TOP: View looking north from the Pine Ave. pier in 1925 in Long Beach, Calif. The Breakers Hotel can be seen on the right and the Security Building in in the center, to the right of the pier.
BOTTOM: View looking north from the South Pine Ave. on in 2009 in Long Beach, Calif. The entire area south of Ocean Blvd. was filled in in various stages in the past 70 years.
TOP: A new Security First National Bank near Fourth St. and Chery Ave. in Long Beach, Calif. in the 1920s. On September 1, 1868, Isaias Hellman and Francisco Temple formed the banking house of Hellman, Temple & Co., a small bank in Los Angeles that would become Security First National Bank. In 1967, Security First National Bank bought Pacific National Bank and became Security Pacific National Bank.
BOTTOM:
The Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach, also known as The Center, on August 26, 2009. In 1985 The Center purchased the 7500 square-foot building.The building was renovated and opened in 1986 as One in Long Beach. In 1997, One in Long Beach became the Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach.
TOP: Original caption published in the Press-Telegram on June 24, 1951.
READY FOR FALL - Construction of Alice M. Birney School, Maine Ave. and Spring St., is expected to be completed in time for student occupancy when the fall term starts. Six other schools are under construction while working plans are being prepared for two more. The new schools will house 5000 students.
BOTTOM:
Alice M. Birney Elementary School at Spring Street and Maine Ave in Long Beach, Calif. on August 6, 2009. The school's namesake started as organization called the National Congress of Mothers. The first meeting was held in Washington D.C. in 1897. Over two thousand mothers from all over the country attended the three-day meeting. Birney was the first president of her organization. In 1925, the National Congress of Mothers became the National Congress of Parents and Teachers. The local units of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers are called Parent-Teachers Associations or PTA's.
TOP: (original caption Dec. 8, 1952)
IN USE WEDNESDAY - This is the section of the Long Beach Freeway which will be opened Wednesday. This view is from the Willow St. overpass looking north on December 8, 1952. Officially known as the Long Beach Freeway, it runs 23 miles north from Long Beach to Alhambra following the course of the Los Angeles River for most of its route. The first section of the Long Beach Freeway opened in 1952; the last in 1970. Originally numbered CA 15, it was renumbered CA 7 in 1964 when work on began on Interstate 15. In September 1983 it was approved as an interstate, and In 1984 it was changed I-710.
BOTTOM: View of Interstate 710 (Long Beach Freeway) from the Willow St. overpass looking north on August 26, 2009. The growth of cargo trucks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has added an enormous amount of truck traffic to the Long Beach Freeway, since it is the most direct route between the port complex and the railyards in Vernon and East Los Angeles, as well as the Pomona and San Bernardino freeways. It has also become a major source of air pollution, emanating from diesel-fueled trucks idling in rush hour traffic congestion and giving cities along its route some of the worst air quality in Southern California.
Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority have called for an expansion of the segment of the freeway between the San Diego (I-405) and Pomona (SR-60) Freeways. It would include dedicated truck lanes, elevated carpool lanes and up to 10 lanes for general traffic. By using existing right-of-way along the Los Angeles River.
LEFT:
View looking east on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, Calif. on August 1, 1976. On the right is the Ocean Center building which, built in 1929, still stands today. In the center, is the Jergins Trust Building that was named for the Jergins Trust oil company. The Ocean Avenue side of the building housed the Lowe's State Theater. On the left is the Breakers which was built as a hotel in 1926. It is now a senior living community. Photo by Bob Shumway/Independent, Press-Telegram
RIGHT:
View looking east on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, Calif. on August 6, 2009. The Breakers is on the left and the Ocean Center Building is on the right. The building that appears to have taken the place of the Jergen's Trust Building is the Salvation Army Building. The Salvation Army Building, built as Crocker Plaza in 1982, is actually east of where the Jergen's Trust Building was located. Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Long Beach Press-Telegram
TOP: View of Pacific Ave. looking north from Ocean Blvd. in the early 20th. century. Lincoln Park is on the left with the old public library in the center of the park. The building blocking Pacific Ave. is the city hall. In the background, center, you can see the steeple of the First Congregational Church in front of the Willmore Building.
BOTTOM: View of Pacific Ave. looking north from Ocean Blvd. on July 31, 2009. Lincoln Park is on the left. The roof of the public library in the lower left of the photo. You can see the steeple of the First Congregational Church in front of the Willmore Building.
TOP: View from Lincoln Park looking east down First Street in Downtown Long Beach in the 1920s. The Security Building, background on left, and the Metropolitan building are still standing today.
BOTTOM: View from Lincoln Park looking east down First Street in July 2009.
TOP: View of the Long Beach Arena in 19__. The Arena has hosted various entertainment and professional and college sporting events, including the volleyball events of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. Entertainers like Frank Sinatra, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Metallica, Kiss, Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead have also headlined here. Long Beach Arena was the site of the first National Hockey League game involving an expansion team, as the Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers, both expansion teams, played on October 14, 1967. The Kings won, 4-2. The Kings played in Long Beach for the first half of their expansion season while the Forum was being completed. On the left is the Municipal Auditorium that was built in 1932 that hosted events including Liberace in 1947, and the comeback performance of Judy Garland in 1955. In its heyday, the auditorium held twice as many events annualy then any other in the United States, include 600 free events each year.
BOTTOM: View of the Long Beach Arena in 2009. The Arena The Arena was home to the former Long Beach Ice Dogs team, which played professional ice hockey in the ECHL. The Ice Dogs ceased operations of the team in 2007. Along the exterior wall of the drum-shaped Arena is "Planet Ocean", one of environmental artist Wyland's Whaling Walls, which was dedicated on July 9, 1992. At 116,000 square feet (11,000 m?), it is the world's largest mural (according to the Guinness Book of Records). The mural depicts migratory gray whales and other aquatic life that can be found in the waters off Long Beach. In celebration of Earth Day in 2009, Wyland touched up the existing Whaling Wall and added a large mural of the earth on the roof of the arena. On the left is Parker's Lighthouse at Shoreline Village and the Hyatt Hotel.
TOP: The Masonic Temple in the 800 block of Locust Ave in Downtown Long Beach, Calif. in the early 1900s. When the building was in its heyday in the mid-1920s it housed multiple ballrooms, secret passageways and a dramatic theater stage. BOTTOM: The former Masonic Temple building now sits in the middle of the Temple Lofts, an 84 unit condo complex with a north and south tower.
Scribbled on the back of a print made in 1955 was, "Atlantic Avenue business area." I guess in 1955 it was, but in 2008... not so much. The top pictures is a view of the 5800 block of Atlantic Avenue looking south on May 12, 1955. The bottom image is today. The only constant is the Gage Pharmacy which is half way down the block on the right (about the very middle of the picture) and the Cock 'O the North sign on the left.
Another in my series of Then and Now photos. The top image was shot by Tom Shaw in 1953 looking west toward the Breakers Building, right, and Jergens Trust building, center, with Civic Auditorium on the left. The bottom photo was taken August 13, 2008, looking in the same direction.
We've started a new weekly feature in the paper and the name pretty much says it all. Every Wednesday, in print and online, we'll feature a photo from our archives along side a picture from the same angle shot today. This week is the view from the roof of the main library in Long Beach looking toward the corner of Pacific and Broadway. The old photo was taken in 1978.
