HENRY ALLEN RISPIN & 1920S CAPITOLA
"The new owner, Mr. Rispin, whose palatial residence is under construction, . . . has turned the old Capitola resort upside down and bids fair when he gets through to have one of the best up-to-date resorts on the coast." --Santa Cruz Evening News, March 19, 1920
This walking tour is a guide to historic Capitola sites dating from the Rispin Era (the 1920s). Some of the improvements to Capitola at that time were done by Rispin, but he also had outside developers for projects—such as the Venetian Court and airport.
Not long after Henry Allen Rispin purchased Capitola on August 1, 1919, he announced his sweeping plans for improving the small resort town. These included moving buildings, constructing new buildings, paving the streets with concrete, installing sidewalks, installing a new water system, and so forth. Even before the deed to the land was filed, Rispin stated that the intended to build a beautiful home for himself and his family on the bluff along the creek. Originally Rispin wanted to replace the Hotel Capitola with a more modern structure and build a golf course just across Soquel Creek from his mansion. Neither of these plans came to fruition.
1. Rispin Mansion. The mansion is located on Wharf Road at the foot of Clares Street. It is today owned by the City of Capitola and surrounded by park land. A pathway through the park connects it to the Nob Hill Foods parking lot via a bridge over Soquel Creek. Construction of the four level, 22-room mansion began in 1919 and was completed by June, 1921, when the Rispins moved in. It is in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and was designed by architect George McCrea of San Francisco. Its heating and electrical systems were very advanced for that time. The Rispins lived in the house for at least the first part of the 1920s. In fact, son Alan attended Santa Cruz High for part of the 1921-1922 school year. The house was partly a showpiece to encourage wealthy residents from the Bay Area to purchase lots and build other residences in Capitola. The mansion has been vacant since 1956 and in later years was badly damaged by vandals. There have been many proposals for re-use (including a library, museum, bed and breakfast inn, etc.), but none have materialized. A 2009 fire gutted the interior, but leaving the foot-thick concrete walls. It is fenced and closed to the public.
2. Former Site of Fishing Club. The Capitola Light Tackle Club was founded in 1927 as part of the continuing effort by Rispin to attract upper middle class visitors to Capitola. The two-story clubhouse was completed in July, 1928, on wooden piles near the base of the wharf. Funding was to come from memberships, but not enough memberships were sold and the project fizzled within a few months. The building was put to other uses until 1940 when it burned.
3. Venetian Court. Developers Henry Roth and Homer Langdon of Santa Clara County began construction of the Venetian Court in the spring of 1924, and the first two rows of dwellings seem to have been completed by the end of that year. Other units were added later. It was designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The court consists of 24 residential units (individually owned) and 19 hotel units. Most of the original owners were people from the Santa Clara Valley who bought them as vacation cottages. In 1987 the Venetian Court was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its significance in the historical development of the region. It has been claimed that these were the first condominiums built in California, but this is probably incorrect.
4. Former Site of Swimming Races. In the early 1920s, Capitola hosted A.A.U.-sanctioned swimming competitions in the creek and bay. In 1922, sports writer Ernest M. Smith of the San Francisco Examiner described The Rispin Cup as “the biggest and most valuable swimming trophy ever offered on the Pacific Coast.” It was a mile race for women, and that year was held in Soquel Creek. It drew some of the state’s top athletes and plenty of spectators. Rispin considered this and other events to be valuable publicity for Capitola. At left is Hilda Curtis, winner of The Rispin Cup in 1923.
5. Former Site of Bowling Alley and Movie Theater. Among the attractions added to Capitola during the Rispin era were a bowling alley and motion picture theater. The 300-seat theater opened June 18, 1920, and was “equipped with every modern convenience.” Manager A. I. Wilson had previously run the Jewell Theater in Santa Cruz. In 1930 this first theater was replaced by an arcade.
6. Former Site of Hawaiian Gardens. This popular nightclub and dance venue opened May 29, 1924. It was located in a building previously known as the Capitola Rink or Capitola Pavilion that had been located along Capitola Avenue. The building was moved south and the exterior remodeled in stucco. The venue was wildly popular with out-of-town visitors, partly because prohibition rules were loosely enforced. The Hawaiian Gardens was destroyed in February, 1933, by a major fire that burned most of the block.
7. Former Site of the Bandstand. The cylindrical bandstand was the only building on the beach side of the street that was not dismantled during construction of the Esplanade in 1920. It appears to have been built only a few years earlier. There was a food venue below and accommodations for outdoor concerts above. In later years the bandstand was used for food sales only. It was demolished in 1960 and replaced by the current restaurant building. Appropriately, the first restaurant in the new building was named “The Bandstand.”
