First Around the World: The History of the Santa Monica Municipal Airport   

 

by Nina Fresco

 

 

The City of Santa Monica, founded in 1875, thrived as a vacation destination, but business leaders wanted more. They failed to bring the Port of Los Angeles to Santa Monica’s shores, succeeded in establishing five dusty brick yards, and had a short love affair with the film industry. Then Santa Monica caught aviation fever. Aviation was new, expanding, and exciting, and Santa Monica did not want to be left behind. So when the city was offered a strip of dirt near Ocean Park Boulevard to be the Santa Monica Municipal Air Field in 1921, it jumped at the chance. The airport land was  purchased using the first public bond to fund airport acquisition in California and became the home of Douglas Aircraft, the largest airplane company in the world. The first round-the-world flight, and the first women’s air derby were based at the Santa Monica Airport. After keeping two generations of Santa Monican’s employed, Douglas Aircraft left the city in the 1960s. It was the end of an era, but the story doesn't end there.   

 

For the past decade, Nina Fresco has been engaged in in-depth research on the history of Santa Monica, bringing the truth behind urban legends to light and discovering little-known stories about people and places from Santa Monica’s past. She is pleased to share what she has learned about the history of aviation in Santa Monica and its influence on the city in First Around the World: The History of the Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Her long awaited encyclopedic history of the City of Santa Monica will be the next release.

 

 

 

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