![]() Staffed with lifeguards and devoid of turbulent surf, plunges offered beachgoers a safe, controlled swimming experience. Plunges furthered railways' business interests, but they also satisfied the desires of tourists and local day-trippers - even during the warmer summer months. Amenities at the Pacific Electric-owned bathhouse included 1,330 individual dressing rooms and 62 private bathtubs. Every day, pumps drew in more than one million gallons of seawater from the ocean and piped the water through heaters for the comfort of swimmers. Advertisements claimed that the heated saltwater plunge, at more than 16,300 square feet, was the world's largest. Seven years later, another Huntington-financed bathhouse opened in Redondo Beach. Soon, the bathhouse was the centerpiece of a popular amusement zone known as the Pike, which drew a constant stream of tourists from Los Angeles. In Long Beach, a Huntington-backed plunge opened on July 4, 1902, the same day Huntington's Pacific Electric Railway first reached the city. Often they anchored large amusement park resorts, complete with roller coasters, pleasure piers, and other attractions.Įlectric rail magnate Henry Huntington was among those who financed beachside bathhouses. With ocean water remaining the stuff of shivers for much of the year, heated seawater plunges guaranteed year-round visitation to the region's beaches. Like the Santa Monica Bath House - financed by a steam railroad - many opened with the backing of transportation interests. (San Francisco's Sutro Baths are perhaps the most famous example from outside the Los Angeles area.) Soon, plunges appeared all along the Southern California coast, and in other regions, too. And in 1905, an 8,450-square-foot plunge opened in Ocean Park inside an imposing structure topped with Moorish domes and minarets. In 1894, the North Beach Bathhouse - complete with a bowling pavilion, rooftop garden, and ballroom - replaced the original Santa Monica Bath House. When it opened in 1887, Santa Monica's ritzy Arcadia Hotel offered its guests a large saltwater bathhouse. Initially, the coast of Santa Monica hosted the greatest concentration of coastal plunges. ![]() One early visitor, Jennie Collier, described it as "an extensive bath house where you can soak yourself in the oceanic fluid, hot, cold, fresh, salt." It offered not only showers but also steam baths and a saltwater pool. Jones' Los Angeles and Independence Railroad opened the Santa Monica Bath House next to Duffy's. ![]() It lacked a plunge but featured 16 rooms, each with a freshwater bath and shower. In 1876, Michael Duffy built what might have been Southern California's first beachside bathhouse, located on Santa Monica's North Beach. Catering to day-trippers from across the region as well as overnight hotel guests visiting from afar, bathhouses provided bathing suits, changing rooms, warm showers, and other amenities to make a day in the surf and sand more comfortable. The story of coastal plunges is intimately linked with the development of the bathhouses that once lined the shores of Southern California's seaside resort towns. Would you travel an hour to the beach only to swim in an indoor pool? From the 1880s through the 1920s, countless Southern Californians - often covered in bathing suits that stretched from head to toe - did, plunging into large, covered pools just steps away from the Pacific Ocean. Courtesy of the Werner Von Boltenstern Postcard Collection, Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount University Library. The Long Beach plunge anchored the popular amusement zone known as the Pike. ![]()
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