Playa del Rey lagoon showing Del Rey Hotel, Playa Del Rey Pavilion and pier, Los Angeles, ca.1908

Photograph of Playa del Rey lagoon showing Del Rey Hotel, Playa Del Rey Pavilion and pier, Los Angeles, ca.1908. The lagoon is in the shape of a track & field, except the field is the lagoon. Inclined bleachers encircle the lagoon's waterline allowing people a spectacle view of the water activities that go on within the lagoon. A Chinese-style pavilion is built near the mouth of the lagoon. Behind the pavilion is the pier. To the right of it is the Del Rey Hotel. Another building can be seen at left. As seen from the bluffs looking west towards the Pacific Ocean.; "The Playa del Rey area, located about two miles south of Kinney's Venice of America resort, was once, centuries ago, the mouth of the Los Angles River. But after the river shifted course to begin emptying in Los Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, it left behind a sleepy lagoon more than two miles wide and one fifth of a mile wide with a trickle of fresh water flowing to sea along La Ballona Creek. Nearly 100 lots were sold for prices ranging from $500 to $1500 at a July 16th auction and more were sold in August and September. With the completion of the Sherman and Clark owned Los Angeles Pacific electric trolley line, the 'Short Line,' to Los Angeles on October 19, 1902, hundreds began visiting the new resort. A pavilion and small hotel were eventually built in Oriental craftsman rather than Venetian style, around the lagoon in 1904, but few investors actually built on their lots. While Playa del Rey was considered a modest success in attracting day tourists, it proved to be Abbot Kinney's inspiration and served as an example of a resort that wasn't large enough in scope to attract investors or excite the public. The company built an impressive three-story, $100,000 pavilion with restaurant and dining rooms, bowling alleys and dance floor. Sherman and Clark's Los Angeles Pacific Railway Company built the $200,000 Hotel Del Rey with fifty guests rooms. A boat-racing course was laid out and a grandstand and boathouse erected on shore. A bridge spanned the lagoon's ocean entrance and a 1200-foot long fishing pier was built nearby." -- unknown author