor. John H. Stahl was the principal in charge of the project for the Birch Investment Company. Originally, the two-story, 110,000 square-foot building was planned to cost $350,000 to erect. A 1957 supplemental building permit adjusted the building’s valuation upward by $100,000. An October 21, 1956, Los Angeles Times article stated that the “ultramodern new plant” would be built of reinforced concrete tilt-up construction predicated on a 10-foot second floor cantilever over the first floor offices.1 The 26th Street façade would feature modular diamond-shaped porcelain enamel panels and be set back with extensive landscaping of sycamore trees and large rock formations “so as to effect the appearance of an office structure.”2 The office portion of the building that faces southwest would contain a “contemporary” lobby with mosaic paving tile and natural cherry paneling.

Other building permits issued in 1957 and 1958 were for interior partitions, suspended ceilings, and for the company’s large Paper Mate exterior wall sign. Although not reflected in building permits, newspaper articles from 1968 reported the opening of a new 100,000 square-foot building north of the existing facility that nearly doubled the manufacturing operation’s floor space.3 In 1969, a one-story laboratory was erected within the original building costing approximately $25,000 to complete. An aluminum canopy over the south entrance of the addition was installed in 1971. In 1972, building permits document the erection of a 55,084 square foot warehouse addition to the east side of the original factory. Of common concrete tilt-up construction, the addition cost approximately $300,000 to build. In 1999, an extensive seismic retrofit of the original factory/office building was undertaken that included anchoring the concrete tilt-up walls and caissons, and bracing

1 Los Angeles Times, “Big Project Planned for Beach City,” October 21, 1956. p.E1. 2 Ibid. 3 Santa Monica Evening Outlook, “Paper Mate Dedicates New Building in Santa Monica,” August 3, 1968.

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the office portion’s cantilevered frame with V-shaped steel supports. These efforts cost $150,000 to complete.

Alterations to the Modern office section of the building include the retrofitting of the second-story cantilever with the V-shaped steel braces. The large steel braces are incompatible alterations that negate the structural and architectural rationalism of the cantilever. Modernists often used the cantilever to showcase the primacy of structure in Modern design and to enhance the sense of free space. The existing braces are visually invasive and contradict the original design concept of the building both structurally and architecturally. Other alterations include changes to the building’s originally distinctive diamond-patterned porcelain enamel panels which have been obscured by a layer of paint. The double main entrance doors and flanking floor-to-ceiling windows are later replacements. Finally, the entire interior of the Modern office section of the building was remodeled including the demolition of the original partitions. Therefore, in assessing the property’s overall architectural integrity, it appears to retain its original location but the building’s integrity of design, materials, and workmanship is no longer intact, and the property setting has been altered by later changes. The original landscaping is no longer extant, and the industrial park that originally formed the contextual setting for the property has been demolished and redeveloped.

Archival research, building permits, and visual inspection confirm that among the alterations to the property’s factory portion, the 1992 construction of a 55,084 square foot warehouse addition to the facility’s east elevation was a substantial change. Of concrete tilt-up design – the same as the original factory – the utilitarian warehouse addition features a flat roof with parapet, no skylights, and few windows. Its freight doors are located along the addition’s east elevation. Modifications to the original factory include the incursion of office and laboratory space into the west end of the factory’s interior, anchoring the concrete tilt-up walls and caissons for seismic strengthening, replacement of steel-framed multi-pane windows with aluminum sliders in the office portion of the factory’s north elevation, the construction of a concrete-block structure near the west end of the north elevation, and the erection of a metal shed on the north elevation.

Modern Architecture and the Modern Factory Building Type

The principles of Modern factory design in the United States were based upon earlier European precedents. The Fagus Factory (1911-1913), a shoe factory designed by Carl Benscheidt in collaboration with Walter Gropius and Alfred Meyer in Alfred-an-der-Leine, Germany, is an important example of early Modern Architecture that set the precedent for the concept of total design of Modern manufacturing plants (Figure 1).4 The factory used Modern Movement design principles, which included the primacy of light, space, function, structure, and industrial materials, to determine design decisions. Many Modernists believed that architecture should be egalitarian and

4 Stephen Sennott. Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004, p. 435.

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that there should be a similar architecture for both elites and the working classes. Gropius used common materials and design details throughout the complex from management offices to the floors of the factory in order to break down the architectural and spatial hierarchy between the management and the workers. The use of important Modern components such as glass walls, corner windows, and visible structural members unified the various factory buildings.5 The Fagus Factory contributed to the development of Modern Movement design for industry, which was based on providing a total design for both the offices and work floor. Following the example of Gropius at the Fagus Factory in Germany, modern architects around the world began to design and construct Modern factories.

During the mid-twentieth century, several Modern Movement manufacturing plants were constructed in Los Angeles County. The Lever Brothers Company factory, Scientific Data Systems, Xerox Corporation Manufacturing Facility, and Torrington Manufacturing Company are good examples of the type. All of the above Modern manufacturing plants had a “total design” where the exterior, interior, and in some cases the furnishings throughout the facility were all part of a unified design.

The Lever Brothers Company factory is a good example of total design applied to an industrial building (Figure 2). In 1951, Welton Becket and Associates designed the Lever Brothers Company factory located on 6300 Shelia Street in the City of Commerce. Welton Becket and Associates defined total design as, “an architectural philosophy and practice that embrace all of the services required to analyze any architectural problem, perform the necessary studies and research to the solve the problem, and translate the solution into a building or group of buildings complete down to their last detail of furniture, sculpture and other art, landscaping, and furnishings, even ash trays, menus and matchboxes.”6 The Lever Brothers factory manufactured soap and edible-oil products for the western United States. Because of the corrosive nature of the raw materials used at the factory, the designers paid special attention to the surface materials of the building, using textured concrete, glass and steel. The factory complex is comprised of a central office-laboratory, a five-story soap finishing unit, and a six-story edible-products-finishing structure.7 These buildings are connected to another set of facilities buildings by a series of foot bridges. There is a high level of transparency, the upper level administrative office and cafeteria have glass walls and an outdoor dining terrace, in addition to the glass stairwells and open steel foot bridges. The transparency and similar finishes created a cohesive design for both the administration and manufacturing facility spaces.

5 Leonardo Benevelo. History of Modern Architecture, Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1977, 428. 6 William Dudley Hunt. Total Design: Architecture of Welton Becket and Associate,. New York: McGraw-Hill Book

Company, 1972, p. 4. 7 Serraino, Pierluigi . Modernism Rediscovered. New York: Taschen, 2000, p. 100.

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Craig Ellwood and Associates designed multiple Modern manufacturing plants in Los Angeles County. Scientific Data Systems Factory, designed by Ellwood and Associates on 555 S. Aviation Boulevard, El Segundo, from 1965-1966, was constructed with tilt-up concrete panels attached to an exposed exterior structural system of steel columns (Figure 3).8 The administration and factory spaces are unified through similar materials, finishes and design concept based upon structure. Two years later, Craig Ellwood and Associates designed the Scientific Data Systems (SDS) Administration Engineering Building, 701 South Aviation Boulevard, El Segundo, based on the ideas of the earlier SDS building but without the exposed structure attached to the exterior.9 The square floor plan was divided into a grid by structural columns and had a central atrium. Ellwood designed two other buildings for SDS from 1966 to 1968 using the same materials, finishes, and structure as the first two facilities. The four SDS building all located adjacent to each other form a cohesive campus with a holistic Modern design and without architectural or spatial hierarchy.

Other notable Modern factory buildings designed by Craig Ellwood’s office are the Xerox Corporation Manufacturing Facility (1967) located at 800 E. Bonita Ave, Pomona, (demolished), and the Torrington Manufacturing Company (1953) located at 16300 Roscoe Boulevard, Van Nuys, (demolished).10 The Magnavox Building (1960) in Torrance (Figure 4), designed by Torrance Risley and Gould, and the Firestone Store, Offices and Warehouse (1958) in Commerce, designed by Pereira & Luckman, are also good examples of post World War II Modern factories in the Los Angeles area.

The Modern factory had no clear architectural boundaries between the management and the factory floor in order to create non-hierarchical spaces where both the management and workers shared a similar architecture. Common use of materials, finishes, structural systems, and apertures unified the Modern factory, the tectonics of which were predicated upon the concept of total design, flexible open plans, functionalism and structural rationalism as the primary modes of architectural expression. Review of Modern factories constructed in the Los Angeles metropolitan area indicates these principles were well known and successfully applied by master architects in Southern California. However, while these principles appear to have initially influenced Dorman’s design of the Paper Mate facility, it does not appear he was successful in fully applying these concepts since the hierarchical division between the office and manufacturing sections as well as the design emphasis on the front elevation defy any sense of architectural or social unity. The factory complex presents a Modern face to the street, with its cantilevered-and-braced second floor and recessed ribbon windows on the ground floor, but the façade does not communicate architecturally with the remainder of the facility, which is mute utilitarian construction.

8 Perez-Mendez, Alfonson. Craig Ellwood: In the Spirit of Time. Spain: Gustavo Gili, 2002, p. 218-222. 9 Perez-Mendez, Alfonson, p. 231-237. 10 Gebhard, Davis and Robert Winter. An Architectural Guide to Los Angeles. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher,

2003, pgs. 365, 462.

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The Vernacular Modern Industrial Building

Vernacular modern industrial buildings from the 1940s to 1960s are highly prevalent in the industrial areas of Los Angeles. Designed for utility and function, vernacular modern industrial buildings were often constructed with concrete tilt-up, set-back from the street with landscape elements and a surrounding parking lot, and had an administrative office in front of a large open factory/storage space. During the 1940s, advancements in the construction technology of concrete tilt-up, specifically the development of the mobile crane and ready-mix concrete, expedited the construction of vernacular modern industrial buildings.11 Post World War II the economy was booming, as a result there was an increased demand for commercial and industrial structures. Because concrete tilt-up allowed builders to offer high quality construction at an economical price and reduced construction schedule, the construction method became very popular. There are large industrial tracts with concrete tilt-up buildings located in North Hollywood, Woodland Hills, downtown Los Angeles, Culver City, El Segundo, Carson, and Long Beach. These industrial areas are much larger than the industrial tract located in Santa Monica.

