Ocean Trails Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes takes shape on former coastal farmland
Posted on August 29, 2020 by Sam Gnerre
Golfers finish up on the tenth hole of the then 15-hole Ocean Trails Golf Course. Jan 24, 2001. (San Gabriel Valley Tribune staff photo)
The Rancho Palos Verdes site on which the Trump National Golf Club of Los Angeles now operates once was part of the Rancho de los Palos Verdes land grant. After an 1882 legal settlement, ownership passed to the Bixby family.
In the early 20th century, the Ishibashi family became the first of many Japanese farmers to work the land in the South Bay, thanks to lease arrangements signed off on by the Bixbys. In addition to avocados, the Ishibashis grew poppies, strawberries, carrots, beets and sweet peas on the coastal site.
View of the Ishibashi agricultural fields looking east toward San Pedro in 1959. The future Ocean Trails/Trump National site can be seen in the distance at center right. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District. Photo by Rebecca Bates.)
The Ishibashis were one of just a few Japanese families who returned to the area after being taken to internment camps during World War II. A historical marker at the golf course commemorates the Ishibashis.
After the war, developer Barry Zuckerman and his partner Barney Morris began buying up land parcels on the Peninsula and building housing to satisfy the postwar demand. The land along Palos Verdes Drive South west of Portuguese Bend was among their acquisitions.
(Credit: Google Maps)
The Ishibashis were allowed to continue farming there, as the area remained mostly undeveloped for the next few decades.
In January 1987, Orange County developer Barry Hon purchased 900 acres of land from Palos Verdes Properties. It included a 93-acre parcel adjoining the Zuckerman property. Hon wanted to build a Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel and an 18-hole golf course on a combined 457 acres.
Ocean Trails developers Robert (left) and Kenneth Zuckerman in 1999. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
The problem? The Zuckermans didn't want to sell their portion of the land to him. The negotiations stalled Hon's project, which also faced stiff opposition from area residents.
In March 1991, Hon dropped the Ritz-Carlton idea and announced plans to build 120 homes and the golf course in conjunction with the Zuckermans, with whom he had formed an alliance.
Nationally renowned golf architect Pete Dye announced his plans for the course in February 1992. He'd actually started working on the project in 1988. Developers hoped his links-style championship golf course someday would host the U.S. Open and other prestigious tournaments.
Golf course designer Pete Dye at the under-construction Ocean Trails Golf Course in RPV in February 1999. Behind him are the 10th and 11th fairways. Dye passed away on Jan. 9, 2020. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
After the California Coastal Commission vetoed the initial version of the project, the developers added more open space and reduced the number of houses planned. This version won the commission's approval in April 1993.
Environmental complaints over the loss of native habitats, including those of the California gnatcatcher, led to more delays and two major lawsuits. Those were settled in 1996, but grading for the project, now known as the Ocean Trails Golf Course, didn't begin until January 1998. (Developer Hon withdrew from the project in 1997.)
Though not yet open, the course was little more than a month from its July 4, 1999, opening target date when a massive landslide cut a giant swath through the 18th hole on the morning of June 2.
The 18th hole of the new Ocean Trails golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes collapsed due to a landslide on June 2, 1999, just weeks before the course's planned opening date. June 2, 1999. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
More than 80,000 pounds of earth slid toward the Pacific Ocean. All work had to be halted while the cause of the 16-acre slide was determined.
Some pointed toward a leaking sewer pipe beneath the course as the culprit, though Los Angeles County engineers insisted it was intact before the slide. Others pointed at possible leaks from the course's artificial lakes
Most engineers blamed unstable ground in the area, which sits just down the road from the famously unsteady Portuguese Bend landslide area.
San Pedro resident Tom Kirk at the beach beneath the Ocean Trails project in Rancho Palos Verdes describes how the shoreline has shifted after the 1999 landslide. The rocky beach where he is standing and the rock wall in front of him were once level with each other. June 7, 1999. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
The Zuckermans, determined to get their golf course built, poured $24 million into stabilizing the ground beneath the 18th hole. Meanwhile, skittish bankers at Credit Suisse, who had loaned the Zuckermans $100 million for the project, filed lawsuits when revenues from the golf course failed to materialize due to the landslide. The Zuckermans' firm was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the fall of 1999.
Finally, the Ocean Trails Golf Course opened to the public in November 2000. Construction had only recently begun on the 18th hole repair, and the 9th and 12th holes were needed as a construction staging area, so only 15 holes actually were available for play.
