In 1903 Arthur Parson built the islands of Naples in the marshy Bixby Slough of the artificial Alamitos Bay, in the mouth of the San Gabriel River. The design was by the firm Mayberry & Parker.[1] The concept of canals and gondolas was similar to the "Venice of America" developed by Abbot Kinney up the coast. Parson's Naples Land Company called its plans the "Dreamland of Southern California", and projected that "through the canals and under the high arching bridges gay gondoliers will propel their crafts like those in the waters of the Adriatic under the blue skies of Italy."[2] The project was completed in the 1920s, then rebuilt after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.