Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-12
by CHESTER LAWRENCE

nHE formal opening of the beach
annex of the Los Angeles 'Athletlc
Il club at Venice will occur next Sat
urday evening and will be the occasion
of a celebration by the club members
at a smoker to be given in the club
rooms by the sea. Quite a large num-
Der of members are planning to go 10
Venice early in the day, to inspect the
new quarters, and not few of them
will remain through the night.
Billy Henderson, assistant secretary
and Dewitt c. Van Court put in sew
eral busy hours yesterday with local
furniture houses, selecting the furnl-
ture, carpets and general equipment Oh
the annex. It is intended that the an
neg shall be furnished in keeping with
the high tone that eharacterlzes eV'
erything about the local club rooms
and the outfittings will cost about $loOV;
These will be installed this week, anu
all will be in readiness for the open
ing. 49, ,ortt
end of the new bath house, and com
prises half a dozen rooms. A parlor'
srv1nna stun. buffet and reading rooms
and a large room for lockers VIII pe
among the attractive features OIL tlie
annex. In addition to these cohVelil-
ences. the club members will have the
,,se of the magnificent plunge, one or
the largest and finest on the coast anu
a ceront runway will extend to the
OCEAN for the convenience of batners'
Briefly summed up, the annex Will III III
nish the club members with all the
conyeniences and appointments OIL
modern city club at the SEASIDE.
THE gym room is 43x34 feet in size,
and viii he fully equipped with all the
annaratus necessary to a modern gym
rasium. Lockers, numbering sixty II,
ALI shower baths, wash STANDS anu
eIaani1p accommodations also are pro-
vided. A piano, writing TABLES anu a.
the latest magazines ana local news
uapers will be found in the sunny par
ioI that oyerlooks the sea, ana IL 10
-1ronosed eventually to furnish COM
n1efe and down-to-date library.
Tsha quarters for those desiring 10
+rein FOR amateur boxing bouts VIII pe
under the direct supervision OIL Dew W., ~
q Van Court, who, with Physical III.
structor Al Treloar, Will make two
trips a week, or more II hecessaly' AZ &c
ne classes grow larger, and give tne
x-anice bovs the same training that tney
would receive were they attending tne
los Angeles classes. There VIII pc
hovinq ring on the gymnasium hooi
and wrestling mat will occupy an
other corner. Taken altogether' IL VIZ y,
hs a miniature deplicate OF the lt,ai .i,
club house on Spring street - ~ tbe
and attendants will be on mana an III
five 10 look after the personal colnIor'
of the members.
History of the Club
Emerson once said in an essay upon
IL
"Conpensation, speak anu a. 49,, c'e
latent conviction and 1t shall pecoIne
~ ,,niversal sense" Thirty-five years
ego small number of Los Angeles
Zen met TO organize an athletic cluL
~ Los Angeles and the foregoing
nhrase was quoted. These few meI
believed that an athletic CLUB coulo
and should be formed in Los Ahseies
They backed this belief by orgahIzllls
the Los Angeles Athletic clup. nuI
rying through the lntervenins ye ~,
we And the one grand result OF tha'
meeting to be the Los Angeles AtIletlo
I club of 1908, now grown to the pro
portions of one of the foremost lnstl-
buttons OF the great west.
Organized in the year 1873, with
hardly a hundred members and an IN
ftiatson fee of $40, the club now mas
500 members and the initiation is SlOO
and before many months have passed
of small rooms in the Downey BLOCK
II was moved after two years into the
Stewell building, now the German
block. and in 1898 it again was moved
this time to the present location at 5S4
south Spring street. 1t struggled along
in this location for about year and
in 1899 suspended for lack of funds,
The club held it's original charter, and,
what was more important, held a few
of the veteran members, who still be-
Iieyed that the club would be made a
success and were willing again to
spend time, money and energy in the
attempt. They believed that If they
could get the business men of Los
Angeles interested in the club and sell
the club stock they could put the club
on a permanent basis. Leading advo-
Gates of this plan We're r. A. Rowan
Of The real estate firm of r. A. Rowan
e Co. Frank A. Garbutt, Theodore
Blessing and Charlie Eyton.
Old Club ReorganIzed
These old standpatters reorganized
the club in December, 1905, with an
issue of capital stock in the sum of
$500 600. They attempted to sell the
stock to local business men, who at
first we're skeptical, but soon saw that
the men behind the club were repre-
sentative citizens of Los Angeles, and