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
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 1914, the Santa Ana Register proclaimed that earlier in the week the Mercer Construction Company had begun strengthening the pier with new pilings and renovating it with “electroliers at short spaces and resting seats.” The Guy M. Rush Company, which was managing the oceanfront property in the yet-to-be officially named “Seal Beach,” also announced the style of the pier was to be match the proposed cement promenade that was to extend along the entire beachfront. Less glamorously, work on cement sidewalks and curbs would begin the next week.
– 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.
The Seal Beach pier has been a favorite subject for photographers throughout its 95 years of history. Every Friday between now and the end of the Seal Beach Founders Celebration, we’ll be posting an image of the pier.
click on the image for a larger view
The notation on this photo reads “at Seal Beach with Kopf – April 11, 1915.” There’s a story here, but it’s lost to the ages. This was a Sunday, so perhaps the gals decided to drop by Main Street for some ice cream after church with Kopf.
Be sure to check back every for more historical photos and stories of Seal Beach.
– 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 photo is listed as being from the twenties, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually taken in the early thirties. Except for a few cars driving through past on highway along the top of the photo, Seal Beach is empty of any signs of life. The pier, Main Street, the roller coaster and Joy Zone all seem deserted. Maybe this was a chilly winter morning during the off-season, but this image seems to capture Seal Beach in a moment when it was well past its heyday as an amusement park attraction.
Be sure to check back each week for more historical photos and stories of Seal Beach
– 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.
It only took a little over two years and lots of volunteer time and donations to rebuild the pier after its destruction from the winter storms of 1983.
A quarter of a century ago, Seal Beach celebrated:
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.
To make up for not posting an image last week, I’m offering a bonus photograph this week as an apology. This also allows me to commemorate the destruction of the Seal Beach pier on this date in 1983. This aerial shot taken in the afternoon of March 4. 1983 shows the devastating results of the March 2 storm that took out the center section of pier.
Click on the image for a larger view
This same storm also wiped out Island Esther, a man-made island that Chevron Oil had built three-quarters of a mile from the Seal Beach shore in 1965. A Coast Guard spokesperson told the L.A. Times that “about all that’s left is the makings of a good fishing reef.” Chevron would later convert the remains of Esther into an oil platform raised 50 feet above the water. You can find an amazing shot of a swell breaking over Oil Island Esther on March 1. 1983 and more dramatic photos of pounding Seal Beach surf at Surfline.com.
What many people don’t remember today is that the pier had already lost a big chunk earlier in the year during a big January 27 storm as shown in this photograph.
During this period, I worked at The Bookstore on Main Street. I remember walking to work along Ocean Avenue to Main Street after the January storm and encountering a growing crowd at the base of the pier gathered to view the damage firsthand. Some of the crowd were locals, but most of them were out-of-towners drawn to Seal Beach by on the scene television reports from local news personalities. The remaining portion of the pier was unstable and vulnerable to the rough waters smashing into the beach, and there seemed to be a sense of eager anticipation of more destruction from much of the crowd.
I felt an instant stab of visceral resentment towards the crowd and what I perceived as their gleeful enjoyment of the devastation. How dare they turn this loss into a vulgar party? This was my pier! How many times had I walked that pier with friends, family and dates? And now it was gone, all gone. What was mere spectacle to them was very personal to me and anyone else who had lived in Seal Beach. It was a beloved part of our lives, and now it was mostly rubble and debris scattered along the beach.
Today I’d like to believe I’d be more understanding. Look at that picture. It was a spectacle, and it’s not fair to blame people for wanting to experience the thrill in person.
Soon after the March 2nd storm, the tv news vans and reporters left, and the crowds went with them. The Seal Beach community quickly came together to raise funds for the rebuilt pier that still stands today (in spite of some minor damage and the occasional fire).
I still miss the old pier, though.
———————————-
Addendum: Here’s an extra image of the damaged pier taken from the west parking lot by Libby Appelgate.
If you have any fond memories of the pier that you’d like to share, we invite you to leave a comment.
We’ll share more historical pictures and photos of Seal Beach as the year progresses. Be sure to check back every Monday for a new Seal Beach image.
– 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.
We’ll be viewing various images of Seal Beach piers over the next few months, but this week we’re looking at what is probably the first image of the original pier built in 1906. Unfortunately, the image only exists as a poor low resolution reproduction in a Bay City advertisement in the March 13, 1906 Los Angeles Herald.
The tiny caption for the photo reads, “THIS IS AN ARTIST’S ADVANCE SKETCH OF THE NEW PIER NOW BEING BUILT AT BAY CITY. THE PIER WILL BE 1500 FEET LONG WITH SAFE, AMPLE FACILITIES FOR LOADING PASSENGERS.” Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be any of the idealization or design for reproduction you normally see in advance artwork advertising new construction. The pier also seems extremely short for sketch promoting its 1500 foot long length. Frankly, this looks like a photograph to me. What do you think?
P.A. Stanton is Philip Stanton, one of the founding fathers of Seal Beach, and we’ll be also be seeing much more of him in the next few months.
The early newspaper stories and ads about Bay City are perfect examples of Southern California boosterism in the first decade of the 1900s as shown in the following examples from the Los Angeles Herald charting the progress of Bay City pier construction in early 1906.
