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Tag: Fifth Street

  • October 12th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1958, the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram ran a profile of Seal Beach resident Clark Pettingill of 205 Fifth Street and what he called “The Pettingill Apple Tree.”

    Clark Pettingill and his famous front yard apple tree

    Seal Beach is not famed for its fruit-producing trees, but this tree was special. The Pettingill Apple Tree produced such phenomenal apples, that the tree had been patented with grafts being distributed by Armstrong Nurseries.

    Twenty-five to thirty years earlier, Clark separated two apple trees that had started growing in his front yard. Clark believed the two trees probably came from the same apple core. The second tree was replanted in the backyard, but only produced fair apples.

    The Pettingill Apple Tree in the front yard, however, produced a large crop of big red apples, ranging from 10 to 12 ounces. Clark shared that he once picked a 22-ounce apple.

    We close with a cautionary note for modern-day apple poachers. While a tree does grow today in the front yard at 205 Fifth Street, that tree is not The Pettingill Apple Tree. It, like Clark Pettingill (1884-1964), is gone, but continues to leave a legacy as this Google search will attest.

    Birthplace of the Pettingill Apple

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • August 28th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1969, Bernsteins’ ran this coupon ad for their salad dressings in the The San Bernardino County Sun.

    Aug_28_1969_Bernstein_Salad_Dressing

    This 50 cent refund offer required that salad (and salad dressing) lovers mail in this coupon with two neck labels from bottles of Bernsteins’ salad dressing to Dept. 3 Seal Beach, California 90740.

    Yes, Seal Beach once had its own salad dressing plant! The buildings where Bernsteins’ had their offices and production plant were located at 500 Marina Drive and are now occupied by The Seal Beach Center For Spiritual Living.

    Screenshot 2016-08-28 07.05.08

    When demand for their salad dressing outgrew the Seal Beach plant’s production capacity in the mid-seventies, Bernsteins’ moved their operations to Tacoma, Washington, but you can still find Bernsteins’ salad dressings on Seal Beach supermarket store shelves.

    And for the years when Bernsteins’ operated in Seal Beach, the corner of Fifth Street and Marina Drive smelled heavenly.

    – 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.

     

  • February 6th In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1937, the Seal Beach city council considered a number of matters in a long session, according to the Santa Ana Register.

    The first item considered was a petition with one hundred sixty-eight signers declaring an oil refinery operating at Fifth Street and Coast Highway a public nuisance and asking for the refinery’s removal. The refinery was owned by the California Refining Company and was leased to F. B. Cole Refining, plaintiffs in a $110,000 suit against the city. According to the petition, the refinery had a negative impact of the health and property of nearby residents.

    Another issue discussed was the installation of an additional power line from the steam plant operated by the Los Angeles Gas and Electrical Corporation to its new owner, the bureau of water and power (Today’s Department of Water and Power, also known as the DWP). The issue was ultimately tabled, but not before City Attorney B. B. Brown expressed concerns about the impact water outfall from the plant preventing build-up of sands on the west beach.  

    Representatives from Los Angeles expressed a willingness to work out a solution to the beach problem with the help of the Los Angeles county flood control district, but that would depend on the new owners. It was also mentioned that the Seal Beach steam plant would soon become a stand-by power plant as soon as the Boulder Dam plant went online, and that would probably diminish the water outfall from the Seal Beach plant.

    City Engineer Victor W. Hayes was instructed to remove old poles along East Ocean Avenue that had been abandoned for years by an amusement company. Hayes also reported that, after consulting the Coast Guard, removal of pilings from a collapsed section of the pier must be requested from the war department.

    The Pacific Electric Company reported that materials for work on the Twelfth Street grade crossing had been ordered and that the city could  begin paving between the tracks after the track and signal work was complete. Hayes submitted plans and an estimate for the city’s share of the costs for the project.

    Finally, a third reading of a “Walkathon” ordinance was made that would clear the way for an event to be held after the rainy season. The ordinance required a deposit of $500.

    Walkathons were dancing endurance contests that were both popular and controversial during the Great Depression. Read “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” by Horace McCoy or watch the film to get a flavor of what these events were like.

    This ordinance and the event it allowed would cause conflict and controversy in August and September of 1937. Watch this space.

    – Michael Dobkins

    Have you enjoyed this and other This Date in Seal Beach History posts?

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  • January 14th In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1924, the Santa Ana Register reported that the Bayside Land Company had applied to the War Department for permission to dredge in Alamitos Bay and to use the dredged material as landfill for a new tract of land to the north of the coast highway at the west side of Seal Beach.

    It’s often hard to picture the old geography of Seal Beach from written descriptions and fit it to the current layout of the city. Here’s a closer view of a section of the 1922 photograph from above:

    Okay, maybe that helps a little, but some labels might make today’s post easier to understand:

    The old coast highway followed along the south edge of Alamitos Bay just to the left of Central Way (not Central Avenue). It then connected to Naples at Iona Walk. (Later the coast highway would be rerouted to connect to Naples along the street now called East Naples Plaza, but until the Long Marina was built, East Naples Plaza was just the eastern most part of Second Street in Naples.)

    If you’ve ever wondered why Central Way follows such a crooked path between First Street and Fifth Street, it’s because Central Way followed what was once the marshy edge of Alamitos Bay in Seal Beach before it was filled with dredged materials.

    Today’s Pacific Coast Highway did not exist in 1922 when this photo was taken, but its approximate route is labeled. Also missing is the steam plant at First Street and Ocean Avenue. It was constructed in 1925.

    The Pacific Electric bridge to Naples connected to what is now Appian Way close to where the Long Beach Yacht Club in the Long Beach Marina stands.

    Just below First Street, you can see the Ocean Avenue bridge to the Long Beach Peninsula. In 1922, the bridge only connected rail traffic from the Pacific Electric line to Seal Beach that ran down Ocean Avenue to Main Street and then turned to meet the Pacific Electric Newport-Balboa line at Electric Avenue. Automobile traffic didn’t cross along Ocean Avenue to the Long Beach peninsula until a new Ocean Avenue bridge was built in the thirties.

    – 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.