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  • 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

    ———————–

    BIG POWER PLANT TO BE ENLARGED

    ———————–

    Vehicular Bridge Across Outer Channel of Bay Backed by Community

    ———————–

    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 24th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1963, an ad ran in the Long Beach Independent for Seal Beach’s Hawaiian themed restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway.

    No, not Sam’s Seafood. This restaurant was The Eddie Bush Mauna Kea and was located at 1600 Pacific Coast Highway. 

    Readers of this blog might remember that this was the address for the Dovalis 101 Ranch House. The original owner Nick Dovalis launched the restaurant in 1940 as covered in this post.  In late 1963, Bill Smyrniotis and his brothers took over what was now known as the 101 Ranch House and introduced a Greek flair to the menu and live entertainment as recounted in this post.

    But briefly between Dovalis and Smyrniotis, Mr. and Mrs. Don Chandler owned the restaurant with entertainer Eddie Bush, and it was remodeled into Hawaiian themed restaurant. It had three nightly floor shows (except for Mondays) featuring island music by the Wally Palmeira Trio (Wally Palmeira, Ronnie Salci, and George Kainapau), co-owner and then Seal Beach resident Eddie Bush, and two Tahitian dancers.

    Perhaps the location was bad or the restaurant was underfinanced, but the last mention of Eddie Bush Mauna Kea was in early July 1963 — a bare four months after its soft launch on March 1st. By November, Eddie Bush was performing at Mr. C’s on Pacific Coast Highway.

    This is not surprising. Eddie Bush had been a fixture of the Long Beach Hawaiian music scene for years before the ill-fated Mauna Kea, performing mostly at The Hawaiian a few blocks east of the traffic circle. His show biz career spread much wider and including radio, movies, and television. He died in Long Beach in 1969 at age fifty-eight.

    Here’s an Eddie Bush recording from a couple decades before Mauna Kea.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg3SQymlL3k]

    After Eddie Bush and Bill Smyrniotis, there would be a variety of new owners, and the restaurant would come to be known as simply the Ranch House Restaurant for most of the seventies before being renamed Rum Runners. Rum Runners lasted through the eighties before the owners declared bankruptcy in 1989. The building was demolished in May 1992.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • May 23rd in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1954, a story ran in the Los Angeles Times announcing that a second school would soon be built in Seal Beach.

    Seal Beach Superintendent of Schools Jerry H. McGaugh had been planning the new school since 1948 to accommodate rising student enrollment. It took some strong arm tactics and behind the scenes wheeling and dealing, but ultimately land bordering between Bolsa Avenue and Bay Boulevard (later renamed Seal Beach Boulevard) was purchased in 1952 for an new intermediate school.

    This was the second time McGaugh had spearheaded the building of a Seal Beach school. When the original 1913 Seal Beach elementary school at Twelfth Street and Pacific Coast Highway was severely damaged in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, he guided the construction of a new school on the same grounds to completion in 1935.

    The new school must have been a dream project for McGaugh. Beyond adding twelve new classrooms for grades six to eight, the layout and facilities seemed more appropriate for a high school with a spacious gymnasium, auditorium, music room, cafeteria shop building, and spacious playground.

    When McGaugh retired in June 1955 a few months before the new school opened, the school board surprised him by naming it “J. H. McGaugh Intermediate School,” a fitting honor for a gentleman who guided Seal Beach’s education for nearly three decades and whose influence continues to be felt today in the form of the first-class school he gave the community.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • May 16th in Seal Beach History

    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

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  • April 25th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1910, according to the Santa Ana Register, the season opened in Bay City and  many people visited, wearing “warm weather clothes.” One thousand patronized the bathing and boating at Anaheim Landing. At the other end of town, “accommodations were taxed to the utmost,” and the bathhouse manager reported that all bathing suits were in use by noon. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Dyer of Anaheim arrived in their seven-passenger Cadillac, only one of the estimated three hundred “machines” that came over the new highway.

    The Los Angeles Times shared essentially the same information with the same positive tone, but it’s interesting to note that there was very little effort put into promoting Bay City real estate in 1910. While you could find lots for sale by individuals in the newspaper classified ads, there were no ads extolling the financial and recreational virtues of buying Bay City properties. In comparison to earlier years of Bay City’s history and the marketing bombast that was to come with the renaming to “Seal Beach,” 1910 was an extremely sedate time for Bay City.

