26 DIGS.NET
| 7.10.2020
HISTORY OF LONG BEACH
S O U T H B A Y
History Tidbits
DRE#: 01368971
Maureen Megowan
310.541.6416
In 1784, the Spanish Empire's King Carlos III granted Rancho Los Nietos to
Spanish soldier Manuel Nieto. The Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los
Alamitos were divided from this territory. The boundary between the two ranchos
ran through the center of Signal Hill on a southwest to northeast diagonal. A
portion of western Long Beach was originally part of the Rancho San Pedro. Its
boundaries were in dispute for years, due to flooding changing the Los Angeles
River boundary between Rancho San Pedro and Rancho Los Nietos.
In 1843, Jonathan
Temple bought Rancho Los
Cerritos, having arrived in California
in 1827 from New England. He
built what is now known as the
"Los Cerritos Ranch House", a still-
standing adobe which is a National
Historic Landmark. In 1866, Temple
sold Rancho Los Cerritos for
$20,000 to the Northern California
sheep-raising firm of Flint, Bixby
& Company, which consisted of
brothers Thomas and Benjamin Flint
and their cousin Lewellyn Bixby.
To manage Rancho Los Cerritos,
the company selected Lewellyn's
brother Jotham Bixby, the "Father
of Long Beach". Three years later,
Jotham Bixby bought into the
property and would later form the Bixby Land Company. In 1880, Bixby sold
4,000 acres of the Rancho to William E. Willmore, in hopes of creating a farm
community, Willmore City. His efforts failed and the land was subsequently
bought by a Los Angeles syndicate that called itself the "Long Beach Land and
Water Company." They changed the name of the community to Long Beach at
that time. The City of Long Beach was officially incorporated in 1897. The Port
of Long Beach was established in 1911. Oil was discovered in 1921 on Signal Hill,
which split off as a separately incorporated city shortly afterward. In 1933 a severe
earthquake caused widespread damage.
Long Beach grew as a seaside resort with light agricultural uses.. The Pike was
the most famous beachside amusement zone on the West Coast from 1902 until
1969; it offered bathers food, games and rides. Gradually the oil industry, Navy
shipyard and facilities and port became the mainstays of the city. In the 1950s
it was referred to as "Iowa by the sea," due to a large influx of people from that
and other Midwestern states. Huge picnics for migrants from each state were a
popular annual event in Long Beach until the 1960s
The above is an excerpt from my book "Historic Tales of Palos Verdes and the
South Bay". For more info see http://www.southbayhistory.com.
mdmegowan@gmail.com
JULY 10, 2020 | ISSUE 233
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