8. Esplanade. The Esplanade was built during the winter of 1919-1920 using a design by Rispin’s architect, George McCrae. To put the curve into the road, a number of buildings were demolished or relocated. The road extends out over what was originally beach. Previously, this street was called Bay Front and was farther to the north, next to the Six Sisters.
9. Seawall. By constructing the Esplanade seaward of the previous street (Bay Front) and partly onto the beach, it was more vulnerable to damage by storm waves. To protect it, a seawall was constructed along the waterfront. It has been repaired or replaced several times. Even today, large winter waves (especially during high tides) can wash sand, seaweed, and driftwood over the wall and onto the street.
10. Palm Tree. The Canary Island Date Palm at the intersection of the Esplanade and Monterey Avenue is another legacy of the Rispin Era. It was moved to this location in 1920 while still very young. It appears in countless photographs taken over the past century. Two Mexican Fan Palms were later planted nearby, probably in the 1980s. They are more slender and grow much faster.
11. Former Site of the Hotel Capitola. The three-story Victorian-era hotel was built in two parts: the first in 1895, with a wing added behind it in 1899. Located beside the beach, it did much to boost Capitola’s popularity with visitors. Rispin, however, thought the style was old-fashioned. He wanted to replace it with one in the Spanish Colonial Revival style with a tile roof and a stucco exterior. This kind of architecture was all the rage in the 1920s. The new hotel was to be four stories, and include a natatorium. Construction was to take place during the winter of 1919—1920, but the plans were soon dropped.
12. Former Site of Streetcar Terminus. In 1904 a streetcar line was built connecting Capitola with downtown Santa Cruz. Originally, the line made a loop through Capitola Village. The streetcar line had its own bridge over the creek, went down Stockton Avenue, turned right on Capitola Avenue, right on Monterey Avenue, and right again onto Bay View (which later became the Esplande). In 1920 the loop was removed and the line terminated at a station opposite the end of Capitola Avenue. The reason was to make room for automobiles to park along the newly-constructed Esplanade. Buses replaced the streetcars in 1924.
13. Stairway. A stairway was first built here in 1920 at the same time as the streetcar terminus. The stairway was constructed of native sandstone from the beach and provided Depot Hill residents with easy access to the terminus below. At some point, the current concrete steps were installed over the stone steps. Parts of the original stone, however, are still visible along the edges in several places. There are 86 steps.
14. Superintendent’s Building. This building was built in the 1880s when Capitola was owned by local capitalist Frederick Augustus Hihn (pronounced heen). It is sometimes also called the Hihn Building. The downstairs was used as offices for the resort and the upstairs was used by the superintendent as a residence. The superintendent handled, leases, rentals, and sales in addition to overseeing day-to-day operations. In the 1920s, Rispin had his offices here. In the early 1970s, Jim and Barbara Reding lovingly restored the building after it had been condemned and threatened with demolition. It is a State Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
15. Former Site of the Capitola Airport. (This site is off the map, in the vicinity of Monterey Avenue and Kennedy Drive.) Air traffic increased rapidly during the 1920s as more and more people embraced this new mode of transportation. Cities and towns across the nation built airports to meet the demand. Santa Cruz, lacking an adequate location for an airport, and with the encouragement of Rispin, decided to locate its airport in Capitola. It was in what is now the Cliffwood Heights neighborhood, northeast of New Brighton Middle School. When it opened in the spring of 1926, it was little more than a grassy field. Later, various improvements were made including better runways, a lounge, and hangars. It closed in 1954.
16. Former Site of Camp McQuaide. (This site is off the map in the vicinity of Cabrillo Street and Sir Francis Avenue.) With the encouragement of Rispin and others, the military located a summer training camp in Capitola for artillery practice. The first camp was held in the summer of 1926, and it continued through 1936. For part of each summer, soldiers practiced shooting at targets out in Monterey Bay. Some of the targets were pulled by boats, others by airplanes. Having an adjacent landing field (the Santa Cruz/Capitola Airport) was critical to the decision to locate here. The noise from the shooting, however, proved annoying at best, intolerable at worst. After years of complaints, the camp relocated to a permanent site near Watsonville.
17. Former Site of Monterey Bay Golf and Country Club. (This site is off the map and was along upper Fairway Drive north of Soquel Drive in Soquel.) Rispin had planned to build a golf course just across Soquel Creek from his mansion. This site proved too small, however, so a course was built just east of Soquel and north of Soquel Drive. The course opened in 1929 with 18 holes and lasted until the beginning of World War II. While the course is long gone, the neighborhood streets (with names like Par, Putter, Golf, Fairway, and Ball) serve as reminders of the area’s past.