Less than a mile from Paper Mate, the Packard-Bell Company (12333 West Olympic Boulevard, West Los Angeles), a manufacturer and distributor of television and radio sets, is an excellent representative example of a vernacular modern industrial building (Figure 5 and 6).12 The Packard-Bell Company was developed within the same industrial tract extending along the railroad tracks in both West Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Designed and constructed from 1949-1953 in steel and concrete by the Austin Company, the ultramodern 80,000 square foot building housed a factory, warehouse, cafeteria, and general offices.13 Teledyne, an electronics maker for the defense industry, purchased Packard-Bell Company in 1978, and remained an occupant in the building until 2005. The Packard-Bell Company building retains the majority of its character defining features, with the exception of alterations for ADA compliance, the application of wood veneer on the façade, and painted over warehouse windows. The building is an important symbol of the industrial past of Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, and the legacy of the industrial work designed by the Austin Company.

The Austin Company, a national engineering and construction firm committed exclusively to large industrial buildings and manufacturing plants, had built its reputation upon the development of “a standardized system of factory construction embracing steel, concrete and brick, with special emphasis on lighting, hygiene, and efficiency for minimizing costs and perfecting products.”14 This

11 http://www.concretecontractor.com/tilt-up-concrete/construction-history/ accessed July 23, 2009. 12 Los Angeles Times, “Video Maker Building Plant,” November 6, 1949, p. F1. 13 Los Angeles Times, “Packard-Bell Celebrates Silver Anniversary,” February 11, 1951, p. B10. 14 Los Angeles Times, “Austin Company Head Tells Why: Factory Builder Moves Headquarters to This City,”

February 27, 1921. p. V4.

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standardized approach was marketed by the company as the “Austin Method” in advertisements for its services.15 Ads boasted, “It costs no more to build the highest type of industrial or commercial building evolved through years of experience. The Austin Company of California offers a complete engineering and building service embodying the most modern ideas and conforming architecturally and otherwise to local requirements, and above all fully meeting the owner’s needs.”16 As a result of its reputation in the field, the Austin Company of California (the name of the company’s west coast operation) was commissioned to design and construct dozens of warehouses and factories throughout the Los Angeles region from the 1920s to the 1950s, including in West Los Angeles.17

Other representative local examples in Santa Monica of vernacular modern industrial buildings constructed during the 1950s and derived in part from the Modern factory prototype include 1131 Olympic Boulevard (1956, architect unknown) built of concrete panels and 3030 Nebraska Avenue (1951, architect unknown) built of brick.

Outside of Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, there are other industrial areas developed by John M. Stahl, the developer of Paper Mate. John M. Stahl, an industrial real estate developer, purchased and later redeveloped multiple industrial tracts in Los Angeles (Figure 7). His industrial tracts were widely recognized:

Industrial and various other structures built by Stahl have won wide recognition not only for their architectural attractiveness but also for their landscaped settings. He has long been a strong and prominent advocate of attractive architecture for industrial buildings and the landscaping of their sites.18

One of his developments in the thirty-one acre Vail Field tract of the Central Manufacturing District in downtown Los Angeles remains largely intact today.19 The vernacular modern industrial buildings in the Vail Field tract were developed from 1951 to 1961 and were an average of 60,000 square feet. John M. Stahl worked exclusively with Jack H. MacDonald and Cejay Parsons from 1951 to 1957 and later with Richard Dorman, Associates from 1957 to 1961. Overall, the Vail Field tract retains a high-level of integrity, as the industrial tract retains many of the original vernacular modern industrial buildings.

15 Los Angeles Times, “Display Ad 47 – No Title,” January 1, 1924. p. 28. 16 Ibid. 17 Los Angeles Times articles of the period note that the Austin Company was responsible for numerous industrial buildings in the

Santa Fe corridor just east of downtown Los Angeles, along Central Avenue, and on East 60th Street in the Goodyear Park tract near the border of Commerce south of downtown.

18 Los Angeles Times, “New $38 Million Program Slated.,” November 2, 1958, p. G1. 19 Los Angeles Times, “New Buildings Readied in Big Development,” May 19, 1957, p. E1.

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The Vail Field tract development included eight concrete tilt-up structures located along Garfield Avenue that were designed by Jack H MacDonald and Cejay Parsons and were constructed by Jack H. MacDonald Co., Inc (Figures 8-10). The structures were unified by the façade materials, pumice block and Palos Verdes stone, concrete tilt-up construction, set-back from the street line, and integrated planting areas and expansive lawns.20 For example, the 20,000 square foot L-shaped Par-way Manufacturing Company (2359 Garfield Avenue) building consisted of tilt-up concrete walls, had pumice block and Palos Verdes stone details on the exterior façade, and was set back from the street with landscape (Figure 11).21

Another vernacular modern industrial building within the Vail Field tract was the American Cyanamid Company (2300 S Eastern Avenue) building (Figure 12). It was a one-story 64,000 square feet structure, with 44,000 square feet of warehouse space and 20,000 square feet of offices. The building had a “main entrance in keeping with the modern trend in architecture, employing large areas of glass and Arizona flagstone, blended to give a very pleasing appearance.”22

Richard Dorman

Richard Lee Dorman (born November 27, 1922), the subject property’s architect, held an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois (1946), and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California (1947-51).23 From 1950 until 1956, Richard Lee Dorman (1922-2008) was Assistant Chief Designer for Welton Becket & Associates, one of Southern California’s most renowned architectural firms. Richard L. Dorman established his own firm in 1956 (later renamed to Dorman-Munselle Associates in 1968) at 113 N. San Vicente in Beverly Hills. During the 1960s, he became a regular lecturer at California Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo.

Dorman’s projects included Modern residences for wealthy clients in the Hollywood Hills and greater Los Angeles area, in addition to various commercial projects. His principal works include an Office Building (Manila, 1959) (Figure 13), Los Angeles International Design Center (Beverly Hills, 1962) (Figure 14), Sunset Loma Office Building (Los Angeles, 1963), University of Southern California Married Student Housing (Los Angeles, 1964) (Figure 15), Lake Arrowhead Country Club (Lake Arrowhead, 1964), Republic Federal Savings and Loan (Los Angeles, 1965), Control Data Corporation Office Building (Los Angeles, 1967), and Beverly Hills National Bank (Brentwood, 1969) (Figure 16). He won many awards for his architectural designs, including the AIA Award of Merit for Lakenan Residence (1958) and Ivory Tower Restaurant (1960), and Honor 20 Los Angeles Times, “Boost Given to Industry: Eight Structures Form One Program in CMD District,” July 19, 1953,

p. E1. 21 Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Site Structure Tops $500,000,” March 14, 1954, p. E1. 22 Los Angeles Times, “Cyanamid’s Extensive New Location Opened,” September 30, 1951, p. E4. 23 Koyl, George Simpson. American Architects Directory. New York: R R Bowker, 1955, p. 231.

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Awards for the Beber Restaurant (1963), Malibu Methodist Church (1966), and Siedenbaum Restaurant (1966).

Richard Dorman’s residential and commercial projects embraced the architectural philosophy of “total design.” To create a unified “total design,” he included master/site planning, engineering, interior design, finishes, fixtures, and landscaping in his designs. While working for Welton Becket & Associates during the early 1950s, he most likely learned the philosophy. An article published in Zodiac journal described Richard Dorman as a “graduate of corporate architecture”:

An enemy of the box, also cool to post-and-beam and modular construction, he is more interested in enclosing space plastically. His own house, designed in 1957, is roofed with load-bearing vaults; in his 1959 Ivory Tower restaurant he used a folding plate roof. At present he is developing a cross-plan A-frames for a large community building and housing for a mountain resort.24

Overall, Richard Dorman’s residential designs exhibit his interest in “total design,” as he designed and coordinated the landscape, interior and exterior designs. For example, an article entitled “What is Total Design?” profiled Richard Dorman’s design for a house in View Park Estates where he coordinated the design of the architecture, furnishings, and landscape.25 His other residential designs carry out the same design themes (Figures 17 and 18).

Richard Dorman also designed some vernacular modern industrial buildings located within the developer John M. Stahl’s industrial tracts. These utilitarian industrial commissions were most likely profitable for Richard Dorman architectural practice, while his residential designs were an expression of his creativity and architectural prowess. These industrial developments included an integration of architecture, urban planning, and landscape. Richard Dorman designed several industrial modern buildings located within the Vail Field tract of the Central Manufacturing District in Los Angeles: the Stahl Electronics Center in Santa Monica; a 20-acre tract for the Atomics International Division of North American Aviation (Figure 19) and Tasker Instruments (Figure 20); a 6-building industrial project in La Sierra; and a 60,000 square foot industrial building in Los Angeles (8292 S Sepulveda).26 He was also commissioned by John M. Stahl to design a 40-story Freeway Center Building (1958) in downtown Los Angeles, a 8-story 140,000 square-foot

24 McCoy Esther, “Young Architects in the United States,” Zodiac 8 (1961): 185. 25 Lenox, Barbara, “What Is Total Design?” Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1953, p. J10. 26 Los Angeles Times, “$6,000,000 Structure Slated for Construction,” August 12, 1956, p. E1.

“Big Industrial Project Set for La Sierra,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1958, p. F5.

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manufacturing building (11390 W Olympic), and the executive offices of John M. Stahl and John H MacDonald Company (321 S. San Vicente, 1956).27

After reviewing Richard Dorman’s body of work, the Paper Mate building is not a significant representation of his work. Paper Mate is a utilitarian concrete tilt-up box with sparse exterior ornament. As one of the first projects Dorman completed after establishing his own practice, the Paper Mate building was not recognized in the architectural press at the time of its completion, and Dorman went on to become known primarily for his residential and commercial work. The other buildings in the Stahl Electronics Center in Santa Monica better represented Richard Dorman’s “total design” philosophy than the Paper Mate building; the Ivory Tower Restaurant within the Stahl Electronics Center tract won an AIA Award of Merit; and the System Development Corporation buildings in the Stahl Electronic Center was published in Arts & Architecture.28 The Paper Mate building was not mentioned in any of these awards or publications. Dorman’s industrial architecture was primarily completed during the 1950s and 1960s. Within the larger body of his practice and among his industrial commissions, Paper Mate does not stand out as a distinctive or innovative project. Therefore, it does not appear that the Paper Mate building is a notable project within the overall context of Dorman’s work.

