West Wing Santa Monica Public Library ca. 1920

Books on the early history of the Santa Monica Bay region are available and provide good coverage up to about the 1950s, but no truly comprehensive history of the area exists. Some overview histories are listed on the Illustrated Histories page.  Important texts on the early history of the area include:

Ingersoll's Century History, Santa Monica Bay Cities by Luther Ingersoll (1908)

History of the Santa Monica Bay Region by Charles Warren (1934)

Santa Monica Blue Book also by Warren (1941, 1944, 1948 and edited in 1953 by Carl White)

Santa Monica: a Calendar of Events That Made a City by W.W. Robinson (1935)  (Presently unavailable)

The Outlook's Story of Santa Monica by Kate Cowick(1932)

The Bay Area Pageant 1542-1957 by John Daniell  (Presently unavailable)

Building a City: Life in Santa Monica from 1872 by Elva Ward (1962)  (Presently unavailable)

Santa Monica city directories, published sporadically until 1961, also act as a historical record of the community.  The directories are listed in the Library online catalog as the title search Santa Monica city directory.  Call Telephone Reference at (310) 434-2608 or ask Email Reference for additional information on the city directories.

The Past:  Illustrated Histories next