On this date in 1913, the South Coast Improvement Association met, President Philip Stanton presiding.
It was announced that Pacific Electric Railway President Shoup had arranged for hourly “Flyer” service on the Newport line, meaning that there would be no way stops between Los Angeles and the Willowville Junction (where the Blue Line meets Long Beach Boulevard at Willow Street today) in either direction. This meant a faster schedule for travelers to and from Bay City, Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Balboa.
The Roads committee reported that it had met with the Orange County Board of Supervisors to request the building of a county road to commence no later than February 1913 with working commencing at Anaheim Landing or Bay City and then proceeding south along the coast until completed.
The South Coast Improvement Association formed in 1912 and was comprised of the movers and shakers of Orange County real estate along the coast. Philip Stanton was its first president.
These men saw better roads and infrastructure improvements as key selling features for their individual communities and promoted a regional inter-connectivity and ease of travel to attract homeowners and tourists into the area. They advocated for extended Pacific Electric red car services along the coast and are largely responsible for the Coast Highway that we still enjoy (and sometimes curse) today.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1914, the citizens of Seal Beach agreed by unanimous vote to accept the donation of a $6000 tract of land offered by the Guy M. Rush Company and the Bayside Land Company to be the site for a school building. The site was located between 11th and 12th Streets two blocks from the beach and close to the Pacific Electric line. Seal Beach Elementary School, which was later renamed Mary Zoeter School, was built on this site.
The images below show the tract’s location on a Spence Aerial Photo taken almost eight years after the vote.
Click on the image below for a better view of the tract’s location.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1964, the Long Beach Independent reported the winners of Seal Beach Artists League’s fifth annual Mosaic Show. Beth Willie of La Habra won the top prize for her contemporary panel, “The Seventh Day.” First award for a representational panel went to Ardith Addous for “Miracle of the Seagulls.” First place prizes also went to William Walker in the decorative panels category and Jim Abrecht in the round objects category.
The Mosaic Show was open to the public seven days a week at the Seal Beach Arts Center at Main Street and Ocean Ave.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1976, “King of Hearts,” a 1966 anti-war film fable starring Alan Bates and Genevieve Bujold that became cult favorite on the revival film circuit in the seventies, played at the Bay Theater as part of an one-week exclusive engagement. Two animated shorts, “Bambi Meets Godzilla” (1969) and “Thank You, Masked Man” (1968), animated to a Lenny Bruce routine, filled the rest of the bill.
Here’s the trailer for King of Hearts.
And you can watch Marv Newland’s suspenseful “Bambi Meets Godzilla” in its entirety here:
And finally here’s Lenny Bruce’s very un-PC and often blacklisted revisionist take on the Long Ranger, “Thank You Masked Man,” produced by John Magnuson and directed by Jeff Hale.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1975, if you and a friend felt a tad peckish while driving down Pacific Coast Highway through Seal Beach, you could pull into the Glide ‘er Inn and be proudly served bouillabaisse Marseillaise for two, according to this ad from the Long Beach Independent.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1988, former Croatian interior minister Andrija Artukovic, also known as The Butcher of The Balkans, died in a Zagreb prison hospital in Yugoslavia. Artukovic had been convicted of murdering 700,000 Jews, Croats, Serbs and Gypsies during World War II.
After the war, Artukovic had traveled under an assumed name into the United States and settled in Seal Beach. He managed to resist extradition for thirty-six years, but was finally returned to Yugoslavia in late 1986 where he had been found guilty of war crimes earlier in the year and sentenced to death. The sentence was never carried out due to his ill-health and he died two years later.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1937, John Ord, Civil War Veteran and early Seal Beach resident passed away at the age of ninety-five.
John Ord was a prominent and leading member and property owner of the Bay City/Seal Beach community in its early years and was one of Seal Beach’s founding father.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1924, the Santa Ana Register reported that the Bayside Land Company had applied to the War Department for permission to dredge in Alamitos Bay and to use the dredged material as landfill for a new tract of land to the north of the coast highway at the west side of Seal Beach.
It’s often hard to picture the old geography of Seal Beach from written descriptions and fit it to the current layout of the city. Here’s a closer view of a section of the 1922 photograph from above:
Okay, maybe that helps a little, but some labels might make today’s post easier to understand:
The old coast highway followed along the south edge of Alamitos Bay just to the left of Central Way (not Central Avenue). It then connected to Naples at Iona Walk. (Later the coast highway would be rerouted to connect to Naples along the street now called East Naples Plaza, but until the Long Marina was built, East Naples Plaza was just the eastern most part of Second Street in Naples.)
If you’ve ever wondered why Central Way follows such a crooked path between First Street and Fifth Street, it’s because Central Way followed what was once the marshy edge of Alamitos Bay in Seal Beach before it was filled with dredged materials.
Today’s Pacific Coast Highway did not exist in 1922 when this photo was taken, but its approximate route is labeled. Also missing is the steam plant at First Street and Ocean Avenue. It was constructed in 1925.
The Pacific Electric bridge to Naples connected to what is now Appian Way close to where the Long Beach Yacht Club in the Long Beach Marina stands.
Just below First Street, you can see the Ocean Avenue bridge to the Long Beach Peninsula. In 1922, the bridge only connected rail traffic from the Pacific Electric line to Seal Beach that ran down Ocean Avenue to Main Street and then turned to meet the Pacific Electric Newport-Balboa line at Electric Avenue. Automobile traffic didn’t cross along Ocean Avenue to the Long Beach peninsula until a new Ocean Avenue bridge was built in the thirties.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1936, Seal Beach Police raided the Walker Cafe where a gambling den had been set up in a back room. Robert Sandon of the district attorney’s office gained access to the back room posing as a gambler and left a door unlatched for Police Chief Lee Howard and Officer Ervin Glenn.
Fred C. Smith of 19 Neptune Place, J. W. Sneed, 1231 E. Broadway, Long Beach, various dealers, five alleged players, Hayes Pierpont, W. G. Scruggs, W. B. Scruggs, Vari Janes, and C. E. Nolan, who gave their address as the Seal Hotel, were rounded up. A crap table, dice, chips, and cards were also seized.
Bail was set at $250 for the dealers and $100 for the players. All posted property bonds for their release, aided by Mrs. Mildred Blankenship, owner of the Seal Hotel.
– Michael Dobkins
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On this date in 1875, the Los Angeles Herald published an inventory of exports and imports for the Anaheim Landing Company in 1874:
35 tons of popcorn?
– Michael Dobkins
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