Long Beach, California

History

The area was originally occupied by the Tongva people who lived in a rancheria named Tibahangna. Along with other Tongva villages, it disappeared in the mid-1800s.

Related Topics:
Tongva - Rancheria - 1800s

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The Rancho los Cerritos was divided from the larger Rancho Los Nietos, which had been granted by the King of Spain to a mulatto soldier, Manuel Nieto. Rancho Los Cerritos was bought 1843 by John Temple, a Yankee who had come to California in 1827. Soon after he built what is now known as the "Los Cerritos Ranch House" an adobe which still stands and is a National Historic Landmark. Temple created a thriving cattle ranch and prospered, becoming the wealthiest man in Los Angeles County. Both Temple and his ranch house played important local roles in the Mexican American War.

Related Topics:
Rancho los Cerritos - Rancho Los Nietos - King - Spain - Mulatto - 1843 - John Temple - Yankee - 1827 - Adobe - National Historic Landmark - Mexican American War

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Meanwhile, on an island in the San Pedro Bay, Mormon pioneers made an abortive attempt to establish a colony (as part of Brigham Young's plan to establish a continuous chain of settlements from the Pacific to Salt Lake).

Related Topics:
San Pedro Bay - Mormon - Brigham Young - Salt Lake

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Jotham Bixby, the "Father of Long Beach", purchased the Rancho Los Cerritos in 1866 and converted it to sheep ranching. In the 1870s Bixby sold an average of 200,000 pounds of wool annually. In 1880, Bixby sold 4,000 acres (16 km²) of the Rancho los Cerritos to William E. Willmore, who subdivided it in hopes of creating a farm community, Willmore City. He failed and was bought out by the "Long Beach Land and Water Company." They changed the name of the community to "Long Beach", which was incorporated as a city in 1888. When Bixby died in 1916 the remaining 3,500 acres (14 km²) of Rancho los Cerritos was subdivided into the neighborhoods of Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and part of the city of Signal Hill.

Related Topics:
Jotham Bixby - 1866 - 1870s - 1880 - William E. Willmore - 1888 - 1916 - Signal Hill

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The town grew as a seaside resort (The Pike was one of the most famous beachside amusement parks on the West coast from 1910 until the 1960's) and then as an oil, Navy, and port town. The town was once referred to as "Iowa by the sea".

Related Topics:
Seaside resort - The Pike

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The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that caused significant damage to the city and surrounding areas. Most of the damage occurred in unreinforced masonry buildings, especially schools. 120 people died in this earthquake.

Related Topics:
Long Beach earthquake of 1933 - Unreinforced - Masonry

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Long Beach used to have a sizable Japanese-American population mostly working in the fish canneries on Terminal Island and small truck farms in the area, but with intermarriage and other factors, it is now less than 1% of the population of Long Beach. There is still a Japanese Community Center and a Japanese Buddhist Church in Long Beach.

Related Topics:
Terminal Island - Intermarriage

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The early silent film industry in Long Beach

One of the places where the film industry started in Southern California was in Long Beach. Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios, was located at Sixth Street and Alamitos Avenue, and they used 11 acres (45,000 m²) on Signal Hill for outdoor locations. Silent movie stars who lived in Long Beach included Fatty Arbuckle and Theda Bara. The 1917 film Cleopatra, starring Theda Bara, was filmied at the Dominguez Slough just west of Long Beach, and Moses parted the Red Sea for Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 Black & White version of "The Ten Commandments" on the flat seashore of Seal Beach, southeast of Long Beach.

Related Topics:
Signal Hill - Silent movie - Fatty Arbuckle - Theda Bara - 1917 - Cleopatra - Cecil B. DeMille - 1923 - Seal Beach

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