Mobsters and Grifters
On September 19th, we will be celebrating mobsters and grifters during our second annual A PIERfect Benefit. Why would we show love to mobsters and grifters? Because it's fun! Plus it highlights two very cool parts of the Santa Monica Pier's historical story.
In 1938, mobster Tony "The Hat" Cornero purchased the Star of Scotland, a fishing barge anchored a few miles out to sea from the Pier, and converted it into a gambling ship which he named the SS Rex. And a legend was born. People could board water taxis at the Pier for a ten-minute boat ride to the Rex, where they would then enjoy a night of entertainment and gambling – legal because the three-mile distance from shore was considered International Waters.
Never mind that the games were all fixed; people had a great night out and, in the latter years of the Great Depression, a night of fun and frivolity mattered. A lot.
Gambling so close to town, though, did not sit well with Santa Monica's governing leaders, nor with many of its citizens. Legal battles constantly plagued Cornero's offshore enterprise, but he cleverly found loopholes that allowed him to continue operations until, on July 28, 1939, California Attorney General Earl Warren (yes, the man who eventually became Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court) declared that International Waters did not begin simply at three miles from shore, but instead at three miles past an imaginary line drawn from Point Vicente to Point Dume, resulting in the Rex being required to operate no less than eighteen miles from shore. This meant a one-hour water taxi ride, which was not palatable for prospective patrons.
Cornero defiantly refused to close his operations and staged a standoff against law officers who tried to board the Rex to shut it down, often using water hoses to force them off if they tried to climb aboard. This became known in newspapers as "The Battle of Santa Monica Bay." After eight days of this battle, Cornero finally surrendered, telling the press that he "needed a haircut." And so came an end to this short-lived but wonderful part of the Pier's history.
And what about the grifters?
In 1973, film director George Roy Hill rented the Pier's Merry Go-Round Building for a film called The Sting, set in Depression-era Chicago and starring Hollywood icons Paul Newman and Robert Redford as – you guessed it – career grifters.
And so we will celebrate all of the above with 1930s jazz, nautical gambling ship décor, wonderful food, and, of course, games of chance (we promise they're honest, not fixed like on the Rex!). We'll even have horse racing – a very clever use of the Pier's carousel.
Please come enjoy the 1930s with us!