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Take a Look at Historical Seal Beach – Late 1958

If you belong to a generation who lived during the era when black and white series still aired on broadcast television, chances are you fondly remember the television show named “Sea Hunt.” This was an immensely popular syndicated half hour action and adventure show that enjoyed a top-rated four season first run from 1958 to 1961 and then went to reruns for decades.

The series starred Lloyd Bridges as hyper-competent ex-Navy frogman and freelance scuba diver, Mike Nelson. Each week (or every afternoon once the show went into reruns), Nelson’s steadiness and ultra-reliability made him the go-to guy for the military, law enforcement, charter fishermen, or anyone who needed assistance with a marine crisis or seabound adventure. For 155 episodes, Mike Nelson tangled with bank robbers and crooks, consulted on top-secret military missions, recovered underwater treasure, fought dangerous sea critters, rescued distressed seagoing folks, and solved other underwater crises. The stories were lean and straightforward pulp narratives with no room for subtleties like deep characterization, subplots, or subtext. Bridge’s gruff and matter-of-fact narration of the underwater sequences makes the series oddly diverting, even when viewed with jaded twenty-first century eyes.

What makes the show especially relevant for local history is that much of it was filmed on location in the Bahamas, Florida, and, for a couple seasons, the Long Beach area — especially Naples, the Long Beach peninsula, Alamitos Bay, and the newly built Long Beach Marina. The above-water locales in many of the show’s episodes serve as a visual catalog of the Long Beach area as it existed in the late fifties. I’ve never seen an episode filmed specifically in Seal Beach, but Seal Beach landmarks are often featured prominently in the background in scenes shot on the Long Beach Marina.

One episode did feature a Seal Beach landmark prominently, so much so that it appears in the episode’s title card.

In the second season’s “Underwater Security,” Mike is hired by the military to go undercover to test the security of a seaside rocket fuel plant and ends up foiling the plans of actual saboteurs. Seal Beach residents tuning in to that night’s “Sea Hunt” episode on January 19th, 1959 would have been surprised to see the Seal Beach power plant passing itself off as the rocket fuel factory. The episode itself was probably filmed in late 1958.

(There’s a very mild irony in that an actual rocket assembly facility would be constructed in a few years on the other end of town to build the second stage of the Apollo program’s Saturn rockets.)

You can watch “Underwater Security” below.

And here’s a link to a YouTube playlist for all the “Sea Hunt” episodes. If you see Seal Beach appearing in any episodes, please share the show’s title in the comments section. I don’t have time to go through all the episodes, but if we all crowdsource the project, maybe we can create a comprehensive index of Seal Beach appearances in “Sea Hunt.”

Other films using Seal Beach include the silent version of “Ten Commandments” and the first Billy Jack movie, “Born Losers.”

– Michael Dobkins

I won’t resume daily blogging here until 2024, but I’m trying out a new feature that I hope won’t take as much writing, researching, and prep time. For lack of a better title, I’m calling this new feature, “Take a Look at Historical Seal Beach.”

If you have unique photos from Seal Beach’s past that you’re willing share on this blog, please contact me at mike@SealBeachHistory.com. What I’m looking for are high resolution scanned images in either a tiff or jpeg and a few words to provide a little commentary and context on what is being shared.

I hope to share a new post of photos (or just one photo) from a single donor each month. Currently I have images stockpiled for the rest of 2020. That leaves thirty-six months to cover from January 2021 to December 2023. With luck, there will be enough interest and response to fill those thirty-six months.

November 17, 2020
August 26th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1937, Hal Ross launched the 1937 Derby Show on a triangle of land between Coast Highway and Hathaway Avenue in Seal Beach, probably in a large circus big top type tent.

To save the curious reader the trouble of pulling out (or googling) a map to look for Hathaway Avenue, there is no road by that name in Seal Beach today. Hathaway Avenue was built in 1931 and branched off from Coast Highway to offer a more inland route from Seal Beach into Long Beach, mostly through oilfields, where it connected with State Street — yet another street you won’t find on a modern street map of Long Beach.

Hathaway Drive snakes up into Long Beach from the lower right corner

This is probably still confusing because it’s difficult to picture where a road could branch off from Coast Highway in today’s Seal Beach. It would be easy to assume that Hathaway Avenue (sometimes called the Hathaway cut-off) was re-graded, built over and no longer exists. But It does still exist as shown in the photo below.