    The Times also mentioned that Phillip A. Stanton, speaker of the California state assembly was relaxing at “Owl’s Nest,” his summer home in Bay City, before diving into a busy work week. Stanton was a major force in establishing Bay City, a primary shareholder in the Bayside Land Company, and is best known today as the father of Seal Beach.

    In 1910, Stanton was likely neglecting his Bay City real estate interests while running for California governor in the Republican primary. He lost to progressive candidate Hiram Johnson in August, and Johnson went on to win the general election in November.

    Stanton’s loss was probably Seal Beach’s gain. Would he have had the free time and the attention needed to relaunch Bay City as Seal Beach in 1913 if he was governor?

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • April 5th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1958, the first Miss Seal Beach was crowned.

    Nitpickers could argue that she was not the first Miss Seal Beach, and technically there’s some truth to that.

    On June 5, 1924, a grunion festival featuring open air dancing on Seal Way to a 45-piece band, bon fires and marshmallows, and a grunion hunt, was held. Also listed for the grunion festival was an event billed as a wedding ceremony of Miss Seal Beach and Mr. Long Beach. No other details were given, but I assume the marriage was purely symbolic civic boosterism.

    In 1926, twelve year old Norma Barraclough of 148 Seventh Street portrayed “Miss Seal Beach” as part of an elaborate celebration of the opening of the state highway from Huntington Beach to Laguna Beach. Starting in Long Beach, a “Miss Long Beach” boarded a boat on motorized wheels that journeyed down the coast to Laguna, stopping at each city along the highway to pick up a young girl, ages ranging from eight to twelve, representing that locale. (Coletta Dean portrayed “Miss Sunset Beach.”)

    In 1930, an unnamed “Miss Seal Beach” garnered at least 18,300 votes in a county-wide popularity contest to decide who would be queen at the American Legion celebration in Brea on Labor Day, but Lucille Brawley of Brea was crowned queen with 55,300 votes.

    It’s worth mentioning those previous Miss Seal Beaches of yesteryear in passing, but the one true first Miss Seal Beach, a local girl chosen in a local contest to represent the city for a year, was crowned in 1958 on April 5th.

    I’ll share that first Miss Seal Beach’s name in a bit, but first let’s cover some details of the build-up to her crowning. It’s also important to note that in 1958, there wasn’t even a hint that Miss Seal Beach would become an annual tradition with some breaks in between) that continues to this very day. It’s doubtful that the event would have continued if she hadn’t fulfilled the role so well.

    On March 21, 1958, the Long Beach Independent reported that an event billed as a “Glamourama” was to open the Seal Beach season that year. B.C. (Jimmy) Phelan, chairman of the event shared that the program would include a boat parade, a dance, and an art exhibit. The highlight of the event would be a contest in which a “Seal Beach Beauty Queen” would be selected. The winner would received a sportswear wardrobe, a trophy, and a modeling course. Two runner-ups would also receive trophies.

    Two days later, the Sunday Los Angeles Times ran a photo of eight contestants and shared more details about the event.

    It named the ten contestants vying for the title of Miss Seal Beach of 1958: Mary Jo McKee (16), Sharon Pearsall (16), Rozalind Madick (16), Chantal Moschella (19), Barbara Calkins (19), Madeline Keller (19), Sally Harper (16), Bonnie Sharp (16), Christie Sexton (17), and Vickie Larrain (16).

    The ten contestants were paraded on trailer-mounted boats “through the principal streets of Seal Beach” at 12:30 p.m., and the contest would be held at the entrance to the Seal Beach pier at 2 p.m. Mayor Paul Calvo would welcome the contestants, and Harvey Wagner would act as MC for the entertainment and also perform as a singer.

    The judges were Oscar Meinhardt, executive producer of the Long Beach Miss Universe contest, Mrs. Carlin Drake, Miss United States of 1955 under her maiden name of Carlin King Johnson, Dr. Lois J. Swanson, Associate Dean of Students at Long Beach State College, and Assemblyman Richard Hanna of Westminster.

