Honorable Mention
The Big Old House
by John Shearer
Behind every house that has ever been built, there is a story. Let me tell you the story about one of the landmark homes in the South Bay, the first house south of Manhattan Beach Pier.
The Shearer family house at 1020 Strand, Manhattan Beach turned 125-years-old this year. It was built in 1900. That makes the house slightly older than half of the 249-year existence of the United States of America. The Shearer house might be the oldest house in Manhattan Beach.
According to family lore, it was first occupied by unrelated employees of Standard Oil in 1900. The Standard Oil employees lived in four bedrooms, two with a shared, lockable bathroom and two with private bathrooms.
The house eventually was bought by the Thompson family., When the second Thompson parent passed away in 1961, three Thompson siblings inherited the home. Two sisters wanted to sell the house, but the brother wanted to continue to live there. The sisters won out, and the house went into probate in 1962.
Around that time, Mom was pregnant with her fifth child. Our three-bedroom home on Elm Avenue in Manhattan Beach wasn’t big enough for a family of seven. Mom had a friend, Charlotte Cravella of Robertson Realty, who tipped her off that the 1020 Strand house was coming on the market. The house was run down. It needed carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and painting repairs, but it was structurally sound. Mom controlled the finances, and she bought the house as, is in probate for $36,000.
Buying the house was a financial risk. Dad worked for the Los Angeles Police Department, and his single income had to be enough to raise five children and pay the mortgage. He didn’t like the thought of working on the house after his regular work day or on weekends. Dad refused to set foot in the house for six weeks. Mom, her sister Catherine Cook, and brother-in-law Al Cook, got to work fixing windows, painting, and replacing the carpet.
Our family moved in during August of 1962. Unfortunately, in September Dad broke his neck while bodysurfing during a late afternoon Indian summer south swell, and spent the next three months in the VA Hospital in Long Beach and in rehab.
Dad’s injury caused serious financial concern for our family. Fortunately, my mother’s sisters, Catherine Cook and Helen Wagenbrenner, loaned Mom money to pay the mortgage. Our family made it through this difficult time, and now we have enjoyed living in the home for 63 years.
In the mid-1960s, Dad erected a basketball hoop in front of the house. My older brother Craig, our friends, and I played basketball on The Strand after school and on the weekends. Occasionally, a walker or bike rider would approach and we would briefly pause our game, but very few people came by. Running or jogging was not a popular activity in those early years.
We could watch the Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament from our living room in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but it was more fun to go down and watch up close. It was easy to get front row seating for most games, except for the finals when we might be a few rows back. One memorable year, the games were running late and the cars in the parking lot turned on their headlights so the players could see the ball.
As teenagers, my brother and I shared the third-story, west facing bedroom. I could wake up and look out the window from my bed to check the surf at Manhattan Pier. I regularly joined Rocky Sabo, Rick and Randy Dowden, Mike Gieb, Jerry Vierkoetter, Mike Cunningham, and members of the Gillis Beach Bodysurfing Association in the lineup.
Our parents rented out a bachelor unit on the bottom floor. One family friend, P.J. Tiernan greatly enjoyed his time there. However, on one occasion, P.J. pushed the boundaries. He was growing a couple of marijuana plants under the house with grow-lights. Policeman Dad told P.J. to get rid of the plants after a neighbor alerted Dad about seeing lights under the house.
In early 1983 I finally got the opportunity to rent the bachelor pad. Soon after moving in, I started dating Carmen Becdach. I knew she was “the one” for me, but I took as long as possible before I proposed to her, knowing I would have to move out of the dream space. After three years of dating, Carmen and I married and we moved to Hermosa Beach.
After the January 17, 1994 Northridge Earthquake, cracks appeared in the tall, red brick chimney. As the months passed, the chimney was clearly deteriorating. Mom hired a chimney specialist from El Segundo to demolish the brick chimney and build a stone chimney. When he finished, Mom jokingly inquired if she could have a 95-year guarantee to match the duration of the original brick chimney.
Link White, son of Bob White, a cofounder of the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders, has been restoring parts of the Shearer house over the past two years. Link generously offered to do a few repairs, and one thing has led to another. He has repaired the picket fence, the deck windows, three gates, a screen door, a sliding door, and a rubbish storage area.
Today, the basketball court is gone and grandstands block the view of the Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament. But the house still stands and the waves keep breaking. Mom is now 94-years-old, and my sister Theresa and I often take her in a wheelchair along The Strand where she catches up with long-time friends. Brother Craig from Santa Cruz and sister Kathleen from Oceanside visit and sometimes bring their children and grandchildren. We happily share fond memories of our 63 years in the Shearer house, and we cherish every day that comes in the big old house.
