ENCINITAS: First house boat tour called a huge success

More than 1,000 people walked planks; $4,900 raised

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Monday, March 30, 2009 2:02 PM PDT ∞

The Encinitas Preservation Association raised $4,900 from a recent tour of the S.S. Moonlight boat house. Contractor John Knowles, left, talks with Association President Paul Ecke, center, and member David Agyagos, prior to the event. (Photo by Bill Wechter - Staff Photographer)

ENCINITAS ---- Talk about a successful maiden voyage. More than 1,000 people walked the planks of the S.S. Moonlight boat house during a recent open house.

"Cash, just in terms of that day, we took $4,900," said Peder Norby, who helped organize the fundraiser earlier this month for the Encinitas Preservation Association.

Add to that other donations that have come in since the March 21 event, and the association is at least $6,000 richer than it was before it agreed to open the historic structure to the public, Norby said Monday as he reviewed the finances.

The open house was billed as a once-in-a lifetime event to see the inside of an intriguing structure that many people have admired from the outside.

The S.S. Moonlight and its sister "ship" the S.S. Encinitas sit along a hillside above Third Street looking as if they've recently been pulled ashore for repair work.

The much-photographed structures aren't real boats --- they're apartments that have been built to look like boats.

Miles Kellogg, an architect whose father was a sea captain, built his ship-shaped structures in the late 1920s using old timber from the Moonlight Beach dance house. That once-famous local night spot failed to survive the dry years of Prohibition.

The historical association bought the two boat houses and a four-unit apartment complex behind them last year. Plans call for one of the homes to eventually become a museum, but historical society members say they plan to continue renting both of them to tenants while they pay off the $1.55 million purchase price.

A tenant moved out late last year, and association members decided to open the house for a one-day tour this month. They had just finished making repairs and hadn't yet rented it to a new tenant.

The turnout for the tours amazed association members, Norby said.

They know they had at least 1,000 people walk through the boat that day. They had trouble keeping track because so many people took advantage of the "family" discount price of $20 per group, he said.

Kathy Furgerson and her husband George came with their sons, their sons' wives and their five grandchildren.

"I just wanted for my grandchildren to experience (the boat house)," Kathy Furgerson said Monday as she described how much they enjoyed the tour. "Who knows what tomorrow's going to bring, and it was a fun day for all of us."

She came away believing the boat house would be a great place to live, but only for a little while. Eventually, it would feel a little cramped, she said.

The place hasn't rented yet, though they've heard from several potential tenants, Norby said. The place, which contains two bedrooms and 1-1/2 baths, rents for $1,950 a month.

The association has no immediate plans to open the boat again for tours, though it could be a stop on a walking tour of Encinitas next year, Norby said.

For now, members are putting together a memorial brick campaign. They've sold the first round of bricks and expect to install them in late April, Norby said.

After that, they'll embark on a project to renovate the small apartment complex behind the two boat houses, he added.