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Tag: 1914

  • January 29th In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1914, a deed was recorded transferring 13.85 acres owned by Isaac W. Hellman to Guy M. Rush. The property joined Seal Beach (formerly Bay City) on the East (just past 14th Street) and stood between the Pacific Electric red car tracks (Electric Avenue) and the high tide line. This property was divided into lots and was given the exotic name of “tract no. 1.”

    The streets of tract no. 1 were more colorfully named with a nautical theme: Dolphin Avenue,  Seal Way, and Marine Avenue. The already existing Ocean Avenue  curved through tract no. 1 to meet Bay Boulevard (later renamed Seal Beach Boulevard). After Tent City and the Joy Zone were replaced by more housing, Seal Way was extended westward beyond 14th Street.

    The mortgage on the entire property was a whopping $ 44,015.

    This 1921 aerial view shows Seal Beach seven years after the sale of the lot:

    The triangle spotlights the boundaries of Tract no. 1.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • January 1st In Seal Beach History

    Seal Beach was officially incorporated in 1915, but the name was created earlier to promote real estate sales in what was then known a Bay City and Anaheim Landing.

    On this date in 1914, that new Seal Beach name was publicized by an entry in twenty-fifth Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena.

    According the Oregon Daily Journal’s coverage of the parade, “Seal Beach had a great imitation seal, 15 feet long, in lifelike colors and attitude, around which, in the sand, children disported in bathing suits.”

    (A side note about the pendants these girls are carrying. They seem to be similar but not identical to this pendant from my personal collection. I wonder if they were done by the same artist?)

    The Los Angeles Times reported that “Large sea shells and turtles backs marked the off the edges of the view, and as a background palms were used. Pink geraniums and pink roses were also featured. A bed of green along the sides spelled the name of the beach represented.” I don’t see the sea shells and turtle backs in the photo, but I’ve spotted the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce float in the background to the rear of the Seal Beach float.

    The Seal Beach float was impressive enough to be prominently featured on the front page spread of the Los Angeles Times the next day.

    Those elusive sea shells and turtle backs can been seen in the photo of the Seal Beach float used in the spread for the January 2, 1914 Los Angeles Times front page.

    Both The Los Angeles Times and The Oregon Daily Journal somehow neglected to mention this friendly gent.

    This photo of the Seal Beach floats shows that he was the driver of the float. Why does he look so unhappy? Does he not like little girls? Was he up too late New Year’s Eve having a wild time? Did he hate parades? Maybe he didn’t like the photographer. Who knows? At this point, probably nobody.


    – Michael Dobkins

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    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.

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  • On The Other Side Of The Tracks

    Images of The Week

    Anaheim Bay – 1914

    These four photographs provide an almost 180 degree glimpse of Anaheim Landing take from the Pacific Electric tracks ninety-six years ago.

    This shot faces north towards where J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School will be built in about forty years.  The dock just left from the center was a familiar Anaheim Landing landmark for years.

    The photographer turned a bit to his right to give us a nice shot of some homes along the shore of Anaheim Bay.  These homes would either be destroyed or moved into Seal Beach when the Navy took over the bay in 1944.  Note the man in suspenders taking a break in the sand.

    A little more to the right to show some more homes and the marshy area that will someday become the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.

    And finally a view towards what would become the Surfside Colony and Sunset Beach.

    We’ll share more historical pictures and photos of Seal Beach as the year progresses.   Be sure to check back every Monday for a new Seal Beach image.

    Bookmark and Share– Michael Dobkins

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  • Pacific Electric’s 1914 Training Film

    The Pacific Electric’s Newport line was crucial to the development of Seal Beach and the coastal cities of Orange County down to Newport Beach. The Pacific Electric red car trolleys once ran along Electric Avenue through the city for most of the first half of the 20th century.  A second line came across the bridge from the Long Beach Peninsula on Ocean Avenue and turned down Main Street to join the main line at Electric Avenue.

    Here’s an eight minute portion of a Pacific Electric training film from 1914 posted on YouTube. It’s best to keep in mind that this film was originally made to instruct PE employees how to do their jobs and not entertain. Still, it does offer an interesting glimpse into what it was like to ride on a red car in 1914.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCTyMo8vak4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]

    This video was taken from an 8mm film compiled by Interurban Films, a specialty film company that compiled railroad footage into film collections for rail fans. Interurban Films was founded and run by the late Bruce Frenzinger, one of the founding members of the Seal Beach Historical & Cultural Society and a driving force in the initial acquisition and restoration of the Red Car Museum back in the seventies. The next time you visit the Red Car Museum, toot the train whistle in Bruce’s honor.

    – Michael Dobkins

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    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.

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