In 1899, the Bolsa Chica Gun Club was formed.
The club was one of many duck hunting clubs which were established in the cienegas and coastal estuaries which formed where the the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers reached the ocean or where the rivers would overflow before completing the journey. These wetlands provided a good natural feeding ground for ducks and other fowl. Ranchers and farmers were eager enough to sell or lease land that was often too swampy to farm.
Hunting had long been considered a gentlemen’s sport and with parts of California located right along the Pacific flyway for migrating waterfowl, it only seemed natural to take advantage of this opportunity — especially among Southern California’s new aristocracy which centered around downtown Los Angeles and the new rich of the Pasadena-San Marino area. The first hunting club, the Recreation Gun Club, was established in the Ballona wetlands near Santa Monica in 1882.
Clubs were originally formed near good hunting areas that could be easily accessed by rail. That made the areas of Rancho Los Cerritos and Los Alamitos very attractive via the new Terminal Railroad which ran from downtown Los Angeles south through Long Beach (near present Cherry Avenue). The Los Cerritos Gun Club (near Bouton Lake and later the Lakewood Country Club) , the Greenwing, Alamitos, Gadwill and Farmers Gun Club. Most would often be flooded with artesian well water to ensure there would be ponds that would attract ducks. But this process was made illegal when it was classified as wasting water. These legal matters, combined with the dramatic reduction in the duck population and the rising popularity of golf, caused most of the clubs to cease to exist by the mid 1930s .
The Bolsa Chica Gun Club was considered among the the top clubs in Southern California, if not the state. During the first half of the last century it was the playground for some of Southern California’s wealthiest and most influential citizens. It’s impact today is mainly felt through the club’s decision in 1899 to dam off of the Bolsa Chica wetlands from direct tidal flow with the ocean, and from its purchase rather than leasing the 3,000 acres it occupied and keeping the property intact after oil was discovered underneath it. The latter decision delayed and then prevented development such as what happened with Huntington Harbor and Alamitos Bay.
Count Jaro Von Schmidt was a Bohemian noble, who met and married a lady from Syracuse while she was touring the continent. He didn’t want to live in Syracuse, and she didn’t want to live in Austria. Their compromise was to live in California where lived the actress, Helen Modjeska, who was apparently a friend of the Count. In the late 1880s Von Schmidt and his wife were living in nearby Tustin (at one point lived in the historic Hewes house and he was known for stuffing birds that fashionable well-heeled ladies put in their hats). By 1891 Von Schmidt obtained permission from James Irvine to organize a hunting club on the latter’s San Joaquin (now the Irvine) ranch. An LA Times article says Von Schmidt was in total control of the hunting group and he invited some of the major businessmen in Southern California to take part in the shoots. For some reason, sometime after 1895, Von Schmidt lost his use of Irvine’s land and the Count began to look about for a suitable place for duck hunting.
Some of the best areas for hunting were around Los Alamitos. In addition to a large number of available fowl for targetting, the Terminal Railroad tracks ran down to Long Beach, making transportation and access slightly easier. In 1890 a number of Los Angeles businessmen leased land from the J. Bixby Company (half owned by Jotham Bixby and half owned by the Flint Bixby Company, led by his older brother Lewellyn and cousin Thomas Flint) and formed the Los Cerritos Gun Club which built a clubhouse near Bouton Lake (present Lakewood Country Club).
Perhaps because they had already lost the use of one site, Von Schmidt and his group apparently wanted to own whatever new site they could find. The Bixbys and Hellman were not prone to selling their land, especially as they knew a new sugar factory was in the works. So the first available land for sale was just beyond the Alamitos rancho in Las Bolsa Chica. So in 1899, Von Schmidt formed the Bolsa Land Company whic hIn 1895, no doubt impressed by the abundant wildlife and fowl in the area, they purchased land on the Bolsa Chica rancho just beyond present Sunset Beach, and built a two-story structure on the mesa overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Club members paid a hefty club membership fee for the privilege. Even early on the membership fee was $1,000. [ref] George Magruder, Oral History Interviews archives, Cal State Long Beach [/ref] But memberships were limited to 40. Originally club members got to the site by taking the Terminal (later Union Pacific) train to Long Beach and then either getting a wagon ride or a ride in the new automobiles. In 1905, the new Pacific Electric Red Car line which ran along the coast from Long Beach to Newport Beach provided a stop at Los Patos (Sunset Beach) which provided even more direct service to the club.
