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Tag: 1932

  • July 21st in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1932 at 12:55 a.m., a southbound Pacific Electric interurban train struck a man and woman on a curve between Seal Beach and the Surfside Colony. Depending on which newspaper account you read, the couple was either sitting on or walking along the tracks when the accident occurred. 

    This aerial photo taken on May 30, 1931 shows how the Pacific Electric tracks curve just after the Anaheim Bay bridge and then again as they approach the Surfside Colony. Either curve could be the location of the accident.

    The Pacific Electric motorman, Lee Marshall, and conductor J. E. Beardsley told investigators they stopped when they saw what appeared to be a box on the tracks, only to discover the couple. Due to the early morning hour, the only other witnesses were the passengers in the street car.

    The male victim was Jay P. Bassett, a 37 year old meat cutter, a prominent member of the Long Beach post of the American Legion and the father of three children. He was taken to the Long Beach Community Hospital where he died from a fractured skull at 2:30 a.m.. He never regained consciousness.

    The woman was killed instantly and remained unidentified for hours at Dixon’s Chapel in Huntington Beach. She was described as approximately 25 years of age, well-dressed and wearing a dark brown coat and tan-colored dress, and having beautiful red hair. One newspaper couldn’t resist sharing that her body had been broken, with one foot completely severed and the other foot almost cut off, and that death was probably caused by a jagged hole in her skull.

    Blood and gore sells newspapers.

    She was identified later that night as Eloise Wilson at Dixon’s chapel by her ex-husband, Harry H. Wilson, and her 18 year old daughter, Marguerite, who fainted when she saw her mother.  Eloise was actually 43 years-0ld and the mother of four.

    No reporter from any of the newspapers covering the accident bothered to report how Jay’s wife, Isabelle, reacted to the news and details of her husband’s death.

     Two days later, Coroner Earl Abbey’s jury exonerated Marshall and Beardsley of any wrong doing.

    Whatever circumstances brought Jay and Eloise together on that last night of their lives, they’ve been kept separated in the years since. Jay is buried in the Long Beach Municipal Cemetery, and Eloise’s final resting place is in the Westminster Memorial Park. 

    courtesy of findagrave.com
    courtesy of findagrave.com
     – Michael Dobkins

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  • May 12th In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1932, the U.S.S. Akron was sighted off the coast of Seal Beach at 2:00 p.m on its way to an airbase in Sunnyvale. The Akron reached Sunnyvale at midnight, but weather conditions prevented it from mooring until late May 13th.

    Today this U.S. Navy helium airship is best remembered for an April 1933 air disaster when it hit bad weather off the New Jersey shore and went down into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 73 of the 76 passengers and crew members. The Akron was designed for reconnaissance and could launch and retrieve scout biplanes in midair, but its full potential was never fully explored. In its brief 20 month history in the air, the USS Akron met with many accidents and mishaps, not the least of which happened the day before it passed Seal Beach in 1932.

    The Akron had been sent on a coast to coast tour and arrived at Camp Kearny in San Diego County on May 11th.  While attempting to moor, the Akron unexpectedly lifted up, carrying with it three sailors from the ground crew hanging from the mooring line. Aviation Carpenter’s Mate 3rd Class Robert H. Edsall and Apprentice Seaman Nigel M. Henton lost their grip and fell hundreds of feet to their death while thousands watched. Apprentice Seaman C. M. “Bud” Cowart managed to secure himself to the line and hung on for two hours until a separate line winched him into the dirigible. The Akron safely moored at Camp Kearny later in the day and departed up the coast May 12th, just a few hours before the Seal Beach sighting. 

    Here’s a clip on the Camp Kearny accident from a Discovery Channel special:

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_kSNWMeFXE&w=560&h=315]

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • April 8th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1932, the Santa Ana Register ran an ad enticing couples with free admittance to the newly named Persian Ball Room on the Seal Beach Pier. April_8_1932_Persian_Ball_Room-3The new ball room name was the result of a KGER radio station contest to rename the Seal Beach Ball Room with the winning name being awarded $25. The new moniker lasted in newsprint for only the one ad shown above. The winner’s name was never deemed important enough to run, but let’s hope he or she enjoyed spending the $25. 

