Larry Strawther A valuable tool for any history buff are the the Sanborn Maps. Originally created to assess fire insurance liability in urbanized areas in the United States, the maps are now seen by historians, genealogists, sociologists, preservationists and even city planners as a valuable guide to tracking the growth of a town, state or country. The … Read more
Before they were channeled in high concrete walls, the San Gabriel, Los Angeles, Santa Ana Rivers as well as Coyote Creek used to frequently flood during heavy rains. More often than one might think, these rains were enough to cause the rivers to change courses, only to later revert back during another storm. The Santa … Read more
To the left is a late 1896 USGS map showing the lower portion of “the Downey” quadrangle, the upper portion of the Bolsa quadrangle and the west portion of the Anaheim quadrangle, but mainly focusing on Rancho Los Alamitos and the surrounding area. The sugar factory would be constructed later that year but the early … Read more
The most prominent family in the growth and development of the Long Beach and West Orange County area were the Bixbys. The family’s “patriarch” of sorts was Lewellyn Bixby who first came to California in 1850 for the Gold Rush but soon joined with his cousins Thomas and Benjamin Flint to switch to mercantilism and … Read more
Note: this article is a work in progress. I have come across a number of articles and bios on Los Al Race Track founder Frank Vessels, but much of the information is regurgitated and unverified legend, not to mention often conflicting. So this is an ongoing attempt to sift the fact from the legend — … Read more
The following was from the City of Los Alamitos’ August 1963 newsletter to its residents. Why Industry? Recently, the City has taken issue with the Anaheim Union High School District and the Los Alamitos Elementary School District on the location of school sites within industrially zoned land. The question is often asked , why are … Read more
18 JUN 1897 – Land of Sunshine: A Magazine of California and the Southwest. p42- One of the busiest men and the same time the pleasantest in all Southern California is Frank J. Capitain of the Alamitos Land Co., which together with the Alamitos Sugar Co. has within twelve months laid out the town of … Read more
You’d have to be a hermit or living jn the Bin Laden compound to be oblivious to the recent John Moorlach inspired local conversation about Rossmoor, Los Alamitos, and Seal Beach and “Super-city”, annexation, sphere of influence. shared powers The issue has motivated a number of people to speak up. Some of them actually knew … Read more
A number of interesting facts about the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory can be discerned from this U.S. Government report on the factory and how it might be applicable to raising revenue in the new U.S. territory of the Philippines. 1906 – Revenue for the Philippine Islands: Hearings Before The Committee on the Philippines of the … Read more
Besides having the first sugar beet factory in Orange County, Los Alamitos also had one if its first dairy farms. The factory went out of business in 1926, but dairys stuck around until the early 1960s. The first local dairy was owned by Alois (Louis) Denn, a Swiss emigrant who began operating a cheese dairy … Read more