The Bolsa Chica Club, because it had a natural supply of tidal water stayed around longer, plus member interest in its existence was dramatically strengthened when oil was discovered under its property around 1919. This discovery helped boost the equity value of a club membership to over $75,000. Later land development opportunities didn’t hurt its value either.
From its earliest stages the Bolsa Chica club seemed to have more “star-power” than other clubs — at least as measured in terms of rich, white males — Slauson, Sidney Torrance, and later Henry Huntington . It’s guest list was just as impressive, bearing the names of popes and kings, presidents and top sports figures. Jim Okuda, who grew up on the site (his dad was the caretaker) recalls watching Dusenbergs and Cadillacs ropping off bankers, sports figures, Hollywood stars, and even the future King of England.
Jackson A. Graves, a Los Angeles banker who represented I.W. Hellman’s interests in Southern California in the early 1900s, wrote of the club in his 1928 book, My Seventy Years in California,…
“The Bolsa Chica, a very aristocratic duck club, which bought a large body of land in the Bolsa Chica Rancho, near the present town of Huntington Beach, always had most excellent shooting until quite recently. The Westminster Club was near there. I was one of the organizers of the latter, and shot there many years. The Blue Wing [Club] adjoined the Westminster. I was at the Westminster one day, heard a shot on the Blue Wing, followed by a yell from various members, and looking up, saw the sky raining ducks. Mr. J. E. Fishburn, for many years president of the Merchants National Bank, wanted one duck to complete his limit. He picked out a big sprig [a.k.a. a pintail duck] and fired at it. A flock of sprig were circling in, ready to light. They came in range of his gun, as he fired, and he killed, with one shot, fourteen sprig. This seems like a hard story to ask any sane person to believe, but Mr. Fishburn is alive, and he and several members of his club will verify it.”
Jackson detailed a standard outing, to the club, circa 1911, which Orange County historian Chris Jepsen paraphrased in his OC Historical Blogspot.
After work on Friday, he would take the Pacific Electric or hitch a ride in a friend’s “machine” down to Bolsa Chica. Taking an automobile let him avoid a dark, two-mile ride from the P.E. stop to the Club in a mule-pulled wagon. On the other hand, it meant sharing the unpaved roads with innumerable slow wagons hauling sugar beets to the Alamitos sugar factory.
Once at the Club, he met with other members who would be shooting the next day. They had a hearty dinner together and selected blinds for the following morning. After dinner, members spent the evening chatting, reading, playing card games and relaxing before going to sleep.
The keeper awakened each of them with a rap on their doors at 5:00 a.m. They put on their hunting gear, ate breakfast, and headed out into the darkness toward their blinds. Thirty minutes before sunrise, a bell rang, letting everyone know they could begin blazing away. Initially, they might see no game, but would hear a few guns popping in the distance — sometimes at neighboring clubs.
At this point that Graves regales us with a depiction of the slaughter and maiming of innumerable waterfowl — All against the backdrop of the great outdoors and a glorious sunrise.
By noon, most of our mighty Nimrods [ref] The American Heritage Dictionary offers two distinct definitions of a nimrod — either a hunter, or a person regarded as silly or foolish. The dictionary goes on to explain that the second meaning probably originated with the cartoon character Bugs Bunny. The wily Bugs used the term in its original sense to refer to dithering hunter Elmer Fudd, whom he called a “poor little Nimrod.” Over time, however, the “hunter” meaning got dropped, and the “dithering” connotation stuck.[/ref] had bagged their limit. Having once again defended democracy against a potential duck incursion, they retired to Bourbon and cold showers at the Club. This was followed by a “good hot lunch” before making the drive back to Los Angeles.
