Hollywood Riviera Beach Club

Hollywood Riviera Beach Club. . , The French Riviera had impressed local entrepreneur Clifford Reid, and he envisioned a Southern California version back home, populated by Hollywood stars. To help lure the motion picture elite to his new development in the Torrance hills north of Palos Verdes, he added the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club. Designed by noted architect Mark Daniels and located on a seaside cliff, the club opened in the summer of 1931 and offered a swimming pool, private beach, solarium, guest rooms, dance hall, cocktail lounge and spectacular views of the Santa Monica Bay., (caption:) Although Hollywood showed little interest in the Riviera, average citizens and G.I.s did, buying lots and homes intended for cinema royalty. In the '30s and '40s, the Beach Club was a popular gathering place. Anecdotal evidence suggests one reason may have been "extended drinking hours." Because the building was located in both Redondo Beach and Torrance, each with its own drinking curfew, when revelers could no longer drink legally on one side of the building, they could take a few steps and be in a city where they could., (caption:) The club remained popular until 1958, when an early morning fire destroyed the building. LA County had already bought the club's private beach. A 1972 court ruling determined the club site should be public property. In 1984, the clifftop, with its spectacular views of the Santa Monica Bay, became Miramar Park.