Long Beach, California

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Long Beach, California
File:IMGP3671.JPG
Official seal of Long Beach, California
Seal
Nickname(s): 
The International City (on flag), Friendly City (in Latin on city's seal), the LBC, or The City By The Sea
Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California
Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyLos Angeles County
Government
 • MayorBob Foster
Area
 • Total65.9 sq mi (170.6 km2)
 • Land50.0 sq mi (130.6 km2)
 • Water15.9 sq mi (40.0 km2)
Elevation
0 ft (Sea Level 0 m)
Population
 (2005)
 • Total463,956
 • Density9,150/sq mi (3,533/km2)
Time zoneUTC-8 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
Area code562
Websitehttp://www.ci.long-beach.ca.us/

Long Beach is a city located in southern Los Angeles County, California, USA, on the Pacific coast. It borders Orange County on its southeast edge. It is about 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown Los Angeles.

Long Beach is the 35th-largest city in the nation, 5th in California and 2nd in Los Angeles County (after Los Angeles). As of 2005, its estimated population was 463,956[1].

The Port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports [2]. The city also has a large oil industry; oil is found both underground and offshore. Manufactures 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, Scan Health Care, and Polar Air Cargo. Long Beach grew with the development of high-technology and aerospace industries in the area.

History

The area was originally occupied by the Tongva people who lived in a rancheria named Tibahangna. Along with other Tongva villages, it disappeared in the mid-1800s.

The Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos were divided from the larger Rancho Los Nietos, which had been granted by the Spanish Empire's, King Carlos III in 1784 to a Spanish soldier, Manuel Nieto. 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, and was in dispute for years, due to flooding changing the Los Angeles River boundary, between Juan Jose Dominguez and Manuel Nieto's ranchos.

Rancho Los Cerritos was bought in 1843 by John Temple, a Yankee who had come to California in 1827 . Soon after he built what is now known as the "Los Cerritos Ranch House," an adobe which still stands and is a National Historic Landmark. Temple created a thriving cattle ranch and prospered, becoming the wealthiest man in Los Angeles County. Both Temple and his ranch house played important local roles in the Mexican-American War.

Meanwhile, on an island in the San Pedro Bay, Mormon pioneers made an abortive attempt to establish a colony (as part of Brigham Young's plan to establish a continuous chain of settlements from the Pacific to Salt Lake).

In 1866 Temple sold Rancho Los Cerritos to the Northern California sheep-raising firm of Flint, Bixby & Co, which consisted of brothers Thomas and Benjamin Flint and their cousin Lewellyn Bixby, for $20,000. Two years previous Flint, Bixby had also purchased along with Northern California associate James Irvine three ranchos which would later become the city that bears Irvine's name. To manage Los Cerritos, the company selected Lewellyn's brother Jotham Bixby, the "Father of Long Beach", to manage their southern ranch, and three years later Jotham bought into the property and would later form the Bixby Land Company. In the 1870s as many as 30,000 sheep were kept at the ranch and sheared twice yearly to provide wool for trade. In 1880, Bixby sold 4,000 acres (16 km²) of the Rancho Los Cerritos to William E. Willmore, who subdivided it in hopes of creating a farm community, Willmore City. He failed and was bought out by a Los Angeles syndicate which called itself the "Long Beach Land and Water Company." They changed the name of the community to "Long Beach", which was incorporated as a city in 1888.

Long Beach boardwalk, 1907

Overlooked, but probably even more influential in the development of the city was another Bixby cousin, John W. Bixby. After first working for his cousins at Los Cerritos, J.W. Bixby then leased land at Rancho Los Alamitos, and then put together a group consisting of himself, mega-banker I.W. Hellman and Lewellyn and Jotham Bixby to purchase the rancho. In addition to bringing innovative farming methods to the Alamitos (which under Abel Stearns in the late 1850s and early 1860s was once the largest cattle ranch in America), John W. Bixby began the development of the Alamitos' oceanfront property near the city's picturesque bluffs. Under the name Alamitos Land Company, J.W. Bixby named the streets and laid out the parks of his new city. This area would include Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and Naples and would soon become a very thriving community of its own. Unfortunately, J.W. Bixby died in 1888 of apparent appendicitis, and the Rancho Los Alamitos property was split up with Hellman roughly getting the southern third, Jotham and Lewellyn the northern third and J.W. Bixby's wife and heirs keeping the central third. The Alamitos townsite was kept as a separate entity but it was basically run by Lewellyn and Jotham's Bixby Land Company.

When Jotham Bixby died in 1916 the remaining 3,500 acres (14 km²) of Rancho Los Cerritos was subdivided into the neighborhoods of Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and part of the city of Signal Hill.

