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April 2nd in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1928, the 4:45 pm Pacific Electric trolley coming down Main Street jumped the track instead of making the curve on to Ocean Avenue and tore through the cement platform at the Bayside Land Co.. This trolley was on the Red Car line that went over the Ocean Avenue bridge that connected to the Long Beach Peninsula.

This photo was taken in 1917 when Main Street was unpaved. In the background, a Pacific Electric Red Car travels along Main Street. If you look closely, you can see the track start to curve in front of the Seal Beach Pharmacy (now Clancy’s). The track continues to curve in front of the strolling couple at the left of the photo and then off camera.

Another view of the track curving in front of the Seal Beach Pharmacy in 1917.

This aerial view shows Seal Beach from 1931, three years after the accident.

Here’s a closer view of the corner of the accident from the same photo. Notice that Main Street is now paved.

And here’s a labeled version of the same image.

And that’s more than enough information about a minor Main Street accident from more than ninety years ago. Please report any sightings of a phantom runaway Pacific Electric Red Car speeding down Main Street and plowing through the Seaside Grill, Tropical Juice, and the Tropical Juice before vanishing into a poof of ectoplasm. We will call the Ghostbusters immediately.

– Michael Dobkins

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April 2, 2019
April 1st in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1973, the Long Beach Independent ran the following ad for the long gone Penny⋅Wise Pound⋅Foolish Gallery & Gifts. Anyone ever shop there?

– Michael Dobkins

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April 1, 2019
March 29th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1975, the Long Beach Independent ran the following advertisement:

The newspaper had run a rave mini-review of the Green Pepper the day before, declaring “For a masterpiece tostada, try the deluxe model, $1.95 at the Green Pepper Mexican Restaurant, 209 Main St., Seal Beach. It is for the ‘one who has much hunger,’ because it is a whopper with meat, beans, grated cheese, mounds of salad and house dressing topped with guacamole. The Green Pepper (closed Sundays) is owned by Henry Lucero and his bride, Betty. It is open for luncheon and dinner offering fresh, colorful Mexican combination dinners, from $2.60, fancy Mexican appetizers, luncheon combos from $1.40; Mexican omelettes, sandwiches, wine margaritas and Mexican beers.”

The Green Pepper and Hank Lucero are gone. After the Green Pepper closed in the early nineties, 209 Main Street was occupied by BJ’s Pizzeria and then Woody’s Diner. Today Avila’s El Ranchitos serves meals in the space where the Green Pepper once operated. But many longtime Seal Beachers still remember Hank Lucero, the Deluxe Tostada, and all the fine Mexican meals they enjoyed at the Green Pepper.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 29, 2019
March 25th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1937, Dr. W. W. Chandler, chief inspector of the Orange County Health Department, imposed a ninety day quarantine on Seal Beach dogs in response to three diagnosed cases of rabies. Police Chief Lee Howard instituted a door-to-door canvass to notify residents that their pets should be confined during the quarantine.

When the quarantine was launched, eight people had been bitten by dogs diagnosed as rabid. The bite victims, John Burkhart, John Rainey, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Kobernik and their two children, Eldridge and Carolyn, Mrs. Gladys Curtis and Bill Lucas were instructed to take Pasteur treatments.

The three rabid dogs belonged to families living on Main Street. One, a small black dog was suspected of attacking other dogs before being captured and put down. The second rabid dog, a mother with a litter, had been killed when she ran amok several weeks before the quarantine. The third dog, a small white-haired pup from her litter, was still at large.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 25, 2019
March 23rd in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1965, Gino Nardo interviewed potential singing pupils for private vocal coaching sessions at the Pepperment Playhouse at 124 Main Street according to this March 22 Long Beach Independent ad. Mr. Nardo had worked in radio, television, and night clubs and with stars like Frank Sinatra, Robert Goulet, and Jane Powell.

Ah, just more thing:

On the September 24, 1972, the Long Beach Press-Telegram printed a photo of Nardo with Anne Baxter with a captioned mentioning that he was playing her first husband in an upcoming episode of Columbo titled “Death by Starlight.” By the time it aired on January 21, 1973, the episode name had been changed to “Requiem for a Falling Star.” Anne Baxter played Nora Chandler, a fading movie star and murder suspect.