    The article also listed the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce’s committee for the event: Jim Phelan, Beverly Cole, Frank Finch, Harry Rose, and Ben Jones.

    So who was the first Miss Seal Beach? Meet Christie Sexton.

    Ms. Sexton shared the following personal account with me in an 2015 e-mail:

    It was a big deal at the time; with parade down Main St., etc.. As a side note, I happened to win the contest, much to my surprise, and it really helped form who I became as an adult; giving me much more confidence, etc. I went on to model for a short time, thanks to one of the prizes being a modeling course at Elda Berry Modeling School in Long Beach, and the Miss Orange County Fair contest, 1958. I did not win that contest (won by Miss Brea).

    My interests were mainly on swimming and tanning with the gang at our 10th Street beach hangout and my part-time job at the café at end of the pier…The pageant frowned on getting tan, and it was difficult to drag me away from the beach for photo shoots, promotional events, etc.

    One highlight of that year was representing Seal Beach on the Dude Martin TV show. My escort was Alan Harbour. We had to both leave our respective girl/boyfriends, and travel in, I believe, Alan’s Corvette, to Hollywood. We had a great dinner after the show at Diamond Jim’s on Hollywood Blvd. Both Doug Buell (my boyfriend) and Pauline DeSadeleer were not too happy about Alan and me spending the day in Hollywood without them. LOL.

    After the year as reigning queen, I was happy to give up my crown at the 1959 pageant held at McGaugh Elementary School to a beautiful girl named Vickie.

    I did not pursue modeling or the “phoniness” of pageants and went on to have a rewarding career in the executive secretarial and marketing/sales fields, in addition to raising two daughters. After over 50 years of working I finally retired this past January from Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ. I have fond memories of my Seal Beach days and I guess, in my heart, I will always be a Seal Beacher!

    Thanks for listening!

    Christie Sexton
    Miss Seal Beach 1958

    Ms. Sexton later clarified that Alan Harbour was a city employee at the time, and the city had requested that he accompany her to the Dude Martin show.

    She was also kind enough to share a clipping from the April 6, 1958 Long Beach Independent that showed her holding the very first Miss Seal Beach trophy (it was made of brass!) and a photo of her crowning the second Miss Seal Beach, Vickie Larrain, in 1959. (It’s an oddity that the only two contestants missing from the Los Angeles Times photo in 1958 went on to become the first two Miss Seal Beaches.)

    On a personal note, I’d like to thank Ms. Sexton for her generosity in sharing her memories of the event and her years as Miss Seal Beach. I had wanted to cover this event back in 2015 for the centennial, but I couldn’t find any clear images in the newspaper archives.

    It’s been four years and Ms. Sexton has been very patient, but with her images and the one I found from the Los Angeles Times, Christie Sexton’s Date with Seal Beach History can finally be shared.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • 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 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 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 21st in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1944, The U.S. Navy formally established an ordnance depot at Anaheim Landing.

    The Orange County war housing commission chairman, Philip Norton (who also had a real estate office at 710 Ocean Ave), announced the seizure of thirty-five thousand acres of beach and tidelands in January of 1944 for the construction of the twenty million dollar ordnance depot. Real estate would be purchased, bridges would be demolished, Anaheim Bay would be dredged to a depth of fifteen feet, and the Pacific Electric line that crossed Anaheim Bay into Surfside would be rerouted.

    The decision meant approximately 2,000 people living in Anaheim Landing would need to vacate by March 21st. The housing commission helped residents relocate, and many Anaheim Landing homes were moved to lots in Westminster and Seal Beach. The popular Glide ‘Er Inn would move a few blocks east to 14th Street. The Seal Beach Airport would be permanently abandoned.

    The speed and urgency applied to the project is understandable considering that the United States military was engaged in a worldwide conflict. Today the outcome of World War II seems inevitable, but in 1944 the future was uncertain, and wartime efforts required full commitment. For most of 1944, the Navy would be transforming what had been a casual small boat harbor into an efficient first class naval installation.

    And Anaheim Landing’s time as a civilian port and recreational attraction came to an ended. The seventy-five year history of what is now known as the Seal Beach Weapons Station was just beginning.

    – Michael Dobkins

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