Golfers play on at Ocean Trails Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. Area of the course under repair, top left. March 26, 2002. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
The home lots remained empty as developers concentrated their efforts on permanently finishing the golf course itself first. Ever-rising costs exacerbated by the landslide already were topping $160 million.
Despite the valiant efforts of the Zuckermans, Credit Suisse eventually lost patience and called in its loan in early 2002, taking ownership of the golf course development and turning its management over to the Douglas Wilson Co. of San Diego.
But that turned out to be just a temporary arrangement until a well-known new buyer for the property turned up a few months later.
Next week: Part 2: Donald Trump arrives.
Aerial view of the Ocean Trails golf course looking east, and the continuing repairs following the 1999 landslide, center right. Palos Verdes Drive South runs across top left of photo. Aug. 9, 2001. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
"History of Ocean Trails/Trump National Golf Club," by Maureen Megowan, active rain website, Jan. 9, 2014.
Palos Verdes Peninsula News files.
A surveyor walks on part of 18th hole at Ocean Trails Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. This section of the hole now resembles an island after landslide left it separated from the rest of the course. June 2, 1999. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Closure yet to come for South Bay families devastated by loss of their daughters in early 1960s
The Tompkins home on Dalton Ave. in Harbor Gateway is brightly lit to guide the missing 11-year old Karen Tompkins home on Aug. 22, 1961. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)
11-year-old Karen Lynn Tompkins disappeared after she began walking home from an arts and crafts summer class at Halldale Elementary School in Harbor Gateway on Aug. 18, 1961, carrying two covered wagon models she'd made there.
Nearly a year later, a skin diver found the unclothed body of Dorothy Gale Brown in the ocean off Corona del Mar on July 4, 1962, a day after the 11-year-old went missing near her parents' trailer park home at 1820 Torrance Blvd. in Torrance.
The two heartbreaking cases jarred the suburban South Bay's peaceful early 1960s veneer, causing justifiable fears among parents for their children's safety. (In 1963, police worked with local PTAs to set up a "Block Mothers" community watch program in the area.)
In both cases, local police undertook massive investigations, following every possible lead. The communities became involved as well. Newspapers covered the cases intensively, rewards were offered and volunteers joined in the efforts.
Officer James Pittman looks at a sign on a car with a picture of Karen Tompkins. Aug. 23, 1961. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)
In the Tompkins case, posters asking for information on the case were put on the sides of autos and police vehicles with loudspeakers rolled through the streets in search of information and possible witnesses.
Karen Lynn Tompkins in 1961. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)
Tompkins, who lived with her parents on Dalton Ave. in Harbor Gateway, just east of the Torrance city limit, had an older brother, Michael, and a younger sister, Lori. Her mother, Laura, worked at the Broadway store in the Del Amo shopping center. Her father, William, was in the U.S. Navy.
William Tompkins was stationed on the USS Ticonderoga aircraft carrier in Hong Kong when Karen disappeared. The Navy gave him emergency leave to return home to be with his family.
Karen left the school at about 5:00 p.m. on foot to walk the four blocks to her home. She talked briefly with a friend on a bicycle when she was halfway home; she was the last person ever to see Tompkins before she disappeared.
For the next three weeks, local, state and federal police and rescue agencies continued their intensive search, including using a sheriff's mounted posse to comb the Palos Verdes Peninsula hills and helicopters to scan coastal areas.
Several suspects were arrested and released, but no trace of Karen has ever been found. Not even the two eight-inch covered wagon models.
Laura Tompkins, 74, holds a photo of her daughter, Karen Lynn Tompkins, on Thursday, July 31, 2003, in Orange Park, Fla. (Associated Press photo/Oscar Sosa)
Speaking from Orange Park, Florida, Karen's mother Laura Tompkins told Daily Breeze reporter Larry Altman in 2003, "If you know someone is killed in an accident or something, it's closure. But this way it isn't. You never know if she was killed or if she is somewhere being tortured or something. You think about it a lot."
After returning from the beach on July 3, 1962, Dorothy Gale Brown decided to take a ride on her bike, leaving her home at the Skylark trailer park in Torrance, just a few blocks from where Tompkins lived, at 7 p.m.
Torrance Press, July 8, 1962, Page 1. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
Her father, William, found her bike a block and a half away on 213th St., just west of Bow Ave. Police found no signs of a struggle where the bike was found.
Following the discovery of her body on July 4 by two skin divers in a kelp bed in 25 feet of water off of Corona del Mar, an examination determined that she had been sexually molested.
