Lemonade: Day 5 - Historical Society of Long Beach

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach, CA.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100 day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach, CA.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan!  I want to share it with you!  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity.  The art and the locations that inspire art.  Bringing them to you, here in this blog, and to others, on the streets of Long Beach.

I call it .

Today was Day 5 of Making Lemonade.  I visited with Tim Friden at the Historical Society of Long Beach.

I've known of the Historical Society of Long Beach (HSLB) for some time.  My visit today was multi-purpose.  I wanted to visit the space, see what research materials were available, look up different styles of goggles (for SteamPunk inspiration) in old photos and find a trail of art and architecture to follow.

The Historical Society is in a small storefront location at 4260 Atlantic in Bixby Knolls.  Perhaps the most interesting feature of the space, built in the 1950's, is the large vault to the rear of the main room.  It leads to a small storage area, then (as described by Tim) downstairs to another small storage and yet another vault door.  The original purpose? The summer storage of furs owned by wealthy Long Beach residents.  The vault provided a protected space with a cool, even temperature, and the space supported the local fur retailers.

Memories and architectural features sit around the room:  A length of metal cornice from the old Pacific Coast Club (PCC), which was located adjacent to the Villa Riviera, sits to the left.  Another memory from the PCC is at the rear.  A large light from an old building has an honored display.  As items come in, they are researched, archived and displayed if appropriate.

Research Materials

For a small annual membership (or daily research fee), a researcher has access to view the collections of the Historical Society.

As organizations go away and buildings are repurposed from storage to new uses, the Historical Society provides a nice repository for documents relevant to the growth and development of Long Beach.

City directories, which preceded telephone books, dating from the late 1800s to 1969.  In the directories you could find names and addresses of residents, the names of their wives and dependents, and their occupations.  So someone researching the history of his/her Long Beach family or home, could perhaps find some information in these books.

A comprehensive collection of Long Beach Press Telegram newspapers dating from the late 1800's to the late 1980's (with a substantial gap in the 1970's).  The collection is housed by the HSLB, on loan from the Press Telegram.  Rights to use of photographs may be coordinated through the HSLB.  The actual newspapers provide a nice supplement to the microfiche versions available at the main library, as sometimes the words and photographs on the microfiche are not as clear as on the original paper.

A collection of old photographs, sorted by subject.  Residents with old photos to donate may simply stop by to bring them in... and do. 

Almost any photograph in the collection is available for reproduction in a variety of sizes, at very reasonable fees.  As you might imagine, this is a service well loved by designers and decorators of historic homes.

Three decades of city manager files from 1922-1953.  Official documents from mundane topics to topics of national defense.  Bids, contractors, specifications, correspondence and more.

More recently?  Some as yet unarchived architectural plans from the newly defunct Redevelopment Agency.

A Trail of Art

On the walls of the research room are several photographs of murals and mosaics that were created during the Great Depression.

My favorite President is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for his role in the creation of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which put artists and craftspersons to work in a time when jobs were desperately needed.  I'm no history buff, but I've visited (and love) the beautiful lodges at Yosemite, Yellowstone and Mt. Hood. 

The local effect of the WPA can still be seen around Long Beach, in murals and mosaics at elementary, middle and high schools, the public library and the streets of downtown Long Beach.

A trail of art for me to follow.  I should note that I have notes on just a few murals and mosaics that I quickly gathered at the HSLB.  I will need to do some research to add to my notes.  I will track these on a separate page on this site, the . Please help by adding your own locations to the comments - one piece of artwork per comment, please.  Also, if you have additional information to provide, please reply to the first comment for that mural or mosaic.  Please help to keep the list clean by not adding duplicate entries.

Want more lemonade? 

And TOMORROW!!!!

Day 6: Mask Making with Semora McCampbell!

Tomorrow I will be making masks with Semora McCampbell, who holds workshops in Long Beach and around Southern California.

Items Needed

Nothing!

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.