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Tag: Seal Beach celebrities

  • 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 4th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1969, the Los Angeles Times ran a profile of Seal Beach writer Lynn Dallin that focus on her latest book, the “Stay Out of the Kitchen Cookbook.” The book had been published by Doubleday in late 1968 to acclaim and good reviews and was featured as a book-the-month by The Cook Book Guild.

    The premise of the cookbook grew from Lynn Dallin’s own life. She was the wife of ASCAP composer, author, and Cal State Long Beach music professor, Leon Dallin. During a earlier stint in the music department at Brigham Young University, Leon often played host to renown visitors like the Paganini Quartet and Dimitri Mitropoulos.

    Lynn was no traditional housewife and pursued her own successful career as a writer, journalist, and volunteer for local causes. She had no desire to be slaving in the kitchen while her husband was hobnobbing with interesting guests, so she started cultivating and creating a stockpile of gourmet recipes that could be prepared ahead of time and required minimal supervision while cooking. Lynn would turn on the oven and leave the kitchen to socialize. “Why invite people to your home if you can’t spend the evening with them? And why be a drudge while everyone has fun?” Lynn asked.

    The Dallins lived at 1500 Crestview Avenue when Lynn Dallin wrote her cookbook. The Times story described her Seal Beach kitchen where she tested her recipes as “an open, airy room that complements their high-ceiling, hillside home.” Lynn was so devoted to getting her recipes right for publication that she elected to stay at home working while her husband presented a paper in France.

    Some of the recipes featured in the cookbook had names like Chicken Gustave, Veal Vivanti, Tenderloin Parnassus, Cardinal Cream, and Creme Brûlée au Rhum. (Times staff writer Marjie Driscoll seemed to enjoy listing those names.) Dallin also had a category of recipes she called “Can Opener Quickies,” and those recipes would have the letters COQ printed in bold type next to the title.

    Lynn went on to write other books and also continued to collaborate with her husband on a number of music books. The couple continued to live in Seal Beach until their deaths. Leon passed away in 1993, and Lynn passed away at the ripe age of 91 in 2007. She was an painter and an accomplished pianist, but more than one profile of her quote her as saying, “I’d rather write than anything else.”

    The “Stay Out of the Kitchen Cookbook” is out-of-print, but secondhand copies in good condition are available on Amazon and eBay, but, courtesy of some half century old cook book reviews, I can share a few recipes from the “Stay Out of the Kitchen Cookbook” while you decide whether you want to order a copy.

    BILLIE’S SWEET AND SOUR PORK

    ⅓ cup sugar
    1 tsp salt
    ⅓ cup vinegar
    2 ¼ cups water
    ¼ cup cornstarch
    ¼ cup water
    4 cups cubed cooked pork
    1 tbsp soy sauce
    3 small carrots, very thinly sliced diagonally
    1 medium bell pepper, cut into strips
    3 firm tomatoes, cut into eighths
    1 buffett can pineapple tidbits with juice
    1 small firm cucumber, unpeeled and thinly sliced diagonally

    Combine sugar, salt, vinegar and 2 ¼ cups water, and heat to boiling. Thicken with cornstarch combined with ¼ cup water. Add pork and soy sauce and simmer 5 minutes. Refrigerate overnight. Before serving time, add remaining ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through. Serve with rice. Serves 6-8.

    Note: Vegetables will be crisp-tender at serving time. Vinegar and sugar proportions may be altered to taste. This is an attractive dish, and an excellent choice for a buffett.

    TEXAS TORNADO

    1 large package crushed corn chips
    3 (No. 2) cans chili con carne
    1 bunch green onions, chopped including tops
    2 (4-ounce) cans sliced ripe olives, drained
    4 large firm tomatoes, sliced
    Salt and pepper to taste
    1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

    Place corn chips in bottom of buttered baking dish. Spoon on chili con carne. Sprinkle chopped onions over chili.

    Layer olives, tomatoes, and seasonings. Top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated through. Serves 6.

    NoteL Chili con carne with or without beans may be used. For a spicier flavor, combine 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and liquid peeper to taste with chili con carne.

    LADY KATHERYN’S LEMON CAKE (a delicious cake from a regal lady…)

    1 pkg lemon chiffon cake mix
    1 pkg lemon gelatin
    4 whole eggs
    ¾ cup water
    ¾ cup cooking oil

    Combine all ingredients. Beat for 5 minutes. Pour in a 10×14-inch oiled, floured pan. Bake in a preheated 350 deg. oven for approximately 50 minutes or until cake shrinks from the sides of the pan. Remove from oven and stick hot cake full of holes with toothpick. Glaze immediately with a mixture of:

    3 cups powdered sugar
    1 tsp. grated lemon rind
    Juice of 4 lemons

    Serve warm or cold. Serves 12-16

    Note: Do not test this cake before it starts to shrink from the sides of the pan.

    – 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.