In 1902 the gun club built a dam which kept out the ocean at high tide. Local farmers complained bitterly about this, saying it affected the drainage on their properties and resulted in crop loss. Farmers tore down the fences and threatened to blow up the dam. They also employed the legal tack of claiming the dam was blocking transportation on a navigable waterway (Freeman Creek). The US Army Corps of Engineers backed the gun club on the navigable waters issue, but the OC Supervisors backed the farmers.
In February 1907 Phil Stanton, the “founder” of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach (and at the time, a member of the State Assembly) introduced a bill to annex the Beach cities to Los Angeles County. Stanton said it was because OC wouldn’t do anything about building good roads to the beach. The Bolsa Chica members, some of whom had business ties with Stanton, supported his efforts. But at a meeting, angry OC backers yelled at Von Schmidt, saying the club members were supporting the bill only because the OC supervisors had sided with the farmers in their legal battles. However, Stanton’s threat worked enough to draw a promise from the supervisors that they would build better roads to the beach areas — a promise they kept.
In 1942, after the US entry into World War II, the Army located two Panama mounts on the gun club site, and the clubhouse became a rather fancy barracks building. [ref]In 1943, Battery 242 and 128 were constructed behind the 155 battery. Battery 242 was completed and named Battery Harry J. Harrison, but Battery 128 was halted short of completion. Both emplacements were located on the private property area and were destroyed during 1993-1995 to make way for a new housing development. The Panama mounts are visible and located on Marine Reserve land on a bluff above the lagoon. The foundations of the gun club are just behind, on private property. From a riding stable at the rear of the property the entry way to Battery 128’s PSR can be seen, but it is sealed shut. [/ref] But the club was still used by members.
Navy fighter pilot Hugh Winters, who commanded one of the newly commissioned air squadrons which began training at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in August 1943, wrote how members of his unit used to shoot at the Bolsa Chica club. Their unit chaplain, Pardee Erdman, was originally from the Pasadena area and hosted a party at his home where the pilots met some Bolsa Chica club members, some with sons in the Navy, who gave Winters and other pilots an open invitation to shoot at the club when it was open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Wow! The only shot available to us were the Number Eight shot we used for skeet, but in the plush blinds there was plenty of close shooting and eights were as effective as sixes on large as well as small ducks. It was the ultimate in practice for fighter , providing short lead for close-in targets and long lead for those farther out. [ref]Hugh T. Winters, Skipper, p.18[/ref]
But the war put one of the final dents in the old club, and it saw little use except as an oil dividend provider after the war, The lodge burned down in 1964 and the property was finally sold off in 1970. The Signal Oil Company bought it and announced plans to build a marina complex of over 5,000 residences on a series of residential islands, similar to Huntington Harbor which was just north of Warner Avenue. Signal sold off the property to Koll Homes which announced a similar development, but this faced stiff opposition from locals and finally in 2005 the succeeding developers announced a settlement which called for far fewer homes.
In 2008 the dam was struck down and the original natural outlet to the ocean was reopened for the first time in over 100 years.
APPENDIX:
A list of shooting clubs was listed in ” Life in the Open: Sport With Rod, Gun, Horse and Hound” written by Charles Frederick Holder (1906, p.394)
List of Clubs in Southern California Organised for Hunting and Fishing and Golf.
BOLSA CHICA GUN CLUB. Count Jaro von Schmidt, President, No. 1 Chester Place, Los Angeles, Cal.
CERRITOS GUN CLUB. Rob. E. Ross, Secretary, California Club, Los Angeles, Cal.
DEL KEY CLUB. W. H. Stimson, Secretary, Stimson. Block, Los Angeles, Cal.
LA PATERA GUN CLUB. -Louis C. Larson, Secretary, Goleta, Cal.
TUNA CLUB. Avalon, Cal.
SANTIAGO HUNTING CLUB. N. N. Brown, Secretary, Santa Ana, Cal.
RECREATION GUN CLUB. J. Frankenfield, Secretary, 1007 South Hill Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
LAGUNA GUN CLUB. J. A. Graves, Secretary, Baker Block, Los Angeles, California.
