Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city located in southern Los Angeles County, California, on the Pacific coast. The Port of Long Beach is one of the busiest sea ports in the world.

Its location is 33°47' North, 118°10' West, about 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 170.6 km² (65.9 mi²). 130.6 km² (50.4 mi²) of it is land and 40.0 km² (15.4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 23.42% water. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 461,522. It is the fifth largest city in California and the second largest in Los Angeles County. Long Beach is also the largest U.S. city that is not a county seat. While some consider Long Beach the largest suburb in the United States, it has very few characteristics of a suburb, apart from its location, and most consider it a central city.

According to the 2000 US Census, Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse large city in the United States. For example, Long Beach has the largest population of Cambodians outside of Cambodia, and the area along Anaheim St. is sometimes called "Cambodia Town". There are also sizable populations of Blacks, Mexicans, Salvadorians and other Central Americans, Filipinos, Vietnamese and other Asians [1]. There is a small population of Pacific Islanders in Long Beach and the surrounding communities, especially Samoans. There is also significant population of gays and lesbians, with many gay-owned businesses along Broadway, 2nd Street and 4th Street between downtown and Belmont Shore.

The R.M.S. Queen Mary has been located in Long Beach since her retirement and now serves as a hotel and tourist attraction. The Aquarium of the Pacific, a world-class research facility, is a popular tourist destination. The Long Beach Grand Prix, an annual Champ Car race, takes place on city streets near the Convention Center and is one of the largest Grand Prix events in the world. Long Beach is the site of a large community college; California State University, Long Beach; the headquarters of the California State University system; and a Veterans Affairs hospital.

Signal Hill is an incorporated city surrounded entirely by Long Beach.

The area was originally occupied by the Tongva people who lived in a rancheria named Tibahangna. Along with other Tongva villages, it disappeared in the mid-1800s.

The Rancho los Cerritos was divided from the larger Rancho Los Nietos, which had been granted by the King of Spain to a mulatto soldier, Manuel Nieto. Rancho Los Cerritos was bought 1843 by John Temple, a Yankee who had come to California in 1827. Soon after he built what is now known as the "Los Cerritos Ranch House" an adobe which still stands and is a National Historic Landmark. Temple created a thriving cattle ranch and prospered, becoming the wealthiest man in Los Angeles County. Both Temple and his ranch house played important local roles in the Mexican American War.

Meanwhile, on an island in the San Pedro Bay, Mormon pioneers made an abortive attempt to establish a colony (as part of Brigham Young's plan to establish a continuous chain of settlements from the Pacific to Salt Lake).

Jotham Bixby, the "Father of Long Beach", purchased the Rancho Los Cerritos in 1866 and converted it to sheep ranching. In the 1870s Bixby sold an average of 200,000 pounds of wool annually. In 1880, Bixby sold 4,000 acres (16 km²) of the Rancho los Cerritos to William E. Willmore, who subdivided it in hopes of creating a farm community, Willmore City. He failed and was bought out by the "Long Beach Land and Water Company." They changed the name of the community to "Long Beach", which was incorporated as a city in 1888. When Bixby died in 1916 the remaining 3,500 acres (14 km²) of Rancho los Cerritos was subdivided into the neighborhoods of Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and part of the city of Signal Hill.

The town grew as a seaside resort (The Pike was one of the most famous beachside amusement parks on the West coast from 1910 until the 1960's) and then as an oil, Navy, and port town. The town was once referred to as "Iowa by the sea".

The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that caused significant damage to the city and surrounding areas. Most of the damage occurred in unreinforced masonry buildings, especially schools. 120 people died in this earthquake.

Long Beach used to have a sizable Japanese-American population mostly working in the fish canneries on Terminal Island and small truck farms in the area, but with intermarriage and other factors, it is now less than 1% of the population of Long Beach. There is still a Japanese Community Center and a Japanese Buddhist Church in Long Beach.