Oil field in Long Beach, 1920

The town grew as a seaside resort (The Pike was one of the most famous beachside amusement parks on the West coast from 1902 until the 1960s) and then as an oil, Navy, and port town. The town was once referred to as "Iowa by the sea," due to a large influx of people from that state and other states in the Midwest. Huge picnics for each state were a popular annual event in Long Beach until the 1960s.

The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that caused significant damage to the city and surrounding areas. Most of the damage occurred in unreinforced masonry buildings, especially schools. One hundred twenty people died in this earthquake.

Long Beach once had a sizable Japanese-American population mostly working in the fish canneries on Terminal Island and small truck farms in the area, but the Japanese and Japanese Americans were removed for internment in 1942, and most did not return after their release from the camps. Due to this, interracial marriage, and other factors, they now make up less than 1% of the population of Long Beach. There is still a Japanese Community Center and a Japanese Buddhist Church in Long Beach. The Japanese-American Cultural Center is just over the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.

Geography

Long Beach is located at 33°47' North, 118°10' West, about 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 170.6 km² (65.9 mi²). 130.6 km² (50.4 mi²) of it is land and 40.0 km² (15.4 mi²) of it (23.42%) is water.

Climate

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Rec High °F 93 91 98 105 104 109 107 105 110 111 101 92
Norm High °F 68 68.5 68.9 72.7 74 78.3 82.9 84.6 83.1 78.9 73.4 68.8
Norm Low °F 46 48.1 50.4 53.2 57.8 61.3 64.6 65.6 63.7 58.3 50.1 45.3
Rec Low °F 25 33 33 38 40 47 51 52 50 39 34 28
Precip (in) 2.95 3.01 2.43 0.6 0.23 0.08 0.02 0.1 0.24 0.4 1.12 1.76
Source: USTravelWeather.com [16]

Environment

The area that is now Long Beach historically included several ecological communities, with coastal scrub dominating [3]. A handful of the native plants of the region can still be found in the city. These include California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), and California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)). Some stands of coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) still remain in the El Dorado Nature Center. California fan palm (Washingtonia filifera), a plant native further inland, was introduced to the city as a garden ornamental and is now naturalized. Some indigenous species of birds, mammals, and other wildlife have adapted to development.

Since the arrival of Europeans, many alien species have become naturalized in the area. Introduced plants include yellow mustard, eucalyptus, wild radish, and tumbleweed. Unfortunately, these plants now far outnumber the indigenous plants and spread rapidly in the city's vacant lots and oil fields.

However, the city and its residents have initiatives underway to preserve and reclaim a small part of its ecological heritage. The RiverLink project has begun to revegetate the Long Beach stretch of the Los Angeles River with indigenous plants. Part of the remaining Pacific Electric Right of Way was cleared of nonnatives, planted with indigenous plants, and made accessible with foot and bike paths. This community open space is now known as The Long Beach Greenbelt and is the focus of continuing efforts in restoration and community education. The El Dorado Nature Center has changed its original "hands-off" approach and begun to actively introduce indigenous species [4]. The Los Cerritos Wetlands Study Group, state government agencies, and grassroots groups are collaborating on a plan to preserve Long Beach's last remaining wetlands. Long Beach is the first city in California to join the 'EcoZone' Program, intended to measurably improve environmental conditions through public-private partnerships [5]. Such projects seek to reduce pollution, restore native habitat, provide green areas for the city's residents to enjoy.

Other places in Long Beach to see natural areas include Bluff Park (coastal bluffs), the Golden Shores Marine Reserve, the Jack Dunster Marine Reserve, Shoreline Park, and DeForest Park.

Neighborhoods

Long Beach is a mosaic of neighborhoods, with some of them well-defined, while others blend into nearby neighborhoods. The most desirable properties in Long Beach are in the Belmont Shore and Naples areas in southeast Long Beach near Alamitos Bay and the Pacific Ocean, the homes near the Virginia Country Club in Bixby Knolls and California Heights in west-central Long Beach, the area near El Dorado Park and Long Beach State on the east side of Long Beach and Lakewood Village (near Long Beach City College and Lakewood Country Club)[citation needed]. The downtown area has experienced significant gentrification in recent years with the demolished Long Beach Plaza being replaced by the new Long Beach City Place.

Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach, as well as Second Street in Belmont Shore, are known for their restaurants and nightlife. The 4th Street Corridor is known for its funky shops, antique stores and vintage clothing stores. The Broadway Corridor between Alamitos Avenue and Redondo Avenue has the greatest number of gay oriented bars and restaurants in Long Beach.

