A small, hexagonal building in Long Beach got a programmatic makeover in about 1932, adding a metal and glass percolator on the roof, to become the Hot Cha Café. It was renamed Koffee Pot Café, but remained a coffee shop into the 1960s.
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George’s 50’s Diner in Long Beach was opened by George and Helen Alvarez in 1996. It originally opened in 1952 as Grisinger’s Drive-In. It was designed by Googie architect Wayne McAllister, who also designed the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank.
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From the time of its completion in 1929 through the mid-1950s, the sixteen-story Villa Riviera in Long Beach was the second-tallest building (only LA City Hall was taller), and the tallest private building, in Southern California.
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Bembridge House, considered the most ornate Victorian residence in Long Beach, was built by Stephen and Josephine Green in 1906. It was purchased by Thomas Rankin in 1919 and inherited by his children, Dorothy Bembridge & Neil Rankin.
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John Temple bought the land on which Rancho Los Cerritos was built and constructed the two-story Monterey-style adobe in 1844 for his cattle operation headquarters. Jotham Bixby lived with his family in the adobe from 1866 to 1881.
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Douglas Park started with the 1940 purchase of 200 acres by Donald Douglas and Carl Cover. Sale of the property in 2012 included an agreement to preserve the ‘Fly DC Jets’ sign, a Long Beach Historic Landmark since August 2016.
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