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Tag: 1955

  • May 26th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1955, Marine Boat ran the following advertisement in the Long Beach Independent to attract customers interest in a low-cost command of their own live-aboard, sleep-aboard cruising craft powered Evinrude Big Twin outboard motor!

    May_26_1955_Marina_Boat_Ad– Michael Dobkins

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  • May 23rd in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1954, a story ran in the Los Angeles Times announcing that a second school would soon be built in Seal Beach.

    Seal Beach Superintendent of Schools Jerry H. McGaugh had been planning the new school since 1948 to accommodate rising student enrollment. It took some strong arm tactics and behind the scenes wheeling and dealing, but ultimately land bordering between Bolsa Avenue and Bay Boulevard (later renamed Seal Beach Boulevard) was purchased in 1952 for an new intermediate school.

    This was the second time McGaugh had spearheaded the building of a Seal Beach school. When the original 1913 Seal Beach elementary school at Twelfth Street and Pacific Coast Highway was severely damaged in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, he guided the construction of a new school on the same grounds to completion in 1935.

    The new school must have been a dream project for McGaugh. Beyond adding twelve new classrooms for grades six to eight, the layout and facilities seemed more appropriate for a high school with a spacious gymnasium, auditorium, music room, cafeteria shop building, and spacious playground.

    When McGaugh retired in June 1955 a few months before the new school opened, the school board surprised him by naming it “J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School,” a fitting honor for a gentleman who guided Seal Beach’s education for nearly three decades and whose influence continues to be felt today in the form of the first-class school he gave the community.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • March 7th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1965, The Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram reported that a familiar Naval Weapons Station landmark on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Bay Boulevard (Seal Beach Boulevard today) would soon be gone.

    The landmark was the stack of anti-submarine buoys stored on the base since World War II. The buoys had once been an effective barrier for enemy submarine gaining entry into California harbors. Modern submarine technology no longer needed such close proximity for attacks, and the buoys were ultimately declared obsolete.

    For the better part of two decades, the buoys sparked fears that they would explode a scant few feet from Pacific Coast Highway traffic and opposition from developers and realtors who felt those fears hurt Seal Beach property values. But these were buoys, not weapons or munition, and the only thing explosive about them was the interest of photographers itching to use the buoys in cleverly composed images for newspapers and local publicity.

    In early 1965, the Department of Defense announced that the obsolete buoys would be auctioned off with the expectation that the winning bidders would have the buoys cleared from the Naval Weapons Station by late May. This expectation was partially fulfilled. 17,000 buoys were sold and carted off mostly to be used for scrap metal, and 5,000 remained in symmetrical stack formation to continue intriguing and vexing residents and motorists well into the seventies.

    I have a line out to the the weapons station to find out when the remaining buoys were finally removed. I’ll update this post if I get an answer.

    Can’t quite picture where the buoys were located? Click here to view a 2010 post that pinpoints the location.

    – Michael Dobkins

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    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.

  • Mermaids and Jewel Thieves

    The Bay Theatre – 1955

    This image comes to us care of a past Seal Beach resident, Bob Robertson. The photo was taken by Bob’s father, Bill Robertson, owner of the Seal Beach Post and Wave newspaper.

    click on the image for a larger view

    The Bay Theatre was built in 1947 and survives today as a rare single screen survivor in the age of multiplex theaters and high definition home theaters.

    Movie posters for “Jupiter’s Darling” and To Catch a Thief are hanging in the “next attraction” frames next to the box office.  There’s a possibility that this is early 1956 since movies weren’t released as wide and stayed in circulation much longer than today.  “Jupiter’s Darling,” released in February 1955, starred Esther Williams and Howard Keel and was a notorious box office flop for MGM.  “To Catch a Thief,” released in September 1955, is considered a classic Alfred Hitchcock film by many and starred Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.

    Does anyone out there recognize any of the people in this photo or remember what the occasion was?  And while we’re at it, why don’t you share your favorite memories of the Bay Theatre in the comments?

    ADDENDUM:  Does anyone remember a Hollywood film being shot on the hill before the homes were built, and then the film being shown at the Bay after it was released?

    Be sure to check back every for more historical photos and stories of Seal Beach.

    – 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. 

  • Where The Buoys Are

    Image of The Week

    Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station – 1955

    Bonus ImageBonus Image

    These stacked buoys (without the guards) were once a familiar sight to motorists traveling on Pacific Coast Highway between Anaheim Landing and the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

    See the buoys?

    Eleven years later buoys are still being stacked in the same spot as shown in this aerial photograph taken on October 14th, 1966.

    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.

    – 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.

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