A Few Historic Sites in Long Beach

Long Beach is full of it's own historic sites, places that have historical ties to the "idea" of LB and of the Southland. Our fair city has it's sordid tales covered by a facade of Art Deco and Miami pink and eggshell blue.

Well, not everything's Art Deco. (I plan on a post about the Art Deco in Long Beach specifically and the Southland generally (the second time I've used that phrase today). The Art Deco wave was triggered by an earthquake.)

With this post I have just a trio of pictures of places that are very close to our apartment and have a history that I've yet to fully uncover.

The first is a place I've posted about briefly before; the Broadlind Hotel.

It's named for the streets at the corner on which it sits; Broadway and Linden. It's the largest example, and one of only two or three in the area, of the Renaissance revival style. Note the large arches and beautifully landscaped palms.



I'm not sure why, but I really enjoy this building. I used to visit the coffee shop that lived in the bottom floor of the Boradlind to work on this blog and read. Their coffee wasn't that great, and Sipology, as it was called, is now closed. The space is vacant for the time being.

I take lots of pictures of the Broadlind.

This is the Cherry Ave Lifegaurd Station. It was built in the '30s, and eventually moved to it's final position. It's a cool spot seen from above at the Bluffs.



This is one of the first buildings with large spaces that were converted into lofts. The Kress family seem to have lofts all around the nation. Whether all the properties with the Kress name are connected remains to be seen, the fact that this loft-living building was a precursor to the "artist-loft" trend that swept New York City decades later. These lofts were made available in the '30s.



I'll be adding some other historic sites in the future. Just for you, my fair readers, as I learn about the Southland, I'll share with you.