During the 1920s, the small city of Hermosa Beach became the unlikely center of the West Coast silk industry with the arrival of the Golden State Silk Mills plant.
Up until then, the silk industry had been concentrated in the Northeast states, with mills there having to wait for shipments of raw silk from Japan to arrive via cargo ships in California, where they then had to be shipped east by rail at additional expense.
Why all the hubbub over silk? Because the fabric had become extremely popular in America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the days before synthetic fabrics, silk garments — including everything from hosiery and foundations to elaborate dresses — had grown into some of the fashion industry’s most prized items. By the 1920s, silk manufacturing had grown into a highly profitable industry.
When the Hermosa Beach Review announced the impending arrival of the Golden State Silk Mills plant in its Feb. 23, 1923, issue the townspeople and investors reacted with enthusiasm. Estimates for the cost of the initial investment began at $1 million.
The proposed plant, to be built on two acres near the intersection of Ardmore Drive and Santa Fe Avenue (later renamed Pier Avenue), would be a complete silk processing operation.
Raw silk, imported mostly from Japan, would be made into finished fabrics by the plant’s weaving, throwing and dyeing machines. Raw materials would be turned into finished products in 10 days. It would be the first such operation ever on the West Coast and would bring hundreds of jobs to the city.
The plan had clear financial advantages. Once trade relationships were established with Japanese suppliers, the cost of acquiring raw silk would be considerably less that it was for eastern factories. The milder coastal climate would also allow for longer periods of operation; most East Coast plants had to shut down, or at least kept exceedingly warm, during colder weather.
The Hermosa plant’s machines used electric power, which saved money and was quieter. And the expense of heating and humidity controls was reduced; Hermosa’s seaside climate proved to be ideal for silk production.
Officials broke ground on the plant on Nov. 8, 1923. Constructing the three main buildings and acquiring and installing the necessary machinery lasted through 1924. In June 1925, the Golden State Silk Mills opened for business.
It started with 50 Well looms, but that number increased to more than 100 by 1927. The man from whom the specialized looms took their name, W.S. Wells, was brought in at Golden State as the manager of the throwing and weaving operations.
The plant thrived, moving shortly after it opened to 24-hour operation to meet the demand for its products, which were sold under the brand name Sunshine Silks. Silk garments were the height of fashion during the boom years of the 1920s.
Golden State continued expanding its operations. It opened the Hermosa Silk Spinning Co. at its Hermosa site on April 17, 1926. Its purpose was to spin silk yarn for the production of silk stockings and other hosiery, which would be produced at its other new onsite facility, Hermosa Hosiery Mills, Inc.
After the plant opened, the company’s dyeing operations moved to a new satellite plant in downtown Torrance, built near the Union Tool Co., west of Western Avenue.
The much-ballyhooed first direct shipment of raw silk from Japan arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, in May 1926.
Things were going so well that Golden State began building a second West Coast factory in San Diego in 1926. That plant planned to use raw silk from silkworms raised in Escondido on 325 acres of mulberry trees, the silkworms’ natural habitat.
Golden State’s business continued to boom for the next couple of years, but several factors affected it adversely as the 1920s drew to a close. The most obvious was the arrival of the Great Depression in 1929, but the development of synthetic fibers — such as nylon and rayon — the growth of the cotton industry in California and the vicissitudes of the fashion industry also played a role.
The once-thriving plant shut down in the early 1930s. New investors managed to raise enough capital to reopen the plant in 1935, but its glory days were behind it.
The date of its official demise is unclear, but, by all accounts, the Golden State plant lasted into the 1940s before shutting down for good.
It was replaced by another smaller textile manufacturing operation, Trader Al’s, which also operated a home furnishings store at the location.
After Trader Al’s closed, developers eventually transformed the entire site into the outdoor Plaza Hermosa shopping center, which opened in May 1985. Its anchor store is a Vons supermarket, which is still in operation.
Sources: Calisphere website; Daily Breeze files; Footnotes on the Sand, by Pat Gazin, Published by Martin Gazin, 1991: Los Angeles Times files; San Pedro News Pilot files.