Here’s the solution to the puzzle. Hathaway Ave stretched from 8th Street in Seal Beach all the way up to the Traffic Circle in Long Beach where it connects with State Street. Both Hathaway Ave and State Street are now called Pacific Coast Highway. (There’s still a bit of Hathaway Avenue just past the Traffic Circle that stretches towards Signal Hill.)

In 1931, Coast Highway was not today’s Pacific Coast Highway. Beyond 8th Street, we now call it Marina Drive and it used to connect to Long Beach through Naples. This isn’t even the original Coast Highway route through Seal Beach, which used to run down Main Street to Central Avenue to Central Way along the marshy edge of Alamitos Bay that had since been filled with landfill as detailed in this post.

That’s a long digression before shifting to the real focus of today’s post — the “1937 Derby Show.” This event was called many things, a derby show, a walkashow, and a walkathon, but regardless of what it was called, the event operated under the principles of a dance-a-thon, a controversial form of public entertainment that was wildly popular during the twenties and the thirties. These events were the spiritual ancestors of roller derbies, televised wrestling, and much of today’s reality TV competitions.

The details vary, but the dance-a-thons were endurance tests that lasted for weeks. A set number of contestants were chosen (sometimes with ringers from management mixed in) to compete for a large cash prize. The rules for dancing were strictly enforced — no shuffling, feet must leave the ground or the contestants would be counted out of the competition. At first, there would be a ten minute rest period for every hour, but as time wore on, a minute would be shaved off the rest period until there was no break from dance. Popular entertainers were brought in to provide live music for the dancers, the crowd of ticket buyers, and sometimes even a radio audience. When the event started to become monotonous, the promoters would stage a marriage proposal between contestants or manufacture a drama or contrive a short-term contest to test the mettle of the exhausted sleep-deprived contestants.

This isn’t in Seal Beach, but it’s a typical scene from a dance-a-thon in 1923

The dance-a-thon craze was not without its critics. Doctors were concerned about the health effects of these endurance tests and a contestant had even died from a heart attack during a dance-a-thon. Some people found these events vulgar and seamy like a sideshow carnival. Many of the operators were scam artists, rigging the winners and sometimes even skipping town without paying anyone. This aspect of the dance-a-thons became even more pronounced in the thirties when desperate and out of work Americans were attracted to the large cash payouts. Winners ended up with a nice little nest egg. The losers had just wasted weeks of their lives and had worked their bodies and minds to the point of exhaustion and burnout — all for nothing.

In spite of the popularity of these events, laws were passed to either limit or outlaw dance-a-thon endurance test competitions. Promoters tried modifying these events just enough, they hoped, to bypass the new laws while still providing the same entertainment value. They also rebranded them as walkashow, walk marathons, and even derby shows.

Still not Seal Beach, but a typical scene at the late stages of a dance marathon

On August 4th, 1937, the Seal Beach city council passed a walk-a-thon ordinance that allowed Hal J. Ross Enterprises to file for a license to hold a “1937 Derby Show” that was described as combination of athletic contests. The application fee was $500.

This was not the first event like this in Seal Beach. in 1930, the Anaheim Bay American Legion had held a 24-hour dance-a-thon at 8th Street and Ocean, but the Hal Ross event was going to last for weeks and would ultimately end prematurely due to legal issues. There will be more on this in a future post.

For now, to give a little flavor of what these events were like, here’s the coming attractions trailer for “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” a 1969 film adaptation of Horace McCoy’s novel of the same name, starring Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin. McCoy had worked as a bouncer at one of these events, so his novel was based on firsthand experience.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke-sWMXspNA]

Just imagine it’s Thursday night, August 26th, 1937, and similar entertainments are about to start in a large tent on a vacant patch of a land where Bay City Center on Pacific Coast Highway now stands.

– 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.

August 26, 2019
August 22nd in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1926, the 7:15 p.m. Pacific Electric red car west bound on the Seal Beach to Long Beach line made an unexpected detour at First Street and Ocean Avenue.

Normally, the red car would continue across the Ocean Avenue bridge to the Long Beach Peninsula. This time it took an unexpected turn on the sharply curved spur tracks into the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Corporation steam plant property. It crashed through the gates, but the motorman was able to slow the car enough to avoid derailment, and the only injury was his bruised elbow.