Part of the Port of Long Beach
File:LongBeach9.jpg
Aerial view of the Port of Long Beach

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 461,522 people, 163,088 households, and 99,646 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,532.8/km² (9,149.8/mi²). There were 171,632 housing units at an average density of 1,313.8/km² (3,402.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 45.16% White, 14.87% African American, 0.84% Native American, 12.05% Asian, 1.21% Pacific Islander, 20.61% from other races, and 5.27% from two or more races. Latino of any race were 35.77% of the population. According to the 2000 US Census, Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States [17]. Among its Asian population, Long Beach is home to a large Cambodian community, the second-largest Cambodian community outside of Asia (after Paris); a neighborhood along Anaheim Street is called "Little Phnom Penh". It also houses large communities of Tongan and Samoan descent.

There are also sizable populations of Samoan-Americans, Tongan-Americans, African Americans, Mexican-Americans, Salvadoran-Americans and other Central Americans, such as Belizean-Americans and Panamanian-Americans, as well as Puerto Ricans, Vietnamese Americans, Filipino Americans, and other Asians. Long Beach has a history of immigration from Europe, and a relatively high number of Pacific Islanders and Native Americans (each at over 1 percent).

There were 163,088 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.2% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.55.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,270, and the median income for a family was $40,002. Males had a median income of $36,807 versus $31,975 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,040. About 19.3% of families and 22.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.7% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The top commercial businesses in Long Beach, based upon the number of employees, are: Boeing, Verizon, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, and The Bragg Companies (crane and heavy transport sales). Several local hospitals are major employers, including: Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, St. Mary Medical Center, and Pacific Hospital of Long Beach. Major government and educational employers include: Long Beach Unified School District, City of Long Beach, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach City College, United State Postal Service, and Long Beach Transit.

Shipping and transportation

File:Qm2 qmsmall1.jpg
The Queen Mary permanently docked.

The Port of Long Beach is the third busiest [14] seaport in the United States . The port serves shipping between the United States and the Pacific Rim. The combined operations of the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are the busiest in the USA.

Rail shipping is provided by Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway, which carry about half of the trans-shipments from the port. Long Beach has contributed to the Alameda Corridor project to increase the capacity of the rail lines, roads, and highways connecting the port to the Los Angeles rail hub. The project, completed in 2002, created a trench Template:Unit mile long and Template:Unit foot deep in order to eliminate 200 grade crossings and cost about US$2.4 billion.

Long Beach is the southern terminus for the Los Angeles Metro Blue Line light rail corridor. Blue Line trains run from Long Beach City Hall to Downtown Los Angeles. The Metro Rail Blue Line Maintenance Shops, are also located in Long Beach just south of the Del Amo Blue Line station.

There is an Amtrak Thruway bus shuttle starting in San Pedro, with stops at the Queen Mary and downtown Long Beach, that then goes to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, and ends in Bakersfield. The Blue Line MetroRail connects downtown Long Beach to the Staples Center and downtown Los Angeles where it connects with Hollywood and Pasadena. There is also a Greyhound Lines terminal downtown.

Public transportation in Long Beach is provided by Long Beach Transit. Besides the normal bus service, which charges a fare, Long Beach has free routes, the "Pine Avenue Link" and Passport routes, which use mini-buses to shuttle passengers within the downtown area. The Passport "C" route between the downtown and the Queen Mary, and Passport "A" and "D" buses go East-West along Ocean Boulevard, linking the Catalina Landing in the west with Belmont Shore in the east. (The Passport "B" has been renamed the Pine Avenue Link.) A 90-cent fare is required when traveling east of Atlantic Avenue. Another free route, "Village Tour D'art" in the East Village, visits museums and other points of interest.

Long Beach Transit also operates the 49-passenger AquaBus water taxi, which stops at the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and four other locations; and the 75-passenger AquaLink water taxi, which travels between the Aquarium, the Queen Mary, and Alamitos Bay Landing next to the Long Beach Marina.

There is also limited bus service to Orange County through Orange County Transportation Authority buses. Route 1, from Long Beach to San Clemente is the longest bus route in the OCTA system. Traveling along Pacific Coast Highway for most of the route, it takes 2-2.5 hrs to complete.

Torrance Transit buses go from downtown Long Beach to the South Bay. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has bus service from downtown to San Pedro, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) has two regional bus lines that serve downtown Long Beach.

Long Beach Airport serves the Long Beach, South Bay and northern Orange County areas, but is relatively small, considering the area's population. It is the West Coast hub for JetBlue Airways. It is also the site of a major Boeing (formerly Douglas, then McDonnell Douglas) aircraft production facility, which is the city's largest employer.