Her funeral was held at Roosevelt Memorial Cemetery in Gardena on July 9. More than 100 friends, relatives and classmates attended.
Funeral services announced for Dorothy Gale Brown in 1962. Torrance Press, July 8, 1962, Page 1. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
Police couldn't help but notice the geographical and other similarities in the Brown and Tompkins cases.
Once again, they questioned and arrested a variety of suspects, but, as in the Tompkins case, none ever were determined to be the culprit. The arrests did lead to several molestation cases being brought against suspects in other unrelated incidents.
The disappearance of Tompkins and the murder of Brown have never been solved, though many investigators have tackled the cold cases over the ensuing decades.
Torrance Press, July 8, 1962, Page 1. Dorothy Gale Brown's bicycle, left. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
Author Weston DeWalt of Pasadena posited in 2007 that serial killer Mack Ray Edwards, who killed himself on Death Row in San Quentin in October 1971, may have been responsible for more than the six child killings for which he had been convicted.
DeWalt, investigating the killing of 8-year-old Tommy Bowman of Redondo Beach in Pasadena in 1957, noticed a composite drawing of a suspect who resembled Edwards in connection with the case. Bowman's body was never found.
Edwards later claimed to have killed as many as 18 children when questioned by police, but remained vague about the details. Some of the circumstances connected with his killings suggested to DeWalt that his victims possibly could have included Tompkins and Brown.
Police have considered DeWalt's theory seriously in recent years, but as of this writing, the cases of Karen Tompkins and Dorothy Gale Brown remain open.
Torrance Herald, July 12, 1962, Page 1. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
"Mack Ray Edwards," Murderpedia website, Juan Ignacio Blanco.
Pasadena Star-News files.
Torrance Press-Herald files.
Torrance Herald, Aug. 24, 1961, Page 1. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
Palos Verdes College: Noble 8-year experiment may have been ahead of its time
From left, students Coralio "Teddie" Howard, Barbara Lois Verket and Ruth Lissauer (seated) look out over the new campus with Dr. Richard P. Saunders, pointing, President of Palos Verdes College, during a visit. Sept. 12, 1947 photo. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
After founding New London Junior College in Connecticut in 1939, Dr. and Mrs. Richard P. Saunders became enamored of the idea of establishing a similar small community college in California.
The couple had moved to the Los Angeles area after World War II from San Francisco, where Dr. Saunders had been stationed. They explored the area for workable sites, and when they learned that the U.S. Army was selling its wartime Army Air Force camp on the edge of Rolling Hills, they found one.
Dr. Richard Saunders speaks with Robert Walker and his daughter, Susan, before the opening of Palos Verdes College. Sept. 11, 1947. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
Saunders told the Palos Verdes Peninsula News, "The moment I saw Rolling Hills and the Palos Verdes Peninsula, I knew that here was the ideal spot for a college. It is spectacularly beautiful, it offers the quiet so necessary for study, and yet it is but an hour's drive from Los Angeles and Hollywood. thereby making available to the student body and faculty the cultural and recreational advantage of a great metropolitan center."
Saunders announced in October 1946 that the couple would open the new college on 70 acres of land overlooking the Pacific Ocean, much of it donated by the Vanderlip family, owners of the Palos Verdes Corporation. A grander campus with a spectacular ocean view was envisioned, but at first the campus would occupy the barracks and various other portable buildings the army had left behind in a small valley nestled behind the hills.
The buildings were easy to rearrange into a small college campus, and were repurposed into three dormitories, classroom buildings, a library and a combination cafeteria/recreation hall at a low-budget cost of $50,000.
The ocean can be seen beyond the hills behind Palos Verdes College in this photo circa 1947. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
Some of Saunders' guiding concepts for Palos Verdes College included keeping its enrollment low and focusing on educating recent high school students, including those without stellar academic records. He hoped to prepare all its students for further education by teaching core subjects well in a small-class environment.
He also wanted to draw enrollment from all backgrounds, including international students, to give all students a chance to interact and learn from each other as well as from teachers.
Students walk down the unpaved road at Palos Verdes College. Circa 1947 photo. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
The school's community engagement efforts included sponsoring at least three well-attended picnics on its picturesque grounds for students, donors and nearby residents in the months leading up to its opening.
