Preserving the Stories of Historic Broadway in Santa Monica
- Publisher
- Jul 31
- 3 min read
What is worth saving? City Hall? The library? The market that served Black families, when others would not? Who decides what histories stay and what gets erased? Whose homes are remembered – and whose stories are forgotten?
Just beneath the 10 Freeway lies Broadway between 17th and 20th Streets. Once home to a thriving Black and Brown community, this corridor was filled with homes, businesses, churches, and gathering places that formed the heart of a self-sustaining neighborhood. Today, the area hums with coffee shops, dense housing, and new businesses, but many original landmarks are gone – even as their stories endure.
In July, the 18th Street Arts Center partnered with Bill and Carolyne Edwards of the Quinn Research Center to host a walk along Historic Broadway. The Edwards shared stories that don’t appear on plaques, or in most history books. They told us about the local autoshop, grocers who offered credit during hard times, and business owners who knew their customers by name.
Calvary Baptist Church, still standing today, was much more than a place of worship. It served as a civic hub – hosting voter registration drives, NAACP meetings, and organizing efforts for civil rights and fair housing. Its congregation included generations of families who built both spiritual and social strength within its walls.
Just steps away were businesses that gave the neighborhood its daily rhythm. Mack and Sons Union Service, eventually Youngers Auto, kept cars running, but more than that, they provided jobs, pride, and economic independence for Black workers.
Hughley’s Broadway Auto Sales was another pillar – run by community members who helped others purchase vehicles in an era when traditional banks and dealerships often refused to lend to Black buyers.
At HW Atkins Grocery and Meat, customers didn’t just shop – they lingered. You could get a freshly made sandwich, charge your groceries to a tab if the week was tight, and hear the latest neighborhood news.
Nearby, Juanita’s Beauty Shoppe offered nourishment, care, and comfort. Terri de la Peña, Juanita's daughter, shared about her mother, who as a young woman went to a local salon and was told they would not serve her. She returned home in tears. A few years later, Juanita completed beauty school and opened her first salon – and eventually, a second. Her story is just one example of how Brown and Black women in this neighborhood built institutions of care in response to exclusion.
We completed our tour at the Philomathean Club, on 18th and Broadway, a social and civic organization founded in 1921 by Black women, creating space for education, mutual aid, and cultural gatherings when few others did. In recent years, the Philomathean received official historic landmark status – an achievement that, not long ago, seemed far out of reach.
Today, the organization continues to support the community by offering full scholarships to several students each year, carrying its legacy of empowerment
into the present.
These are stories of resilience. Stories that challenge the postcard-perfect version of Santa Monica. And, stories that deserve space in our collective memory. This project is about listening and learning, but it’s also about accountability. As artists, institutions, and residents, we must ask: What do we choose to remember? What histories are allowed to remain visible? And, who gets to shape the future of our community?
This tour is part of an ongoing quarterly program series hosted by 18th Street Arts Center, created to honor and celebrate the deep histories of Santa Monica’s communities. The next event – a community gourd-making workshop – will take place in November, offering another hands-on opportunity to reflect, remember, and reconnect.
These programs are made possible with generous support from the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, whose commitment helps amplify community voices and reframe how history lives in place.
By Michael Ano
18th Street Arts Center