Several freeways run through Long Beach, connecting it with the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas. The San Diego (405) freeway roughly bisects the city and takes commuters northwest or southeast to the Golden State (5) freeway. The Long Beach (710) freeway runs north-south, starting at the southern end between the Port of Long Beach and downtown Long Beach, and terminating just past the intersection with San Bernardino (10) freeway on the border between El Sereno neighbor or Los Angeles and Alhambra. The eastern border of the city is traversed by the San Gabriel River (605) freeway, which joins the 405 at the Long Beach/Los Alamitos border. The Artesia Freeway California State Route 91 runs east-west near the northern border of Long Beach.

California State Route 1 (more commonly known as Pacific Coast Highway or PCH) runs through Long Beach. Where it intersects with Lakewood Boulevard (California State Route 19) and Los Coyotes Diagonal is the "infamous" Long Beach Traffic Circle.

Long Beach has some bike paths along city streets, plus the Long Beach bicycle path along the ocean from Shoreline Village to Belmont Shore, plus there are bike paths along both the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers.

Film

One of the places where the film industry started in Southern California was in Long Beach.

Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios, was located at Sixth Street and Alamitos Avenue; they used 11 acres (45,000 m²) on Signal Hill for outdoor locations. Silent movie stars who lived in Long Beach included Fatty Arbuckle and Theda Bara. The 1917 film Cleopatra, starring Theda Bara, was filmed at the Dominguez Slough just west of Long Beach, and Moses parted the Red Sea for Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 black-and-white version of "The Ten Commandments" on the flat seashore of Seal Beach, southeast of Long Beach.

Because of its proximity to LA-area studios and its variety of locations, today Long Beach is regularly used for movies, television shows, and advertisements. The city has filled in for locations across the nation and around the globe. [18] One advantage for Long Beach is that the film industry uses a zone that extends 30 miles from Beverly Blvd. and La Cienega Blvd. in the West Hollywood area. It is cheaper to film within that zone, so Long Beach and other South Bay cities often stand in for areas of Orange County (such as for The O.C. TV show) because almost all of Orange County is outside of the zone.

Long Beach's high schools are especially popular with the film industry. Long Beach Polytechnic High School has played host to numerous films, providing the outdoor high school grounds of Coach Carter and the indoor high school rooms and hallways of American Pie, among others. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo High School has been a very popular place to film movies as well, with 2-4 movies filmed per year. St. Anthony High School's gymnasium has also been featured in many movies and television shows, including Coach Carter and Joan of Arcadia.

Other locations in Long Beach have been used quite frequently as well. Many car chase and crash scenes have been filmed on the long stretches of road near the Long Beach harbor, and Long Beach's downtown neighborhood has stood in for various urban areas in a variety of films. Multiple scenes from the movie Gone in Sixty Seconds were filmed in Long Beach. Additionally, the Virginia Country Club area of Long Beach (near, or sometimes considered part of, Long Beach's Bixby Knolls neighborhood) has also provided numerous locations for Hollywood films, including Ferris Bueller's house in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The upscale neighborhood is home to several National Historic Landmarks and is known for its diverse styles ranging from a famous Greene and Greene designed California Bungalow home to modern homes designed by world-renowned architect Edward Killingsworth.

Government

Main article: Mayor of Long Beach
Main article: Long Beach Police Department (California)

The city of Long Beach is a full-service Charter City and is governed by nine City Council members, who are elected by district, and the Mayor, who is elected at-large. The City Attorney, City Auditor, and City Prosecutor are also elected positions. The municipality is supported by a budget of $2.3 billion with more than 5,500 employees.[15]Long Beach was first incorporated in 1888 with 59 buildings and a new school. Nine years later, dissatisfaction with prohibition and high taxes led to an abortive and short-lived disincorporation. Before the year 1897 was out, the citizens voted to reincorporate, and the 1897 incorporation is shown on the city seal.[16]

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Long Beach Unified School District serves most of the city of Long Beach.

Other school districts that serve sections of Long Beach include:

Private schools

Main article: List of private schools in Long Beach, California

Colleges and universities

The California State University, Long Beach is second largest campus in the California State University system, and the third largest university in the state in terms of enrollment.

The Long Beach City College is a community college established in 1927. It's composed of two separate campuses. The Liberal Arts Campus located on the residential area of Lakewood Village, while the Pacific Coast Campus is in Central Long Beach.