There’s just one thing that doesn’t make sense about that photo in the newspaper. IMDB doesn’t list a Gino Nardo as part of the cast, and yet there’s this photo of him with Anne Baxter.

It kept niggling at me.

It didn’t come together until I read a synopsis of the episode. Nora’s first husband Al Cumberland disappeared under mysterious circumstances years before, so he isn’t actually seen in the episode, but when Columbo is nosing around Nora’s home (as one does when one is a tv detective), he notices a photo of Nora Chandler with her missing first husband, studio chief Al Cumberland.

You’ll have to hunt down the episode yourself to see how Columbo solves the crime. If you do, watch carefully when Peter Falk examines Nora’s photo collection. You might catch a glimpse of a vocal coach from Seal Beach.

(Columbo is a fun but preposterous character, of course. No one in real life could ever be that obsessive about trivial details.)

– Michael Dobkins

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March 23, 2019
March 22nd in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1914, hundreds of people embarked on a Sunday excursion from San Bernardino to Seal Beach sponsored by the Guy M. Rush Company as represented by Edwin R. Post. If the San Bernardino Country Sun’s estimate is to be trusted, there were “over 125 people from San Bernardino, nearly as many from Redlands and nearly 225 from Riverside.”

The sale of real estate is indelibly entwined in almost all aspects of Seal Beach history and this excursion, the first of two in the early part of 1914, was no different. In publicizing the excursion, Seal Beach was described as “growing rapidly and is one of the great attractions in the Long Beach district” and also as “one of the last close-in beaches of a desirable character.” Folks who were “interested in securing this class of property” were “were invited to see it and get first hand information as to its beauties and advantages.”

The promotional copy style seems stilted today, but the sales concept is familiar to anyone who has ever sat through a timeshare sales presentation for a “free” dinner or chance to win a big screen television.

The marketing plan was to entice potential buyers to Seal Beach with its new bathhouse and pavilions with promises of food and fun, but once they were stuck in town for the day, there were real estate salesmen close by, each ready with a hard sell pitch and a contract.

For a mere dollar, excursionists would leave the Salt Lake station in San Bernardino at 8 am and ride to Riverside and then on to Long Beach. They would then take a Pacific Electric car for short ride a few miles east to Seal Beach. Waiting in Seal Beach was a free bathing suit for a dip in the ocean, a free lunch, and a free band concert, and you can bet that at every point where something free was given, somebody would be there to give a speech, make a pitch, or point out the available lots.

(If you’re tempted by all this to feel a nostalgia for a simpler and more innocent times, take note of the the odious words, “Rigid race restrictions” openly listed as one of Seal Beach’s selling points in the last ad in this post. Nostalgia is a harsh mistress.)

This excursion was just a few months after Bay City had been renamed Seal Beach and a year and a half before the city was officially incorporated by election in 1915. The roller coaster and the rest of the amusement zone attractions wouldn’t be built until 1916. Most of the features and landmarks that stood out from this era of Seal Beach’s past don’t exist yet.

Still, to someone from San Bernardino and its typical inland high temperatures, just standing on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and feeling a cool sea breeze brush across your face must have been a treat.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 22, 2019
March 19th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1925, Seal Beach wife Emma Huftile filed suit for the annulment against her husband, Claude Merlin Huftile.

Marriages end for all sorts of reasons, but this one was ending under unusual circumstances. And it wasn’t exactly ending, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

So why was Emma suing Claude for annulment?

The sad fact was that her husband was still married to a elevator operator gal named Clara still living back in Minnesota. Claude and Clara had married back in 1920, but marriage life with Claude did not meet Clara’s expectations. She filed for divorce the next year, and Claude wasn’t too happy with Clara because he choose not to contest it. The story told in Santa Ana Register is that Claude and his lawyer saw a notice in a newspaper that Clara had won her decree. He left Duluth for California and became an oil worker.

