Santa Monica was founded in 1875 with a well-advertised and well-attended land auction. The site on the mesa above the bay; the climate; and the promise of a new town ensured plenty of buyers and sales. Lots on Ocean Avenue went for $400-$500. Lots further back from the bluff went for as little as $75. By the end of the three day sale about a $100,000 ($2,631,578 in today’s money) worth of property had been sold and Santa Monica was on its way. Two months later almost 100 homes were going up; two hotels were full of guests; businesses were springing up to service the new town.
The growth continued thru various booms and busts and by 1888 the town was robust enough to support a bank. The First National Bank of Santa Monica was formed by a group of prominent citizens including early settlers, E. J. and W.S. Vawter and Nathan Bundy. The bank opened its doors in the Central 
building Third Street, but immediately began planning for a new building of its own. In February 1889 the bank moved to its brand new two story building built especially for its needs. In 1893, the Vawter’s sold their interests in the bank to Senator John P. Jones and changed the name to the Bank of Santa Monica. Their stationary shows an engraving of their building and a list of the directors of the bank. The building is gone now, but it must have been an imposing addition to the young growing town. The interior sported carved wood, brass spittoons, and the Water office.
In that same year, the Keller block at the corner of Broadway and 3rd was completed. It still exists and even now retains some of the grandeur that it must have contributed to the new town. The three story building housed a hotel on its upper floors and a drugstore owned by W.T. Gillis on its ground floor. The Outlook described the building in an article published soon after it opened.
“The entrance is at the corner of two thoroughfares which the store faces. The main Third Street front consists of two immense plate-glass windows, while there is a still larger window next to the entrance on Utah Avenue. These windows and the glass doors expose the entire interior, which is as beautiful as any picture ever conjured from the busy brain of an artist…It is an establishment that is a noted ornament of the town and we are sure you will all join us in its praises.”
This photo of the drugstore was taken at night no doubt to showcase the electric lighting and displays of goods behind the plate glass windows. Note the stone curbs, cobbled street, and apothecary sign. There are carriages pulled up to the side of the building. The drugstore occupied the ground floor corner under several owners until 1907. The hotel operated on the upper floors was still open in 1960.
