The historic home north of the end of Park Circle Drive in Long Beach is the Green-Rankin-Bembridge House. The Queen Anne Victorian house with the corner turret and wraparound porch was built in 1906 for a wealthy banker, Stephen Green. The three-story house was the long-time home of musician and teacher Dorothy Bembridge from 1919, when her father, Thomas Rankin purchased the house, for most of her adult life; she was murdered here in 1999. Long Beach Heritage has owned the house since 2000; they restored the house and opened it to tours. The house was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and has been called the best-preserved Queen Anne style home in Long Beach. Docent-led tours are scheduled for Tuesdays and the 4th Saturdays of the month at 1:30 and 2:30, for a $5 fee.
Located across the street from the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in the East Village neighborhood of Long Beach, the Museum of Latin American Art is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American art. It was founded in 1996 and has since then doubled its size, adding a sculpture garden and more space for its permanent collection, which features works of ranging from Tamayo and Matta to Cruz-Diez, Los Carpinteros and Tunga.
Founded by long time member, Herb Bramley, the Long Beach Firefighter’s Museum collects, preserves and displays many items from the rich history of the Long Beach Fire Department which was founded in 1897. The museum displays numerous pieces of antique fire equipment, to include vintage fire trucks (human and horse drawn), hoses, ladders, and uniforms. The museum is staffed by dedicated volunteers and is open every Wednesday from 8:00-12:00 and the second Saturday of every month from 10:00-3:00.
Opened in 1956, Blair Field is a historic baseball stadium located in Recreation Park in Long Beach, California. It is the home of the Long Beach State Baseball team, the 49ers (aka the "dirtbags"), which is considered one of the best programs in the country; it has has produced the most current Major League Baseball players than any other university in the country. The field is named after Frank Blair, who was a sports editor for the Long Beach Press-Telegram for three decades. Before becoming Blair field M.L.B games were played here during the late 1920s.
Long Beach Marine Stadium was the first manmade rowing course in the United States. It was built in 1932 for the Summer Olympics of that year which held rowing events. Because of the width of the course, four teams were able to race at the same time “eliminating additional heats and allowing oarsmen to enter the finals at the peak of their form.” (1) In 1968 and 1976, the U.S. men’s Olympic rowing trials were held here as well as the women’s Olympic rowing trials in 1984. The site remains open today and still serves National and Olympic teams.
This Buddhist monastery was originally established as a convent for Carmelite nuns. After forty years, the nuns who lived at the convent were relocated and the property was sold to the the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, a Buddhist community and monastery based in Talmadge, California. This Buddhist organization asked that the previous owners leave the statue of the Virgin Mary which still graces the front of the building. Recognizing that the new owners also worship Mary as Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Catholic nuns accommodated the request. Guanyin Bodhisattva is a Buddhist saint who brings peace and love to people. Many visitors of multiple faiths come to pray Mother Maria and bring fresh flowers her to honor her.
Originally called the Markwell Building, when it was built in 1919, it was renamed the Jergins Trust Building. The building was renamed because it was purchased by the Jergins Oil Company in 1926 (SDSU Library and Digital Collections). The architects of this building and the State Theatre inside it were Harvey H. Lochridge and Kirkland Cutter. Originally four stories, three stories and a penthouse were added and designed by Lochridge. The building reached ten stories tall and stood until 1988, when it was demolished in the interest of making the land more valuable to "potential buyers and developers" despite great protest from the city.
Completed in 1929, this Gothic-style tower remains one of Long Beach's most recognizable buildings. At the time of its construction, it was sixteen stories tall which earned it the distinction of being the second-tallest building in Southern California. The building housed apartments and a hotel, surviving the Great Depression years. Today, the building consists of condominiums and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Breakers Hotel opened in 1926 as a luxury oceanfront resort hotel. The building has gone through multiple changes of ownership and has been renamed at various times the Hilton, the Wilton, and the Breakers International Hotel. In January 1964, the hotel was sold at auction to pay off the hotel's creditors and became a retirement home. In 1997, the Sky Room, originally developed by Conrad Hilton in 1938, was restored and re-opened. The building is currently listed for sale and is home to the Sky Room at the top of the building and a retirement home.
The building on the northwest corner of Pine Avenue and West First Street in Long Beach was the First National Bank of Long Beach. The clock tower atop the corner of the six-story, brick and steel, French Renaissance Revival style building has been a Long Beach visual landmark since 1907. Due to mergers and sales, the office building has had multiple names, including Bank of America and Enloe Building. Many of the exterior details were obscured by later modernizations but were restored in the 1980s. The building became a National Register of Historic Places entry in 1990 for its distinctive architectural style. It is the only pre-World War I commercial building over three stories tall in downtown Long Beach that survives intact. The ground floor commercial spaces now hold L'Opera (a northern Italian restaurant established in 1990) and Alegria (a nightclub).
Launched in 1934, the RMS Queen Mary is the last remaining of the great North Atlantic ocean liners built in the 1930s. The vessel was built in Southampton, England by the Cunard Line company and sailed for the first time in 1936. Despite the effects of the Great Depression, the company made the Queen Mary as luxurious as possible. However, the Depression delayed construction a bit. During WWII, Queen Mary served as an American troop transport ship delivering American soldiers. She returned to passenger service after the war and sailed until 1967 when age and the onset of jet airplanes started to take over trans-Atlantic travel. She docked in Long Beach on December 9 of that year and was officially retired. Given her long and distinguished history, she was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The ship is now operating as a hotel and museum along with other varieties of purposes.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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Begin on Park Circle Drive at one of the oldest homes in Long Beach and drive to other historic buildings or sites, including a monastery, two museums, and a rowing course for the 1932 Olympics. End at the famous ship, the RMS Queen Mary, docked at Long Beach.
