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11 hours ago
  • local history

Local history: The oil islands and how they got their names

Tim Grobaty

Councilman William Graham didn’t see much use in coming up with names, saying, “No matter what we call these things, they are going to be called Island A, B, C and D,” though he nevertheless suggested going with the local references Alamitos, Cerritos, Brea and Bolsa.

4
Jan 20 7:00 am
  • local history

Local history: How Long Beach enthusiastically passed bond to buy Recreation Park in 1923

Tim Grobaty

The city wanted to buy the land for Recreation Park but it would require a bond to be passed by voters to pay the $642,925, and city leaders knew it would be a struggle to pass the bond issue by the required 4-1 margin in the June 15, 1923 election.

5
Jan 13 8:00 am
  • local history

Local history: The Broadlind Hotel, built for bachelors with tobacco money in 1928

Tim Grobaty

The Broadlind was designed as “exclusive bachelor apartments” for men. The rooms were built “with rugged masculine character in the decorations and fixtures.”

397
Jan 6 8:00 am
  • local history

Local history: The Long Beach Ostrich Farm

Tim Grobaty

The ostrich farm wasn’t in the business of selling birds for food; it was solely interested in selling feathers for hats, although it did put on the occasional ostrich roast when one of the birds fell victim to another ostrich.

70
Dec 30 8:00 am
  • local history

Local history: Long Beach’s joyless dancing ordinance in the 1920s

Tim Grobaty

An early draft of the ordinance, which would go into effect in July 1921, forbade: “the hula hula, the kan-kan, the Pedro Bowery, the shimmy, the camel walk, the dip, the stiff step, the toddle, the lame duck, the jiggle, the walk the dog and the bunny hug.”

58
Dec 23 7:00 am
  • local history

Local history: Long Beach’s renowned snake whisperer, Grace Olive Wiley

Tim Grobaty

Wiley’s passion was a crusade to get people to give up their fear of snakes, a fear she maintained was cultivated, not instinctive. She regularly handled rattlesnakes, copperheads, mambas and cobras with her bare hands.

54
Dec 16 7:00 am
  • local history

Local history: Pine Avenue Pier was a seaside attraction from 1904 to 1934

Tim Grobaty

The Pine Avenue Pier opened on Nov. 12, 1904 with a “Pier Day” celebration. A half-mile parade stretched down into the business district on Pine Avenue to Fifth Street.

46
Dec 9 9:16 am
  • local history

Local history: City’s first fire chief was killed in the line of duty

Tim Grobaty

Traveling at the then-high speed of 35 mph on American Avenue in response to an alarm, Joseph E. Shrewsbury’s car collided with a chemical wagon that was speeding eastward along Broadway in response to the same alarm at the intersection.

19
Dec 2 8:37 am
  • local history

Local history: Pearl Harbor attack brought blackouts, vigilance and fear to Long Beach

Tim Grobaty

The news hit the world quickly, and in the United States it produced a shock and reaction that wouldn’t be approached in strength and horror until a morning on Sept. 11 some 60 years later.

23
Nov 25 7:01 am
  • local history

Local history: The story of Long Beach’s ‘bridge to nowhere’

Tim Grobaty

For three and a half years, there were no roads leading to the J.H. Davies Bridge. Mocking headlines ensued: including “Million-Dollar Seagull Roost Gathers Guano.”

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