Santa Monica Industrial History

In 1875, the original town site of Santa Monica was surveyed, including all of the land extending from Colorado Street on the south to Montana Avenue on the north, and from 26th Street on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. 29 During the 1880s, Santa Monica’s downtown commercial district consisted primarily of development along Second Street from Utah (Broadway) to about a half block north. The 1887 Sanborn Maps indicates industrial businesses were located within the downtown commercial area and were predominantly agricultural, including the Union Livery and Feed (Utah and 2nd Street), and other miscellaneous businesses selling harnesses, feed,

27 Cohan, Charles C, “Tomboyish LA becoming more beauty conscious,” Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1958, p. 96. Cohan, Charles C, “40-Story Height Building Planned,” Los Angeles Times, November 25, 1956, p. G1. “Planned,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1958, p. F9. “Remodeling Project,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1956, p. E1. “Office Building Remodeling Job Furthered,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1956, p. E1. 28 Arts & Architecture, “A.I.A. Awards for 1961,” 78.7 (July 1961): 23. Arts & Architecture, “Building for Research.” 75 (December 1958): 26, 30. 29 Portions of this section were adapted from the “Santa Monica Historical Resources Inventory 1985-1986, Final

Report, pp. 28-59 and State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, Historic Resources Inventory Form Update, Central Business District and Third Street Promenade. Prepared by Tearnen, Bricker, and Field, 1998.

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and hay. In addition, there were other industries located outside of the downtown, such as ostrich, carnation and lima bean farms, bee-keeping, and the propagation of edible snails.30

Lima bean farming was one of the largest agricultural industries in Santa Monica around the turn of the century. Prior to lima bean farming, the land was valued at $20 an acre; after, the valuation increased to $250 an acre as a result of lima bean farming. The lima bean farms were located outside of Santa Monica’s commercial core; a Los Angeles Times article described the farms in 1903:

A ride on the electric cars of the Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad Company by the short line to Ocean Park will disclose a vast stretch of bean country. So will a ride to the Soldier’s Home. Hundreds of acres of beans in every direction as far as the eye can see – over lowlands, along sunny slopes, on hilltops!31

In the wake of lima bean farming, Santa Monica won a silver medal at the World’s Fair for the City’s lima bean exhibit in 1904.32

During the late nineteenth century, investors wanted to bring rail transportation and a large port to the City of Santa Monica. In 1875, eighteen miles of tract and a small wharf at the end of Colorado Avenue (Railroad Avenue) that served the mining interest of Senator John P. Jones were constructed to connect Santa Monica to Los Angeles. The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad (LA & IRR) operated along Colorado Avenue (Railroad Avenue) (Figure 21). However, the LA & IRR went bankrupt during the panic of 1876, so the Southern Pacific Railroad purchased the abandoned railroad in 1877 to counter their rival, the Santa Fe Railroad, which was attempting to construct a port in Playa del Rey. At the height of Southern Pacific Railroad operations, the railroad transported roughly 200,000 tourists to Santa Monica in 1889.33 The Southern Pacific constructed the Long Warf in 1893, which extended 4,720 feet into the Santa Monica Bay at Potrero Canyon (15100 W Pacific Coast Highway), north of the Santa Monica Canyon (Figure 22). The Long Warf was demolished in 1920. Fifteen years later, the Southern Pacific leased the Santa Monica railroad line to the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Railroad, which was in use until 1933.34 In addition, the

30 Los Angeles Times, “Plucking the Birds at the Ostrich Farm – New Residence,” October 14, 1890, p. 7; Los Angeles

Times, “Carnations at South Santa Monica,” July 9, 1899, p. 30; Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica Honey,” January 23, 1898, p. 18; Los Angeles Times, “Snail Industry in Santa Monica,” May 7, 1901, p. 15.

31 Los Angeles Times, “Gathering the Bean Crop from Seven Thousand Acres in the Santa Monica District,” September 25, 1903, p. A1.

32 Los Angeles Times, “Beans Awarded Silver Medal,” December 9, 1904, p. A11. 33 Scott, Paula A. Santa Monica: A History on the Edge. New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2004, p. 61. 34 Hilton, George W. and John Fitzgerald Due. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. New York: Stanford

University Press, 2000, p. 412.

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Santa Fe Railroad extended their track from their Inglewood line north to South Santa Monica in 1892, down what is now Main Street.

In the early twentieth century, the 1902 Sanborn map indicates industrial businesses began to develop adjacent to the Southern Pacific Railroad (Appendix A). These businesses provided products and services necessary to sustain a developing city, such as lumber yards, laundries, utility plants and agriculture. These industrial businesses were primarily located adjacent to the railroad tracks, most likely due to the available land and rail transportation. Soon, a number of prominent industrial factories and warehouses were constructed adjacent to the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. In 1904, the Simons Brick Company established a factory for the manufacture of pottery, brick, tile, and clay shingles alongside the Southern-Pacific tracks and adjacent to the Sunset Brick and Tile Manufacturing Company.35 In 1907, an alfalfa factory in conjunction with a pre-existing bean, barley and grain warehouse was constructed in southwestern Santa Monica near 19th Street. The street was expanded across the railroad tracks to open eastern access. A number of factories were proposed in the Los Angeles Times, such as a mission furniture factory to replace the Ocean Park Planning Mill that was destroyed by fire, a 1500 square feet factory for the manufacture of dental surgical instrument at 9th Street and Nevada, and a Pacific Glass Company factory to employ about 150 to 175 men.36

The burgeoning twentieth century industry paralleled the formation and development of the Santa Monica Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce. The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1901 to protect and promote business interests, and advocate for much-needed public improvements.37 The Santa Monica Board of Trade was formed a few months after to promote material interests, unite business men, and enhance the desirability of the City.38 A. Mooser, the Chairman of the Board of Trade, defined their objectives in a Los Angeles Times article:

We need some such combination of business men as this is proposed to be, that we may advance, and that, through the untied effort which we hope this will bring, we may gain the many advantages which we are now deprived of, through lack of unity. There is no question that the town is in need of many improvements. A body of representative business men could more easily accomplish desired results than

35 Los Angeles Times, “Means Much for Santa Monica: Important New Industry Established Here,” December 8, 1904,

p. A11; Los Angeles Times, “Important Industries to be established Near the Present Pottery Plant,” December 9, 1904, p. A11; Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Brick for the Outfall,” February 2, 1905, p. II11.

36 Los Angeles Times, “Pack Alfalfa Near Seashore: New Industry Projected for Santa Monica,” March 30, 1907, p. I110; Los Angeles Times, “People Asked to Subscribe: Furniture Factory May Be Built in Santa Monica,” February 9, 1908 p. 18; Los Angeles Times, “Carloads of Bottles: Big Orders for Santa Monica Glass Factory,” September 23, 1917, p. V12.

37 Los Angeles Times, “Chamber of Commerce,” August 28, 1901, p. 4. 38 Los Angeles Times, “Board of Trade for Santa Monica,” September 6, 1901, p. 15.

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individuals acting alone, and the only course we may pursue, if we expect to keep pace with the more progressive towns of Southern California, is to unite for common welfare.39

The overall mission of the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce was to increase industrial businesses in Santa Monica. In 1915, upon the urging of the Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Monica City Council amended the vocation license ordinance imposing taxes on non-resident laundries in order to protect the interests of local businesses.40 The Chamber of Commerce sought to improve working conditions and widen employment for all genders, so in 1917 they looked for ways to bring the apparel industry to Santa Monica, in order to employ women and children.41

After the advent of the automobile in the 1920s, Santa Monica experienced a building boom, which included the development of the area known as Ocean Park, located to the south of the downtown commercial district. The Douglas Aircraft Company was a major force in the industrial growth of Santa Monica. In the early 1920s, Donald Douglas set up an office in the back of a barbershop located on Pico Boulevard, began building planes on Wilshire Boulevard, and used a vacant field near Montana Avenue for takeoffs and landings.42 By 1924, two Army pilots took off from Clover Field in a pair of Douglas Aircraft planes and circled the globe in 371 hours.43 In 1927, the Los Angeles Times reported the Douglas Aircraft Company intended to construct an airport at Clover Field by February 1, 1928, and planned to employ roughly 600 employees (Figure 23).44 By 1929, the Douglas Aircraft Company moved to their newly constructed plant on Clover Field were they employed 1,200 and were the largest contractor for the government’s aeronautical divisions, a contract worth an estimated $4,000,000.45

There were many other industrial businesses in Santa Monica during the 1920s (Appendix B). The industries were predominately focused on supplying building materials, feed, oil, and laundry services, agricultural products, and ice. Representative industries included: the Symphonaer Company (pipe organ factory) at 23rd Street and Pico Boulevard (1926); the Artcraft Organ Company (pipe organ factory) at 1638-52 12th Street; Fruita Vita Company, Ltd. (laboratories, and salesrooms) at 1402-1404 Santa Monica Boulevard; 1660 11th Street (manufacturing and laboratory

39 Ibid. 40 Los Angeles Times, “City Council Shuts Down on Outside Laundries,” August 26, 1915, p. I17. 41 Los Angeles Times, “Urged to Get Special Line,” July 8, 1917, p. 18. 42 Piccalo, Gina, “A Dream Takes Wing,” Evening Outlook, December 23, 1999, p. 3. 43 Ibid. 44 Los Angeles Times, “Plane Plant to be Built: Douglas Company Will Erect New Factory Before Lease on Present

Site Expires,” December 1, 1927, p. A1. 45 Los Angeles Times, “Aircraft Factory Showing Phenomenal Growth in ten Years: Now Ranked Santa Monica’s

Largest Industry,” October 6, 1929, p. E5.

