A Bit of Long Beach History

Extract from:

“Land of Sunshine – Volume 5”

Published by F.A. Pattee & Company

Published in 1896

Pages 81 – 83

The little city of Long Beach where the Chautauqua holds its regular summer assembly is one of the most progressive and enterprising places in Southern California, and offers to the settler as well as to the casual visitor a number of advantages which it will be well worth while to consider.

It is situated twenty miles due south from the city of Los Angeles, facing the ocean from a broad level mesa, raised some thirty feet above the breakers.

Back of the city lies a fertile district, level and well-watered where are grown fine crops of grain and hay and from which much fine fruit is obtained – figs, olives, lemons, oranges, pears, etc.

There are in the section immediately tributary to Long Beach some thirty or forty thousand acres, all of which is destined to come under the highest forms of cultivation, and which when thoroughly settled up will make the little city by the sea an important emporium for local trade.

At the present time, Long Beach is a town of about 1200 or 1300 people, incorporated as a city, and steadily growing in size.

It has eight churches and a good system of public schools.

To show the steady rate of advance made by the city, the fact may be mentioned that last year thirty-four new residences were erected.

The climate of Long Beach is peculiarly favored both in summer and winter. It is protected from the western winds that blow from the ocean by the intervening Palos Verdes Hills and Point Fermin. Directly to the south of Long Beach lies Santa Catalina, and winds from that direction are intercepted by the high mountains of that island.

Thus, it happens that storms of any serious magnitude are practically unknown, and the ocean is rarely unpleasantly rough, and in summertime is always agreeable for bathing.

The summers are always cool and the winters mild – an effect naturally produced by the nearness of the water.

But the crowning glory of Long Beach is that from which it takes its name. Between the bluff on which the city stands and the water’s edge is a broad level strip of sand, seven miles in length, crescent-shaped, so wide that fifty teams might trot abreast on it, and as firm and even as a billiard table.

It is an ideal boulevard for riding or driving or for a long tramp before breakfast or in the twilight. Beneath the water, the bottom slopes gradually out to sea so that one may wade in a long distance without fear of danger.

A long wharf was constructed several years since by the people of Long Beach for purposes of traffic and pleasure, extending out into the ocean 1500 feet, lighted by electricity, and a favorite place for fishermen and promenaders.

Long Beach is at the present time one of the most popular summer resorts in Southern California. While it does not attract the large crowds of one-day visitors and picnickers that go to some other resorts, it is especially popular with a quiet class of people that desire to spend a month or more in some pleasant cottage near the sea.

A number of these cottages can be rented for the season, and there are, moreover, fair hotel accommodations for transient guests. The views from the surrounding highlands are some of the most enchanting to be had anywhere in Southern California, especially at twilight.

The summer of 1896 promises to send Long Beach its usual quota of visitors who will, like all who have preceded them, be charmed with the city by the sea.