Peck's Pier was a wooden pier in

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

, constructed in 1908 by

George H. Peck George Huntington Peck, Jr. (October 15, 1856 – January 9, 1940) was an American real estate broker, developer and millionaire. Born in San Francisco, California, he began his career as a railroad conductor and is credited with driving the ...

, for whom it was named. Peck was a wealthy real estate developer who owned a lot of property in the area. The pier was located in the area of 33rd and 34th Street and was the only pier in the area open to

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. Peck's Pier and Pavilion was a "promotional attraction" for dances, parties, picnics, and roller skating. According to the city's website, it was destroyed in a 1913 storm, and the pavilion was destroyed in 1920 due to "timber rot". Another source, however, suggests Peck's Pier was torn down by "a combination of storms and social injustice", the same injustice that also put a stop to

Bruce's Beach Bruce's Beach was an African-American beach resort at Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, California. The property, which was located at 26th Street and Highland Avenue, was owned and operated by Charles and Willa Bruce for the benefit of t ...

, a nearby black-owned beach resort, and chased off black residents. The town's first pier, which was conceived to attract new home buyers, above a "newfangled machine to convert the power of the waves into electricity to light the pier", was built in 1901 (

Center Street pier Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, where Manhattan Beach Pier is now located) on what became

Manhattan Beach Boulevard Manhattan Beach Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in western Los Angeles County. It begins at a T-intersection with Van Ness Avenue in Gardena and terminates at the Manhattan Beach pier, feet from the Pacific Ocean. It passes under ...

. Another wooden pier on Marine Avenue was also built in 1901.

References

Buildings and structures in Los Angeles County, California African-American history of California History of Los Angeles County, California Manhattan Beach, California Demolished buildings and structures in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1920 {{California-struct-stub

See also

References