The Palos Verdes College faculty for the first 1947-48 school year surround Dr. Richard Saunders, center, seated in light coat. 1947 photo. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
The college started small. Its first class of 34 students began school on Sept. 29, 1947. Saunders had assembled a young, talented faculty, and the school stressed student involvement in all of its activities.
It grew to more than 100 students in 1948, and its first class graduated with Associate of Arts (A.A.) degrees in 1949.
Early attendees included members of the Hormel family of meatpacking fame, actress and dancer Leslie Caron, and Elizabeth Taylor's older brother, Howard.
Students use the Palos Verdes College library while a reference librarian works at her desk, lower right. Circa 1948 photo. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
Though the school had succeeded in raising funds for its opening, Saunders found that that student tuition fell short of funding the school's needs on an ongoing basis.
Various fundraising events to attract potential donors were held, including dances at the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club, more picnic luncheons and other activities. One event first held in 1948, the Palos Verdes Homes Tour, took on a life of its own following the college's closure, and continues as an annual charitable fundraiser to this day.
Unfortunately, the struggle for funds continued. Dr. Saunders left the school in 1951, feeling the college could no longer afford his salary. He was replaced by teacher and student advisor John Howard.
Rendering of proposed hilltop Palos Verdes College campus that never was built. Palos Verdes Peninsula News, April 30, 1953, Page 1. (Credit: Palos Verdes Peninsula News)
The promise of the proposed permanent hilltop campus, with plans drawn up by Los Angeles architectural firm Welton Becket and Associates, began to fade as the money dried up. The college, still holding classes in its former temporary military buildings, tried converting to a four-year school, awarding its first Bachelor of Arts degrees in 1954.
But Howard just could not keep the respected school afloat financially. He was forced to announce its permanent closure in August 1955, telling the PVP News, ""It is difficult to declare an end to an institution to which so many people have devoted their efforts and resources."
Students eat in the Palos Verdes College cafeteria in this 1952 photo. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District moved its headquarters into the buildings at 38 Crest Road West, which also became the site of its La Cresta Elementary School. Plans were announced to replace the dilapidated buildings occupied by both, a job that was completed in 1965.
La Cresta was closed in 1984, and was replaced by the Rancho Del Mar Continuation High School that continues to operate on the site. The PVP school district moved its headquarters to Malaga Cove School in 2006.
Higher education did return to the Peninsula with the 1968 opening of Marymount Palos Verdes College, since renamed Marymount California University, on Palos Verdes Drive East in Rancho Palos Verdes.
View of the Palos Verdes College campus from a nearby hillside. Circa 1947-48. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
Palos Verdes Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District.
The Palos Verdes Story, by Delane Morgan, The Palos Verdes Review, 1982.
Snow covers the Palos Verdes College campus during the unusual January 1949 snowstorm. Jan. 12, 1949. (Credit: PV Local History Center, Palos Verdes Library District)
Hawaii's Duke Kahanamoku a major figure in South Bay surf culture
Posted on August 8, 2020 by Sam Gnerre
Duke Kahanamoku surfs at Wakiki in this undated publicity shot from the early 1900s.
George Freeth rightfully gets credit for introducing the sport of surfing to the South Bay in Redondo Beach in 1907. Freeth learned the sport while growing up in Hawaii in the late 1800s.
But without the influence of Duke Kahanamoku, born Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 24, 1890, the sport never might
Duke Kahanamoku. Undated.
have captured the imagination of the mainland, and become so ingrained in its culture as a result.
It's hard to overestimate the Duke's impact on West Coast beach culture after his arrival in 1912. Mention his name to an informed surfer these days and they will acknowledge the sport's debt to him.
But he did so much more. His initial fame came not from surfing, but as a championship swimmer. In fact, he first came to Southern California in order to train for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.
His swimming exploits already were legendary at the time, and he would go on to show his prowess on the world's largest athletic stage. He participated in four Olympics in total, winning three gold medals and two silver. At age 42, he went to his final Olympics, serving as an alternate for the U.S. water polo team at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.
Duke Kahanamoku at the 1912 Summer Olympic Games in Stockholm. (Credit: Photo courtesy International Olympic Committee)
Another legendary swimmer, Johnny Weismuller, edged him out for the gold in the 100 meter freestyle at the Paris Games in 1924, and Kahanamoku enjoyed telling reporters for years afterward that "it took Tarzan to beat me."
Like Weismeuller, the handsome Duke — his name, not an official title — followed his Olympic successes with an acting career, playing supporting roles in a series of films during the late 1920s. He returned to Hawaii in the early 1930s, but still appeared in the occasional film, including "Wake of the Red Witch" (1948) with John Wayne, and "Mister Roberts" (1955).
