Tag:
Long Beach Lost
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The gentleman’s club that opened with a five-day long party and bankruptcy
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The municipal auditorium that hosted everyone from Judy Garland to Elvis Presley
The Long Beach Municipal Auditorium was 8,000-person exhibit hall that would host everyone from Elvis Presley to Judy Garland.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: Bill Viola’s death reminds us we once owned the world’s most prominent collection of video art
Following complications with Alzheimer's, famed and pioneering video artist Bill Viola died—reminding us we (literally) gave away an important collection of art.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The funky, weird ‘worm in a sock’ that was The Loop in DTLB
Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings—like the former Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, spaces, and cultural happenings that have have largely been erased, including the forgotten tales attached to existing places and things.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The mid-mod masterpiece that was the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool
Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings—like the former Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool, spaces, and cultural happenings that have have largely been erased, including the forgotten tales attached to existing places and things.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: When the waves brought avid surfers and competitions to our shores
In this part of Long Beach Lost, we explore Long Beach surfing—something that might be completely strange to think of now. But Long Beach was, at one point, one of the most sought-after early era surf spots along the West Coast with its six-foot swells that earned it the moniker of "Queen of the Beaches."
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: Club Sylvia, North Long Beach’s queer-fully odd, into-the-wee-hours drag bar
In this part of Long Beach Lost, we explore the history of Club Sylvia, nestled at the corner of 61st Street and Cherry Avenue in North Long Beach. It was the headquarters for drag queens—and for good reason.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The glorious, sad history of the late modern architectural masterpiece everyone hated
Seemingly uninviting and rubbing shoulders with the Brutalist architectural movement, the former Long Beach City Hall that opened in 1978 was one that was built by a dream team that included mid-mod master Edward Killingsworth and prolific Long Beach architect Don Gibbs.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The mid-mod County Courthouse building that was demolished
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing places. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: With Hard Rock Hotel going on top of Jergins Tunnel, a look into the past
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing places. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: DTLB’s ‘Gray Ghost’ was an art deco masterpiece that could have been a library
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing places. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: Ivanhoe Room, the medieval-themed restaurant that once sat below the Lafayette
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing or nonexistent things and places.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The forgotten LB origins of one the most notorious white power gangs, PEN1
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing or nonexistent things and places.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The oft forgotten tale behind Long Beach’s ‘resort’ oil drilling islands
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings and spaces that have either been demolished or were never even in existence—including the forgotten tales attached to existing places. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The Jungle, DTLB’s adult playground for ‘immorality and sexual deviation’
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The Buffums’ department store in Downtown
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The cringey and strange tale of how Lucille’s Smokehouse created a fictitious Black woman for their brand
In a move that echoes the controversy surrounding Quaker Oats's creation of Aunt Jemima, Lucille's proudly admitted to creating Lucille Buchanan, a fictitious Black woman from South Carolina which inspired their barbecue. Come the BLM protests of 2020, the restaurant removed the entire story without a word.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The three roller coasters that once graced our shoreline at the Pike
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The ambitious Shoreline Village revamp that never came to be
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolishe—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: Famed mid-mod SeaPort Marina Hotel was once the gem of the Shore
My ongoing series, Long Beach Lost, was launched to examine buildings, places, and things that have either been demolished, are set to be demolished, or are in motion to possibly be demolished—or were never even in existence. This is not a preservationist series but rather a historical series that will help keep a record of our architectural, cultural, and spatial history.
Culture & Commentary
From cinema to porn: How Downtown Long Beach was once the epicenter of filmmaking and theaters
Long before Hollywood became, well, Hollywood—Long Beach was destined to become the cinematic center of the world, with a ton of studios and theaters dominating the cinema scene in SoCal—that is, until oil moved in.
Culture & Commentary
Long Beach Lost: The story of the glass house on the shore of Long Beach
Part of POW! WOW! Long Beach's 2021 collection of art, the temporary sculpture has been greeting passersby on the shore of Long Beach with its array of colors, reflections, and hope.
