EARLY YEARS
In the early eighteen hundreds, visitors made the arduous trip to a paradise of that would become known as the Gold Coast. These early vacationers set up tents facing the sea and played in the sun and sand. \n\nThe township of Santa Monica was founded in 1875. Its first hotel opened a year later and the first bathhouse, with sixteen dressing rooms and fresh water showers. \n\nFor a quarter, patrons received use of a bathing suit, towel and dressing room. Quickly outdone by the Santa Monica Bath House with its fancy features like a sitting parlor, steam rooms and huge bathtubs for hot saltwater soaks. \n\nThese legendary bathhouses are the humble beginnings that explode into the opulent beach club era of the OUR HEY DAY
Club Casa Del Mar, the "Grand Dame" of the Santa Monica shores, opened in 1926. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style it became the most successful and glamorous of all the beach clubs. By day, members like silent film star Theda Bara, enjoyed the beach and upscale services. Come evening, Casa's parties dazzled with elite society and the lights of the famous Santa Monica Pier lit up the sky. It was a prohibition hot spot that had a special relationship with the police, who warned them to stash the booze and tuck away the slot machines behind a retractable wall, before a raid. Most of the exclusive beach clubs lost patrons during the hard-hitting depression, and closed their doors, but Club Casa survived by renting out hotel rooms and remained the life of the party.
POSTWAR TIMES
The party lasted until WW II when the US navy claimed the building as a hotel and recreation center for enlisted men. After the war Club Casa Del Mar struggled to regain its former glory, but finally closed it's doors and started on a journey of identities spanning the next few decades. During the late sixties and the seventies Charles E. Dederich maintained Synanon, his drug rehabilitation facilities, on the property. Rumors of a cult affiliation hung in air, fueling controversy. In the late seventies Nathan Pritikin purchased the building and for the next twenty years developed the Pritikin Longevity Center and his now famous nutrition and healthcare dynasty.
A NEW ERA
On the cusp of a new century The Edward Thomas Hospitality Corporation acquired the historic landmark. The architecture firms of HLW International and affiliate Thomson Design Associates worked to painstakingly revive the high regency European style of the 1920's. The brick and sandstone facade with iron balconies and carved renaissance figures was meticulously refurbished to its original grandeur. Addressing the interiors, the designer applied the influence of the bygone era with quintessential romantic lighting and opulent appointments, while seamlessly incorporating the modern conveniences expected in luxury accommodations. Step through the doors and find yourself taken back to a moment in history when exclusive beach clubs ruled supreme and life was grand, to say the least.