    Gus Gagel and His Troubadours played the Long Beach area for a few years in the early 1930s. Gus was an Anaheim Landing resident for a time and even briefly broadcasted a show from the Seal Beach ball room on Long Beach radio station KGER. His musical career was short-lived, but he did write one song with Johnny Mack titled, “Won’t You Cry Just A Teardrop For Me?” in 1931. I didn’t cry a teardrop,  but I did feel sad that I couldn’t find a recording of it.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • March 14th in Seal Beach History

    On this date, the Los Angeles Times ran a story on eighteen year old John L. Scott and the baby seal he adopted.

    Earlier in March, John had been working in his hot dog stand when he noticed a shimmering shape in the surf. Assuming it was a fish, John, apparently an intrepid soul, charged into the surf to capture it. When he swam closer and heard plaintive bleats, John realized he was not tracking a fish, but was after a baby seal. He took the baby seal home and began nursing it by feeding it milk every two to three hours. John’s theory was that Pat’s mother had been shot by fishermen.

    In the days that followed, “Pat” as John named him, would follow and play with his rescuer both on land and in the sea. Their antics attracted local attention and word-of-mouth publicity, and the Santa Ana Register sent a reporter to cover the the unlikely pair on March 5th. That story mentioned that Pat and John would swim together three times a day off Dolphin Avenue between 9 and 10 am, again between 1 and 3 pm, and finally between 4 and 5 pm before retiring to John’s home for the night.

    Not to be outdone and knowing a good human (and marine mammal) interest story when they saw it, the editors sent a reporter and a photographer to Seal Beach. Neither the Register or Times saw fit to ask John’s mother or the rest of the family what they thought about his new pet.

    It’s hard to tell from the photo, but it appears that Pat didn’t have ear flaps, which would make him a seal and not a pet seal lion as featured in this 1917 post.

    There was also never a follow up story covering Pat’s eventual fate, but any marine biologist worth his or her salt water will tell you that adopting a seal or seal lion as a pet is not a good idea and will likely not end well for the critter. We can only hope that at some stage Pat moved on to have a full normal life in the ocean.

    (Incidentally, John seemed to be prone to car accidents. When he was fourteen, John broke his leg in Naples when he was thrown from a reckless friend’s car when it overturned while passing another car. In 1933, John was behind the driver’s seat this time and narrowly escaped when the delivery truck he was driving was clipped by a Pacific Electric train at Electric Avenue and Seventeenth Street in Seal Beach. The truck spun around and was knocked 50 feet down the road.)

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • March 9th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1931, a letter from Seal Beach Mayor Frank Wilson was read to Los Angeles Board of Supervisors explaining the Seal Beach city council’s opposition to the Flood Control District’s plans to improve the San Gabriel River channel by straightening it and adding two jetties to catching drifting sands to build more of a beachfront.

    In the letter, Mayor Wilson said:

    “The residents of Seal Beach for many years have visualized a sixty-foot vehicular bridge across the Alamitos Bay channel and the City Council, as a whole, is now reluctant to commit any official act the would in any wise jeopardize the rights of the municipality.

    The Council feels that the plans for San Gabriel flood control should not be approved as requested by Engineer Eaton until some provision has been made for such a vehicular bridge.”

    In other words, if you want your flood control, give us a bridge.

    There were other concerns expressed in the letter — care for the cooling waters from the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Corporation’s steam plant, a permanent right of access to any beach formed by the east jetty, and the need for the two jetties to be constructed at equal lengths.

    But the most important idea was Seal Beach needed an Ocean Avenue bridge for automobiles replacing the rail bridge used exclusively for Pacific Electric red car trolleys.

    Negotiations continued until an agreement was reached to include an Ocean Avenue bridge in the project in July 1931, and Seal Beach approved the project. The Los Angeles Gas and Electric Corporation granted a right-of-way for the bridge in September, and the War Department approved the plans in October 1931.

    Construction began in early 1932, and the completed bridge was opened to traffic on October 20, 1932. Mrs. Phillip A. Stanton cut the string.

    And that, my friends, is how Seal Beach got itself a bridge in a short nineteen and a half months.

    – Michael Dobkins

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