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equipment), and Fisher Lumber Company (1923).46 In 1928, the Los Angeles Times reported the Harding McMinn Shoe Corporation, proposed moving their shoe factory to the Santa Monica industrial district, who intended to employ 200 to 250 and generate in $1,500,000 annually.47

During the 1920’s, civic and commercial organizations campaigned to strengthen Santa Monica as an industrial center. The Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, M.C. McKenny, described their goal in the Los Angeles Times:

We have a list of Industries which have implied by inquiries that they would like to locate in Santa Monica and I believe that initiative on our part will bring them here. However, we first must be reassured that industries already here are contented.48

To aid in the industrial expansion and development in the City of Santa Monica, the Chamber of Commerce worked with civic and commercial organizations to bring more industries to Santa Monica and promote cooperation between the already existing industries.49

The Merle Norman Cosmetics Company was founded during the 1930s. Working out of her home in Santa Monica, Merle Norman started her small cosmetics business in her kitchen at 2523 3rd Street.50 Later, her house was moved to Raymond Avenue. As demand grew, she opened her Streamline Moderne factory at 2523-2527 Main Street in 1936, with the help of her nephew, Jack Boison Nethercutt, who assisted in the development and manufacturing of her products.51 The 1950 Sanborn Maps indicate there was also a large cosmetics warehouse down the street from the main factory, located at 2615-2915 Main Street. Merle Norman most likely chose to build her facilities on Main Street due to the proximity of her home on 3rd Street, and then later Raymond Avenue. As the Merle Norman Cosmetics Company grew, their facilities were moved to Westchester in 1952.

Overall, the Douglas Aircraft Company dominated Santa Monica industry. In 1936, the Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc. planned to double factory floor space, as a result of a new naval contract to construct 114 new torpedo-bombing planes. 52 By 1941 the Douglas employed 18,000.

46 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monicans Out in Force Behind Clover Field Issue,” September 2, 1925, p. 8; Los

Angeles Times, “Announce Organ Factory,” February 28, 1926, p. E15; Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Plant Opened,” January 23, 1927, p. E11; Los Angeles Times, “Company Opens New Plant,” December 27, 1931, p. C3.

47 Los Angeles Times, “Plans Laid for Three Plants: Show Corporation to Erect Santa Monica Factory,” September 23, 1928, p. E6;

48 Los Angeles Times, “Campaign for Industry Begins in Santa Monica,” August 30, 1925, p. G11. 49 Los Angeles Times, “Industry Drive Launched,” September 2, 1925, p. 8. 50 Moosbrugger, Ed, “Merle Norman’s Roots Deep in Santa Monica,” Evening Outlook, September 24, 1981. 51 Ibid. 52 Los Angeles Times, “Douglas Plane Factory to Be Doubles in Size,” January 22, 1936, p. A1; Los Angeles Times,

“Plane Firm to Expand: Douglas Company Offers to Purchase Airport Parcels From Santa Monica,” December 23, 1934, p. 30.

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Production at Douglas Aircraft Company reached its peak in the early 1950s, with more than 40,000 employees.53 Thousands of families who came to Santa Monica at that time prompted a boom in apartment construction in the Cloverfield-Ocean Park area. Suddenly Santa Monica, which historically had been a beach side retreat, became a bustling industrial community. The Douglas Aircraft Company was the impetus for the development of greater industry in Santa Monica, especially industry focused on aeronautics:

Douglas is itself larger than all of the rest of Santa Monica local industry. The Douglas Santa Monica plant uses many of the local industrial firms as suppliers. Through its need of diversified skills, it attracts to the community an unusually high caliber of employee which serves to benefit the community in many ways. Many of these people find their way into the smaller industrial firms as well as to Douglas Aircraft.54

Other small industries developed in the shadow of Douglas Aircraft Corporation that made airplane parts, tools and dies, jigs and precision instruments.55 The Santa Monica plant closed in 1974 and moved to a larger facility in Long Beach to accommodate their modern jetliners.56

By the 1950s, the electronics and aeronautics industry in Santa Monica was booming (Appendix C). The Industrial Division of the City of Santa Monica published a report in 1955 entitled Industrial Santa Monica.57 The Chamber of Commerce promoted the desirability of industry in Santa Monica due to the service of two major air freight lines, a terminal maintained in the industrial area, proximity to Los Angeles Airport, and the Southern Pacific Railroad. Santa Monica’s diversified industries in 1955 included:58

Industry Amount Machine Shops – Castings 28

Aircraft Equipment and Supplies 19 Electronics 16

Sheet Metal Fabrication 15 Printing and Other Graphic Arts 14

Woodworking 14 Automotive Equipment and Accessories 13

53 Piccalo, Gina, “A Dream Takes Wing,” Evening Outlook, December 23, 1999, p. 3. 54 Industrial Santa Monica. Santa Monica – Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce. Industrial Division. 1955. 55 Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Nerve Center of Aviation Defense,” March 17, 1941, p. 1B. 56 Piccalo, Gina, “A Dream Takes Wing,” Evening Outlook, December 23, 1999, p. 3. 57 Industrial Santa Monica. Santa Monica – Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce. Industrial Division. 1955 58 Ibid.

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Industry Amount Ceramic and Clay Products 11

Plastics and Rubber Products 11 Sporting Goods and Toys 11

Furniture and Fixtures 10 Clothing and Accessories 7

Dental and Professional Supplies 6 Food Products 6 Boat Building 4

Jewelry and Novelties 4 Shutters and Blinds 4

By far the largest industrial enterprise in Santa Monica was the Douglas Aircraft Company, whose employment was in excess of 17,000 employees.59 Other predominant industries were machine shops (28), aircraft equipment and supplies (19), and electronics (16).

In 1957, the City of Santa Monica authored a Master Plan.60 The Master Plan defined the industrial area as being bounded by Broadway - Colorado, Lincoln, and the Olympic Freeway. The master plan proposed an increase in land for industrial use. The City thought “growth or manufacturing in Santa Monica is measureable in the number of firms, value of new construction, manufacturing employment. Santa Monica’s industrial strength is largely dependent upon the fortunes of the transportation and electronics.” The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Industrial Division hosted a Miss Industry contest; the contestants were women who represented the top industrial firms.61

In 1959, the City completed a survey to assess wealth; the survey found, “a substantial growth in Santa Monica’s assessed valuation, population and housing in the last three years has been revealed by a new industrial survey. . . The survey shows that 24% of Santa Monica’s industrial land, or 312 acres, is still vacant and available for light or heavy industry. Parcels range from one quarter to five acres in size.”62 In 1963, the Bay City Chamber complete an industrial survey that found there were 23 vacant buildings and bare land available for an estimated 217 firms in Santa

59 Industrial Santa Monica. Santa Monica – Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce. Industrial Division. 1955 60 Simon Eisner and Associates. Master Plan for the City of Santa Monica. April 20, 1957. 61 Los Angeles Times, "Santa Monica Chamber to Pick Miss Industry,” March 30, 1958, p. WS3. 62 Los Angeles Times, "Beach City Economy Soaring, Survey Shows,” August 23, 1959, p. WS3.

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Monica’s “Industrial Corridor – using an average of 5,000 sq ft for a firm or industry. Vacant buildings range in size from 900 sq. ft to 28,000 sq. ft.”63

By the 1950s, with the impending closure of Gladding McBean’s Santa Monica operations, the expansive tract owned occupied by the business became available for purchase (Figure 24). In 1954, industrial developer John M. Stahl announced the purchase of the tract upon which the subject property would be built, representing roughly $18,000,000 in land and buildings.64 Bounded by Olympic Boulevard, Cloverfield Boulevard, and Colorado Avenue, the tract, soon to be cleared of Gladding McBean’s kilns and other buildings, was planned to contain a total building area of 580,000 square feet, according to an article announcing the ambitious project published in the Los Angeles Times (Figure 25).65 The article stated that the 28 industrial buildings to be erected on the property would be “designed to serve the needs of the expanding electronics, aircraft, motion-picture supply, precision instruments and other industries and will be multipurpose as required.”66 Initially, six tilt-up concrete and steel buildings were planned for the site to be leased by Stahl to “nationally known concerns,”67 one of which would be Paper Mate two years later in 1956. In implementing his project, Stahl engaged Jack H. MacDonald and Cejay Parsons Associated Architects & Engineers to draw up the plans. The goal was to provide “proper setbacks for effective planting areas to enhance the Contemporary design which will be used throughout the entire development. Each building [was] to be studied independently of the others to avoid monotony of design and to lend contrast to the development as a whole.”68

Approximately a year and a half later, the Los Angeles Times announced groundbreaking ceremonies were held for a scientific research and manufacturing building for occupancy by the Burton Manufacturing Company in the new industrial area on Colorado Street and Cloverfield Boulevard (Figure 26).69 The Burton Manufacturing Company was a contractor to the United States Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics, and the United States Air Force, and also supplied scientific precision instruments to the medical branches of the armed forces. Jack H. MacDonald and Cejay Parsons Associated Architects & Engineers designed a concrete tilt-up building with plate glass and roman brick laid in a tapestry pattern, containing 26,000 square feet manufacturing and research data, and 12,000 square feet of administrative offices and engineering facilities. The building was constructed by Jack H. MacDonald. The Burton Company signed a twenty year lease with the industrial developer John M. Stahl.

63 Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Survey Made by Bay City Chamber,” August 22, 1963, p.H5. 64 Los Angeles Times, “Large Increase of Industry Is Newly Slated,” December 4, 1954. p.F1. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Structure to Rise in New Tract,” March 20, 1955, p. E4.

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On October 21, 1956, the Los Angeles Times announced Paper Mate Manufacturing Company, a division of the Gillette Safety Razor Company, was going to construct a new plant in Stahl’s electronics center (Figure 27).70 The plant was going to contain approximately 110,000 square feet of factory and office space and 100,000 square feet of parking, in addition to land for future expansion. The building was going to feature a 10-foot cantilever of the second floor over the first floor offices, and diamond-shaped porcelain panels decorating the front façade. The architect was Richard L. Dorman & Associates, and the contractor was John H. MacDonald. The Paper Mate plant was one of the last manufacturing facilities to be completed within Stahl’s industrial development.

