February 12th In Seal Beach History

On this date in 1922, the Santa Ana Register reported that Dr. J. N. Bartholomew had recovered his stolen car.

Dr. Bartholomew’s Studebaker had been taken in broad daylight several days earlier in Santa Ana.  On February 11, he had passed the thief brazenly driving the stolen car on the boulevard between Seal Beach and Santa Ana (probably today’s Westminster Boulevard or possibly Bolsa Avenue), but when he lost the thief’s trail while turning around on the street to make pursuit. It was impossible tell whether the thief had escaped to Huntington Beach or gone further down the road towards Long Beach.

The next day, the intrepid doctor, now accompanied by his wife, searched through Huntington Beach without a glimpse of the purloined Studebaker. Expanding their search towards Long Beach, they soon spotted their stolen car and chased it into Seal Beach when the thief had to stop due to a flat tire. Rather than face the good doctor (And who can blame him? Dr. Bartholomew was one determined medico!), the thief skedaddled away across a mud flat.

The original news article didn’t mention any details about the year or model of Dr. Bartholomew’s car, but earlier in 1922 Studebaker was publicizing its latest line of automobiles with this illustration:

– Michael Dobkins

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