the Ballona lagoon and Port Ballona under the name the Beach Land Company, renaming the area Playa del Rey. The syndicate included partners such as local landowners Robert C. Gillis, Frederick H. Rindge, and others. They built a $100,000 pavilion, the Hotel Del Rey, and a boathouse and grandstands around the lagoon. Sherman and Clark's Los Angeles, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Railway Company built a line to the area by, which was later merged into the LAP. The line opened December 1902, extending from downtown at 4th & Broadway to the new resort, and was soon added to the famous “Balloon Route” excursion. Many visitors bought lots and built homes along the beach front. In 1905, Sherman and Clark extended a line in the center of San Vicente Boulevard, past Robert C. Gillis’ Westgate tract (now the Brentwood area, where Sherman had investments, then on to Santa Monica. Later Real Estate Activities In July, 1905, Sherman and Clark had purchased 640 acres in upper Beachwood Canyon, which at first they used as a rock quarry. With Los Angeles’ rapid growth in the early 1920s, especially in the film industry, they partnered with Harry Chandler and developer S.H. Woodruff in 1923, and developed and promoted the property, which they named Hollywoodland. A large, lighted sign was built that would call attention to their development; that sign, completed in July, 1923, was rebuilt after World War II, and, with the “land” part removed, now reads simply, “Hollywood”. Chandler and Sherman were the primary investors, in a syndicate of seventy, who in 1911 purchased the Tejon Ranch, a 270,000 acre ranch along the Kern County-Los Angeles County border, from Truxtun Beale. And, while not one of the original purchasers, in 1906 Sherman invested in the Colorado River Land Company, a Mexican Corporation with 842,000 acres in the Mexican counterpart of the Imperial Valley. The investments in this ranch are credited with an economic boom in northern Baja California. Sherman also acquired much property in Culver City. The Water Commissioner, the Aqueduct, and the San Fernando Valley Sherman was appointed to the Board of Water Commissioners February 5, 1903 by mayor Meredith P. Snyder, where he worked on the Owens River project and became embroiled in controversy. In the early 1900s, Los Angeles was looking for additional water sources to support its growing population. In late 1904, former mayor Fred Eaton, and water department