Long Beach History and More

Get your questions answered here!

The City Seal

"Queen City of the Beaches" is the city slogan for Long Beach and nowhere is it better depicted than our City Seal. The matronly Amazon warrior with helmet, shield and spear sits atop her throne and looks over Long Beach. Notice the port and airplane as well as the oil rig and smoke stacks. Industry has always been the backbone of the LB.

Q: What's that round building the whales are painted on?

A: The Wyland Whaling Wall is located on the Long Beach Arena in the Long Beach Convention Center Complex. The building is a cylindrical shaped and is covered by the 116,000 square foot mural. This mural is in the Guinness Book of World Records listed as the world’s largest mural after it was painted in 1992.

Q: How big is Long Beach:
A: Long Beach is a large city located in Southern California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It is situated in Los Angeles County, about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Long Beach borders Orange County on its southeast edge. Long Beach is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the fifth-largest in California. As of 2008, its estimated population was 492,642. In addition, Long Beach is its county's 2nd largest city after Los Angeles, and also the largest city nationwide that is not a county seat.

Q: Do you have details on the Port:
A: The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports. The city also has a large oil industry; oil is found both underground and offshore. Manufacturers include aircraft, automobile parts, electronic and audiovisual equipment, and home furnishings. It is also home to headquarters for corporations such as Epson America, Molina Healthcare, and Scan Health Plan. Long Beach has grown with the development of high-technology and aerospace industries in the area.

Q: What about the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake:
A: Source: Newport-Inglewood Fault. The fault extends on land for 46 miles from Culver City to Newport Beach, where it runs into the Pacific Ocean. It is part of a fault system that is connected to the Rose Canyon Fault, which comes on shore to the south near San Diego. In the Los Angeles area, the surface expression of the Newport-Inglewood Fault is accentuated by a line of hills extending from Signal Hill to Culver City. The Newport-Inglewood is a right-lateral strike-slip fault with a slip rate of about 0.02 inches per year. It is thought to be capable of producing an earthquake as large as M7.4.
Magnitude: The 1933 earthquake was a magnitude 6.4; seismologists say quakes of similar size occurred on the fault in 1769, 1812 and 1855. It is estimated the fault ruptured for about nine miles in the subsurface (there was no surface fault rupture). The ground shaking lasted about 10 seconds. The maximum recorded ground acceleration was 22 percent of the force of gravity. Note: Long Beach was the first earthquake recorded by just-developed strong motion instruments (“accelerographs”). Acceleration recordings were off the monitor’s scale on some instruments.
Casualties: 120 deaths, including 52 in Long Beach and 17 in Compton. An estimated two-thirds of these occurred as people ran out of buildings and were hit by falling debris. There were also more than 500 injuries reported in Long Beach alone.
Damage: About $50 million, in 1933 dollars. Significant damage occurred in Long Beach, Huntington Park, Compton and other areas where there was a combination of poor construction practices and unfavorable geological conditions causing increased ground shaking and liquefaction. Brick-and-mortar construction fared particularly poorly. Seventy schools were destroyed and 120 damaged, which represents about 75% of the schools in the area. Broken gas lines caused fires in Long Beach. Several areas were without water due to broken pipes. Oil derricks were shaken out of the ground in Huntington Beach. The earthquake impacted an estimated 75,000 square miles and was felt as far away as the San Joaquin Valley, the Owens Valley and northern Baja California.

Did you know...

The Cyclone Roller Coaster located on the Pike was open in 1930 and closed Sept. 15, 1968.
1989 - The Greater Los Angeles World Trade Center in Long Beach opened.
The Queen Mary docked for the very first time in 1967.
The Gran Prix moved to the LB in 1975.
In 1960 Gene Autry considered Long Beach for his Angels but the LB City Council demanded the team be named the Long Beach Angels instead of the California Angels, Autry ended up in Anaheim.
The Spruce Goose moved next to the QM in 1982 and left in 1992.
The Pike was known as the "Coney Island of the West".
Steve Martin was awarded an honorary doctorate from CSULB in 1989, "well excuse me".
In 1941 work began on the Federal Breakwater and it created 30 square miles of protected anchorage for ships.
It was 5:54 PM on March 10, 1933 when a 6.3 earthquake hit the Newport Inglewood Fault. The waves hit Long Beach at 5:55PM leaving the city in shambles.
August 3 - 15, 1938: The Queen Mary won the Blue Riband back from the Normandie on her 48th round-trip voyage. Held it for 14 years, until July 1952, when the SS United States beat the record.
Alamitos Beach was named in 1992.
Artist Wyland's mural on the LB Arena is 116, 000 square feet.
1941 - The U.S. Naval base was constructed in the harbor area.
The 710 Opened in 1954 but construction continued until 1961 when it linked Terminal Island to South Pasadena.
In 1920 developers (McGraph and Selover), began filling in the swamps to form Belmont Shore Place.
Aquarium of the Pacific opened in June 1998 with a cost of 117 million dollars.
The City of Long Beach incorporated in 1897.
The LB city seal is an Amazon with helmet, spear and shield, symbolic of the city slogan "Queen City of the Beaches".
The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports.
Arthur M. Parsons opted for the name Naples when he discovered Venice was already taken in the Santa Monica area.
1902-1910 - Long Beach was the fastest growing city in the United States.
In 1939, at the start of the World War II, the Queen Mary was drafted into service and outfitted as a troopship.
1784 - The area that is now Long Beach was first settled as part of a massive Spanish land grant to soldier Manuel Nieto, encompassing the historic 28,000-acre Ranch Los Alamitos and its sister rancho, 27,000-acre Rancho Los Cerritos.