Long Beach History

Long Beach, California's fifth largest city, features beautiful white-sand beaches, an active marina and harbor, an airport and diversified employment base. But it wasn't always so.

We're part of Long Beach history too, so please excuse the shameless plug for our studio and one-bedroom apartments for rent. Feel free to call or visit us today, February 4th.

• For the Fairmont Long Beach apartments for rent or Whiting Long Beach affordable housing call (562) 437-3325. Hablamos español. • For the Davis apartments Long Beach or Douglas Long Beach apartments call (562) 435-8758. Thank you.

"Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation." – Edward R. Murrow

And now for a brief history of Long Beach...

Long Beach was established in 1882 as Willmore City Township. Later, in 1888, it was renamed the City of Long Beach and today has one of the world's most active deep-water container ports and shipping terminals. And a recreational marina with 1,764 slips.

The Long Beach oil field was discovered in 1921, and the City still has a generally active oil industry. Local manufacturing history includes aircraft, automobile parts, electronics, high-technology and aerospace industries.

During the early 1920s, the only "airport" was the City's huge crescent-shaped beach. Landings and takeoffs were best made at low tide, and it was common to see fabric-covered biplanes flying off the sand amidst ocean spray. That began to change in 1923 when the Long Beach City Council set aside 150 acres near the intersection of Spring and Cherry Streets to be used as an airfield. The rest, as they say, is airport history.

In case you didn't know, Long Beach has a big part of its past that's not really the City's fault. It's the Newport-Inglewood fault that brought us the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Google has a vast collection of photos here (mostly) of that earthquake.

For more historical goodies, beginning with the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and the Tongva Native Americans, there is a well-written page on Long Beach history complete with photos at the longbeach.com website.

And of course no listing of Long Beach history, no matter how brief, would be complete without a link to the Historical Society of Long Beach which has served the City for nearly 50 years, collecting and preserving its rich heritage for current and future generations. But HSLB is not completely stuck in the past, they even have a Facebook page (gag).

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." – Robert F. Kennedy