Shell
Beach and Sunset Palisades History
Shell Beach was quite different 36 years ago,
when it was nothing but pea fields. The area was
the site of a Chumsh village. Floyd Calvert bought
and developed much of the land in 1926. He paid
$45,OOO for 41 acres between the ocean and the
highways
When Calvert first visited Shell Beach there were
approximately 50 residents in the area. Calvert
sold lots in the area for as little as $195. A
resident of Hollywood, Calvert was told about
the area by a friend in 1925. When he first visited
Shell Beach, there was only one street, Boeker
Avenue, with a few cottages on it.
Calvert was struck by the beauty of Shell Beach
and bought a portion of it. In January 1926, he
opened offices in the area, hired seven salesmen
and began selling land to persons seeking summer
retreats from the hot valley. When the summer
selling season was over that first year, Calvert
had to close his offices. The depression, which
was to hit hard in 1929, was already beginning
to be felt. Then Calvert had to devise a new way
to sell his land. He offered it for $5 a month.
Even then it was hard to sell.
During the depression, Calvert, who had been a
builder in Hollywood, lost all his property except
for Shell Beach. He had such faith in this area
he thought if he could hold on to this land, someday
people would realize its worth.
It took Calvert 20 years to sell the first 456
lots on the Shell Beach land he owned. But shortly
before and after World War II Calvert began to
have more success selling lots. During World War
II many soldiers had trained in California. They
liked the climate and wanted to live in the area.
It was then that Shell Beach changed from a resort
area for residents of the San Joaquin Valley to
a residential community.
When Calvert began to break ground for building
houses he found skeletons of Indians who had died
and were buried in the area. He also found bracelets
of copper, arrowheads, spear head, and stone bowls,
which had been used for grinding meal. Most of
the Indian artifacts were found near the ocean
between Placentia and Palomar Streets. Major archaeological
sites have been noted in this area and that of
Sunset Palisades. It was known as Oilport and
was opened in August of 1907, quite different
from today's residential Sunset Palisades area.
Built with investor funds, it operated for only
one month.
The plant, built by California Petroleoum Refineries
Ltd., was to be the most modern on the West Coast.
Nearly 2.25 million bricks went into the construction
of the facilities. Financed primarily by investors,
it cost over $2 million to build. It was to be
the most complete refinery on the coast. It was
set up to produce kerosene, gasoline, lubricating
oil, and oil byproducts.
The refinery existed until just after World War
II, when it was finally torn down. The land was
sold, subdivided and replaced with housing.
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