One year later, Claude met Emma, and they enjoyed a July wedding in 1922. This time Claude’s marriage worked. In 1924, Claude and Emma had a son named John. All seemed well and on the way to the proverbial wedded bliss famed in song and story.

Until word came from back east that Claude’s divorce to Clara had not truly been granted. Claude and Emma amicably separated, and the annulment was filed to avoid legal complications while Claude untangled the marriage knot to his previous wife for good. When that was done, Claude and Emma could remarry.

The Santa Ana Register story about the situation made this sound easy-peasy, but there must have been complications. The 1928 California voter registration shows Claude living at 119 Main Street and Emma living at 132 Tenth Street. Fortunately, the 1930 Census shows the two of them living again under the same roof at 332 Eighth Street with six-year old John and an infant daughter named Betty.

Claude and Emma lived in Seal Beach for the rest of their lives. They moved to 123 Fourteenth Street and stayed there until their deaths. Emma passed away in 1974, and Claude joined her just two years later in 1976.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 19, 2019
March 17th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1971, lucky diners in Seal Beach could treat themselves to the St. Patrick’s Day special of a halibut sandwich and beer all day at Walt’s Wharf according to this ad that ran in the Long Beach Independent.

The next St. Patrick’s Day in Seal Beach would be less ideal for quiet and relaxing dining, but that’s a story for later.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 17, 2019
March 10th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1977, The Mandarin House restaurant ran this ad in the Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram.

When the restaurant started in 1974 at 306 Main Street, it was called the Wong House, but when the new owner, Cho Kang Liu took over in 1975, he decided it was the Wong name and rechristened the place the Mandarin House. Liu (who was nicknamed Joe) and his wife, She Ling, served Spicy Mandarin cuisine and milder Cantonese dishes.

Tedd Thomey, writer of the Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram restaurant column,Stepping Out, especially loved the restaurant’s Moo Shi Crepes and Mongolia Beef.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 10, 2019
March 6th in Seal Beach History

On this date in 1936, the Los Angeles Times reported that demolition of the Seal Beach amusement zone was underway.

Described as “one of Southern California’s famous pre-prohibition amusement centers,” the land was to be converted to a “swanky subdivision” with ocean frontage. The roller coaster, a transplant from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (most likely just the design and the rails, the wood was provided by a Long Beach Lumber company), the fishing pier (already damaged in a 1935 storm), and the Jewel City Cafe were all to be razed. It’s safe to assume that the scintillators and the pavilion were also scheduled to be destroyed, but the Times story didn’t mention them.

(For some reason the damaged pier wasn’t actually demolished until 1938 when the city successfully litigated to take ownership. A new pier was finally built in 1939.)

All this prime oceanfront real estate had been the property of the Bayside Land Company, a company owned by Phillip A. Stanton and other Seal Beach founding fathers, but the prosperity that seemed so imminent when the city incorporated back in 1915 never fully arrived. Prohibition, the Spanish Flu epidemic, malfeasance from contractors and licensees, stiff competition from other cities, and finally the Great Depression all held Seal Beach back from taking off the way the Bayside Land company stockholders and other city founders had envisioned twenty years earlier.

A significant portion of Seal Beach real estate remained empty and undeveloped. The amusement zone fell into disuse and disrepair, and the pier and the rest of the beachfront no longer attracted crowds. Finally, Security First National Bank took over the Bayside Land Company’s holdings in foreclosure sale held in August 1935. Those holdings was said to make up nearly 50 per cent of the city.

Management at Security First National Bank had a different vision for Seal Beach, one that is still recognizable in modern day Seal Beach. A program of civic improvements and new construction was launched to enhance the community. The bank installed The Dickson Realty in the old Bayside Land Company Building at Ocean Avenue and Main Street with an exclusive contract to sell the bank’s Seal Beach holdings. Once again, Seal Beach’s future seemed filled with bright possibilities.

And the era of Seal Beach as a seaside amusement attraction was done. It began in full force with a grand opening on Saturday, June 10, 1916 and ended with wrecking balls in early 1936 without even lasting a complete twenty years.

Still, the romance and giddy promise and excitement of those early days of Seal Beach lives on our imaginations.

– Michael Dobkins

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March 6, 2019