On this date in 1924, the Santa Ana Register reported that the Bayside Land Company had applied to the War Department for permission to dredge in Alamitos Bay and to use the dredged material as landfill for a new tract of land to the north of the coast highway at the west side of Seal Beach.
It’s often hard to picture the old geography of Seal Beach from written descriptions and fit it to the current layout of the city. Here’s a closer view of a section of the 1922 photograph from above:
Okay, maybe that helps a little, but some labels might make today’s post easier to understand:
The old coast highway followed along the south edge of Alamitos Bay just to the left of Central Way (not Central Avenue). It then connected to Naples at Iona Walk. (Later the coast highway would be rerouted to connect to Naples along the street now called East Naples Plaza, but until the Long Marina was built, East Naples Plaza was just the eastern most part of Second Street in Naples.)
If you’ve ever wondered why Central Way follows such a crooked path between First Street and Fifth Street, it’s because Central Way followed what was once the marshy edge of Alamitos Bay in Seal Beach before it was filled with dredged materials.
Today’s Pacific Coast Highway did not exist in 1922 when this photo was taken, but its approximate route is labeled. Also missing is the steam plant at First Street and Ocean Avenue. It was constructed in 1925.
The Pacific Electric bridge to Naples connected to what is now Appian Way close to where the Long Beach Yacht Club in the Long Beach Marina stands.
Just below First Street, you can see the Ocean Avenue bridge to the Long Beach Peninsula. In 1922, the bridge only connected rail traffic from the Pacific Electric line to Seal Beach that ran down Ocean Avenue to Main Street and then turned to meet the Pacific Electric Newport-Balboa line at Electric Avenue. Automobile traffic didn’t cross along Ocean Avenue to the Long Beach peninsula until a new Ocean Avenue bridge was built in the thirties.
– Michael Dobkins
Have you enjoyed this and other This Date in Seal Beach History posts?
If so, please consider making a small donation of a dollar or more to help defray the online subscriptions and other research costs that make this blog possible.
Donations can be made securely with most major credit cards directly through PayPal. Just click on paypal.me/MichaelDobkins to go to PayPal. Thank you.
This Date in Seal Beach History also has an online store hosted at Cafepress where you can order shirts, tote bags, stationery, and other gift items imprinted with vintage Seal Beach images. Visit the online store by clicking here.
After the war, Artukovic had traveled under an assumed name into the United States and settled in Seal Beach. He managed to resist extradition for thirty-six years, but was finally returned to Yugoslavia in late 1986 where he had been found guilty of war crimes earlier in the year and sentenced to death. The sentence was never carried out due to his ill-health and he died two years later.
