Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
It was interesting to read your “From the Mirror Files,” the Part I writing
on the Santa Monica Pier.
And I’m now a retired CPA who in my youth started writing and working for a
newspaper. Further in school I remember a professor giving me a tip to never get into an
argument with anybody who buys ink by the trainload!
However, I believe your article is in error in stating that in 1936 the Security Bank
hired Walter Newcomb to manage the Pleasure Pier and seven years later sold the Pier to
Mr. Newcomb for $10.
In fact, I just happen to hold in my possession at this moment the policy #1864789 under
date of February 19, 1943 and it shows coverage for $105,000 and a deed of trust for
$97,500 executed by Walter D. Newcomb, Jr. and his wife Enid I. Newcomb in favor of
Security First National Bank.
You see, I’m married to the older daughter of the Newcombs and, since arriving in
Santa Monica on Armistice Day, 1945, after my Navy discharge, I have been involved in all
of their financial doings until each passed away in 1954 and 1981. Undoubtedly in writing
about the Newcomb Pier few people live who know the facts, but I do want you to realize
that your source of the $10 figure is not accurate in the transaction.
Philip E. Whiting
Santa Monica
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