The Palo Alto History Project, The Sea Scout Building

The Palo Alto History Project

The Sea Scout Building
2560 Embarcadero Road

Saving the Sea Scout Building

You would think that this sort of thing would happen more often. A beautiful and historic city-owned
building is no longer needed for its previous use and has been eroded by time and tide. A group of
volunteers from a local non-profit devise a plan to completely restore the structure. They fix it up, buy it
from the city for next to nothing and have an ideal new home --- plus the building is saved from demolition.
Everybody wins.

If all goes according to plan over the course of the next year, this scenario will play out in Palo Alto. The
building is the celebrated and award-winning Sea Scout Building located just off the tip of Embarcadero
Road out in the Baylands. The lovely old structure was built facing the Palo Alto Yacht Harbor in 1941 by
the local architects and brothers, Birge and David Clark.

Built in quintessential 1940s “streamline moderne” style, the Sea Scout Building with its porthole windows,
navigation bridge, flag hoist and smoke stacks was designed to resemble an actual ship. From its beginning,
it was the home to the local Sea Scouts, an off-shoot of the Boy Scouts, that taught boys and girls aged 14-
20 how to excel in water activities such as sailing, sea customs, riggings, compass reading and knot-tying.

On the weekend of May 30th, 1941, Palo Alto’s “fairy godmother” and greatest benefactor Lucie Stern ---
who had given $13,000 for the base’s construction --- christened the building by smashing a bottle of
Atlantic Ocean seawater on the deck rail. The three day extravaganza of dedication activities included a
bonfire, jiu-jitsu, magic show, barbeque and formal dance; all emceed by radio performer Hal Burdick. On
Sunday, the event concluded with the formal inspection of over 150 Palo Alto and visiting Sea Scouts in
their dress uniforms.

As the largest Sea Scout base in the region, the Palo Alto structure hosted many regattas and rendezvous in
subsequent years, bringing together Sea Scouts from around California. The building was even offered as a
base for emergency use during the war as an airplane spotting post.

But in 1985, after a bitterly fought citywide election, the Palo Alto Yacht Harbor closed forever. By voting
to stop the dredging of the harbor, Palo Altans let the area return to its natural state. Within a few years, the
harbor silted and the Sea Scout Building became landlocked.

Although the Sea Scouts slowly moved all their operations to Redwood City, in 2004, they submitted a
tardy and hand-written application to turn the building into the “Lucie Stern Maritime Museum,” celebrating
the history of the San Francisco Bay. The city rejected the offer, claiming that the proposal was “low on
facts” indicating how the money would be raised.

Now the Environmental Volunteers, a group which provides environmental education to kids, want to
completely renovate the Sea Scout Building and use it as its home. The City Council has approved their
plan for restoration, for which they have already raised $1.9 million, and they hope to begin the project this
fall. It will be no small task. 16 years of abandonment has left the building exposed to water damage and
vandals. For years, water has flooded the building at high tide, and the resulting dry rot is not the building’s
only blemish. Graffiti and shattered windows also obstruct the building’s former glory.

But if they can do it, the building will have a second sail --- and it will be a worthy voyage indeed for a
building that was built to proudly serve.

                                                                                                                             -Matt Bowling

(Note: This story appeared in the Palo Alto Daily News on July 22nd, 2007)

Palo Alto Home Page

Civic Buildings

Political Issues