The assembled notebook consists of appraisals submitted on two different dates-- Section 1 submitted on February 7, 1947, and Section 2 submitted on March 7, 1947. Letters of transmittal are included with both sections-- letters to John A. Hennessey, Supervising Park Lands Officer, signed by appraisers George L. Schmutz, Thomas F. Mason, and Eugene C. Curzon. A letter from John A. Hennessey to Joseph R. Knowland, Chairman of the California State Park Commission (loosely inserted into the report) contains the recommendation that all parcels included in the first report be approved for acquisition. There is not another similar letter for the second section of parcels.

The appraisal for each parcel of land consists of the owner's name, the location of the property, the valuation, and a breakdown of "elements of value" such as highway frontage, width of beach, cleanliness of beach and water, public utilities (domestic water, sewer, electricity, gas, telephone), freedom from hazards (erosion, on-shore and off-shore rocks), mean high tide line, and "others"-- scenic upland, private road, etc. Each element of value is assigned a number of "value units" out of a certain number of "maximum" units. Some parcels which contain cabins for rent, such as Castlerock Beach, also include the rent per month for each cabin site and the name of the lessee. For example, Castlerock Beach was home to 114 cabins, almost all of which were rented for $15.00 a month. Some of the parcel appraisals, such as the aforementioned Castlerock Beach area, also include a detailed map of the parcel showing roads, beaches, cabin numbers, etc.

Part of the total report includes a discussion of the methodology used to appraise the properties and how value units were assigned for each element of value.

The tract maps in this hand-bound volume are folded and arranged from "most northern" to "most southern"-- showing strips of land and shoreline properties from Malibu to Manhattan Beach. They include road and street names, individual lot numbers, trolley and railway lines, and annotated comments such as "Out, too costly. Near Marion Davies" or "City of L.A. matching, ok." A section of the beach along one of the Santa Monica tract maps was annotated "colored use" referring to an area south of the Santa Monica Pier known as Inkwell Beach (until the early 1960s).

Hand-assembled scrapbook of photographs of private and public properties along the southern California coast from Malibu to Redondo Beach, the bulk of them depicting residences and beach parcels in Santa Monica. Each photograph is labelled with a description of the parcel number and the direction of the view such as "17-105. Looking SEly. from beach, showing NWly. corner of new house located approximately 250 ft. Nly. of house No. 18250. 1-29-47 Jones-Farnsworth." Photographs of structures directly on the beach also have mention of "low tide," "high tide," "receding tide," etc. The Pacific Coast Highway is referred to by its earlier designation as Roosevelt Highway. Many private homes and public establishments are depicted, as well as many of the piers and amusement areas that existed in Santa Monica, Ocean Park, and Venice. Approximately 400 photos.