Long Beach Chronicles: From Pioneers to the 1933 Earthquake

by Tim Grobaty

Overview

Incorporated in 1888, Long Beach was the nation's fastest-growing city for much of the early twentieth century. Tim Grobaty, columnist for two decades for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, looks back at the major events and compelling personalities that shaped the city's formative years. Early settlers such as William Willmore, Charles Rivers Drake and the Bixby family are brought into sharp focus as Grobaty recounts the city's defining moments. From the naming of city streets to early local newspaper wars, and culminating with the devastating earthquake of 1933, Long Beach Chronicles presents a fascinating collection of tales from the city's provocative past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609495480
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/18/2012
Series:	American Chronicles
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.36(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Tim Grobaty, a Long Beach native and resident, has been a reporter and columnist for the Long Beach Press-Telegram for more than thirty years. He has won numerous awards, including Best Columnist in the Western States in the Best in the West journalism competition in 2009. He is a recipient of the Long Beach Heritage Award for his columns about the city's history, and he is an inductee in the Long Beach City College Hall of Fame. He lives in Long Beach with his wife, Jane, and children, Raymond and Hannah.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

Part I The Newspapers and Their City 11

A Newspaper War 13

Christmas 1902 14

The Prisk Years 17

Fastest-Growing City 19

Small-Town News 21

The Empire Day Disaster 21

The World Goes to War 22

The Boom Resumes 24

Extra! Extra! 25

The Cyclone Racer 29

When the Earth Moved 30

The New Journalism 31

Another Merger 33

Part II The Columns 35

Duke et Decorum Est 35

"He Was Killed Going Forward" 38

The Armistice Christmas 40

Our Beloved Founder 43

Charles Rivers Drake 46

Say Hi to the Lowes 50

A Physician of Firsts 52

Old News is New News 1 55

They Lived Aloft 56

Aviators Who Died Trying 61

Fire! 64

The Oldest Pier on Pine 66

History of Directories 70

LB's Primary Secondary School 72

Flower-Powered Grads of 1909 and '10 76

Wilson's Rules of '27 78

When You Couldn't Cancan 81

Lookin' Good, Long Beach 85

Cars Hit the Streets 87

Street Names 89

Map of the Twenties 93

Electric Ladyland 96

Water for Long Beach 97

A Model A Town 99

A Century of Scenery 101

The Glories of Alamitos 104

The Land of Sunshine 107

A Visitor from Iowa 110

The Pacific Southwest Expo 112

The Long Beach Hotel 115

The Hottest Beach in Town 117

Old News is New News 2 119

The Empire Day Disaster 122

The Bambino Gets Busted 125

The Resting Place 127

The Crazy Eights of 1932 132

When the Klan Had Clout 134

Ladies of the Club 136

The Great Racketeer 138

The Whale's Tale 140

The World's Greatest Ride 142

Old News is New News 3 144

Old Ironsides' Shakedown Cruise 146

The Long Beach Earthquake 148

Letters from Shakytown 155

About the Author 159