In Part IV of an ongoing series featuring historic homes that contribute to Hermosa Beach’s uniqueness and style, The Beach Reporter took a closer look at three houses built in the early 1900s, all standing close to shore.

Gina and Tom Nyman have lived at 1040 Manhattan Ave. since 1995. The house is described as Dutch colonial with three bedrooms and one bathroom on the second story and a kitchen, living room, dining room, den and sunroom – built in 1911 — on the bottom floor. The garage is said to have been added that same year to accommodate a Model-T Ford.

“We’ve spent the last eight years restoring it,” said Gina. “I remember when we first bought it, Patricia Gazin showed up at our door and convinced us to host the annual Historical Society meeting that always takes place in a historically significant house.”

Nyman, who is a Historical Society board member, and her husband bought the house in July and met their deadline of March just in time for the society’s meeting.

According to Patricia Gazin’s book, “Castles in the Sand,” Ralph E. Matteson originally built the house in 1906 after arriving in Hermosa Beach in 1905. He accepted a position as manager of the Western Fuel Gas and Power Company. The Mattesons lived in the house until about 1921 when they built a second home on 19th Street and Manhattan Avenue.

The Nymans believe the house has had many owners and in the 1970s was used as a rental home for flight attendants. One former owner, Lynn Dorn, remodeled the kitchen in 1975 while the rest of the house is still in its original form.

“We really love the original gas lamp fixtures which are now electric. All of the floors are still original and they creak like crazy since the house has no foundation and is built on solid wood pilings,” added Nyman. “Our 16-year-old daughter always talks about how she’s not able to get away with anything because we can hear everything.”

Councilman Sam Edgerton and his wife, Beach Cities Health District board member Joanne Edgerton, live at 44 20th St. with their three children. Their home was built in 1906. The Edgertons bought the house in 1997 and are believed to be the third owners.

“It predates the city’s life,” said Edgerton. “Its birthday is 1907 and the first building records in town are from 1911. Anything built before that is just referred to as ‘older,’ so it’s a mystery. There’s a picture of the home from 1915 with three other houses and nothing but sand around. It looks like Perry’s expedition to Antarctica.”

According to Edgerton, a woman who owned a leather factory in downtown Los Angeles first owned it and then sold it to the Parks family. Marion Parks and her husband lived there with their kids. Cory Parks, Marion’s daughter, married famed surfer Bing Copeland. The family hosted the wedding reception in the backyard.

Sonny Vardeman, a longtime Hermosa Beach resident who served as a lifeguard and later became a surfboard maker, talked with Edgerton about the home’s history.

It was known as a local hangout spot for many of the local kids. The Parks family owned a rather mean dog that liked to chew on people and the house.

“This is how all of those guys became great surfers, they’d stay out in the water to avoid the dog waiting for them on shore ready to bite,” said Edgerton. “When they managed to sneak back into the house, the dog would sit behind the window sill and chew on it.”

When the Edgertons bought the home, it was in disrepair without any repairs made to it since the 1970s. The style of the house is called Craftsman bungalow. The style was conceived in California and is a conglomeration of many different styles from all over the world. The house is made of redwood and the frame contains cuts in the wood that create sweeping designs.

“We bought it as is including its ‘Maude’ orange carpet,” said Edgerton. “We ripped out the carpet and went back to the original hardwood floors underneath. The house has a basement and we turned the adjoining unit of the garage into a recreational room for the kids. It actually had a porch at one time. It’s been a labor of love and we are trying to bring it back to where it should be by restoring it piece by piece.”

The three-bedroom, three-bath home did undergo some remodeling when the previous owner added on an extra room in the back of the second story in the early 1950s.

“This house was built to be a beach house,” added Edgerton. “It’s an oldie but goodie that has, interestingly, become a rarity. In the time it was built it was a dime a dozen. It was built in a time when residents had mules that would pull the houses up to The Strand in the summer and back in the winter since the land up to Hermosa Avenue would oftentimes flood.”

According to “Castles in the Sand,” famed Los Angeles District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine made 2601 The Strand his summer home in the early 1900s. Woolwine is noted for organizing the first recall action against a mayor in the United States. The mayor in question was Arthur C. Harper who served in office from 1906 to 1909 in Los Angeles. He was allegedly connected to some shady business dealings in the red light district, a seedy part of Los Angeles’ Chinatown in the 1920s. More than 10,000 signatures were collected in protest that eventually led to Harper’s resignation.

Woolwine, a native of Tennessee, earned two law degrees, one from Cumberland University in Tennessee and the other from Columbia University now called George Washington University. Woolwine was also remembered for raiding a Ku Klux Klan meeting in Inglewood. Woolwine also wrote the novel, “In the Valley of the Shadows,” published by Doubleday in 1909.

The resident was not available for comment.