Despite threatened legal action by five beachfront homeowners, the Santa Monica City Council unanimously approved the nation’s only public beach club at the historic Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst estate, Thursday night.

More than 125 people spent part of the evening on the lawn of City Hall for a beach party-themed rally to support the club. The rally, organized by Friends of 415 PCH and the Santa Monica Conservancy, featured a volleyball game, beach balls, a surfboard displaying the names of the more than 1,000 people who have signed a petition supporting the 415 PCH project.

Inside the council chambers, more than 80 residents signed up to speak in favor of the one-of-a-kind public beach club proposed for Santa Monica State Beach. Many praised the project as “visionary” and thanked the Annenberg Foundation for the $28 million grant to rehabilitate the property and open it to the public.

“For generations to come, this club will stand as a monument to the foresight and vision of the City of Santa Monica, the State of California, the community and the Annenberg Foundation,” said Joel Brand, Chair of Friends of 415 PCH.

The unprecedented facility, near the two members-only private beach clubs along the Santa Monica coast, would be open to use by the general public for a modest day-use fee.

Representatives from several Santa Monica groups and the Los Angeles Conservancy spoke in favor of the project before the overflow crowd.

“The preservation community is elated with the approval of this innovative project – it is an enormous step forward. This is our best and perhaps last chance to save the architectural legacy that Hearst and Marion Davies left in Santa Monica,” said Santa Monica Conservancy Vice-President John Zinner.

The only opposition to the proposed club came from a lawyer from Latham and Watkins -- who he said was representing five principal neighbors – and neighbor Jonathan Ornstein.