——————————-
PLEASURE PIER AT BAY CITY
Contract Let for Extensive Improvement at Attractive Coast Resort
Another new pleasure pier is about to be added to those providing enjoyment for Southern California and coast resort visitors. Contracts have already been let to Mr. Mercereau for building a 1500-foot pier at Bay City. This will be the longest pleasure pier in Southern California, the one at Long Beach alone excepted, and Mr. P. A. Stanton, the agent for Bay City, says it will be completed by June 1. (trading and sidewalking of all streets In Bay City not so improved is now in progress. The proposed new hotel of sixteen rooms and a large dining room together with several store rooms on the ground floor, will be constructed at the corner of Main and Central avenue. Plans have already been drawn for this building.
Several handsome new houses are also under construction or planned for early building. Early Inquiries of home, seekers or investors for Bay City lots presage an early and active season for the Southern California beach resorts. – Los Angeles Herald, 4 March 1906
Los Angeles Herald, 1 April 1906
About $28,000 will be expended in building the 1500-foot pleasure pier, the new hotel and store building and for other improvements at Bay City. – Los Angeles Herald, 5 May 1906
Los Angeles Herald, 6 May 1906
PLEASURE PIER AT BAY CITY
Passenger and Freight Depot to Be Erected by the Pacific Electric Company
The first carload of lumber for the 1500-foot pier at Bay City Is on the ground, and the contractor promises to complete the structure within thirty days. The new two-story hotel and store building at the corner of Main street and Central avenue Is well under way, and the passenger and freight depot to be constructed by the Pacific Electric company Is planned for the coming Summer. When contracts now being carried out are completed, over $28,000 will have been expended for street cement work alone In Bay City. – Los Angeles Herald, 6 May 1906
Los Angeles Herald, 20 May 1906
BAY CITY IS BOOMING
Long Stretch of 1500-Foot Pier Is Built— Bath House Open for Business
Rapid progress is being made on the new 1500-foot pleasure pier at Bay City. It already extends eight hundred feet into the ocean, so that the aspect of the water front is materially changed. The pier will be completed within thirty days. The new hotel and store building is about half done and the bathhouse at Anaheim landing is open for business. Although it is still early, P. A. Stanton reports a lively inquiry for lots at Bay City, and predicts a lively season. – Los Angeles Herald, 20 May 1906
Los Angeles Herald, 27 May 1906
The reduction in the round trip rate to Bay City has stimulated public interest in that enterprising beach resort and the improvements now being made foreshadow a busy season. The new 1500-foot pier will be completed in a few days; the hotel is nearly ready for the plasterers and the street improvements well under way. No definite date has been set for beginning work on the new Pacific Electric station, but it in hoped that it will be built during the coming season. – Los Angeles Herald, 27 May 1906
Sales Active at Bay City
A residence building boom is adding to the gayeties of construction at Bay City, where a new 1500-foot pier and a hotel and store building are approaching completion. Mrs. Dwight Whiting, of Los Angeles, has let the contract for a handsome two-story cottage on First street; W. J. Edwards has ordered plans drawn for- a two-story home to be located at Central avenue and Second street: Dr. V. J. Nance will build a two-story cottage at Fifth street and Ocean avenue, and John L. Plummer is preparing to build on Fifth street. This makes four two-story cottages started or planned within a week past.
It has leaked out that Phil Stanton has evolved a plan which is to make Bay City “the best lighted city on the Southern California coast.” This is a pretty big contract, and the outcome is awaited with considerable interest. The Bayside Land company has a habit of carrying out its promises. – Los Angeles Herald, 3 June 1906
Los Angeles Herald, 17 June 1906
Long Pleasure Pier Completed
Dr. H. I. Nance, of 1834 West Twenty-ninth street, has just signed a contract for the erection of a six-room cottage on the corner of Fifth street and Ocean avenue, Bay City, and work will begin Monday. This is the fifth good sized cottage to be started or contracted for within two weeks. The 1500 foot pier at the foot of Main street Is now fully completed and is much frequented by anglers, pleasure seekers and cottagers. Work is progressing on the new hotel. P. A. Stanton reports a largely increased inquiry for Bay City property since warmer weather set in. – Los Angeles Herald, 17 June 1906
We’ll share more historical pictures and photos of Seal Beach as the year progresses. Be sure to check back every Monday for a new Seal Beach image.
– 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 colorful letterhead was used for official city correspondence in the early years of Seal Beach. The fanciful view of the beach and pier was more a product of wishful thinking than an accurate depiction of the beach in 1916. The artist signed his name on the curb at corner just below the light post. It seems doubtful that “SYMMES” had even visited Seal Beach before he drew this.
Early promotional copy for the city sometimes made it sound as if almost the entire 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific Exposition was going to be rebuilt on the beach of the city formerly known as Bay City, and this artwork probably reflects that “sky’s the limit” optimism of early Seal Beach boosterism. No band shell was ever built on the pier, the architecture and landscape of the beachfront never quite looked like this, and I doubt the beach fashions were actually this colorful.
However, the roller coaster and the scintillators were exported to Seal Beach from San Francisco after the expo closed, and one of the expo’s stunt fliers, Joseph Boquel, became a popular regular attraction in the skies above Seal Beach 1916. So perhaps this artwork was accurate in spirit, if in not in detail.
We’ll share more picture and photos of the beach, the pier and more as the year progresses. Be sure to check back every Monday for a new Seal Beach image.
– 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.
On this date in 1936, the Los Angeles Times reported that demolition of the Seal Beach amusement zone was underway.
– Michael Dobkins
