Mexico weekly ledger., 1919-07-03
Pacific
Coast
Ideal
And
Pretty

The seventh series of letters from
Joseph Mcintyre was received here
this week. The letter was written I'M
der date of May %. Mr.. Mcintyre ant
his wife are making an extended tou1
in the west and southwest. His letter
follows:
Dear Colonel
Santa Monica, Calif.-This is one
of the play grounds of Southern Cal
ifornia and in my opinion is the best
one.
Santa Monica is about fourteen
miles southwest from Los Angeles, or
to put it in minutes, it is about forty
five minutes by the electric railway.
1t is situated on the ocean at a point
where the mountains literally u
down and into the sea and the slogan
of the town is where the Mountains
and Ocean Meet" which they actually
do, not five miles from our hotel.
Thirty years ago about the time l
graduated from the Mexico High
School, due to the perseverance of Ben
W. Torreyson and the tender mercies
of d. A. Mcmillan blessed be his
memory Santa Monica had fewer
than fifty people while today it has
nearly twenty thousand. 1t has an
average rainfall slightly in excess Of
fourteen inches, which practically all
falls in two months, leaving ten
months of the year as nearly perfect
as ear be found anywhere in the
world, with the sun shining every day
and the thermometer ranging from
fifty to eighty degrees only as the
warm ocean currents make January
first as delightful as July. The town
lies on a high plateau, borders from
two miles on the Pacific Ocean and is
enclosed by mountain ranges with
towering peaks and picturesque can
yons while on every hand is the great
est profusion of flowers and palm
trees. In fact, the flowers are so plen-
tiful that one lady stopping at this
hotel, expressed the fear that there
had not been any flowers left for the
rest O fthe world. Gun attention was
especially aroused by the fact that
for miles on either side of the roadway
and on the right of way itself is a row
of beautiful roses which have been
planted and are cultivated by the
county itself and the same is true Of
some of the lines of the electric rail-
way. The roads are made of asphalt,
as smooth as a parlor floor, and the
best to be found anywhere in the
United States.
The bathing here is the best to be
found in the entire state of California
as the beach is nearly five miles long,
is pure white sand and the water is
free from uptides and under
tows, and the temperature of the
ocean varies only about five degrees
in the course of a year, always stand !
ing between fifty-eight and sixty-foup {
farcnheit, so hat surface bathing is -.
actually INDUCED in every day in the 7
year. !
This is the closest point on the ocean !,
to Los Angeles and therefore on Sat- ,
urdays and Sundays thousands come
here from that city and may be seen -,
on the sand and bathing in the
ocean from morning until night, and
many of them bring their tents along l.
and camp on the sand from Saturday =.
until Monday. 1t would not be any :,
exaggeration to say that this is the
best beach between Portland and =.
Panama. "
This is certainly the fiisherman's :.
paradise and if Uncle Pate Morris .
and his fisherman friends could only y
see this place once they would prefer "
it to any happy fishing grounds they :.
have ever dreamed of in the world to l
zone. The runs here of herring, hall ="
lut, white fish, yellowtaiil, sardines :
and pompano are simply tremendous, v
while lobster and crawfish are abUnd- =
ant at certain seasons. The city has "
ouilt at a cost of eighty thousand dol "
.ars a concrete pier, fifty feet wide
put into the ocean five hundred feet a
for the use, free from charge, of all Il
who care to fish, and has thoroughly !"
equipped it with drinking fountains
and sinks for cleaning the fish. Here u
may see on the pier any hour of IL
he day from fifty to five hundred peo- a
pie fishing and always catching them. "
Most of them use from five to ten II
hooks arranged at different depths on II
he line and may frequently see from n
.hree to five fish caught on one line tl
i the same time. Only yesterday, "
borrowed a pale from a Civil War "
and in the course of ten min "
tues ] Caught tHfSt ISL Jul VA INS
,cean-and l might add, left a great CO
many more in it. Market fishermen o.
make Santa Monica their headquart- W
RS and from the long warf here are Il
to the interior in the course Ia
# the year hundreds Of tons of delic- &c
Gus fish. These are caught from fish W
ng skiffs, row boats and power laun- 81
hes which go far put to sea and great
istances along the coast.
Santa Monica has put more than a
million dollars into her public school al
uildings and is building at this time
gSA. air theatre of Greek Style Ct
or the use of the public school chill
Iren at an outlay of thirty thousand o,
u:
Immediately adjoining are Ocean :
cath and Venice, whirh together rom m