Naples Walking Tours by Tom Poe

On this date in 1904, the Pacific Electric Railway ran this advertisement in the Los Angeles Times. This was only the second PE ad to mention the newly named Bay City and Anaheim Landing as destinations (The first ad was a holiday spread for Independence Day that ran in the July 3rd Los Angeles Times.) Transportation to Bay City and Alamitos Bay via Red Car was not even two months old at this point. The first passenger run to Anaheim Landing was on June 12th when the Long Beach to Newport line only continued to the Bolsa Chica Gun Club. On July 1st, service was extended to Huntington Beach. Easy and affordable beach holidays had become possible for thousands of inlanders.

PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR, UPTON SINCLAIR, LIVED ON THE PENINSULAIn December 1968, the Long Beach Independent noted that Pulitizer Prize winning author Upton Sinclair, most famous for his book entitled, The Jungle about the abuses of the meat packing industry around the turn of the century (1900), lived and wrote in Long Beach. His fictional work, Oil, used both Long Beach and Signal Hill as models of the industry in that day. He used this vehicle to show the corrupt... practices of some in the industry to curry favor with the local politicians and others in power. His home during this period was on the Peninsula in Long Beach abutting the Pacific Ocean on one side and Alamitos Bay on the other. Specifically, he lived at 10 58th Place from 1928 through 1930 but prior to that time, lived at another address on the Peninsula as he wrote Oil. Sinclair, who jealously guarded his privacy, spent considerable time doing research at Long Beach libraries but few patrons recognized him there. Although librarians knew him by sight, they did not divulge his identity, so the author was able to continue his research without interruption. See more

Early Alamitos Bay

BAYSIDE PEACE AND SERENITY! Gondola Getaway has captured that sentiment perfectly in their photo from today!

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING courtesy of John Sangmeister