Vincent Park, street designs, Hotel Redondo steps marked by commemorative signs
by Garth Meyer The sixth and seventh Redondo Beach “Path of History” signs commemorating the design of Vincent Park, its surrounding streets, and Hotel Redonodo’s grand staircase to the beach, were placed Dec. 2. The installations started as a Leadership Redondo class project (2002). The sign at Vincent Park tells of how the small, oval recreation spot and the adjacent lamp-shaped streets’ layout were influenced by the national Chautauqua festivals, an educational movement held in the pre-radio, pre-television era, beginning in upstate New York. “They were similar to TedX today,” said Ron Maroko, a member of the Redondo Beach Historical Commission. A “Lamp of Learning” was the Chautauqua symbol. The Ainsworth Court Staircase, next to today’s Veterans Park, was once part of a 30-foot wide stairway from the 1890 Hotel Redondo to the beach, and wharf no. 2. A thin section of the steps remain. In 1887, Redondo Beach streets designer William Hammond Hall created Vincent Park and the “Lamp of Learning” neighborhood pattern, extending from Pacific Coast Highway to Prospect Avenue. Redondo Union High School makes up the lamp’s upper, northeast section. Hall also designed Golden Gate Park…
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