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Tag: Prohibition

  • 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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  • February 1st In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1929, S. B. Ablis of Long Beach and Clide Maupin of Maywood were detained in the Seal Beach city jail for driving while intoxicated. Displeased by having their Friday night adventures cut short, the two men set fire to a pile of magazines and papers that were left in the jail for prisoners. They also turned on the water faucets and flooded their cell. After the smoke alert officers in the jail to the situation, the fire was extinguished and the faucets were tightened shut.

    Once again, the two drunks were left alone to sober up, but before that could happen, they set fire to the bedding and the mattresses in their cell. After this blaze was doused, the police officers wisely confiscated tobacco and matches from the two prisoners.

    The next day Mr. Ablis and Mr. Maupin not only suffered from what were probably terrible hangovers, but they were also fined for their antics by Judge Wilson.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • January 27th In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1925, the Santa Ana Register reported that John Doyle, “said to be a former mayor of Seal Beach” (the newspaper’s odd choice of words, not ours), would face Justice of the Peace and City Recorder William Morrison. City Marshal Jack Arnold had seized liquor and what appeared to be a bootlegging outfit from Doyle’s home.

    Miss Elsie McClellan, a Seal Beach correspondent for a Long Beach newspaper had a confrontation with Doyle earlier and had sworn out a complaint against him for disorderly conduct after Doyle “cussed” her.  An active member of Seal Beach’s Women’s Improvement Club, Miss McClellan had been helping a female friend search for her father, and the friend felt that Doyle was hiding the father.

    Whether “bootlegging outfit” meant a still, a bathtub gin set-up, or evidence of a Prohibition-defying booze distribution ring is impossible to discover over ninety years later, but City Marshal Arnold shared that “wild parties” at the Doyle residence had led recently to complaints from neighbors.

    There is no follow-up to this oddly phrased Santa Ana Register article, so the outcome of Doyle’s appearance before Morrison remains unknown. Why the editors felt it important to run a story the day before Doyle’s day in court, but not to cover Morrison’s judgement on the case is also a mystery.

    Also, there is no further indication one way or another that Elsie McClellan’s friend found her father or not or where he was hiding.

    We can confirm that a John Doyle involved in the often contentious local political scene during Seal Beach’s first decade as a city and was, in fact, elected mayor in April of 1920 and successfully battled a recall effort in August of the same year. All of these were events covered in the Santa Ana Register, making the “said to be a former mayor of Seal Beach” phrase even odder.

    Beyond his time as Mayor, John J. Doyle had a varied history in Seal Beach. The 1918 Coast Cities Directory lists him as working as the secretary of the Seal Beach Concession Company and living at 8th Street and Central Avenue.  In January 1920, a census taker recorded that 63 year-old John J. Doyle, a shipyard boiler maker, lived with his 30-year old wife Alice at 129 Dolphin Avenue.

    This is just speculation, but perhaps Doyle’s skills as a boiler maker came in handy for constructing and maintaining stills for homemade hooch.

    A 1925 city directory, the year of his bootlegging arrest, shows that Doyle and Alice lived at 210 10th Street. According to Zillow, the house was built in 1922 and still stands today. Doyle seems to have moved his residence quite a bit, but it seems likely that this is the address where the booze was seized.

    In the thirties, city directories listed John Doyle as an employee at the Skipper’s Chowder House in Sunset Beach, a notorious local spot for bootlegging during prohibition that continued to have liquor law troubles well into the 1940s.

    – Michael Dobkins

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