ABOUT THE
ORGANIZATION

Not often does one get the chance to be in on the ground floor of a new city, a new harbor, and a new life’s change. That is the case with Greg Wenger, photographer from New York, and Willie Angel Hjorth, a transplant from San Francisco. Wenger said, “Snow no more,” and Willie’s husband, John, said, “Let’s go sailing!”

Weather and job opportunity brought the two founders of the Marina del Rey Historical Society (MDRHS) together, and they have been involved in Marina del Rey for a combined total of about 94 years. Greg Wenger was the leading photographer, with an amazing artist’s eye during these years. Most businesses contracted his services. Willie and John began a marine business in 1964, and it grew with the marina.

The Marina del Rey Historical Society achieved nonprofit 501c3 status on September 10, 2007. Acquisitions, catalog systems, and storage became challenges, as did finding financing methods in order to preserve photographs, documents, and related data into a retrievable resource and archive for future research and education. A website is under construction, and the use of multimedia displays units is being readied.

We thank Arcadia Publishing for the opportunity to pictorially present our history and for its help in putting together the broad brushstrokes of Marina del Rey development. For MDRHS, the work has opened the door to present more detailed chapters of the history uncovered in this man-made harbor and city.

The existence of Marina del Rey is unique and a paradigm for the future, and it should be recorded as a guideline for future developments.

On April 10, 2014, one year prior to Marina del Rey’s 50th-birthday celebration, the Marina del Rey Historical Society opened its waterfront gallery at Fisherman’s Village.

Thank you, Arcadia and staff, for the chance to tell a little bit of our story.

Marina del Rey Historical Society
13737 Fiji Way, Ste. C-3
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Willie Angel Hjorth, President