Thousands of us
who live in the Marina and thousands more
from miles around come to the Marina
to see the annual boat parade in Marina del
Rey.
But very few remember the first boat parade in
Marina del Rey. When that first boat parade
circled the Marina's main basin in 1963 there
were approximately 100 boats in the Marina and
almost no buildings. Twenty of the hundred
boats entered the parade.
Margie and Steve Bragg were among the first
hundred Marina del Rey Boat owners who formed
Pioneer Skippers Boat Owners
Association. They and the other charter
members decided to have a boat parade
"because the harbor had nothing at the
time," Margie remembered. "We
thought it was a good idea, and the county was
delighted. Our boat parade would
advertise the Marina when nobody wanted to
come here.
"The Marina had just opened and had no
breakwater, no nothing except a few docks. And
very few boat owners." "In
those days, the surge was so strong that it
was frightening," Margie remembered,
referring to the waves of water that would
come roaring into the unprotected Marina del
Rey harbor, damaging berthed boats.
"There were times when it threw boats up
on the docks -- or threw the docks up in the
air and down on to the boats. Sometimes we'd
all grab axes we kept handy to cut the
docklines quickly, before our boats were
beaten under the docks. Then we'd all anchor
out in the middle till it clamed down.
We were a very close group and we had dinners
ashore and sometimes dinner dances at our
home."
At that time, the Braggs lived ashore and had
just finished building a 47-foot trimaran that
Steve designed. The Tres Leis (Three
Leis) was built in their own shop, with
professional help from Arthur Piver, multihull
designer, since lost at sea. "Our
trimaran was ideal for a Christmas parade
float - a 47-by-24-foot platform. All of
us got excited about a boat parade, regardless
of the size boat."
"In the beginning, we walked the docks to
get parade entries. We asked for a
two-dollar donation. I remember talking
to a man who wanted to enter but he didn't
have any money and I was so anxious to see his
boat in the parade that I offered him the $2
entry fee."
"What fun it was! Everyone chipped
in -- and worked!" Donations
from merchants and hard work by boat owners
put the boat parades together. "For the
first few years," Margie says, "each
parade might have cost us $50 or $60. In
fact, it may have been less. Everything but
printing the entry form was done by donation,
and the printer gave us a nice low price on
the entry forms."
"There was only one restaurant open in
the Marina when we had the first boat
parade. The Pieces O' Eight was at the
end of a little dirt road. It's hard to
believe now, but everyone in the Marina came
-- and there was room inside for all of us."
FLOATING CHRISTMAS TREE:
"Twice we had a Christmas tree on a
raft out in the middle of the main
basin, with a generator to light it,"
Margie recalled. "We kept it there
throughout the holiday season. John Erskine
and my husband, Steve, took turns rowing out
every night with gasoline to keep the lights
burning" The trees were mammoth and
flocked. They were donated by a local bank.
But it was expensive, because Pioneer Skippers
had to carry insurance on it, in case some
boat clobbered it. "We would bring a raft
up to the end of a basin and nail a stand to
it. Then the tree went over the fence,
down to the raft and was stayed on all four
corners. It was beautiful."
The Braggs didn't enter the first boat
parade, won by Pez Espada IV, but the
following year "my husband knew a man who
made the Paul Bunyan statues you see in
service stations holding tires on one
out-stretched arm. "We borrowed a
Paul Bunyan. It took nine men to carry
Paul to the dock. We had to winch the
statue aboard. We wrapped him to the
stays." "At that time, we lived
aboard, and I thought he was going to join us
for breakfast every morning. They dressed him
in crepe paper and cotton to be Santa
Claus. My husband climbed a tall ladder
and painted red spots on his cheeks, and gave
him twinkly eyes. We made him a
white cotton beard and eyebrows. Then it
rained. You should have seen our
Santa. We started all over again, and
when we were finished the second time we built
a platform on his outstretched arm."
"Our children and their friends wrapped
empty boxes and covered them with
ribbons. They dressed as elves for the
parade, and bounced around on our 24-foot-wide
deck." Margie sat in Santa's
hand. They took her up the ladder, and
tied her into an aircraft seat belt. They left
the ladder on the dock. "The parade
started. And so did the rain," Margie
recalled. "Everyone on deck had
refreshments and Chicken Delight. I was
stuck way up in the air in an evening
gown. I had a grand view of the parade,
and it drizzled throughout the whole hour we
circled the harbor. I nearly
froze."
They won first in Class D and then won
the grand prize. "So we decided not
to enter any more. It wasn't fair to the other
boats.," Margie recalled.
THE MARINA GREW:
The Marina grew from 100 to nearly 6,000 boats
since the first few boat parades. In
1964, a detached breakwater was built, to
solve the surge problems. The first
restaurant, Pieces O' Eight on Fiji Way is now
Shanghai Red's. The Christmas Boat
Parade is now a Holiday Boat Parade.
The Braggs moved away many years ago.
However, many Marina boat owners who have
lighted and decorated their boats for marina
del Rey boat parades through the years are
still here. The may not have won, but
they joined the parade, and as they watch each
year's new parade, they remember. Standing on
the docks, watching the parade every year,
they recall winning - and not winning, but
participating in --the boat parade. After
their grand efforts they elected to become
spectators.
Along with newcomers, who watch this
parade for the first time are the many boat
owners and crew who have perpetuated our
salute to the holidays, Marina del Rey's
annual Holiday Boat Parade.
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