On this date in 1939, the Los Angeles Times featured this photograph of the Seal Beach pier titled, “Sea Patriarch” by Los Angeles Times staff photographer Robert Jakobsen for its Camera Corner photography column. The photo was highlighted for its artistic composition in “eye-arresting silhouette mode” and was shot with a yellow filter to create the effect.
This was most likely taken during 1929 construction of the pier weeks prior to the grand opening in May. The railing had not yet been constructed, and the nubs of the old pier’s pylons are still jutting up from the sand next to the new pylons.
– Michael Dobkins
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This Date in Seal Beach History 
Subject for a future post, if you can find a story with a date attached: The seawall. Why’d they do that? Amazing the way it resulted in two dramatically different beach profiles. Story went around about a classmate of mine who attempted to shoot the pier, which, of course, wouldn’t work well. Apocryphal, I’m sure.
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Funny, I was wondering about that same exact thing when doing this post. I imagine someone thought it would help with beach erosion, but I haven’t found anything to confirm that yet. I’m not even sure when it was installed.
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