This March 11, 1933 photo shows the spur tracks into the steam plant property in the asphalt in the bottom left half of the photo. You can also see damage from the Long Beach earthquake.

Philip A. Stanton, founder of Seal Beach, witnessed the incident from the front porch of his home on the corner of that intersection. He had actually seen a man with a young boy turn the switch immediately in front of his house a few minutes earlier, but Stanton had assumed the man was a Pacific Electric employee.

A better view of the Stanton house from where he saw the incident. The switch in front of the house appears to have been removed. This photo was taken after the taller steam plant stack was replaced with this shorter one due to the 1933 earthquake damage.

The Pacific Electric abandoned this line in February of 1940, the bridge to the Long Beach peninsula was removed in 1955, and the steam plant was torn down in 1967. The Pacific Electric tracks of the spur leading into the power plant property still remained well into the seventies — decades past when the last red car rode down Ocean Avenue.

Addendum – There seems to be more little curiosity about the steam plant in response to today’s post. You can find links to earlier posts and photos (including footage and photos from the demolition from Joyce Kucera) here.

– 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.

August 22, 2019
August 6th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1904, the Pacific Electric Railway ran this advertisement in the Los Angeles Times. This was only the second PE ad to mention the newly named Bay City and Anaheim Landing as destinations (The first ad was a holiday spread for Independence Day that ran in the July 3rd Los Angeles Times.)

Transportation to Bay City and Alamitos Bay via Red Car was not even two months old at this point. The first passenger run to Anaheim Landing was on June 12th when the Long Beach to Newport line only continued to the Bolsa Chica Gun Club. On July 1st, service was extended to Huntington Beach. Easy and affordable beach holidays had become possible for thousands of inlanders.

– 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.

August 6, 2019
July 23rd in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1915, the Santa Ana Register ran a short story with the provocative headline, “SEAL BEACH TO INCORPORATE AND BE WET?”
Seal Beach’s incorporation by election was just a little over three months away, and rumors were floating that table liquor licenses would be granted by the newly incorporated city. Temperance workers from Long Beach, a dry town, planned to reach out to dry workers in Orange County to prevent Seal Beach.

New Years Eve celebrants in the freshly incorporated Seal Beach were forced to ring in the new year of 1916 in a sober state, and the wet/dry conflict would continue to play out throughout 1916. Ultimately serving demon alcohol was too enticing and lucrative for Seal Beach, and the city went wet (to the relief of Long Beach non-abstainers who enjoyed nipping on over to Seal Beach cafes for a nip or two. Or three. Or five.)

When the Volstead Act prohibited alcohol to the entire nation, Seal Beach became a prime spot for bootleggers and rum runners with local landmarks the pier, Anaheim Landing, and Alamitos Bay looming large in liquor smuggling legends and tall tales.

– 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.

July 23, 2019
June 9th in Seal Beach History (7 of 8)

On this date in 1916, this article and these ads ran on the seventh page of a Seal Beach promotional section in the Santa Ana Register. This was on the Friday of the first opening summer weekend under the Seal Beach name, and this was the newly incorporated city at its most ambitious and confident.

The copy, ads, and illustrations are formatted below for easier reading and a larger view of the graphics.

HUGE BEACH JOY ZONE IS LINED BY UNIQUE SEAL WAY

Cement Walk Stretches From Alamitos to Anaheim Bay

“Seal Way” is the name given to the cement promenade on the ocean front at Seal Beach. It is thirty-five feet wide and 4000 feet long, illuminated by a row of beautiful ornamental lights—lamps which did service at the San Francisco exposition. The bases of the posts are of concrete, mounted with a seal head, the light radiating from the head.

The posts are conveniently and harmoniously located to the ocean side of the walk, the beach side being lined with pleasure palaces. Most of the concessionaires have taken charge of their respective locations, and are ready for business. The others will follow as speedily as the various exhibits are completed, which will probably be within thirty days, the management asserts.

Pleasure seekers starting for inspection at the north end of Seal Way will come first to the “Hangars,” and in succession will pass the Picnic Gardens, Rathskellers, Cafe Chantant, a number of small concessions under the wharf; then the enlarged bath house, the Merry-Go-Round, candy and ice cream factory, palmistry, jesters’ palace, shooting gallery, boxball alley, Kelly game, Ahern’s nifty shop, a series of small concessions; a public convenience station, small circus, roller skating, and other concessions, details of which are not wholly complete at this writing. The general architectural scheme throughout is Gothic and Spanish.

