Larry Strawther At 5pm today the Pike officially opened for business in Los Alamitos in the location where Mr. B’s and Casa Castillo have been feeding Los Alamitos and Rossmoor residents for years. The Pike is owned by Chris Reece, a former drummer of Social Distortion and founder of the original Pike – a retro bar at … Read more
After a year and a half of writing (and far longer than that for procrastination) yours truly has just turned in his final proof manuscript for our new book “Seal Beach: A Brief History” which will unleashed on the unsuspecting public at the end of March. It’s 224 pages covering Seal Beach’s early days … Read more
Technically, the first documented dedicated movie theater in the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor area was the Fox Theater which opened up in the Rossmoor Business Center in July 1964. I did, however, find that in 1919 the “Commercial Club” contracted to rent movies to show in the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory clubhouse — which was located where Green Street Interiors and … Read more
Although Seal Beach residents will not officially celebrate their village’s 100th birthday until Oct 1915, Seal Beach technically will turn 100 years old on July 17 of this year. It was on that day in 1913 when Bayside Land Company President (and Seal Beach founder) Philip A. Stanton officially “christened” his unincorporated community of Bay … Read more
Rossmoor resident recalls when Navy Jet landed in his backyard Burton Schild, an orthodontist, was one of Rossmoor’s original residents, owning a home on Yellowtail Drive that backed up to Los Alamitos Blvd (later changed to Seal Beach Blvd.). Now retired, last year Burton took a creative writing class at Long Beach State. Instructed to … Read more
People often ask me to confirm stories they have heard about Rossmoor. (No, it was not originally intended to be a nudist camp — that was somebody’s joke on Wikipedia.) A frequent question is about the origin of street names within the “Walled City.” I know some so I finally figured, why not put this … Read more
Having worked for a daily newspaper during my formative years and running my own small-town publication, I know that correct facts are often immaterial to a story. So keep that in mind as you read this article on Los Alamitos’ fifth anniversary. But there are some things of (verifiable) interest. From the Press-Telegram, March 3, … Read more
The Holiday season is full swing now– which means Youth Center Christmas tree sales at the Ganahl Parking Lot, Holiday Crafts sales, sports teams selling wreath and poinsettias, realtors driving Santa Claus through Rossmoor and Los Alamitos, students caroling at the some of the area’s senior citizen homes, family drives to check out the amazing … Read more
Fall and especially October is a big time for community fund-raising events – with Casa Youth Shelter (Sept. 29), Pathways for Independence (Oct. 6), St. Hedwig’s Autumnfest (Oct 12-14), The Taste for Los Al (Oct. 20), and Wings, Wheels and Rotors (Oct. 28) being held on consecutive weekends. But for a long time around here, … Read more
We received an inquiry last week (August 13, 2012) wondering if we were going to note the 70th anniversary of the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station, it having begun operations in August 1942.. This would certainly be a noteworthy achievement, but despite what is printed on some websites, August is not the base’s anniversary and … Read more