> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Public beach club at historic site threatened - URL: https://www.smdp.com/public-beach-club-at-historic-site-threatened/ - Published: 2006-04-05T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T23:51:22.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import *By GUEST COMMENTARY BY JOEL BRAND AND KEN BREISCH* What would you say if someone offered to give our community $30 million in cash and $45 million worth of beachfront property in Santa Monica to build a beach club and small event facility for public use? It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right? Well, now is that moment. The Annenberg Foundation has given Santa Monica almost $30 million to build the crown jewel of public recreational facilities at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, property contributed to the project by the State of California. The now derelict site was the historic Marion Davies Estate and later the Sand and Sea Club. But this one-of-a-kind proposal for a public beach club and historic renovation is in jeopardy, threatened by a handful of nearby beachfront property owners. The current design sprang from a series of well-attended public workshops to create a community-driven plan for a public facility without rival in California and perhaps the nation. Beach club amenities include a restored swimming pool, a kids’ pool, a beach playground with a water feature, volleyball courts, paddle tennis courts, an events room, community meeting rooms, a snack bar, on-site and shuttle parking, and the list goes on and on. This is the kind of facility usually only available to those able to pay tens of thousands of dollars in membership dues — but it will be open to the public. As part of the public process, some aspects have been modified in order to minimize any potential negative impacts on residents living nearby, including a halving of the events room’s capacity to 100 people; full-time security staffing; 10 p.m. weekday and 11 p.m. weekend curfews on even indoor events; and many others, including a commitment to lobby Caltrans for a much-needed traffic signal for the facility. But while this liberal package of restrictions on the proposed beach club has addressed the concerns of most PCH neighbors, a handful want to still further limit public use, and have hired a phalanx of high-priced LA lawyers to do so. This small group of neighbors is threatening to sue Santa Monica to block this public beach club along Santa Monica’s coast unless they are granted still further concessions that are either impossible, impractical or unreasonable for the city and community. It is worth noting that within a proverbial stone’s throw of 415 PCH there are two private beach clubs that have operated for decades without significant impacts on the neighbors and with few, if any, of the restrictions now being demanded by the remaining holdout property owners. In fact, the 415 PCH site was once home to the Sand and Sea Beach Club itself and again, operated as a good neighbor without anywhere near the kind of restrictions being demanded today. But perhaps most critically, the threatened lawsuit, if pursued, could delay the project long enough to miss both Annenberg Foundation and State of California deadlines and create cost overruns and other complications that together could kill this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Santa Monica. Such a blow would end nearly 20 years of efforts to renovate the historic property and open it to public use. If that happens, the property, which is owned by the State of California, will almost certainly revert to state control. The state is reported to have considered selling the land as surplus property, likely ending up as parcels for condominiums. By contrast, the proposed beach club is an almost unprecedented development partnership between a community and a private foundation. Success at 415 PCH would send a strong message to the foundation community that Santa Monica is fertile ground for such visionary partnerships. Despite widespread community support to transform the neglected site, residents have not been aware of the danger posed to the project, and hence have not been vocal about their support as the project heads into the city’s approval process. For example, at the last Planning Commission hearing three weeks ago, the public testimony was a flood of complaints, concerns and lawyering from a handful of neighbors — hardly the kind of welcome a $75 million beach club for the public would actually garner if residents were polled. It is time for Santa Monica’s residents to speak up and let the Planning Commission, the City Council and the Annenberg Foundation know just what we think of opening a beach club for the public along our coast. The fate of the beach club, at least for the moment, will be decided at tonight’s 7 p.m. Planning Commission hearing, and it is the first item on the agenda. Please attend that meeting and let our voices be heard. For those who can’t attend, e-mail letters of support to Residents also can sign our online petition at www.friendsof415.org. (Joel Brand is chair of Friends of 415 and a board member of the Santa Monica Conservancy. Ken Breisch is president of the Santa Monica Conservancy and director of programs in historic preservation in the School of Architecture at USC.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 5, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)