On this date in 1948, the Long Beach Independent shared that good news that any lady with a paid escort and the following ad could enjoy fishing on either the Super Express boat or Fishing Express boat every Friday — for free! The Horseshoe or Hunting Flats fishing spots were only 15 or 40 minutes away! Lady anglers rejoice!
– 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.
On this date in 1916, fishermen on the Seal Beach pier had a close encounter with a large California gray whale. Not only were the fishermen surprised by the whale spouting a large spray of water over them, but the whale also forced the anglers to take cover by rocking one of the pier pilings while attempting to scrape barnacles from his (or her) back.
After an hour, the friendly aquatic mammal swam out to sea, leaving the fishermen to their normal activities and with a large sea mammal of a tale to share.
– 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.
On this date in 1969, this Long Beach Independent ad offered sport fishing from the G.W., the Valencia, and an offshore barge from the Seal Beach pier.
The ad also featured a crude rendition of Solly the Seal (he may have been known as Salty originally), a Walt Disney designed mascot that had been adopted by Seal Beach in 1944 and used on city stationery and other promotional materials.
– 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.
On this date in 1940, the Long Beach Independent ran the following ad. The Seal Beach pier and the bait boats and the barge were all run by Captain Jack Stubbs. “Homer” had been newly launched on April 15th to replace “Pastime,” a live bait barge that sank in a 1939 storm.
– 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.
On this date in 1918, the Evening Kansan-Republican of Newton, Kansas carried a short report on the latest wacky fishing craze on the Pacific Coast — kite fishing!
Citing a story in the September 1917 Popular Science Monthly, the report tells of a “fine corbina hole” tantalizingly just out of range of even the best casters off the Seal Beach pier. The pier fishermen, preferring not to use boats, use kites to carry their fishing lines out to the fishing spot. Popular Science Monthly made no mention of earlier kite fishing and treated the concept as fresh and cutting edge.
Kite fishing was not a new innovation in fishing technology. In fact, there are newspaper stories about kite fishing dating back to the mid nineteenth century. For some reason, an August 20, 1917 Washington Post summary of the Popular Science Monthly story caught the imagination of editors across the nation and was reprinted (and sometimes edited for length) in at least sixty-four separate newspapers over the next year. The Evening Kansan-Republican was just one of many in the long news cycle for this story.
Two interesting details were included in both the Popular Science Monthly and the Washington Post that didn’t always make it into the reprints. First, the “new” method of fishing was credited as being the brainchild of Thomas McD. Potter of the Los Angeles Motorcycle Club. Also, the kite used was five feet high, which allowed enough lift for any fish caught on the hook.
A corbina, probably regretting some of its more recent life choices.
According to the internet (which never lies), there are still plenty of corbinas to be caught off the Seal Beach pier.
– 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.
– Michael Dobkins