“Seal Way” ball room will be of sufficient capacity to permit several hundred couples on the floor at one time. Directly underneath the ball room is the bath house. It has been extended about two hundred feet and will accommodate some three thousand bathers. The plunge to be built later will cover the entire block between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets and will take care of many bathers. It is to be replete with conveniences and apparatus.

——————–

LARGE SUMMER CROWDS EXPECTED

It is estimated that from 3000 to 5000 people will summer at Seal Beach this season. Recent Sunday crowds have been very large, anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 visiting the resort. Last Sunday over 1000 automobiles lined the avenues, and a traffic policeman had to be stationed at the corner of Main and Ocean.

Already many of the cottages have been leased for the season, and apartment houses likewise are being reserved. Every preparation has been made to accommodate a large summer population, expected as a result of the recently completed amusement exhibits and those still in process of construction.

Check out the other seven June 9th This Date in Seal Beach history post. There are more ads, photos, and illustrations to enjoy.

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– 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.

June 9, 2019
June 9th in Seal Beach History (3 of 8)

On this date in 1916, this article and these ads ran on the third page of a Seal Beach promotional section in the Santa Ana Register. This was on the Friday of the first opening summer weekend under the Seal Beach name, and this was the newly incorporated city at its most ambitious and confident.

The copy, ads, and illustrations are formatted below for easier reading and a larger view of the graphics.

ADMINISTRATION BLDG IS A BEAUTIFUL STRUCTURE

Houses Bay Side Land Company Officers and Amusement Directors

The recently completed administration building on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Main was built and, for most part, is occupied by the Bay Side Land Company and its officers. P. A. Stanton is president of the company; I. O. Lothian, vice-president, and J. P. Transue, secretary. The main offices of the company were formerly at the Title Insurance Building at Los Angeles. The entire office paraphernalia was moved to Seal Beach almost two weeks ago.

Amusement Department

The amusement department of the Bay Side Land Co., which is really a new department, is in the charge of Frank Burt — who was Director of Concessions and Admissions at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition — and Bert St. John, resident manager of amusements. Both gentlemen have a wide reputation as amusement managers and resort builders.

Mr. Burt has probably supervised the construction and opening of more amusement parks than any man in the country. It is for this reason that many of the zone concessionaires followed him to Seal Beach, thus giving the resort an exposition tinge throughout.

Mr. Burt is giving particular attention to the architectural harmony and the arrangement of the buildings. This plan is new in the amusement line and follows as a result of the impetus given to architecture in its highest form at the great exposition. Heretofore but little attention was paid to harmonic layout at resorts, particularly in the erection of the various small concessionaires’ buildings, but at Seal Beach Mr. Burt sees to it that everything is constructed with regard for and in keeping with one set of plans.

Mr. Edwin Symmes, the architect who laid out a large portion of the exposition grounds and palaces, is co-operating with Mr. Burt so that there may be no irregularity and no unsightly crowding of buildings at Seal Beach.

Mr. Bert St. John, who acts as resident manager of amusements, is known as a theatrical director of wide experience. The Bay Side Land Company secured two live wires in Frank Burt and Bert St. John.

Streets are Oiled

At present all streets are graded and oiled. It is planned, however, to asphalt them within the next year. Cement walks, water, gas, electricity and telephones have been installed for some time.

——————–

OPPORTUNITY TO INVEST GIVEN TO INVESTORS

Seal Beach, since the completion of the good roads system, is within easy access from every point in Orange County. This fact alone makes the “Jewel City’’ resort loom as the coming amusement and recreation center.he strides made during the past year – even the last three months — are more astonishing than the growth of Long Beach, and the claims the Robert B. Armstrong Company are making for Seal Beach as an investment center seem wholly within reason.

Building Activity

There is more building construction going on at Seal Beach at present than at any other place in Southern California. On the ocean front the various concessionaires are spending several hundred thousand dollars in an attempt to give Orange County the most up-to-date amusement center on the coast. The attractions brought down from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition are eliciting comment everywhere. Investors know such things bring the crowds, which, in California, is usually followed by a rapid Increase in population.