Brooks College is a private for-profit vocational school best known for its fashion design and fashion marketing programs is located near the Traffic Circle Area. The school will close its doors at the end of March 2009.[17]

Sites of interest

Parks and recreation

The Walter Pyramid

The Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine received a Gold Medal award from the National Parks and Recreation Society in 2002, 2003, and 2004, recognizing the Department's "outstanding management practices and programs." The Department manages 92 parks covering over 3,100 acres (13 km²) throughout the city, including the 815 acre (3.3 km²) El Dorado Regional Park, which features fishing lakes, an archery range, youth campground, bike trails, and picnic areas. The Department also operates four public swimming pools, and four launch ramps for boaters to access the Pacific Ocean.

The 102.5 acre El Dorado Nature Center is part of the larger El Dorado Regional Park. The center features lakes, a stream, and trails, with meadows and forested areas. [19]

The Long Beach Greenbelt is a section of the old Pacific Electric right-of-way, restored by community activists as native habitat. It currently supports approximately 40 species of California native plants as well as a plethora of urban wildlife. Its pleasant, relaxing atmosphere provides for community open space while educating citizens about what the land was like prior to industrialization and urbanization.

Rancho Los Alamitos is a 7.5 acre historical site owned by the City of Long Beach and is near the Long Beach campus of the California State University system. The site includes five agricultural buildings, including a working blacksmith’s shop, four acres of gardens, and an adobe ranch house dating from around 1800. The Rancho is within a gated community, so you must pass through security gates to get to it. [20]

Rancho Los Cerritos is a 4.7 acre historical site owned by Long Beach in the Bixby Knolls area near the Virginia Country Club. The adobe buildings date from the 1880s. The site also includes a California history research library. [21]

The Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden is located on the campus of California State University, Long Beach.

The front beach area of the city was once home to a now-defunct amusement park. Its first rollercoaster opened for business in June 1907. It was named the Figure 8 after the shape of the tracks, and was built on pilings that reached out over the water. In 1914 the Pike Amusement Zone undertook several upgrades and a new roller coaster named the Jack Rabbit Racer was opened in May 1915 becoming the second largest racing coaster in the country. It was part of the Silver Spray Pier which included several new rides and concessions. In the mid twenties, several expansions were made to the area and the Jack Rabbit Racer was remodeled raising the ride's dips to a greater height and steepness but it was soon removed to make way for the Cyclone Racer roller coaster which opened May 1930. The new coaster was also built on pilings over the ocean, but as the breakwater was built and the harbor expanded, the sandy beach extended. Eventually the entire pier stood over the beach. When demolished in September 1968, the Cyclone Racer was the only two track roller coaster in the United States.

Media

The local daily newspaper is the Long Beach Press-Telegram, which is distributed throughout most of the Gateway Cities and South Bay areas of southwest Los Angeles County. The Press-Telegram is part of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, which has several newspapers in the Southern California area that share some resources and reporters.

As of 2007, Long Beach is served by The District Weekly, an alternative weekly that covers news, the arts, restaurants, and the local music scene. The OC Weekly and LA Weekly are also distributed widely in Long Beach.

There are a number of weekly and biweekly newspapers, which highlight the city's educational, political and business goings-on. The Beachcomber, Grunion Gazette and Downtown Gazette are community-centric papers with substantial distribution. Business news is covered by the biweekly Long Beach Business Journal.

There are two primary online news sources. LBReport.com (est 1999) engages in 'hard' journalism and investigative reporting of local stories, issues and officials. The LBPost.com (est 2007) features news and opinion form a pool of columnists. LongBeachCulture.org is the dominant clearinghouse and calendar for arts & cultural events.

Long Beach also gets distribution of the daily Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, and La Opinión newspapers, plus the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel.

Long Beach is part of the Los Angeles DMA radio and television markets. Although a few radio stations have had studios in Long Beach over the years, including the 80's alternative music and later hard rock station KNAC, the only remaining radio stations in Long Beach are the jazz and blues station KKJZ on the Cal State Long Beach campus, and the Christian radio broadcaster KFRN.

Culture

View of the Long Beach skyline from the Queen Mary.
The same view from the Queen Mary at night.

Art

The Long Beach Museum of Art is owned by the City of Long Beach, and operated by the Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation. Long Beach also features the Museum of Latin American Art, founded in 1996 by Dr. Robert Gumbiner. It is the only museum in the western United States that exclusively features Latin American art.

The University Art Museum on the Long Beach State campus (founded in 1973) has a national reputation for its high-quality and innovative programs. [22] Long Beach State is also home to the largest publicly funded art school west of the Mississippi. (on what basis is largest determined since there is no citation? Number of students? Square footage? Citation needed)

In 1965, Long Beach State hosted the first International Sculpture Symposium to be held in the United States and the first at a college or university. Six sculptors from around the world and two from the United States created many of the monumental sculptures seen on the campus. There are now over 20 sculptures on the campus.

