The Price of Preservation for Historical Homes in the Beach Cities
Annette Mejia Pickens and her husband Chris hold a plaque designating their Highland Avenue home the city’s first residential landmark. (Photos by Kevin Cody). Fifty years after the State Legislature passed the Mills Act, which supports preservation of historical buildings, no Hermosa Beach home, and only one Manhattan Beach home has received historical designation. In Redondo Beach, more than 100 homes have received historical designation. by Elka Worner When 50-year Hermosa Beach resident Marsha Majka submitted an application to City Hall to designate her 1913 beach bungalow a historic site, she assumed the service was free. Along with the application, which she downloaded from the city website, she submitted the home’s 1913 building permit provided by the city, and the original architectural renderings. She also included a page from “Castles in the Sand,” a 1977 book by unofficial city historian Pat Gazin. The book described Majka’s quaint, three-bedroom cottage with wood floors at the corner of Monterey Boulevard and Park Avenue. “This shingled beach bungalow retains youthful charm and color. It was built in 1913 by owner builder S.S. Kidder at a coast of $1,000,” Gazin wrote…
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