The Long Beach train station, probably in the late 30's or early 40's.
Another view of the Long Beach City Hall complex.
Taken from the Palace Baths, looking East toward the Hotel Nassau. It appears the "boardwalk" may be concrete or 4 x 8 sheets of something in this photo.
This was an artist's rendering of what was to be the "new" Long Beach Hotel, to replace the original which was destroyed by fire in 1907. It was to stretch between Jackson (later Edwards) Blvd. and Riverside, on approximately the same site as the original building. The company went bankrupt before it could be finished, only the foundation was poured, parts of which were visible well into the 80's next to the old amusement center.
Kind of a grainy postcard image of the railroad station and City Hall to the left of it.
The caption reads "One of the bungalows now in course of construction at Long Beach, LI". This looks like one hell of a bungalow! I doubt this is in the West End !! Anyone recognize it for location purposes?
This is a rare West End real photo postcard view. This is most likely in the early to mid 1920's. ( if you look very closely, you will see horse drawn wagons on the streets!) We're are fairly confident that this was taken from the bell / lookout tower of the original West End firehouse, which still stands today at the NW corner of Alabama and Beech St. (I think the store is currently called "The Station". If you look on the roof of that building, you will see the old tower on top to this day. This photo was taken looking west, the largest building on the left side of Beech St., near the center of the photo, we think is the old Nautilus Theater building that stood at Tennessee and Beech before burning down. The low building to the left of it may be the old Lucky Twins building. Most of the other building are still standing today as bars, etc.., but I'm 300 miles away now and can't identify them without some in town help!
Submitted by Jimmy Holmes
This is another fairly uncommon West End postcard of the beach, probably around 1920 or 1930.
The American House and Garden Restaurant. It is possible this may be The Inn" near Tennesee and Beech ?? Does anyone know for sure ?? Roll your mouse over it to see a grainy, real photo image of it.
Swimming on the beach, probably in the 50's. The men have modern style suits on, instead of the older tank top models.
The Long Beach Bridge in 1924. The bridge opened in 1922, providing the first land route to the island. Prior to that, you had to get over by ferry or boat. There was actually a wooden foot bridge over the marshes prior to 1900, it is possible 1 auto could cross at a time.. more research needs to be done !
The Minrose Building, 3 E. Park Ave.,circa 1923. The artist would have been standing almost in front of Gino's Pizza when he painted this. I could make out signs for the Long Beach Times newspaper, Real Estate, Restaurant, Drugs, Meat & Poultry when I blew this up... The actual photo of this building is on page 5.
The Fuller Bldg., circa 1908. The "Fuller Block" was bewteen Riverside and LB Blvd, so it's a good bet this is where it stood. What the heck is the Cuban Flag doing flying in front of this building !!?? anybody know ???
The smoldering remains of the grand Long Beach Hotel, July 29, 1907.
I'm going to try something different here... To cut down on the work and hopefully speed up load time, rather than post each picture on the page, I'm going to post a description of it with a clickable link.. Click the description and another window will open with just that picture in it.. CLOSE THAT WINDOW TO RETURN HERE. I think I'll be able to keep the pictures a little bigger that way too.. hope it works.. we'll see.... enjoy.. and send me some pictures!
WOW! Check out this pier that was slated to be built, presumably as part of the hotel complex at left. I guess when the company went bankrupt they scaled it back and LB wound up with the Magnolia Blvd. pier! this image about 1908.
