Los Angeles herald., 1891-06-08

Any one who would have predicted
Redondo's present popularity as sea-
side resort five years ago would have
been laughed at. The place then was a
desolate strip of beach, with one or two
shanties perched along the sand bluffs
and occupied by impoverished fisher
men-and that was all. To any one
who has not seen this magical spot
within the past half-decade the trans
formation would appear like one OF
Aladdin's achievements. Thousands
now visit Redondo every Sunday, while
it is doubtful if thousand people ever
saw the spot before it was first thought
of as resort. Los Angeles rapid and
phenomenal growth has made Redondo
thrive in proportion to the prosperity of
the city itself, and the older breathing
places" must look to their laurels or
this new aspirant for popular favor will
take them.
Owing to The welcome return of the
heated spell, or the really comfortable
season called by that misapplied term
in Los Angeles, the new beach had its
first big crowd yesterday. 1t was very
modest crowd, indeed, compared to the
throngs that go to Santa Monica of a
Sunday, but then it satisfied the vari-
GUS caterers to the public's convenience,
and, as there are not so many of this
class here as at the older beach, every
one had all he could handle.
Redondo claims little bit of exclus-
iveness. The friends of this choice spot
assert, and with some degree of accu
racy, that the ragtag and bobtail of the
city give them the go-by, and spend
their leisure hours in boisterous sport
ings at Santa Monica, where everything
goes" and the limit is abolished. Re-
dondo, on the other hand, maintains
that only the select visit her classic
shore and that the rough elements very
welcome to stay away. This certainly
used to be the case, but it is question
if the crowds which now seek the rip
pling water at Redondo are not nearly if
not quite as homogeneous as could be
gathered from the city's population. At
any rate the surf is milder, the wind
less boisterous, the improvements more
numerous and the fare just as cheap to
Redondo, and the seaside-going popula-
tion is beginning to find this out.
Yesterday there were perhaps 1000 pee
pie on the beach, on the long cement
promenade, in the pavilion, at the hotel,
and in the surf. They came on the ten
trains that pulled down from the city,
in wagons, in surreys, and on bicycles
and they were all prepared to have a
good time. The beach caught the first
crowd, but later in the day the pleasure
hunters scattered, went out on the Peli-
can after bonita and NAL du mer, crowd
ed the pavilion to dance, sat on the
broad verandahs of the hotel or prone
naded on the long cement walk.
1t was typical summer holiday
crowd, and the summer girl was out in
numbers. To be true. challies, cambrics
and lawns were in the majority, and
there wasn't even a China silk on the
beach; but that didn't matter, and the
trusting young creature who danced in
the pavilion with blue cloth waist and
muslin skirt had just as good time as
anybody, perhaps. The water was not
as warm as it might be, and this de-
tered many from bathing; but the
bath houses still had all thev could do,
and the clerks were kept busy all day.
There was no special occurrence dur
ing the day to attract general interest,
but if the hotel had burned down it
would probably not have attracted the
attention Of love-struck young couple
who lounged on one shawl and hid their
heads under one umbrella near the bath
house. They were not seen to move for
three hours, and the only conversation
they held during that time was
He--Isn't this lovely?
She[with emphasisl Perfectly lovely !!
He--Aln't you glad we came?
She-Yes, indeed.
And they relapsed into an ecstatic ST.
lence.
The enterprising young married man
who spent the whole day flirting with a
gay young thing from the Peoples Store
and then bought string of fish for 10
cents from boy at the end of the wharf
to show his wife, and to corroborate his
account of what he did at the beach,
will probably succeed in deceiving the
poor, trusting little woman at home
but he hadn't ought to, the brute.
To get back to the crowd, however,