[JerellO]

Originally Posted by craigs

Long Beach did develop early on, as the following photos show. It was definitely one of the more built up areas in the Southland in the first decades of the 20th century. However, Long Beach suffered a major earthquake in 1933, so a lot of the city's oldest buildings were either destroyed or had to be pulled down because they were so badly damaged. Also, Long Beach's downtown and waterfront were extensively redeveloped over the decades and a lot of the older structures were replaced with newer buildings. That said, there are still some really great historic buildings left, both downtown and in the neighborhoods.

1920s

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1920s

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The Pike rollercoaster and downtown Long Beach with the oil derricks of Signal Hill in the backdrop, circa 1940:

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1946:

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And I can't fail to post a pic that includes both the Breakers Hotel (on the right) as well as the Villa Riviera residences (far down Ocean Boulevard in this pic), the latter being the best 1920s tower still standing in Long Beach:

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According to Wikipedia, at 277 ft. tall and 16 floors, Villa Riviera was the second-tallest building in Southern California from 1929 until the mid-1950s:

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As for San Pedro, I've only passed through a couple times on my way from Palos Verdes to Long Beach, but it seems to have its own downtown area and there's a waterfront park as well.

Wow very cool! I like that semicircular road into the water