By June, 1957, the $50,000,000 John M. Stahl Electronics Center was completed (Figure 28).71 The John M. Stahl Electronics Center was comprised of the Burton Manufacturing Company (50,000 square feet); Rand Corporation, the systems engineering group, at 2500 Colorado Avenue; Rand Computer Building, at 2502 Colorado Avenue (37,000 square feet); Rand Corporation Research and Development, at 2400 Colorado Avenue (136,000 square feet); and the Paper Mate Manufacturing Company (110,000 square feet). The Los Angeles Times reported:

Thus there will be completion of a development adding greatly to the burgeoning strength of Southern California as one of the world’s foremost electronic research regions or likely now its greatest, a status stressed by the fact that the Santa Monica tract will have an estimated personnel total of 4,500 to add to the growing army of Southland electronic-project-workers. The entire development is in an extensively landscaped setting.72

The final piece of the development to be constructed was a seven-level parking structure for the Rand Corporation personnel that would house 1,900 automobiles, a roof-top restaurant, and shopping units. In 1958, the City of Santa Monica opened 26th Street from Colorado Avenue to Cloverfield Boulevard.73

The System Development Corporation was a non-profit organization that provided expertise for the United Stated military in the design, integration and testing of large, complex, computer-controlled systems. The Systems Development Corporation evolved from a division within the Rand Corporation, established in 1948, into its own fledging company. In the early 1950s, the

70 Los Angeles Times, “Big Project Planned for Beach City: Factory and Office Unit Will Further Extensive Center,”

October 21, 1956, p. E1. 71 Los Angeles Times, “Major Electronics Program Grows: $50,000,000 Project Will Have Big $2,500,000 Final

Structure,” June 9, 1957, p. G1. 72 Los Angeles Times, “Major Electronics Program Grows: $50,000,000 Project Will Have Big $2,500,000 Final

Structure,” June 9, 1957, p. G1. 73 Santa Monica Annual Report. 1958-1959.

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Systems Development Division occupied buildings all over Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, including the Bay Builders Exchange Building, 1905 Armacost Avenue, a condemned school house, an old garage, and a warehouse.74 As soon as Rand found out about the development of the modern electronics center, the company signed a long-term lease for three buildings at 2500 Colorado Avenue, 2502 Colorado, and 2400 Colorado (Figures 29-32).75 The groundbreaking ceremony was held in January of 1956.76 The Systems Development Division split with Rand on December 1, 1957 to form their own company.77 At the start of 1957, the company employed 1,270, and by the end of 1959, they employed 3,500. To accommodate the dramatic increase of employees, the company acquired two more large buildings in 1959 – a building adjacent to 2502 Colorado and 3000 Olympic Boulevard (210,000 square foot) (Figure 33).78 The System Development Corporation became one of the largest industries in Santa Monica.

The Paper Mate Manufacturing Company was completed by January 1958. The Los Angeles Times announced:

In the heart of the fast growing industrial area, the factory will for the first time accommodate in one place all of the company’s manufacturing and research facilities and personnel, according to Nelson Harris, president. Executive offices of the company will remain in the Merchandise Mart, Chicago.79

The pen manufacturing plant was successful and eventually, in 1967, leased an adjacent property to construct a 100,000 square foot addition, nearly doubling its facility.80 In 1984, the Gillette Company closed its packing facility in La Grange, Illinois, to move the operation to Santa Monica.81

In 1960, the Ivory Tower Restaurant, at 26th Street and Colorado Street, was constructed by John M Stahl as part of the industrial tract (Figure 34 and 35). The restaurant was designed by Richard Dorman and constructed by Jack H. MacDonald. The two-story 20,000 square-foot Modern restaurant was designed to accommodate the personnel from the nearby factories and offices, such as System Development Corporation, Burton Manufacturing Company, Paper Mate, Rand Corporation, Douglas Aircraft, and Summers Gyroscope.

74 Baum , Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981, p.

26. 75 Baum, Claude, p. 41. 76 Baum, Claude, p. 27. 77 Baum, Claude, p. 41. 78 Baum, Claude, p. 61. 79 Los Angeles Times, “New Paper Mater Pen Plant Open,” January 8, 1958, p. 25. 80 Los Angeles Times, “Leases: Paper Mate to Expand Facilities,” December 31, 1967, p. H7. 81 Los Angeles Times, “Gillette will move Papermate Packaging to Santa Monica,” March 6, 1984, p. E2.

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In 1962, the Santa Monica Annual Report stated 230 manufacturing plants were surveyed in Santa Monica. Among the largest plants were McDonnell Douglas (missiles and spacecraft), Lear-Siegler Inc. (130,000 sq ft) (aerospace and electric components), Plastiglide Manufacturing Company (plastic parts), Systems Development Corporation (research and development), General Telephone Company of California (telephone utility), the RAND Corporation (analytical research), and Paper Mate Pen Company (ball point pens). There were 600 employees at Paper Mate, and 2,600 employees at System Development Corporation. Other industrial companies included: Titeflex, a division of the Atlas Corporation that manufactured flexible hoses and fittings aircraft (2328 Broadway); American Appliance Corporation, manufacturer that produced gas and electric water heaters (2425 Michigan Avenue); and the Parker Manufacturing Company (2140 Colorado Blvd). Roughly 670 acres in Santa Monica were zoned for heavy and light industry, about 5 percent of which were vacant parcels varying in size from 10,000 square feet to 15 acres.

Paper Mate

In 1940, entrepreneur Patrick Joseph Frawley Jr., acquired a ballpoint pen parts manufacturer that he named the Frawley Pen Company, located in Culver City. Nine years later, in 1949, the company developed a new instant drying ink that was delivered in a new pen Frawley dubbed the “Paper Mate.”82 During the early 1950s, the Frawley Pen Company spent millions of dollars promoting the Paper Mate pen in advertising campaigns that featured celebrities such as George Burns, Gracie Allen and Zsa Zsa Gabor (Figure 36). By 1955, Frawley sold 21 million pens, captured 80% of the ball-point-pen market, and made Paper Mate one of the largest U.S. pen manufacturers.83 Following the company’s sale to the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1955 for $15.5 million, it was renamed the Paper Mate Manufacturing Company (Paper Mate). In 1956, Paper Mate announced the consolidation of its Culver City operations into a new facility to be erected in Santa Monica – the subject property – where it remained until the factory’s closing in 2005.84

Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s Paper Mate continued to introduce new writing instruments; such as the Flair Pen with a porous point (1966), the Powerpoint refill that could write at any angle was (1969), the Write Bros. stick pen (1971), and the Erasemate pen with a new type of erasable ink (1979).85 Several patents were issued to Paper Mate during this period, such as a 1967 patent for a ball point pen (Figure 37) and a 1968 patent for a writing instrument (Figure 38).86 After Paper Mate developed new products, the company continued to inventively market their new products in 82 Time Magazine, “The Mighty Pen,” September 26, 1955. 83 Ibid. 84 Santa Monica Mirror, “Paper Mate to Leave Santa Monica,” February 16-22, 2005. p.1. 85 http://www.papermate.com/sanford/consumer/papermate/history_frame.jhtml?timeframe=60 assessed July 15, 2009. 86 United States Patent Office. Writing Instrument #210,858. April 23, 1968.

United States Patent Office. Ball Point Pen #206,636. January 3, 1967.

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newspapers and magazines. For example, an advertisement for their new “Tu-Tone” pens in the August 8, 1955 Los Angeles Times used the catch line “styled with million-dollar new car colors!” along with stylized images of the Tu-Tone pen and car (Figure 39). Other full page advertisements in magazines included the 1959 advertisement with the catch line of “There’s a Paper Mate for everyone on your Christmas list!” (Figure 40) and the 1964 advertisement for the Profile Trio with the catch line of “Now! Pick the Pen to Fit Your Grip!” (Figure 41).

Paper Mate was one of the top American ball point pen companies, sharing the ranks with the Parker Pen Company (maker of the Eversharp), Wearever, and Scripto. The top ranked city for pen production was Brooklyn and the surrounding areas in 1963, and Los Angeles ranked second in the nation. The Southern California pen manufacturers included the Lindy Pen Company (9601 West Jefferson, Culver City), who had a 22,000 square-foot factory in 1966 (Figure 42); Kimberly Corporation; Scripto (Monrovia); Flo-Ball Pen Corporation (5356 Riverton Avenue, North Hollywood); and Hartley Pen Company (Costa Mesa), who had a 28,000 square-foot factory.87 There were also other pen manufacturers in Los Angeles imitating Paper Mate’s product and advertising scheme: Paper-Master Pen Company (6411 Hollywood Blvd.); B-B pen Company (6245 Santa Monica Blvd.); and Universal Pen Co., Inc.88 Additionally there were other pen related businesses, such as Formulabs, Inc., located in Escondido that produced ink, and Technicolor, Inc., that produced ball point refills.89

As a successful company, Paper Mate added new products to continue their viability within the office supply market. Even though Paper Mate built-upon their product line, their most significant contribution to the pen market was the instant drying ink developed in 1949 along with their creative marketing campaign. The other Paper Mate products developed after 1949, while new and successful, were not as influential as their initial product, the instant drying ink.

King Camp Gillette Timeline90

1855 – King Camp Gillette is born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

1859 – The Gillette family moves to Chicago

87 Los Angeles Times, “Ball Point Pen Production is Rolling Along in This Area,” February 10, 1963, p. N1. Los Angeles Times, “Pen Firm Buys Valley Plant,” July 12, 1964, p. M26. Los Angeles Times, “Lindy Pen to Enlarge Plant,” August 28, 1966, p. M30. Los Angeles Times, “New Scripto Pen Plant,” February 23, 1963, p. OC_C4. Los Angeles Times, “New Pen Plant Opens Today in North Hollywood,” October 11, 1949, p. 2. 88 Los Angeles Times, “Paper Mate Pen Makers Sue Three Competitors,” December 1, 1953, p. 18. 89 Los Angeles Times, “Ball Point Pen Production is Rolling Along in This Area,” February 10, 1963, p. N1. 90 King C. Gillette: The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device, by Russell B. Adams, Jr. (Boston: Little, Brown &

Co., 1978).

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1871 – The Chicago Fire destroys the Gillette family’s hardware supply business; the Gillette family subsequently moves to New York City.

1873 – King Camp Gillette becomes a traveling salesman and pursues a variety of sales jobs over the next 20 years.

1894 – An ardent utopian socialist, Gillette publishes his book, The Human Drift. The dedication reads: "The thoughts herein contained are dedicated to all mankind; for to all the hope of escape from an environment of injustice, poverty, and crime, is equally desirable." 91

1889 – While living in Boston, King Camp Gillette has a flash of insight and envisions a disposable, readily replaced razor. MIT-trained metallurgists scoff at Mr. Gillette’s notion of creating a razor by sharpening an edge on a small square of sheet steel.