Long Beach is known for its street art. Some of the murals were created in conjunction with the city's Mural and Cultural Arts Program, but many others were not. [23] [24]

The Anime Expo® is held regularly at the Convention Center. Its success over the past 13 years has encouraged multitudes of other conventions to spring up across the country. Its Exhibit Hall has been host to the largest collection of import and domestic anime and manga merchandise anywhere in America, as well as host to galleries of some of the most influential artists in Japan's recent history.

On the exterior of the Long Beach Sports Arena is one of the artist Wyland's Whaling Walls. At 116,000 square feet (11,000 m²), it is the world's largest mural (according to the Guinness Book of Records).

Shops and galleries in the East Village Arts District, in downtown Long Beach hold their monthly art openings and artists exhibit in street galleries on the second Saturday of the monthduring the Artwalk [25].

Long Beach has a percent for art program administered through the Arts Council of Long Beach and the Redevelopment Agency which ensures that new private developments contribute to the arts fund or commission artworks for their new projects [26] .

Music

The Long Beach Symphony Orchestra plays numerous classical and pop music concerts throughout the year. The symphony plays at the Terrace Theater in the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center. [27]

Long Beach Opera, founded in 1979, is the oldest professional opera company serving the Los Angeles and Orange County regions. It presents performances of standard and non-standard opera repertoire at various locations, including the Terrace Theater and Center Theater of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at CSULB. [28]

Long Beach Community Concert Association LBCCA is a 49 year old, volunteer organization that provides quality musical entertainment appealing to seniors and others, four Sunday afternoons a year at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center [18] at CSULB. LBCCA also has an outreach program taking musical entertainment to senior care and senior housing facilities around the greater Long Beach area.

KJAZZ 88.1 FM (KKJZ) broadcasts from California State University, Long Beach. The station features jazz and blues music exclusively and can also be listened to over the Internet. [29] KBEACH is the student owned and operated web-only radio at CSULB. [30]

Long Beach is the host to a number of long-running music festivals. They include the Bob Marley Reggae Festival (February), the Cajun & Zydeco Festival (May), the El Dia De San Juan Puerto Rican Festival (Salsa music, June) the Aloha Concert Jam (Hawaiian music, June), the Long Beach Jazz Festival (August), the Long Beach Blues Festival (September, since 1980), and the Brazilian Street Carnaval (Brazilian music, September).

Long Beach has a history of well-known artists. The bands Sublime, subsequent Long Beach Dub Allstars, and Long Beach Shortbus are all from Long Beach, as is the new-wave punk band Le Shok, and old school hip hop group Ugly Duckling. Rappers Crooked I, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Nate Dogg and Zack de la Rocha were born and raised in Long Beach. Melissa Etheridge traces her roots to performing at Que Sera, a former lesbian bar in Long Beach. New rising post-hardcore bands and acts such as I Am Ghost also hails from Long Beach.

The Carpenters, a pop group from the 1960s and 1970s, consisted of musicians who were all students at California State University, Long Beach. Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center at CSULB is named in honor of these famous alumni of the Music Department.

The Long Beach Municipal Band, founded in 1909 is the longest running, municipally supported band in the country. In 2005, the band played 24 concerts in various parks around Long Beach. [31]

Theater

Downtown Long Beach at night.

Long Beach has several resident professional and semi-professional theater companies, notably:

Musical Theatre West, one of the largest regional theatrical producers in Southern California, who performs at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the campus of CSU Long Beach;

International City Theatre, who produces plays and musicals at the Center Theater (part of the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center);

The Long Beach Playhouse, in continuous operation for over 75 years, has shows running 50 weeks out of the year on two stages.

Additionally, Long Beach is home to a number of smaller and “black-box” theaters, including the Found Theatre, the Garage Theatre (http://www.thegaragetheatre.org), and California Repertory Company (part of the graduate theater program at CSULB) that performs at the National Guard Armory in downtown Long Beach. Numerous tours and other stage events come through Long Beach, particularly at the Terrace Theater and the Carpenter Center, and both CSU Long Beach and Long Beach City College maintain active theater departments.

