Redondo Beach has five sites listed on the National Registry of Historic Places within the city limits. The Woman’s Club of Redondo Beach is asking the community to help them rehabilitate one of those sites: the organization’s home at 400 S. Broadway.
The 93-year-old building at the corner of Broadway and Pearl Street has been the heart of the club since its construction in 1922. In the years since, it’s also played host to scores of community organizations which have rented the hall for concerts, celebrations and meetings.
But WCRB President Sheila Kutkus said the club’s focus on bettering the community has come at the expense of its own home.
“It’s been kind of neglected,” she said. “Not from a lack of interest, but because we’ve been so involved in doing things for the community that we’ve let ourselves be last.”
WCRB vice president Janice Petrosino agreed. “It’s like a mother: She makes sure her kids are dressed, taken care of, while she’s running around in an apron; she’s the last person to say ‘Oh, I’ve got nothing to wear!’”
To keep their craftsman-style clubhouse in the shape it deserves, WCRB is holding a fundraiser to help foot the costs of renovate the building’s original wooden floors. Those floors, Kutkus estimates, haven’t been given a tune-up in roughly 40 years.
“It still has urethane on it, out on the edges — but in the center of the floor, it’s all gone,” she said, noting the visible wear in the main hall’s flooring.
The renovation has a budget of $15,000, much of which has been saved by the club, Kutkus said. Though if last year’s restoration of the building’s roof is any indication, hidden charges are bound to pop up. Leaks and wood-rot were found throughout the building’s back-half, over the kitchen, stage and restroom areas, pushing costs beyond the original roof repair budget. “In an old building, it’s like opening up Pandora’s Box,” Petrosino said.
The club’s fundraising target for this year is $7,000.
WRCB hopes that the lineup for this year’s tasting event will bring substantial support from the community. Cuatro Dias Winery will offer seven vintages, King Harbor Brewing Company has committed to bringing six of its beers, and there will be a selection of homemade chocolates “of every kind you can imagine,” Kutkus said. Moreover, singer Diana Drake will perform throughout the night.
WCRB has also planned for concurrent restorations of the windows facing Broadway and the 40-year-old carpeting along the building’s west end and main hall’s stage, though the time period has not yet been set.
The Club believes these restorations are needed for the continued health of its building.
“We’re at the point now where we can’t let it go any further. We’ve got metal clips holding windows together, we’ve got daylight coming through — we’re at the point of no return,” Petrosino said. “We’ve got to start fixing it, or we’ll lose it.”
And that would be a shame, she feels, given the work of their forebears. “They paid this building off in 1946, burned the mortgage, and they worked very, very hard, and for us to let it go…it’s up to us. We’re the keepers of the building,” Petrosino said.
“Plus,” Kutkus added, “I believe the National Historic Registry would be very upset with us if we let this place fall down.”
The Woman’s Club of Redondo Beach’s “Restore the Floor” Tasting Event takes place on Nov. 14, starting at 2 p.m., at 400 S. Broadway. Tickets are $35 each, or two for $60, and can be purchased at wcrbinfo.com.