1895 – Mr. Gillette eventually locates an engineer, William Emery Nickerson, who produces the disposable blade.92

1901 – King Camp Gillette and William Emery Nickerson form the American Safety Razor Company.

1904 - Gillette wins the patent for the product. Single razor handles are sold individually and multiple razor blades are sold in packages.

July 1911 – King Camp Gillette purchases 153 acres in Santa Monica for $155,000. Gillette states that he plans to name the property “Ranch de Las Navajas,” or “Razor Ranch.” Gillette plans to build a “hundred-thousand-dollar mansion there.” The Los Angeles Times reports that Gillette may also build a large manufacturing plant in Los Angeles.93

June 1913 – Gillette’s Regent Square subdivision is publicly advertised. The Los Angeles Times reports that King Camp Gillette’s son, King G. Gillette, will build a “fine English mansion” in Regent Square, designed by Arthur Heineman.94 Joseph Smith, head of the Mormon Church, purchases a half block in Gillette’s Regent Square subdivision and plans to construct a permanent home there.95

91 Gillette, King Camp, The Human Drift, Boston: New Era Publishing Co., 1894. 92 Lemelson-MIT Center, Inventor of the Week Archive, http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/gillette.html 93 “Razor Money, Razor Ranch,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1911, p. II1. 94 “For Seaward Tract,” Los Angeles Times, June 1, 1913, p. V1. 95 “Mormon Head Buys Land,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1913, p. II4.

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April 1914 – An advertisement appears in the Los Angeles Times for King Camp Gillette’s Regent Square subdivision in Santa Monica-San Vicente. “The surpassing magnificence of this San Vicente-Santa Monica offering prevents adequate word description.”96

1915 – King Gillette constructs a Spanish Colonial Revival style mansion in Beverly Hills.97

Nov 1924 – King Camp Gillette purchases the southeast corner of Sixth Street and Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles for $1.475 million. The Los Angeles Times reports that Mr. Gillette already owns the northeast corner of South Figueroa and Tenth Streets, “other valuable Los Angeles property,” 1,100 acres of olive and orange groves in Tulare County, and several thousand acres in Santa Barbara County.98

1926 – King Camp Gillette purchases property in the Santa Monica Mountains and commissions architect Wallace Neff to build him a "paradise on earth, California style."99

1929 – King Camp Gillette loses a considerable portion of his personal wealth in the Great Crash.

July 1932 – At the age of 77, King Camp Gillette dies at his ranch, known today as King Gillette Ranch.100

The historical record does not suggest that there is any direct correlation between King Camp Gillette and the Paper Mate site. Mr. Gillette’s primary legacy in Santa Monica appears to be his purchase in 1911 and subdivision in the mid-1910s of the elite Gillette’s Regent Square tract, which is roughly bounded today by Montana on the south, San Vicente on the north, 17th Street on the west and 21st Place on the east. In addition to his Santa Monica investments, Mr. Gillette had extensive holdings throughout Southern California during the 1910s and 1920s, including agricultural lands and properties in downtown Los Angeles. In 1916, Mr. Gillette moved to Beverly Hills. In 1926, Mr. Gillette purchased property in the Santa Monica Mountains, known today as the King Gillette Ranch. Architect Wallace Neff designed a large residence at the property, which was completed in 1928. King Camp Gillette died at the property in 1932.

96 “Gillette’s Regent Square,” Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1914, p. VI11. 97 “Razor Man to Build Mansion,” Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1915, p. V1.

"Diamond Gang Steals Razor Magnate’s Gems,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1916, p. II1. 98 “Cash for Downtown Site,” Los Angeles Times, November 11, 1924, p. A1. 99 Guide to King Gillette Ranch, http://smmc.ca.gov/KGRP/guide.html 100 “Obsequies Set for Gillette,” Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1932, p. A1.

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CONCLUSION

In applying the City’s significance criteria for individual recognition as a potential City of Santa Monica Landmark, the subject property does not appear to rise to the threshold of significance for Landmark designation. As an individual resource, Paper Mate does not exemplify, symbolize or manifest significant associations with the social, economic, or cultural history of Santa Monica. Paper Mate does not convey its association of the John M. Stahl Electronics Center because it is now a freestanding building without architectural context-the rest of the industrial tract has since been redeveloped. Furthermore, Paper Mate was one of the last of a group of buildings to be constructed in John M. Stahl Electronics Center, an industrial complex of buildings located between Olympic Boulevard, Cloverfield Boulevard and Colorado Avenue. As a later addition to the John M. Stahl Electronics Center, Paper Mate was not engaged in electronics innovation and was constructed outside of the main core of buildings. The primary occupants of the electronics center included Burton Manufacturing Company and Systems Development Corporation, which were prominent electronics research and manufacturing companies. Both of these companies were contractors to the United States military, and their software and electronics developments revolutionized the electronics and computer industry. As a pen manufacturing company, Paper Mate did not make a significant contribution to the development of industrial technology or electronics. The technology Paper Mate employed in their products were already developed when the company was formed. Additionally, Paper Mate was not a major employer in postwar Santa Monica; other industrial businesses employed greater numbers and occupied greater square footage. Thus, the subject property does not individually rise to the necessary threshold of historical, social and cultural importance within the industrial history of Santa Monica to qualify as a City Landmark.

Paper Mate does not possess sufficient architectural merit to warrant designation as a distinctive or outstanding example of vernacular modern industrial architecture. While the subject property has a Modern designed front office section, the rear factory section appears to be a typical, undistinguished utilitarian manufacturing warehouse that is not connected to the Modern Movement in architecture. Modern factories had no clear architectural boundaries between the management and the factory floor, which was intended to create non-hierarchical spaces where both the management and workers shared a similar architectural environment. Because the subject property is essentially two buildings, the steel-frame Modern office section and the tilt-up concrete utilitarian factory section, the former Paper Mate property does not appear to meet the architectural threshold for Modern factories. The Paper Mate building does not reflect a unified design concept--the primary focus of the architecture is on the front elevation, which does not communicate with the remaining elevations. As a result, the subject property is not a notable example of Modern factory.

As an example of a modern industrial architecture the building does not fully articulate the key design elements of the idiom to express an ideal of the style. The second-floor cantilever and the ribbon windows on the front elevation are the primary Modern features of the subject property.

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Architect Richard Dorman’s incorporation of a projecting cantilever for the subject property’s office section can be rationalized for its function in shading the ground floor elevations from the sun, and the prominent cantilever could be interpreted as an architectural statement by Dorman expressing the structural and spatial possibilities of Modern Architecture. The ribbon windows on the front ground floor may also be identified with the Modern movement. However, the cantilevered second floor nearly obscures the design of the horizontal ribbon windows below when viewed from the public right-of-way, and the depth of the cantilever blocks a substantial amount of light from entering the ground floor interior. The Paper Mate sign was attached to the façade, and the colored diamond pattern provided a visual field for the sign. Later alterations including the steel brace retrofitting, the total removal of the original interiors, and the covering over the west elevation signage leaves little connection between the subject property and the Modern Movement in architecture. As a result, the subject property lacks sufficient aesthetic or architectural value.

Current research does not indicate that this resource is identified with historic personages or with important events in local, state or national history. There is not any relation between King Camp Gillette and the Paper Mate site. Furthermore, Paper Mate is not associated with important developments in pen technology after instant drying ink was developed in 1949. Paper Mate is not a rare, extant example of a historical property type: a vernacular modern industrial building. There are other better examples of vernacular modern industrial buildings in Los Angeles that fully articulate the key design elements of the idiom. The Vail Field tract in the Central Manufacturing District, a John M. Stahl industrial development, is an excellent example of an intact industrial district with a variety of vernacular modern industrial buildings. Additionally, the Packard-Bell building down the street from Paper Mate is a better example of a vernacular modern industrial building. Therefore, Paper Mate is not a rare extant example of a vernacular modern industrial building.

The property is not a significant representative example of Richard Lee Dorman’s work. As one of the first projects Dorman completed after establishing his own practice, the Paper Mate building was not recognized in the architectural press at the time of its completion, and did not exemplify his architectural philosophy of “total design.” Richard Dorman’s other residential, commercial and industrial projects are better representations of his work.

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Arts & Architecture, “House,” 76 (December 1959): 24-25.

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Arts & Architecture, “Building for Research.” 75 (December 1958): 26, 30.

Arts & Architecture, “A.I.A. Awards for 1961,” 78.7 (July 1961): 23.

Architectural Record, “Married Students Housing: University of Southern California,” 138 (August 1965): 113-136.

Architectural Record, “Private Residence: Sherman Oaks California,” 41 (1967): 86-87.

Architectural Record, “A Bank in a Small Neighborhood Shopping Center,” 142 (1967): 130 131.

Baum, Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981.

City of Santa Monica. Santa Monica Annual Report. 1958-1959.

Cohan, Charles C, “Tomboyish LA becoming more beauty conscious,” Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1958, p. 96.

Cohan, Charles C, “40-Story Height Building Planned,” Los Angeles Times, November 25, 1956, p. G1.

Cohan, Charles C, “Oversea Lands Now realizing Realty’s Value,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1955, p. F1.

Gebhard, Davis and Robert Winter. An Architectural Guide to Los Angeles. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2003.

Memorandum



Hilton, George W. and John Fitzgerald Due. The Electric Interurban Railways in America. New York: Stanford University Press, 2000, p. 412.

Hunt, William Dudley. Total Design: Architecture of Welton Becket and Associates. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1972.

Koyl, George Simpson. American Architects Directory. New York: R R Bowker, 1955. p. 231.

Lenox, Barbara, “What Is Total Design?” Los Angeles Times, May 10, 1953, p. J10.

Leonardo Benevelo. History of Modern Architecture. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press, 1977, 428.

Los Angeles Times, “Big Industrial Project Set for La Sierra,” January 12, 1958, p. F5.

Los Angeles Times, “Work Starts on Office Building,” January 17, 1960, p. F12.

Los Angeles Times, “Developer Announce Negotiating Agent,” September 29, 1957, p. F4.

Los Angeles Times, “Display Ad 149,” January 2, 1957, p. 201.

Los Angeles Times, “Remodeling Project,” October 7, 1956, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Planned,” February 16, 1958, p. F9.