LOMITA GUN CLUB. Dr. O. P. Roller, Secretary, 22i~|- South Spring Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
SANTA PAULA GUN CLUB. A. W. Elliott, Secretary, Santa Paula, Cal.
UPLAND GUN CLUB. A. G. Allen, Secretary, Upland, Cal.
SHERIFFS’ CLUB. F. H. Brakesuhler, Secretary, Court House, Los Angeles, Cal,
BLUE WING DUCK CLUB. C. Van Valkenburg, Secretary, California Bank Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
SANTA MONICA GUN CLUB. C. C. LeBas, Secretary, Santa Monica, Cal.
FAIR VIEW GUN CLUB. R. H. Sanborn, Secretary, Tustin, Cal.
SISQUOC RANGERS. W. H. Granger, Secretary, San Buenaventura, Cal.
CHRISTOPHER LAND AND WATER Co. C. C. Merrill, Secretary, H. W. Hellman Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
GUADALUPE DUCK CLUB. E. C. Tallant, Secretary, Santa Barbara, Cal.
CHICO LAND AND WATER Co. Ed. R. Maier, Secretary, 440 Aliso Street, Los Angeles, Cal.
ALOHA GUN CLUB. A. W. Marsh, Secretary, Temple Block, Los Angeles, Cal.
WHITTIER GUN CLUB. Carroll Proud, Secretary, Whittier, Cal.
ALAMITOS GUN CLUB. G. E. Franklin, Secretary, Trust Building, Los Angeles, Cal.
SAN BERNARDINO GUN CLUB. F. C. Moore, Secretary, San Bernardino, Cal.
CENTINELLA GUN CLUB. J. W. A. Off, Secretary and Treasurer, Second and Spring Sts., Los Angeles, Cal.
REDLANDS GUN CLUB. W. C. WHITTEMORE, Secretary, Redlands, Cal.
RIVERSIDE AND ARLINGTON GUN CLUB. Owen Council, Secretary andTreasurer.
GREENWING GUN CLUB. A. M. Goodhue, Secretary, Long Beach, Cal.
GLENDORA RIFLE CLUB. F. C. Neet, Secretary, Glendora, Cal.
ONTARIO GUN CLUB. E. V. Caldwell, Secretary, Ontario, Cal.
PASTIME GUN CLUB. N, D. Nichols, Secretary, San Diego, Cal.
CREEL CLUB. Fred A. Walton, Secretary, Lankershim Block, Los Angeles, Cal.
POMONA GUN CLUB. J. A. Gallup, Secretary, Pomona, Cal.
PINE CLIFF CLUB. Hancock Banning, Secretary, Los Angeles, Cal.
CADWELL GUN CLUB. L. A. Bailey, Secretary, Long Beach, Cal.
VALLEY HUNT CLUB, Dr. F. F. Rowland, President, Pasadena, Cal.
THE MARYLAND HUNT Pasadena, Cal.
THE PASADENA GUN CLUB.
PASADENA COUNTRY CLUB (Golf).
SAN RAFAEL GOLF CLUB San Rafael Ranch, Pasadena, Cal.
SAN GABRIEL GOLF CLUB.
LOS ANGELES COUNTRY CLUB (Golf).
AVALON GOLF CLUB -Santa Catalina Is., Cal.
SANTA BARBARA COUNTRY CLUB (Golf, Polo),
RIVERSIDE COUNTRY CLUB (Golf, Polo).
CORONADO (GOLF) CLUB.
ORANGE GOLF CLUB,
In the 1800’s, Bolsa Bay was not connected to Anaheim Bay, but emptied into the ocean through an opening near Warner Avenue. In 1899, the Gun Club diked off the estuary to increase the acreage of freshwater marsh. Tide gates prevented salt water from flowing into the bay and the wetlands fed by Freeman Creek converted to a freshwater marsh. The altered hydrology caused this ocean opening to silt closed. A new cut to the ocean was made
between Bolsa Bay and Anaheim Bay. That channel can be seen today under the bridge at Warner Avenue.
The first coastal road through the area, Pacific Coast Highway, was built in 1926.