On this date in 1956, The Los Angeles Times reported on the recent expansion of Seal Beach’s borders.
Seal Beach had increased from a one square mile beachside city to nine times that size by annexing some private property and what was then known as the Naval Ammunition and Net Depot. The annexation had been completed weeks earlier, and Seal Beach had a certificate from Secretary of State to prove it. This also meant that if the tri-city area of Midway City, Barber City, and Westminster incorporated as one city, Seal Beach’s extension three miles east would result in Bolsa Chica Road becoming the new border between the two cities.
The expansion was not without opposition. According to City Engineer Hal Marron, “private property-owning interests” objected to the expansion and had won a writ of mandate in Superior Court. The city’s appeal against the writ was pending.
And that’s where matters stood on August 19th, 1956. So much unsettled, and yet there was enough optimism to stage a photo op with models Bernice Hugn and Marilyn Brechtel installing a new city limits sign at Westminster Avenue and Bolsa Chica Road.
Later, Midway City decided to remain unincorporated, but Barber City folded into Westminster. And that court appeal? Sixty years later, Bolsa Chica Road is the eastern border of the city, so Seal Beach must have prevailed.
– Michael Dobkins
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