Los Angeles Times, “Office Building Remodeling Job Furthered,” October 7, 1956, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Big Industrial Project Set for La Sierra,” January 12, 1958 p. F5.

Los Angeles Times, “Work Starts on Industrial Building,” January 17, 1960, p. F12.

Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Site Development Set,” November 25, 1951, p. E4.

Los Angeles Times, “Cyanamid’s Extensive New Location Opened,” September 30, 1951, p. E4.

Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Building Being Started,” April 15, 1951, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Site Structure Tops $500,000,” March 14, 1954, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Boost Given to Industry: Eight Structures Form One Program in CMD District,” July 19, 1953, p. E1.

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Los Angeles Times, “Big Program Rounded Out: New Unit Slated in $3,500,000 List of Buildings,” February 28, 1954, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Structure Rising as a unit in $3,000,000 SMD Program,” October 24, 1954, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Big Structures Here Scheduled for RCA Use,” July 10, 1955, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Third Building Announces in a Series of Five,” January 23, 1955, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “New $7,000,000 Development Set,” March 13, 1955, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “American Vicose Corp Unit’s Site announced,” May 15, 1955, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Unit Added to Program of Building Departments,” September 4, 1955, p. D1.

Los Angeles Times, “Large Project Newly Readied in CMD area,” September 25, 1955, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Extensive New Project Begun in CMD Area,” March 11, 1956, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Furtherance,” March 11, 1954, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Buildings Readied in Big Development,” May 19, 1957, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Structure Rising as a unit in $3,000,000 SMD Program,” October 24, 1954, p.E1.

Los Angeles Times, “New CMD Structure,” May 19, 1957, p. H1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Facility in Use on CMD Site,” July 21, 1957, p. F1.

Los Angeles Times, “Work Started on RCA Expansion of RCA Plant,” November 6, 1960, p. M3.

Los Angeles Times, “West Coast facility Completed By Firm,” October 29, 1961, p. I129

Los Angeles Times, “New Structure Rising on Location in CMD,” April 18, 1954, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “$6,000,000 Structure Slated for Construction,” August 12, 1956, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Video Maker Building Plant,” November 6, 1949, p. F1.

Memorandum



Los Angeles Times, “Packard-Bell Celebrates Silver Anniversary,” February 11, 1951, p. B10.

Los Angeles Times, “Ground Is Broken for Large Addition to Extensive Plant,” June 29, 1952, p. E9.

Los Angeles Times, “Extensive Addition,” June 29, 1952, p. E9.

Los Angeles Times, “Japanese Visitors Here to Study TV,” October 16, 1951, p. A20.

Los Angeles Times, “Ball Point Pen Production is Rolling Along in This Area,” February 10, 1963, p. N1.

Los Angeles Times, “Plucking the Birds at the Ostrich Farm – New Residence,” October 14, 1890, p. 7.

Los Angeles Times, “Carnations at South Santa Monica,” July 9, 1899, pg. 30; Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica Honey,” January 23, 1898, p. 18.

Los Angeles Times, “Snail Industry in Santa Monica,” May 7, 1901, p. 15.

Los Angeles Times, “Chamber of Commerce,” August 28, 1901, p. 4.

Los Angeles Times, “Board of Trade for Santa Monica,” September 6, 1901, p. 15.

Los Angeles Times, “Gathering the Bean Crop from Seven Thousand Acres in the Santa Monica District,” September 25, 1903, p. A1.

Los Angeles Times, “Beans Awarded Silver Medal,” December 9, 1904, p. A11.

Los Angeles Times, “Means Much for Santa Monica: Important New Industry Established Here,” December 8, 1904, p. A11.

Los Angeles Times, “Important Industries to be established Near the Present Pottery Plant,” December 9, 1904, p. A11.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica: Brick for the Outfall,” February 2, 1905, p. II11.

Los Angeles Times, “Pack Alfalfa Near Seashore: New Industry Projected for Santa Monica,” March 30, 1907, p. I110.

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Los Angeles Times, “People Asked to Subscribe: Furniture Factory May Be Built in Santa Monica,” February 9, 1908 p. 18.

Los Angeles Times, “City Council Shuts Down on Outside Laundries,” August 26, 1915, p. I17.

Los Angeles Times, “Urged to Get Special Line,” July 8, 1917, p. 18.

Los Angeles Times, “Carloads of Bottles: Big Orders for Santa Monica Glass Factory,” September 23, 1917, p. V12.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monicans Out in Force Behind Clover Field Issue,” September 2, 1925, p. 8.

Los Angeles Times, “Campaign for Industry Begins in Santa Monica,” August 30, 1925, p. G11.

Los Angeles Times, “Announce Organ Factory,” February 28, 1926, p. E15.

Los Angeles Times, “Plane Plant to be Built: Douglas Company Will Erect New Factory Before Lease on Present Site Expires,” December 1, 1927, p. A1.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Plant Opened,” January 23, 1927, p. E11.

Los Angeles Times, “Company Opens New Plant,” December 27, 1931, p. C3.

Los Angeles Times, “Plans Laid for Three Plants: Show Corporation to Erect Santa Monica Factory,” September 23, 1928, p. E6.

Los Angeles Times, “Aircraft Factory Showing Phenomenal Growth in ten Years: Now Ranked Santa Monica’s Largest Industry,” October 6, 1929, p. E5.

Los Angeles Times, “Plane Firm to Expand: Douglas Company Offers to Purchase Airport Parcels From Santa Monica,” December 23, 1934, p. 30.

Los Angeles Times, “Douglas Plane Factory to Be Doubles in Size,” January 22, 1936, p. A.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Nerve Center of Aviation Defense,” March 17, 1941, p. 1B.

Los Angeles Times, “New Pen Plant Opens Today in North Hollywood,” October 11, 1949, p. 2.

Los Angeles Times, “Paper Mate Pen Makers Sue Three Competitors,” December 1, 1953, p. 18.

Los Angeles Times, “Large Increase of Industry Is Newly Slated,” December 4, 1954. p.F1.

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Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Structure to Rise in New Tract,” March 20, 1955, p. E4.

Los Angeles Times, “Big Project Planned for Beach City: Factory and Office Unit Will Further Extensive Center,” October 21, 1956, p. E1.

Los Angeles Times, “Developer Announces Negotiating Agent,” September 29, 1957, p. F4.

Los Angeles Times, “Major Electronics Program Grows: $50,000,000 Project Will Have Big $2,500,000 Final Structure,” June 9, 1957, p. G1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Paper Mater Pen Plant Open,” January 8, 1958, p. 25.

Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monica Chamber to Pick Miss Industry,” March 30, 1958, p. WS3.

Los Angeles Times, “Beach City Economy Soaring, Survey Shows,” August 23, 1959, p. WS3.

Los Angeles Times, “Program for 1960 Tops $25 Million,” January 31, 1960, p. G1.

Los Angeles Times, “Work On Restaurant Nearing Completion,” May 15, 1960, p. N9.

Los Angeles Times, “Restaurant-Art Gallery in Santa Monica Open,” October 23, 1960, p. M11.

Los Angeles Times, “Restaurant Art-Gallery Wins AIA Merit Award,” March 12, 1961, p. P5.

Los Angeles Times, “Ball Point Pen Production is Rolling Along in This Area,” February 10, 1963, p. N1.

Los Angeles Times, “New Scripto Pen Plant,” February 23, 1963, p. OC_C4.

Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Survey Made by Bay City Chamber,” August 22, 1963, p.H5.

Los Angeles Times, “Pen Firm Buys Valley Plant,” July 12, 1964, p. M26.

Los Angeles Times, “Lindy Pen to Enlarge Plant,” August 28, 1966, p. M30.

Los Angeles Times, “Leases: Paper Mate to Expand Facilities,” December 31, 1967, p. H7.

Los Angeles Times, “Gillette will move Papermate Packaging to Santa Monica,” March 6, 1984, p. E2.

McCoy Esther, “Young Architects in the United States,” Zodiac 8 (1961): 168-185.

Memorandum



Moosbrugger, Ed, “Merle Norman’s Roots Deep in Santa Monica,” Evening Outlook, September 24, 1981.

Perez-Mendez, Alfonson. Craig Ellwood: In the Spirit of Time. Spain: Gustavo Gili, 2002.

Piccalo, Gina, “A Dream Takes Wing,” Evening Outlook, December 23, 1999, p. 3.

Santa Monica Evening Outlook, “Paper Mate Dedicates New Building in Santa Monica,” August 3, 1968.

Santa Monica – Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce. Industrial Division. Industrial Santa Monica. 1955.

Santa Monica Historical Resources Inventory 1985-1986, Final Report.

Santa Monica Mirror, “Paper Mate to Leave Santa Monica,” February 16-22, 2005, p.1.

Scott, Paula A. Santa Monica: A History on the Edge. New York: Arcadia Publishing, 2004.

Serraino, Pierluigi, Modernism Rediscovered. New York: Taschen, 2000.

Simon Eisner and Associates. Master Plan for the City of Santa Monica. April 20, 1957.

State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, Historic Resources Inventory Form Update, Central Business District and Third Street Promenade. Prepared by Tearnen, Bricker, and Field, 1998

Stephen, Sennott. Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2004.

United States Patent Office. Paper Mate Writing Instrument #210,858. April 23, 1968.

United States Patent Office. Paper Mate Ball Point Pen #206,636. January 3, 1967.

Western Architecture and Engineer, “Three Ventures Into Structural Expression,” July 1959, p. 27

Memorandum



ATTACHMENTS

Current Paper Mate Photographs

Historic Paper Mate Photographs

Modern Factory Buildings

Vernacular Modern Industrial Buildings

Richard Lee Dorman


Paper Mate Products

Memorandum



Current Paper Mate Photographs

Subject property, office portion, west elevation, looking northeast

Subject property, office portion, south elevation, looking northeast

Memorandum



Subject property, factory portion, south elevation, looking northeast

Subject property, factory portion, north elevation, looking southeast

Memorandum



Landscape elements, office portion west elevation, looking north

Office portion, V-shaped braces, west elevation, looking east

Memorandum



Office portion, V-shaped brace, west elevation, looking northeast

Office portion, main entrance, west elevation, looking east

Memorandum



Subject property, interior, original factory portion, looking southeast

Subject property, interior, original factory portion, laboratory room, looking south

Memorandum



Historic Paper Mate Photographs

Proposed Paper Mate Circa 1956

(Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Big Project Planned for Beach City,” October 21, 1956, p. E1.)

