Discover the History: Santa Monica's Gold Coast

The Santa Monica History Museum will be hosting Discover the History: Santa Monica's Gold Coast, a lecture by noted film historian Marc Wanamaker on Sunday, May 18th, 2014. The lecture will follow the history of the Santa Monica Beach north of the Santa Monica Pier to Santa Monica Canyon. Wanamaker will trace the development of the beach from tents to house to beach clubs on the beach to this day. The social life of the Hollywood Colony, with beach parties hosted by Norma Talmadge, Bebe Daniels and Marion Davies, will be highlighted during this lecture.

Wanamaker has worked in many facets of film production, exhibition, and research for several decades. He is a published historian, lecturer, and teacher who taught film history at UCLA Extension for five years. Bison Archives, a research and informational archive on the history of the motion picture industry as well as a fine art library, was founded by Wanamaker in 1971.

Being a film and Los Angeles area historian, he has presented countless historical programs on many aspects of historical perspective. In recent years he has been past president of the Los Angeles City Historical Society and has been archivist/museum consultant for the Culver City, Westwood, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills Historical Societies.

Discover the History: The Gold Coast will take place on May 18th, 2014, from 2pm – 4pm at the Santa Monica History Museum, 1350 7th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Admission to the lecture is FREE to the public. Doors open at 1:30 pm and parking is available in the adjacent parking garage. Refreshments will be served following the lecture.

For more information, contact Danielle at 310-395-2290, dlewis@santamonicahistory.org or visit their website http://www.santamonicahistory.org.