Cultural events

  • Chinese New Year Festival (West Coast Hotel, Late Jan., 7th Day of the Lunar New Year)
  • Scottish Festival and Games (Queen Mary, Feb.) [32]
  • Annual Indian Pow Wow (CSULB, March)
  • Cambodian New Year Celebration (El Dorado Park, April)
  • the Kaleidoscope Festival (CSULB, April) [33]
  • Cinco de Mayo (at the Museum of Latin American Art, plus several celebrations in city parks, May 5)
  • Long Beach Pride Festival (May) [34]
  • El Dia de San Juan Puerto Rican festival (June at the Queen Mary Events park) [35]
  • Juneteenth Festival (Martin Luther King Park, mid-June)
  • AnimeExpo (Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) (Long Beach Convention Center, June 29th - July 2nd)
  • Tafesilafa'i (Pacific Islander festival, Shoreline Village, July)
  • E Hula Mau (Hula and Chant competition, Terrace Theater, Labor Day weekend) [36]
  • Annual Grecian Festival (Greek Orthodox Church of Long Beach, Labor Day weekend)
  • Brazilian Street Carnaval (Sept.) [37].
  • Annual Hmong New Year Festival (El Dorado Park, December)

In October, Long Beach State hosts the CSULB Wide Screen Film Festival, at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. The festival started in 1992 as a showcase for movies filmed in the widescreen format, but has since been transformed into an artist-in-residence event. A major film artist (such as former CSULB student Steven Spielberg) screens and discusses their own work as well as the ten films that most influenced their cinematic vision. [38]

Christmas boat "parades" are a Southern California tradition, with at least one held every weekend night from December 1 till Christmas. The "Naples Island Christmas Parade" has been held since 1946, and passes through the canals of Naples and around Alamitos Bay past Belmont Shore. The "Parade of A Thousand Lights" is in the Shoreline Village area (near Downtown Long Beach and the RMS Queen Mary). [39] There is also a Christmas boat parade in the nearby Port of Los Angeles/San Pedro area, and another in the Huntington Harbour community of nearby Huntington Beach.

The Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Parade & Festival has been held in May or June since 1984 . It is the second largest event in Long Beach, attracting over 125,000 participants over the two day celebration. It is the third largest Gay Pride Parade in the United States. [40]

Other parades in Long Beach include:

  • the Martin Luther King Parade (Jan.)
  • Cambodian New Years Parade (March or April)
  • Brazilian Street Carnaval (Sept.) [41]
  • Haute Dog Howl'oween Parade (Oct.) [42]
  • Long Beach Veterans Day Parade (Nov.) [43]
  • Belmont Shore Christmas Parade (Dec.) [44]
  • Daisy Avenue Christmas Tree Lane & Parade (Dec.)

Sports

2005 Long Beach Grand Prix, showing turn 10 and the Long Beach skyline
Long Beach Grand Prix

The Long Beach Grand Prix in April is the single largest event in Long Beach. It started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race on the streets of downtown, and became a Formula One race, the United States Grand Prix West, the following year. Since 1984 it has been a Champ Car event. During the same weekend as the Grand Prix, there are also races in the American Le Mans Series and the Champ Car Atlantic Series. In addition, there is a Drift Challenge and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race.

Baseball

Long Beach Little League teams that included Sean Burroughs were back-to-back World Series Champions in 1992 & 1993. Other noted Long Beach ballplayers include Tony Gwynn, Bobby Grich, Chase Utley, Milton Bradley, and Bob Lemon.

The Long Beach Armada of the independent Golden Baseball League plays at Blair Field. Ex-Major Leaguer Darrell Evans manages the team that features former major league players as well as rookies looking to reach the Majors for the first time.

Blair Field (built in 1958) has hosting numerous American Legion baseball, Connie Mack baseball, high school, junior college, college, minor league baseball and major league spring training exhibition baseball games. It has also been host of six MTV Rock & Jock softball games, and has been the filming location for numerous film, TV and commercial productions. [45]

Basketball

The minor league American Basketball Association team, the Long Beach Jam, played in the Walter Pyramid (a pyramid-shaped gym) on the Long Beach State campus) from 2003 to 2005.

The Southern California Summer Pro League is a showcase for current and prospective NBA basketball players, including recent draft picks, current NBA players working on their skills and conditioning, and international professionals hoping to become NBA players. The league plays in the Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus during July. [46]

The Walter Pyramid on the Long Beach State campus
Sailing

Since its inception in August 1964, the Congressional Cup has grown into one of the major international sailing events. Now held in April, it is the only grade 1 match race regatta held in the United States. The one-on-one race format is the same as the America's Cup, and many of the winners of the Congressional Cup have gone on to win the America's Cup as well.

The Leeway Sailing and Aquatics Center on Alamitos Bay in Belmont Shore is a youth sailing program founded in 1929 . It is recognized as one of the premier municipal instructional sailing programs in the country. [47]

Surfing

Long Beach was once famously known for its great surf breaks. During the summer months, Long Beach use to receive south swells bringing in excellent surf, as the beach faces South. Now with breakers blocking all ocean swells from coming into the harbor, Long Beach no longer is known for great surf. However, several miles south on Pacific Coast Highway are some of the best surf breaks in Southern California.