In the business section the largest and most important new structure is the Administration Building, the home of the Bay Side Land Company, which for most part is the owner of Seal Beach.

Another building is a two-story yellow brick erected by a Mr. Rosenthal.

A number of one-story stores have recently been completed on Coast Boulevard at the foot of Main Street.

Resident Section

In the resident section bungalows and cottages are being built in almost every two or three blocks. Property valuations have increased at a rapid pace and the type of buildings constructed are of a more expensive nature than is customary at beach resorts.

The standing population at this writing is about 1200, which runs to approximately three thousand during summer. This estimate takes into consideration only such as remain for a period of two months or more. Week-end visitors run into the thousands.

Real Estate

Robert B. Armstrong Company, who are selling agents for Seal Beach property, have been the big boosters of Seal Beach, which was known as Bay City when they took hold a little over two years ago. There was nothing there but a few houses, three or four stores and a small bath house.

Today Seal Beach looks like the coming Coney Island, with property valuations correspondingly bright.

There are but few business lots to be had at Seal Beach, but residence ing amusement and recreation center ¡lots may still be purchased on terms.

This year will be the busiest since Robert B. Armstrong Co. began their rejuvenation of old Bay City. The well-known realty firm is making preparations to take around droves of people and show them Seal Beach values this summer.

Argument

Following are a few reasons for buying property at Seal Beach, as given by the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce:

“Seal Beach is a growing little city of about 1200 inhabitants, situated in the extreme southwest corner of Orange County, 26 miles from Los Angeles, and 16 miles from Santa Ana.

“While the city is still in its infancy, it shows great promise of becoming a city of beautiful homes.

“Graded and oiled streets, cement walks, water, gas, electricity, phones, stores, etc., that make up all the conveniences of a city are already established.

“Seal Beach offers an ideal place for a beach home with a commanding view of the Pacific Ocean on the south and west, Alamitos Bay on the west and north and Anaheim Bay on the east, and rich soil lots upon which to build, out of danger from high tides. Seal Beach has a great future before it, not only because it has all that any other beach has, but more, and is so easily accessible from all directions.

“Seal Beach is not only easy of access by the trolley routes but has paved boulevards leading to Santa Ana and Los Angeles and all the inland towns, and is the starting point of the Coast Boulevard to San Diego.

“Seal Beach is a safe place to come with your family; a safe beach, no treacherous undertow or tide rips, a quiet home beach with no saloons but with plenty of healthy amusements. If you live in Seal Beach it is the next best thing to a continuous vacation.

“A half mile either way from Main Street are the two still water bays, Alamitos and Anaheim. The flow of the tides in and out of these bays, breaks the currents along the ocean front, thereby preventing any undertow and at the same time furnishing an ideal place for canoeing, sailing, rowing, motor boating and swimming. Anaheim Bay is about four miles long and, with its arms has about ten miles of navigable water. Shell fish are plentiful. Prior to the building of the railroads, old Anaheim Landing was an important shipping point; later a village of fishermen, now a popular part of Seal Beach. At the mouth of the Bay there is a choice residence section known as Seal Court.”

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THE APARTMENT HOUSES

There are several apartment houses in Seal Beach. Largest and foremost among them, however, are the Wieland Apartments, Chris Wieland, proprietor. The building occupies a conspicuous location, with a commanding view of the ocean from the second floor. It is just a short block to the ocean from the apartments.

Mr. Wieland has been rushing work on a handsome new porch, which will be completed in time for the opening.

Check out the other seven June 9th This Date in Seal Beach history post. There are more ads, photos, and illustrations to enjoy.

Page One

Page Two

Page Three

Page Four

Page Five

Page Six

Page Seven

Page Eight

– 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.

June 9, 2019
May 27th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1926, the Santa Ana Register published this gushingly enthusiastic profile of Seal Beach with a photo spread.

In my Seal Beach research over the years, I’ve come across some wild feats of hyperbole, but I think the first three paragraphs in this article have all other beat.

In spite of its manic lack of restraint, this article provides a solid snapshot of what Seal Beach was in 1926 and what it was trying to present itself as to the world. (This does not include the whopper about the single drowning or the claims of safety. Whoof, such mendacity!)

So I’m going to quote the entire article and include the photos with commentary after the article.

