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# Agenda includes $400K for beach club demolition
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/agenda-includes-400k-for-beach-club-demolition/
- Published: 2003-07-22T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:35:59.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Environment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*City plans to revamp, reopen the Sea and Sand beach club Driver in market crash*

*By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press*

Parts of the Marion Davies Estate with no historic value will become history tonight when the Santa Monica City Council approves its consent agenda during tonight’s meeting.

Council members are expected to approve $400,000 to demolish many structures on the estate at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, which was formerly a city-funded beach club. The structures do not contribute to the property’s historic value, officials say, and their removal is the council’s first major step toward plans to reopen the estate in the future.

The property has been closed to the public since it suffered structural damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The structures being demolished include the former banquet building, cabana buildings and portions of the locker building — areas that repeatedly were targets for vandals.

“There really is nothing we can use those parts of the property for anymore,” said Councilman Bob Holbrook. “They have no historic significance and they were whacked so hard by the quake in ‘94 that they really have been nothing more than dead space.”

The estate’s property contains a restaurant, pool and guest house that Holbrook described as being “larger than most normal homes.” The house and pool will be preserved during the demolition as part of federal rules that prohibit tampering with historic structures.

The city assumed ownership of the estate in 1989 and opened the club in 1990\. Before the Northridge earthquake hit, television shows were regularly filmed at the estate while the city made efforts to make several improvements.

Although the quake was a major reason the estate is no longer used, many other undamaged parts still did not meet Santa Monica Fire Department standards, said Councilman Herb Katz.

“We’re hoping in time we can get everything back to code,” Katz said. “There are many steps we need to take to get the estate running again and this selective demolition process is one of them.”

The council also is being asked by city staff to spend $55,000 to construct facilities on Montana Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard that will remove and divert debris from storm drains.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 22, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072203.pdf?ref=smdp.com)