Nonprofit Pacific Beach Woman’s Club wants everyone to know this year that it’s marking significant milestones in both its own history and its longtime location at historic Hornblend Hall.
“The building is 100 and we’re 120, having begun in 1895,” said PB Woman’s Club’s first vice president Mary Lou Benzel. She noted that PB Woman’s Club is the second-oldest club behind only San Diego in the region.
The service and social club is inviting the public to join them at an open house, to be held at their hall at 1721 Hornblend St. from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.
It will be a historic occasion.
“We’ll have light hors d’oeuvres, an accompanying pianist and Mission Beach High School’s jazz band will be performing,” said club member Dianne Brittingham.
“We’ll have some important people here,” added Benzel. “I can’t say for sure, but someone from City Council has been invited.”
Both women pointed out the club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer group and that all donations supporting it and its causes are tax deductible. PB Woman’s Club’s goal is to continue to make a difference in the beach community. And it does exactly that. With the help of donations from supporters and members, the club continues to support local charities through contributions of both time and money. Such local events as BeachFest, the Kids Fishing Derby, Crystal Pier Tree Lighting are annual recipients of the club’s largesse. The organization is also steadfast in standing behind local schools.
“We support Mission Bay High, Kate Sessions Elementary and Pacific Beach Middle schools,” said Brittingham, noting PB’s club is part of a Washington, D.C.-based federation of women’s clubs that pay state and district dues to belong.
But what the organization relies on to make itself self supporting is its historic hall, originally located in a lemon grove, which is available for private rental. “We have to rely on our rentals,” said Brittingham. “That’s why we want to get the word out that our hall is available for rentals and meetings.”
“We do a lot of fundraisers,” said Benzel of other ways the club supports itself. “We have a wine tasting coming in May that we do every year. Last year we did a casino night that was a big success and that we’re planning to do again this year.”
Benzel, one of the current club’s members of longest standing, having joined in 2000, said club membership peaked over the years at about 200. It declined for several years before gradually building back up again in recent times.
“We have about 70 members now,” Benzel said, pointing out times are different now.
“I was 55 when I first joined, and most of the members were older,” she said. “We’ve done a really good job of attracting younger women. But they can’t always come to meetings because they have families and husbands and jobs,” she added. The Pacific Beach Woman’s Club has a long and distinguished history. Established on March 22, 1895, the “Pacific Beach Reading Club” was born as a “society for mutual improvement” by six local women. Dues then were 5 cents a month and there was a 25-cent initiation fee.
The club was incorporated in 1911, became a branch city library in 1913, changed to its current name in 1929, held first-aid classes during World War II and has been a solid fixture supporting the beach community ever since.