SEAL BEACH’S NO UNDERTOW CLAIM BRINGS MANY VISITORS

———————–

Safety Factor Is Stressed By Residents of Town; Commerce Body Active

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BIG POWER PLANT TO BE ENLARGED

———————–

Vehicular Bridge Across Outer Channel of Bay Backed by Community

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When Mother Nature chiseled the coast line of what was destined to Southern California, she gave particular attention to one favored spot, saying: “Here I will create a beach that will provide safe bathing for mankind, especially the women and little children.”

With this end in view, she formed two Inland bays with entrances from the Pacific ocean nearly a mile apart, and between these she made a gradually sloping sandy beach free from dangerous riptides and strong undertow.

Neither time nor tides have changed this condition, and since the early days of civilization in Southern California, what is now known as the city of Seal Beach has been recognized as one beach where surf bathing is safe.

Surf Bathing Safe.

The greatest degree of safety in the surf is between two bays, Anaheim and Alamitos. Although thousands go into the surf there every season, so far as known there has been but one drowning, and that near the Alamitos bay channel, when a man who could not swim attempted to negotiate the breakers on a hastily constructed raft.

The safe condition of safety exists in Anaheim bay inside the bridge, but bathers are warned to keep away from the outer channel with its deep water and treacherous currents.

For these reasons, many inland people spend their summer vacations at Seal Beach and Anaheim Landing, which is a part of the city, and it is believed the greatest number of summer visitors will be accommodated this year, because there are many cottages and tents available for summer use.

Arrange Housing Facilities

The chamber of commerce has taken up the matter of providing housing facilities for summer visitors and complete details may be had by writing to Harry H. Newton, the secretary.

Besides safe bathing, Seal Beach offers many other attractions, such as boating on the bay, excellent fishing and various amusements, one of these being a large dancing pavilion. There is also a roller coaster and other concessions in the amusement zone.

Seal Beach derives its name from the large herds of seal that have made their home here since the memory of man. They can be seen at the mouth of Alamitos bay, near the big power plant, in their natural habitat, being an attraction for tourists from all over the world. Plans are forming for a seal park, this being a part of the scheme for a vehicular bridge across the outer cannel of Alamitos bay.

History of Town

In 1903 P. A. Stanton and I. A. Lothian purchased 200 acres of land on the ocean front between Anaheim and Alamitos bays. The land was platted and the new town given the name of Bay City. In 1915, It was incorporated as a city of the sixth class under the name of Seal Beach, in honor of the large herd of seals.

Seal Beach has a municipal water system, sewers, electricity, gas and many miles of permanently paved streets.

Although the incorporated limits of Seal Beach include approximately 800 acres, only 200 acres are in the platted portion, the balance being a part of the Hellman ranch. This ranch land will not be available for homesites until after the question of oil is determined. Drilling operations are being conducted on the property by the Associated Oil company, but so far without any favorable showings. Executors of the Hellman estate say if prospecting operations prove the land is barren of oil in paying quantities, they will subdivide the portion in Seal Beach and put it on the market for homesites. The Hellman hill is declared to be one of the most desirable places in Southern California for this purpose.

Seal Beach is located on the South Coast highway. Within 15-mile radius of Seal Beach, there are 25 towns that, with intervening territory, have a combined population of more than a quarter of a million people.

Bridge Project

A project is under way for building a vehicular bridge across the outer channel of Alamitos bay that will connect Ocean boulevard in Long Beach with Ocean avenue in Seal Beach. Preliminary plans for the structure will soon be completed.

Will Enlarge Plant

On the point overlooking the entrance to Alamitos bay is located the Seal Beach electric generating station of the Los Angeles Gas and Electric corporation. The first unit of the plant was placed in operation last July. When completed the plant will consist of three units of 48,000 horsepower each and the total cost will be approximately $15,000,000. The second unit will be started next year.

The three boilers of the first unit have a capacity of 175,000 pounds of steam each, and the giant smokestack stands 275 feet high, a landmark seen from many miles distant.

Electric energy is generated here and distributed in Los Angeles over a high-power transmission line.

Chamber Is Active

Seal Beach has an active chamber of commerce, of which W. D. Miller, president of the California State bank, is president, and Harry H. Newton, secretary. The organization has accomplished much in the way of civic development and is taking a leading part in the project of a vehicular bridge across the Alamitos bay channel.

