History:

A Vision for the Future
Marina del Rey has been a long time in the making. Construction of the jetties for the
present entrance channel began in December 1957, but efforts toward a harbor at this
location actually began some seventy years earlier, sponsored, ironically, by a railroad.
In 1887, a far-sighted man, named M.C. Wicks, organized the Port Ballona
Development Company under the auspices of the Santa Fe Railroad. Wicks dreamed
of developing the Playa del Rey estuary and inlet into a major commercial harbor to
serve the Los Angeles area. He managed to raise $300,000, all of which went for
construction work over a three-year period. However, Wicks went bankrupt and the
area was eventually taken over by duck hunters. Another quarter of a century passed
without action, but the dream kept recurring. In 1916, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers reported to Congress that a new proposal to develop the Playa del Rey Inlet
and basin as a major harbor was impractical.

But the Dream Refused to Die
Twenty years later, in 1936, Congress authorized reconsideration of the negative
1916 report and the County Board of Supervisors ordered another study in 1937. This
time there was competition, and the decision went to San Pedro, where major
expansion had been approved to form the present Los Angeles Harbor. From this
point on, the dream focused with increasing clarity on a harbor for small craft. World
War II caused a temporary halt to planning, but on September 7, 1949, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers submitted a report indicating the feasibility of construction of a
pleasure craft harbor for 8,000 boats at a total estimated cost of $23,603,000.

Financing and Construction Begin
In 1953, the County Board of Supervisors sponsored State legislation which
eventually granted the County a $2 million loan from State tidelands oil revenues
to assist in purchase of the new harbor site. In 1954, President Eisenhower signed
Public Law 780, making the Marina del Rey harbor an authorized federal project
and planning moved into high gear. The federal commitment, however, was limited
to the "main navigational features" and involved a 50-50 sharing of these costs by
the local sponsor; in this case, the County of Los Angeles.

On November 6, 1956, a general election resulted in County voters approving the
revenue bond method of financing the remainder of the project, and in December
1959, a $13 million revenue bond issue was sold to provide funds for much of the
actual construction. Meanwhile, in December 1957, construction of the "main
navigational features" began as a joint Federal-County project; by November 1958,
the entrance channel jetties were completed and the first tangible facilities had
emerged from the long-standing dream.

Big projects have big problems, and Marina del Rey had its share; construction
delays plagued the early development. Shortly after the harbor finally opened for
operation, it suffered storm damage so severe in the winter of 1962-63 that an
emergency program was initiated to provide protection from wave action.
Fortunately, based on early indications of excessive vulnerability of the harbor
to wave action, a model study was already well under way at the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, MS.

With the cooperation of the Federal Government, this study program was
expedited on a "crash" basis; the model was used to arrive at a feasible interim
solution, and the County proceeded to immediately construct temporary protective
sheet-pile baffles in the entrance to the channel to give vital protection pending the
completion of permanent protective works by the U.S. Corps of Engineers.

Breakwater Needed to Protect the Harbor
Meanwhile, the results of the model study indicated a requirement for a permanent
off-shore breakwater. The County Board of Supervisors promptly appropriated $2.1
million of the estimated cost of $4.2 million for this project as the sponsoring
agency's share, and a concerted effort by the County's legislators in Congress was
successful in securing the matching Federal appropriation in the 1963-64 budget.

Construction of the breakwater began on October 15, 1963, and was completed in
January 1965. The dispatch with which this major point project was planned, funded
and constructed reflected a healthy working relationship between County and
Federal governments and particularly indicated the effective representation enjoyed
by the County in Congress.

Opening Day Comes in 1965
Marina del Rey successfully surmounted its major development problems and was
progressing steadily toward complete fulfillment of its destiny. Formal dedication of
the Marina del Rey Harbor was held on April 10, 1965.

Public funds invested in the initial project included:
Federal Government: $4.6 million for 50% of cost of navigation features (jetties,
breakwater, dredging main channel); State Government: $2 million, which consisted
of a loan from tideland oil revenues toward acquisition of site (now repaid out of
project revenues); County Government: $15.89 million for land acquisition, 50% of
cost of main navigation features, more roads, administrative facilities and Coast
Guard Base; Motor Vehicle Fund: $775,000 for perimeter roads. In addition, proceeds
from the public sale of revenue bonds totaled $13 million, for bulkheads, sewers and
underground utilities, dredging side basins, landscaping, initial costs of operations
and bond service.

TOTAL COST: $36.25 million for land, construction, initial operation and bond service.

Today, Marina del Rey is an indispensable social, environmental and economic
success, and has become a role model for other urban marinas throughout the world.
As the Marina heads into the next century, considerations for future planning and
design are underway. Marina del Rey will never be thought of as a finished product,
but instead as a constantly evolving Marina "new town" with an inherent capacity to
accept change. Currently, the County continues to strive for an optimum balance
between public and private interests, as economic and recreational needs reinforce
the Marina's role as a multifunctional activity center for the Los Angeles metropolitan
area.

(Reprinted by the Marina del Rey Convention & Visitors Bureau, from Los Angeles
County's "The History of Marina del Rey".)