Although Abbot Kinney (1850-1920) is remembered for founding Venice, this tiny street is a remnant of his days as an Ocean Park developer. Kinney bought his first parcel of Santa Monica land in December 1885 and built a summer home for himself and his family there the following May. In 1890, he met Francis George Ryan, an Anaheim citrus grower who was summering in SM. One year later, the two purchased a controlling interest in the Santa Monica Casino from city founders Robert S. Baker and John P. Jones. Kinney and Ryan continued to improve this area and effectively created Ocean Park in 1893. After Ryan’s untimely death in 1898, Kinney continued the work with Ryan’s widow Matilda (see Brooks Ave.) and her new husband T.H. Dudley, but the couple sold their share of Ocean Park in 1902 and Kinney didn’t like his new partners – Alexander R. Fraser, George M. Jones, and Herbert R. Gage – so he split from them in 1904 to pursue his Venice dream. Kinney Street was named by 1900 and originally led to the beach.
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