Lobby card for the American film serial "Isle of Sunken Gold" (1927), with Bruce Gordon, Anita Stewart, and Duke Kahanamoku, lower right inset. The film is thought to be lost.
That's just part of the story, and doesn't even include surfing. In his early days, Kahanamoku appeared in major swim meets throughout the world, usually winning and often breaking records in the process. He's credited for inventing a new style of kicking for swimmers, the "Kahanamoku kick," which, when used together with his unusually long arms, gave him his great speed in the water.
He swam in many meets in California, including those held at the Redondo Beach saltwater plunge, Ocean Park in Santa Monica and at a major annual meet held in San Francisco.
A bearded Duke Kahanamoku poses with his board on an unidentified Los Angeles-area beach in 1920. (Credit: UCLA Library, Special Collections Dept.)
While touring around and training for these competitions, he also took the time to introduce mainlanders to his first love, surfing. He used wooden surfboards, his favorite being his Hawaiian Olo board, a carved plank measuring 16 feet, two inches in length, 21 inches in width and weighing 125 lbs.
He loved to demonstrate his technique for riding the waves using the big board, a feat that most witnessing never had seen in person before. Unverified legend has it that he caught his first Southern California waves at 2nd St in Hermosa Beach in 1912. He became close friends with Freeth, and the pair often surfed on South Bay beaches, most notably at Redondo Beach during a July 1913 visit by the Duke.
Kahanamoku also is credited with introducing the sport in Orange County at Corona del Mar in 1912, on the East Coast at Atlantic City, New Jersey that same year, and to the now-surfing mad continent of Australia in 1914.
Duke Kahanamoku in Torrance. Torrance Herald, Aug. 9, 1959, Page 1. (Credit: Torrance Historical Newspaper and Directories Archive database, Torrance Public Library)
During his frequent visits to the South Bay/Harbor Area, he often stayed with local residents, including in San Pedro with Rudecinda Florencia Sepulveda de Dodson, daughter of land grant holder Jose Diego Sepulveda.
In addition to his swimming and surfing exploits, Kahanamoku became a hero for making two remarkable open-ocean rescues from capsized boats. On June 14, 1925, he rescued eight men from a sinking fishing vessel in an accident near Newport Beach that took 17 lives. On May 3, 1926, he rescued two men from a floundering sailing ship being used in the film "Old Ironsides" after its mast snapped in heavy seas near Catalina Island.
Amelia Earhart and Duke Kahanamoku in Hawaii in Dec., 1934 or Jan., 1935. (Credit: Matson Navigation Company)
After his swimming career, he returned to Honolulu, becoming sheriff of the city in 1934, a post he held until 1961. He helped define the term "waterman," continuing to act as an ambassador for surfing and ocean water sports in general.
During the 1960s, he acted as the designated official greeter to dignitaries and celebrities arriving in Hawaii. He died of a heart attack on Jan. 22, 1968, at 77. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific.
Duke Kahanamoku gathers his competition surfing team together for a briefing prior to the 1965 U.S. Open championships at Huntington Beach. From left: Paul Strauch, Joey Cabeli, The Duke, Fred Hemmings and Butch Van Artsdalen. Sept. 23, 1965. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection)
The tributes to the Duke have been numerous. He was the first athlete to be inducted into both the international Swimming Hall of Fame and Surfing Hall of Fame, as well as being named to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
The first international big-wave surfing event at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore, held in 1965, was named the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship in his honor.
Statues saluting him have been erected in Huntington Beach, at New South Wales, Australia, in Christchurch, New Zealand (where he introduced surfing in 1915), and, of course, in Honolulu. In addition to the iconic statue, the city also has named a section of Wakiki as "Kahanamoku Beach."
Surfer magazine named him as its "Surfer of The Century" in 1999, and he was honored with his own postage stamp by the U.S. Postal Service in 2002.
Palos Verdes Peninsula News, June 28, 1967, Page 29. (Credit: Palos Verdes Peninsula News)
"Hall of Fame: Duke Kahanamoku," United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum website.
"Heroes of Swimming: Duke Kahanamoku," Heroes of Swimming blog, The Guardian.
Los Angeles Herald files.
San Pedro News Pilot files.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.
Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku, by David Davis, University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
Historic Wilmington Cemetery has weathered its share of storms
A pair of women arrive with flowers at the Wilmington Cemetery on May 10, 2017. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Phineas Banning built the Wilmington Cemetery in 1857 on three and a half acres of land in the town named for his Delaware city of origin. He designated a separate fenced plot for his family members on its grounds following the death of his 2-year-old son.
The cemetery, originally operated by the Wilmington Cemetery Association, was expanded when Joseph Pashke and his son acquired an additional four acres in the years after Banning's death. It would eventually grow to 10.2 acres.
Located at Eubank and O streets just northeast of Banning Park and the Banning Mansion, it's the oldest active graveyard in Los Angeles County.
Many important historical figures are buried there, including members of pioneer families the Carsons, the Sepulvedas and the Dodsons. Nathaniel Narbonne and his wife are buried there, as is Juan Antonio Machado, after whom Machado Lake in Harbor City is named.
Diagram shows location of historic gravesites at Wilmington Cemetery. (Credit: Wilmington Historical Society, via Findagrave website)
37 Civil War veterans lie in repose there, as do soldiers from the Spanish-American War and from the Normandy D-Day invasion. The cemetery annually hosted large
Decoration Day (later to become Memorial Day) ceremonies honoring America's war dead dating at least back to the1880s.
(Credit: Floydster, via Findagrave website)
Banning's first wife and five of his children are buried in the designated family area. Banning himself was interred at the cemetery following his death in 1885, but he's no longer there.
His second wife, Mary, had specified that his body be moved to a grave next to hers at the tonier Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in the Pico-Union district south of downtown Los Angeles following her death in 1919.
In 1922, a Spanish-American War veterans group dedicated a special area of the cemetery where the "Boys of '98" were buried. The United Spanish War Veterans also purchased an additional 210 plots for future former soldier interments.
Deteriorating conditions and financial difficulties at the cemetery led to the formation of the Wilmington Cemetery District by the county Board of Supervisors in 1958, 101 years after the cemetery's creation.
Passage of Proposition CC that November created an assessment district that collected tax revenue for the continued maintenance of the historic burial ground, with the aim of preventing it from future financial difficulties.
In 1963, the cemetery became a publicly operated facility governed by a regulatory board, with money for its employees and maintenance provided by tax funds managed by the county.
It worked for a while, but in 1987, financial mismanagement led to the first of an ongoing series of troubles at the cemetery when its three employees stopped receiving their paychecks due to a lack of funds. Neighbors also complained of poor maintenance, including trash, weeds and overgrown grass at the cemetery.
It was shut down for about a month, but was reopened after receiving a $36,000 loan from the city of Los Angeles and a $20,000 gift from Exxon Corp.
In 1989, local historian Gertrude Schwab led a successful effort to have the cemetery declared a city monument by the Los Angeles City Council.
But its recurring troubles exploded in 1991 with the discovery that bodies were being buried improperly in too-shallow graves. Some caskets were buried mere inches under the soil or were placed on top of other caskets, while others were identified incorrectly.
Many service members, including this victim from the Spanish American War, are buried at the Wilmington Cemetery. 2017 photo. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Bereaved families threatened lawsuits, and the state even passed a law defining depth-of-burial requirements as a result. The cemetery's caretaker was accused of embezzling funds meant for the cemetery, and was replaced by Joseph Poland in 1991.
The controversy lasted into 1994, with nearly 200 graves affected by the mismanagement. Poland supervised much of the necessary repair work, but then it was discovered that he had also begun operating a scam selling nonexistent burial plots at the cemetery.
He pleaded guilty to fraud charges and began serving a three-year prison term in 1999.
Heavy winter rains caused the closure of the cemetery again in February 2017. The soaked grounds lead to the sinking and dislodging of headstones and graves, though no remains were exposed.
The damage was serious enough to lead Supervisor Janice Hahn to widen the cemetery's assessment district, which hadn't been enlarged since 1958, in order to increase its funding so that proper maintenance could be performed more consistently.
As she told Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn in May 2017, "When I toured that storm damage I promised to get the Wilmington Cemetery District the funding it needs to make repairs and maintain the cemetery in a way that respects its history and the memories of those buried there."
Since then, problems at the historic cemetery at 605 E. O St., where more than 11,000 people are buried, seem to have subsided.
A man visits a grave under a large tree at the Wilmington Cemetery on May 10, 2017. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)
Findagrave website.
The Wilmington Cemetery during its 2017 closure while work was done to shore up graves and headstones impacted by heavy rains. (Daily Breeze staff file photo)