Mrs. E. W. Reed is president of the Woman’s Improvement club and Mrs. Merle Armstrong is secretary. There is a Business Men’s club, of which A. W. Armstrong is president and Harry H. Newton, secretary.

Seal Beach Is proud of its public school system. It has a fine group of buildings with a competent corps of teachers. The district at present has only a grammar school, being affiliated with the Huntington Beach high school district.

Two churches, Methodist and Catholic, provide places of worship, and there is a growing Masonic lodge.

R. E. Dolley is president of the board of trustees. Other members of the board are J. P. Transue, A. E. Walker, J. R. John and C. O. Wheat. Mrs. Ollie B. Padrick is city clerk and Ira E. Patterson is treasurer.

Altogether, Seal Beach offers unusual attractions for either the home seeker or the vacationist.

Here are enlarged versions of the photos from the Santa Ana Register spread.

– Michael Dobkins

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May 27, 2019
May 17th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1924, the Santa Ana Register cited an unnamed report that claimed that the colony of 300 seals residing in Alamitos Bay were consuming “some twelve tons of fish a day” and would soon deplete the bay. Local fishermen reported that they were still catching “extra fine specimens” of “the finny tribe.”

The article concluded with the observation that the seal colony, oblivious to the human dispute over fish supply, watched with wonder the construction of the Los Angeles Gas and Electric steam plant on the shore of the bay, “undisturbed by rumor or roar of machinery.”

– Michael Dobkins

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May 17, 2019
March 18th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1956 at 2 p.m., on the spot where Bay Boulevard met Electric Avenue, a dedication ceremony was held for a monument designating Anaheim Landing as a historical landmark. The marker read:

ANAHEIM LANDING After the establishment of the Mother Colony at Anaheim in 1857, a wharf and warehouse were constructed at the mouth of Anaheim Creek to serve the Santa Ana Valley. Treacherous entrance conditions caused several disasters, but steamers loaded with wine, wool and other cargo continued to dock here regularly. Use of the seaport began to decline in 1875 with the incursion of the Southern Pacific Railroad into the area. By 1890, the landing was no longer in operation.

(This was not the first Anaheim Landing. The landing was originally established in 1864 on Alamitos Bay, a more ideal port for shipping, but when an 1867 flood filled the bay with silt and severely limited ocean access, the landing was relocated to what is now known as Anaheim Bay. Local historian Larry Strawther has established that the original landing was approximately where the Island Village tract is today.)

Eleven years earlier almost to the day of the dedication ceremony, Anaheim Landing’s days as a civilian shipping port, a recreational destination, and residential neighborhood ended when the U.S. Navy took possession of Anaheim Bay and Anaheim Landing to install a weapons depot. On the other side of the fence behind the marker, munitions were loaded and unloaded to and from Navy ships serving in the Pacific Ocean.

On the civilian side of the fence, a crowd celebrated Anaheim Landing’s past. Perhaps some in that crowd had been Anaheim Landing residents and felt wistful recalling earlier days of swimming, boating, and fishing in the bay before the Navy removed their homes and cottages and dredged it.

Installing the marker had been a community affair. The project was instigated by the Senior and Junior Women’s Clubs of Seal Beach. Mrs. Bernice V. Smith and Mrs. Sven Lindstrom researched the historical data. Buell Brown designed the seven-foot high monument. Frank Curtis poured the foundation. The local Girl Scout and Cub Scout troops and Veterans organizations gathered the stones that were used in the monument, and surplus stones formed a crescent shaped rock garden on either side of the monument.

The theme for the ceremony was “Preserve the Past for the Future.” Scout troops presented mixed colors, Mrs. Noel Chadwick gave the devotional, and the Woman’s Club chorus sang a musical piece under the direction of Mrs. Clyde Spencer.

Officiating the ceremony were Willis Warner, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, Lee Winterton and William Gallienne of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, Admiral John McKinney, William Hynds of the recreation development committee, M.K. Hillyard of the marker committee, and Mrs. Albert Sylvia of the Woman’s Club of Seal Beach, and Mrs. Larry Howard of the Junior Woman’s Club of Seal Beach.

It must have been fine and proud Saturday event for all parties involved.

The Anaheim Landing monument still stands today, but somewhat diminished. Bay Boulevard is now Seal Beach Boulevard, the monument was moved to make room for a public works lot, and the rock garden is gone, replaced by a couple of bushes and a bus stop.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 18, 2019