Water Skiing

In July, there is the annual Catalina Ski Race, which starts from Long Beach Harbor and goes to Catalina Island and back to complete a 100 km (62 mile) circuit. This race has been held annually since 1948 and features skiers from around the world. [48]

Windsurfing and Kitesurfing

On windy summer weekends, hundreds of windsurfers and kitesurfers flock to Belmont Shores for the summer thermal winds that often occur there.

Golf

Long Beach has five municipal golf courses, as well as the private Virginia Country Club in the Bixby Knolls area. Recreation Park, built in 1917, is one of the busiest golf courses in the United States. Many talented professional golfers have honed their golf skills in the Long Beach area. PGA Tour veteran and 11 time winner John Cook grew up playing golf in Long Beach. 16 time PGA tour winner Mark O'Meara attended Long Beach State University, Two time PGA tour winner Paul Goydos grew up in Long Beach and attended Long Beach State University. John Mallinger, a rookie on the PGA tour went to Long Beach State University, John Merrick another rookie on the tour grew up in Long Beach (attended UCLA), Peter Tomasulo who also grew up in Long Beach is a promising young player on the Nationwide Tour (attended Cal Berkeley), [49] [50]

Rugby Union

The Belmont Shore rugby team plays in the US Rugby Super League. They've been in seven league finals, and have been champions three times.

College Sports

Long Beach State's team mascot are the 49ers. [51] The school has had national championships in Women's Volleyball (5), Men's Volleyball (1), Track and Field (1), Men's Tennis (1-Division II), Swimming (1-Division II), Women's Badminton (2), and Women's Field Hockey (1). The school also has had regularly NCAA tournament appearances in Men's Baseball, Men's Softball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Men's Golf, Women's Tennis, Men's Water Polo, and Women's Water Polo [52]. Their Cheer Team has also been national champions in 2003, 2004 and 2006. [53]

The sports teams at Long Beach City College have also done well, including national championships in Men's Gymnastics (6), Football (5), Women's Soccer (3), and Men's Doubles and Singles Tennis (1 each). They have also had state championships in numerous sports, including 2006-7 championships in Men's and Women's Water Polo. [54]

Olympics

During the two Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, Long Beach has hosted a number of the competitions, including rowing events in the Marine Stadium, sailing events off the coast of Long Beach, volleyball in the Long Beach Sports Arena, and archery at El Dorado Regional Park.

For the 1984 Summer Olympics, Long Beach hosted yachting, volleyball, fencing and archery competitions. For the 1932 Summer Olympics, Long Beach hosted the rowing competition.

The Belmont Plaza Pool has hosted U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 1968 and 1976 . For the 2004 U.S. Olympic swimming trials, a temporary swimming stadium was constructed in the parking lot adjacent to the Long Beach Sports Arena.

The USA Water Polo National Aquatic Center, where the men's and women's US Olympic water polo teams train, is located in nearby Los Alamitos.

Famous Long Beach athletes

Long Beach is the childhood home of tennis legend Billie Jean King, three-time Super Bowl-winning NFL linebacker Willie McGinest, and eight-time National League batting champion and longtime San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn. Each attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Jeff Severson, the "Singing Safety" and 9 year NFL veteran, went to Wilson High School.

2004 Summer Olympics gold medal winning beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor graduated from California State University, Long Beach (where she won a national championship and several other awards), and currently resides in Long Beach.

US Olympic Water Polo Team Member, Ryan Bailey, was raised in Long Beach, where he attended Robert A. Millikan High School.

Notable natives and residents

Main article: List of people from Long Beach, California

Miscellaneous information

International beauty contests

The first Miss Universe Pageant was held in Long Beach, California in 1952. It was won by Armi Kuusela from Finland, who gave up her title to get married to a Filipino tycoon, Virgilio Hilario, shortly before her year was complete. The pageant remained in Long Beach until 1968, when the contest moved to Japan. The Miss International contest was again held in Long Beach in 1971 before returning permanently to Japan. [55]

Sister cities

Long Beach's sister cities are (as of December 2005) [56]:

See also

References

  1. ^ "American Community Survey Data Profile Highlights for Long Beach city, California". U.S. Census Bureau. 2005. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ [5]
  7. ^ [6]
  8. ^ [7]
  9. ^ [8]
  10. ^ [9]
  11. ^ [10]
  12. ^ [11]
  13. ^ [12]
  14. ^ [13]
  15. ^ [14] City of Long Beach Web Site
  16. ^ http://cms.longbeach.gov/aboutlb/timeline.htm
  17. ^ [15]
  18. ^ Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center

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