Arthur and Gertrude Sercy Reese Family Home, 541 E Santa Clara Avenue

Excerpt from the Historic Cultural Monument designation:

"The subject property “is associated with the lives of historic personages important to national, state, city, or local history” as the long-time home of Arthur Reese, the town decorator for Abbot Kinney’s Venice of America and one of the founders of Oakwood as an African American enclave. Reese was one of the first Black residents in Venice and a highly respected entrepreneur and businessman known for his cartoon-like papier-mâché heads featured at the annual Mardi Gras Festival that he initiated. After being hired by Kinney for his pleasure pier, Reese recruited other family members to move to Venice to help supply the Kinney Company with labor, CHC-2022-6876-HCM 541 East Santa Clara Avenue; 1221 South 6th Avenue Page 2 of 3 accounting for a majority of the 33 Blacks living in the Oakwood section of Venice by 1912. In this way, Reese played a significant role in building the emerging Black community in Venice as well as supporting them through his civic engagement and involvement in local affairs. He designed the subject property as a home for himself and his family where he resided for more than 30 years."

CHC-2022-6876-HCM

https://hpla.lacity.org/report/e01715a6-a889-4351-8bee-2b495e1bcf2c