Paper Mate Circa 1958

(Courtesy of Paper Mate History website, 2008.)

Memorandum



Paper Mate Circa 1960

(Courtesy of Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives.)

Memorandum



Modern Factory Buildings

Figure 1. The Fagus Factory, Alfred-an-der-Leine, Germany, designed by Carl Benscheidt, Walter Gropius and Alfred Meyer (1911-13)

Figure 2. The Lever Brothers Company Factory, City of Commerce, California, designed by Welton Becket and Associates (1951)

Memorandum



Figure 3. Scientific Data Systems (now Xerox), El Segundo, California, designed by Craig Ellwood and Associates (1965-1966)

Figure 4. Magnavox Building, Torrance, California, designed by Torrance Risley and Gould in Torrance (1960)

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Vernacular Modern Industrial Buildings

Figure 5. 12333 Olympic Boulevard, West Los Angeles (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Packard-Bell Celebrates Silver Anniversary,” February 11, 1951, p. B10.)

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Figure 6. 12333 Olympic Boulevard, West Los Angeles

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Figure 7. John M. Stahl Advertisement, 1957 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Display Ad 149,” January 2, 1957, p. 201.)

Memorandum



2249 Garfield Avenue


2169 Garfield Avenue Figure 8. Vail Field Tract in the Central Manufacturing District

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Figure 11. Par-Way Building, 2359 Garfield Avenue, Vail Field Tract in Central Manufacturing District (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Site Structure Tops $500,000,” March 14, 1954, p. E1.)

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Figure 12. American Cyanamid Company, 2300 S Eastern Avenue, Vail Field Tract in Central Manufacturing District (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “New Industrial Building Being Started,” April 15, 1951, p. E1.)

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Richard Lee Dorman

Figure 13. Office Building, Manila, Richard Dorman, 1959 (Courtesy of “Office Building [Manila].” Arts & Architecture 76 (July 1959): 24.)

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Figure 14. Los Angeles International Design Center, 8899 Beverly Blvd, Beverly Hills, 1962

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Figure 15. University of Southern California Married Married Students Housing, Richard Dorman, 1965 (Courtesy of “Married Students Housing: University of Southern California.” Architectural Record 138 (August 1965): 113-136.)

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Figure 16. Beverly Hills National Bank, Brentwood, Richard Dorman, 1967 (Courtesy of “A Bank in a Small Neighborhood Shopping Center.” Architectural Record 142 (1967): 130-131.)

Memorandum



Figure 17. Three Houses, Richard Dorman, 1959 (Courtesy of “Three Ventures Into Structural Expression,” Western Architecture and Engineer, July 1959, p. 27.)

Memorandum



Figure 18. House, Richard Dorman, 1959 (Courtesy of “House.” Arts & Architecture 76 (December 1959): 24-25.)

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Figure 19. Atomics International Division of North American Aviation, San Fernando Valley (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “$6,000,000 Structure Slated for Construction,” August 12, 1956, p. E1.)

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Figure 20. Tasker Instruments, San Fernando Valley (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Program for 1960 Tops $25 Million,” January 31, 1960, p. G1.)

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Figure 21. View of Santa Monica and bay showing the road and wharf of the Los Angeles & Independence Railroad, about 1875. (Courtesy of LAPL Photo Collection)

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Figure 22. Composite of ships and the Long Wharf freight pier built by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 1893 (Courtesy of SMPL)

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Figure 23. Proposed Plan of Douglas Aircraft Company, 1925 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Santa Monicans Out in Force Behind Colver Field Issue,” September 2, 1925, p. 8.)

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Figure 24. View of the pits between Cloverfield Blvd. and Twenty-Sixth Street, Santa Monica, Calif., Separated by a trestle which was a spur of the Pacific Electric tracks, February 27, 1939 (Courtesy of SMPL)

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Figure 25. Outline of Proposed John M. Stahl Electronics Center, circa 1954 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Large Increase of Industry Is Newly Slated.” December 4, 1954. p.F1.)

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Figure 26. Design for Burton Manufacturing Company, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, Colorado Street and Cloverfield Boulevard, circa 1955 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Industrial Structure to Rise in New Tract,” March 20, 1955, p. E4.)

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Figure 27. Design for Paper Mate Manufacturing Company, circa 1956 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Big Project Planned for Beach City: Factory and Office Unit Will Further Extensive Center,” October 21, 1956, p. E1.)

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Figure 28. Model of John M. Stahl Electronics Center, circa 1957 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Major Electronics Program Grows: $50,000,000 Project Will Have Big $2,500,000 Final Structure,” June 9, 1957, p. G1.)

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Figure 29. Systems Development Corporation, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, circa 1959 (Courtesy of Baum, Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981.)

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Figure 30. Systems Development Corporation, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, Richard Dorman, 1958 (Courtesy of “Building for Research.” Arts & Architecture 75 (December 1958): 26.)

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Figure 31. 2400 Colorado Avenue, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, circa December 1962 (Courtesy of Baum, Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981.)

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Figure 32. 2500 Colorado Avenue, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, (Courtesy of Baum, Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981.)

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Figure 33. 3000 Olympic Boulevard, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, circa 1960 (Courtesy of Baum, Claude. The System Builders: The Story of SDC. Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corp., 1981.)

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Figure 34. Ivory Tower Restaurant, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, 1610 26th Street (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Work On Restaurant Nearing Completion,” May 15, 1960, p. N9.)

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Figure 35. Ivory Tower Restaurant, John M. Stahl Electronics Center, 1610 26th Street (Courtesy of “A.I.A. Awards for 1961.” Arts & Architecture 78.7 (July 1961): 23.)

Paper Mate Products

Memorandum



Paper Mate Products

Figure 36: Paper Mate Ads. Left: George Burns and Gracie Allen (Courtesy of Saturday Evening Post, June 6, 1953.) Right: Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1953

Memorandum



Figure 37. United States Patent Office. Writing Instrument #210,858. April 23, 1968

Memorandum



Figure 38. United States Patent Office. Ball Point Pen #206,636. January 3, 1967

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Figure 39. Paper Mate Tu-Tone Pens Advertisement, August 8, 1955 (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Display Ad 18,” August 8, 1955, p. 20.)

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Figure 40: Paper Mate Advertisement, 1959

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Figure 41: Paper Mate Advertisement, 1964

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Figure 42. Lindy Pen Company, 9601 W Jefferson, Culver City, Rancho La Ballona Industrial Tract (Courtesy of Los Angeles Times, “Photo Standalone 15,” March 30, 1958, p. F7.)

Memorandum



APPENDIX

Appendix A: Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1902

Appendix B: Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1918

Appendix C: Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1950

Memorandum



Appendix A Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1902

Industry Address

Bassett and Nebeker Lumber Yard Between 6th and 7th and Railroad Ocean Park Lumber Company Santa Fe Railroad and Joy

Ocean Park Steam Laundry Rose and Santa Fe Railroad Santa Monica Steam Laundry 7th and Railroad

Southern California Railroad (Santa Fe) Union Livery Stable Utah and 2nd

United Electric gas and Power Co Plants Santa Fe Railroad and Joy United Electric Gas and Power Companies Plant 8th and Railroad

Memorandum



Appendix B Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1918

Industry Location

Bassett and Nebeker Lumber Yard Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and 7th Street

Braun, Bryant and Austin, Asphalt and Paving Contractors

Colorado Avenue and 3rd Street

Los Angeles Pressed Brick Plant No. 2 (subject property)

23rd Street and Colorado Avenue

Olson Lumber Company Colorado Avenue and 3rd Street

Pacific Planning Mill 4th Street and Michigan

Patten and Davies Lumber Company Colorado Avenue and 3rd Street

Simons Brick Co Plant No. 4 (near subject property) 23rd Street and Michigan

Southwest Warehouse, Hay and Coal Warehouse Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and 17th Street

Standard Oil Company Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue, and 4th Street

Hay and Coal Warehouse Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and 17th Street

Bay cities Dye Works (future site of Merle Norman) Main Street and Central Avenue Imperial Ice Co – Ice Mfg and Bottling Works Main Street and Hollister

Lorbeer Bros Steam Laundry Main Street and Hill Dye’s works Santa Monica Boulevard and 8th Street

Livery Utah Avenue and 3rd Street Santa Monica Corporation Yards Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

8th Street Contracting Company Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

8th Street Feed and Fuel Yard Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

8th Street Vacation Laundry Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

7th Street Union Oil of California Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

7th Street Santa Monica Incinerator Pacific Electric Right of Way, Colorado Avenue and

8th Street

Memorandum



Appendix C Industries listed on Sanborn Map of 1950

Industry Address

Arden Farms Company 12th and Colorado Auto Electrical Repair Lincoln and Colorado Auto Wrecking Yard 14th and Olympic Blsm and Mach Shop Lincoln and Colorado

Ceramics 2661 Main City Yard 2500 Michigan

Dental Manufacturing Euclid and Michigan Douglas Aircraft Company Ocean Park and Clover Field

Douglas Aircraft Company - Storage Exposition and Stewart Dudley-Thomas Lumber Co 20th and Colorado Electric Parts Manufacturing Euclid and Olympic

Fisher lumber Company 14th and Colorado Garment Manufacturing Olympic and 12th Street General Pet Corporation 17th and Olympic

Gladding McBean and Co Santa Monica Plant 26th Street and Olympic Golden State Lumber Company Broadway and Chelsea L'Escoulie Lumber Company Olympic and 9th Street

Machine Shop Bay and Main Mattress Factory Olympic and 9th Street Mattress Factory Olympic and 12th Street Merle Norman Main and Ocean Park

Merle Norman Warehouse Main and Ocean Park Mfg Artificial Limbs Bay and Main Paint and Body Shop 10th and Colorado Patten-Blinn Lbr Co 7th and Colorado

Picture Frames Manufacturer Olympic and 11th Street Santa Monica Ice and Cold Storage Company 12th and Colorado

Sash, Doors and Hardware Warehouse 14th and Olympic Sheet Metal Works 2651 Main

Southern Ca Edison Company Warehouse Lincoln and Colorado Toy Manufacturing Olympic and 10th Street

Wood Products Manufacturing Euclid and Olympic

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