The early silent film industry in Long Beach
One of the places where the film industry started in Southern California was in Long Beach. Balboa Amusement Producing Company, also known as Balboa Studios, was located at Sixth Street and Alamitos Avenue, and they used 11 acres (45,000 m²) on Signal Hill for outdoor locations. Silent movie stars who lived in Long Beach included Fatty Arbuckle and Theda Bara. The 1917 film Cleopatra, starring Theda Bara, was filmied at the Dominguez Slough just west of Long Beach, and Moses parted the Red Sea for Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 Black & White version of "The Ten Commandments" on the flat seashore of Seal Beach, southeast of Long Beach.

Sports
The Long Beach Grand Prix in April is the single largest event in Long Beach. It started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race on the streets of downtown, and became a Formula One the following year. Since 1984 it has been a Champ Car event. During the same week as the Grand Prix, there are also Trans-Am, and Toyota Atlantic races, plus an Historic Grand Prix features pre-1990 cars, and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race.

Long Beach is home to the Long Beach Ice Dogs minor-league (ECHL) hockey team. The Ice Dogs play their home games at the Long Beach Sports Arena. The city is also home to a minor league baseball team called the Long Beach Armada who play in the independent Golden Baseball League. The minor league basketball team nicknamed the Long Beach Jam play in the American Basketball Association (ABA).

The Southern California Summer Pro League is a showcase for current and prospective NBA basketball players, including recent draft picks, current NBA players working on their skills and conditioning, and international professionals hoping to become NBA players. The league plays at the Pyramid (a pyramid-shaped gym) on the Long Beach State campus during July.

Since its inception in August 1964, the Congressional Cup has grown into one of the major international sailing events. Now held in April, it is the only grade 1 match race regatta held in the United States. The one-on-one race format is the same as the America's Cup, and many of the winners of the Congressional Cup have gone on to win the America's Cup as well.

In July, there is the annual Catalina Ski Race, which starts from Long Beach Harbor and goes to Catalina Island and back to complete a 100 km (62 mile) circuit. This race has been held annually since 1948 and features skiers from around the world.

During the two Olympics held in Los Angeles, Long Beach has hosted a number of the competitions, including rowing events in the Marine Stadium, sailing events off the coast of Long Beach, volleyball in the Long Beach Sports Arena, and archery at El Dorado Regional Park. For the 1984 Summer Olympics, Long Beach hosted yachting, volleyball, fencing and archery competitions. For the 1932 Summer Olympics, Long Beach hosted the rowing competition. The Belmont Plaza Pool hosted U.S. Olympic swimming trials in 1968, 1976, and 2004.

Blair Field in Long Beach, besides hosting numerous American Legion baseball, Connie Mack baseball, high school, junior college, college, minor league and major league spring training exhibition baseball games, has also been host of six MTV Rock & Jock softball games, and has been the filming location for numerous film, TV and commercial productions.

Long Beach is the childhood home of tennis legend Billie Jean King and eight-time National League batting champion and longtime San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn.

2004 Summer Olympics gold medal winning beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor graduated from California State University, Long Beach (where she won a national championship and several other awards), and currently resides in Long Beach.

Famous people born in Long Beach
James Blaylock: fantasy/science fiction author
Jeff Burroughs: Baseball player, 1974 American League MVP and Little League World Series Championship coach
Bobby Burgess: one the original Mouseketeers
Nicolas Cage: actor
Eva LaRue Callahan: soap opera actress
Percy Daggs III: UPN's Veronica Mars
William E. Dannemeyer: Orange County politician
Zack de la Rocha rapper
Bo Derek: actress
Daz Dillinger: rapper
Nate Dogg: rapper
Snoop Dogg: rapper
John Dykstra: 1978 Visual Effects Oscar Winner (for Star Wars)
Warren G.: rapper
Spike Jones: bandleader and comedian
Sally Kellerman: actress
Billie Jean King: tennis player
William Joseph Levada, current Pro-Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Roman Catholic Church
Dan Lungren: Republican politician
Willie McGinest: USC and New England Patriots linebacker - Long Beach Poly HS
Michelle Phillips: singer and actress
Sheldon Rampton: editor of PR Watch
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen: actress
Anthony Zerbe: actor