Here’s your weekly dose of some Pasadena history thanks to The Pasadena Peninsula by Isabel Shipley Cunningham.

Kurtz Beach, which is now known as a popular wedding venue, was opened by two brothers during the Great Depression.

"In 1933 Gustav and Samuel Kurtz opened Kurtz Pleasure Beach and built an octagonal screened dance pavilion, later enclosed, near the waterfront," Cunningham wrote. "They were bakers like their father, who had emigrated from Austria. They had baker stalls in six markets in Baltimore and had saved enough money to buy 65 acres on the water during the depression.

"So many of their friends came from Baltimore to visit that they decided to open a resort. Soon it became their only business. To reach Kurtz's Beach, patrons could take a steamer to Fairview and transfer to Cook's bus, or they could come by Cook's bus from Curtis Bay to Riviera Beach and ride to Kurtz's in a horse-drawn vehicle, or later a station wagon.

"The Kurtz pavilion, now open to only groups for catered dinner-dances, weddings and other celebrations, is the sole survivor of the dance halls of the thirties."

Check back next Wednesday for more Pasadena history. For a complete listing of all Tidbits of History columns, please click here.