Editing Seal Beach, California (section)

==History==

=== Indigenous ===
The [[Tongva]] village of [[Motuucheyngna]] was located in what is now Seal Beach in the area of the [[Los Cerritos Wetlands]]. It was part of the greater area of [[Puvungna]], which was a major ceremonial and regional trading center for the Tongva and [[Acjachemen]]. Villagers used ''[[te'aat]]s'' to travel out to villages on Pimu ([[Santa Catalina Island (California)|Santa Catalina Island]]) and other islands off the coast, now referred to as the [[Channel Islands (California)|Channel Islands]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewinnek |first=Elaine |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1226813397 |title=A people's guide to Orange County |date=2022 |others=Gustavo Arellano, Thuy Vo Dang |isbn=978-0-520-97155-4 |location=Oakland, California |pages=190 |oclc=1226813397}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |date=May 2020 |title=Tribal Cultural Landscape |url=https://intoloscerritoswetlands.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Section-3.15-Tribal-Cultural-Resources.pdf |journal=Tribal Cultural Resources |pages=7}}</ref> In 2003, a burial site of the village was disturbed in a {{convert|196|acre|ha|abbr=on|adj=on}} Seal Beach residential development, Hellman Ranch, that was met with opposition from the Tongva.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reyes |first=David |date=January 19, 2003 |title=Developer, Native Americans Are at Odds Over Burial Site |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jan-19-me-hellman19-story.html |access-date=December 28, 2022 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Anaheim Landing ===
Beginning in the mid-1860s, the eastern area of what is now Old Town Seal Beach became known as '''Anaheim Landing'''. A warehouse and wharf had been built on a small bay where Anaheim Creek emptied into the Pacific Ocean. It was established by farmers and merchants in the newly settled town of [[Anaheim]] who wanted a closer, more convenient port to ship the wine they were growing and also to receive items they needed to help build homes and buildings in their new town.<ref name=":0" />

For a few years Anaheim Landing came close to rivaling San Pedro for its volume of shipping, but the arrival of the railroad in Anaheim in 1875 made it easier to ship product via the rails than by hauling a wagon overland across {{convert|12 |miles}} of soft soil to the Landing. The beaches and surrounding rolling Anaheim Landing had by this time become popular as a getaway from hot summer days. Los Angeles newspapers talk of a permanent summer population of as many as 400 and even more on special days.<ref name=":0" />

The landing was also home to a number of fishing boats that plied the local fishing areas. This activity was written about by Nobel-prize winning author Henryk Sienkiewicz in a short essay, "The Cranes."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Seal Beach: A Brief History|last=Strawther|first=Larry|publisher=History Press|year=2014|location=Charleston, SC|pages=20–25}}</ref> The site of Anaheim Landing is now registered as a [[California Historical Landmark]].<ref name="CHL">{{cite ohp|219|Anaheim Landing|2012-10-11}}</ref>

In 1903 Los Angeles realtor Philip A. Stanton, very familiar with the area from his time selling land in Anaheim, and Huntington Beach and also from representing the local real estate interests of banker (and Pacific Electric Railroad co-owner) [[Isaias W. Hellman]], put together a syndicate to lay out the town of Bayside on the land between Anaheim Landing and [[Anaheim Bay]] and the eastern edge of [[Alamitos Bay]].<ref name="roots" />

=== Real estate development ===
The new town would be situated along the still not-announced [[Balboa Line]] of the Pacific Electric, which would run from Long Beach to Newport Beach.  As there was already a town called Bayside in Northern California (by Eureka), Stanton's group instead called their new town Bay City. Due to many factors—including competition from other beach resort areas (Long Beach, Redondo Beach and Venice/Ocean Park/Santa Monica), some national financial crises, and the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, which sent most investment dollars to the more lucrative rebuilding of San Francisco—Bay City failed miserably as a real estate investment.<ref name="roots" />

In 1913, Stanton optioned the land to real estate promoter Guy M. Rush, who invested in building a renovated pier with pavilions on either side. Rush also re-branded the town as Seal Beach and marketed it via postcards and advertisements around the country.  This too failed and by early 1915, Rush had let his options lapse.  In 1915 Stanton tried again, arranging to obtain some amusements from the closing San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition and rebuild them as part of new amusement area which would be called The Joy Zone.<ref name="roots" />

As part of this plan, the Bayside Land Company led a campaign to incorporate the town (October 27, 1915) and then had the new city council approve legal drinking in the town.  This made it different from [[the Pike]] at Long Beach, which was a "dry city."  The Joy Zone, a beach-side amusement park built in 1916, was the first in Orange County.<ref name="roots">{{cite news|title=From sin city roots to quiet enclave, Seal Beach considers its future at 100 years|date=October 17, 2015|first=Greg|last=Mellen|work=[[Orange County Register]]|url= http://www.ocregister.com/articles/beach-688015-seal-city.html}}</ref>  It achieved some brief popularity, but the US entry into [[World War I]] and the resulting restrictions on rubber and metal dramatically impacted the amusement area.

After the war, [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] impacted the town's value as an amusement resort. After 1920, the town's location on two bays, with many inlets to offload bootleg liquor, its small police department, and its location on the county line, allowed it to become a popular place for rumrunners, then gamblers. From 1928 to 1939, the town had as many as six gambling establishments on Main Street.  In addition, most of Southern California's famous gambling ships (''Johanna Smith, Rose Isle, Johanna Smith II, SS Caliente, SS Tango, Showboat, Mt. Baker'') operated off the Seal Beach, just over the line from Long Beach.<ref name=":1" />

With gambling being a misdemeanor, the trials were held in the town's municipal court and a Seal Beach jury never returned a guilty verdict, to the dismay of Orange County and Long Beach officials. But ''circa'' 1941, with significant pressure being put on the gamblers by State Attorney General [[Earl Warren]], most of the Seal Beach gambling and ships ended. Their absence was soon filled by a former Los Angeles police detective named William L. Robertson.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Seal Beach: A Brief History|last=Strawther|first=Larry|publisher=History Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-62619-489-2|location=Charleston, SC|pages=95–99, 106–112}}</ref>

=== World War II ===
In early 1944. during [[World War II]], the Navy purchased most of the land around Anaheim Landing to construct the [[United States Navy]]'s [[Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach]] for loading, unloading, and storing of ammunition for the [[U.S. Pacific Fleet|Pacific Fleet]], and especially those US Navy warships home-ported in [[Long Beach]] and [[San Diego]]. With closure of the [[Concord Naval Weapons Station]] in Northern California, it has become the primary source of munitions for a majority of the [[United States Pacific Fleet]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cnrsw.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/WPNSTA-Seal-Beach/ |title=Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach |website=www.cnic.navy.mil |access-date=October 15, 2008}}</ref>  The arrival of the Navy catalyzed a growth in population which eventually succeeded in shutting down Robertson's gambling operations.

Surfing has always had a presence in Seal Beach. Newspaper advertisements showing surfers were part of Guy M. Rush's "Seal Beach" campaign of 1913. The town hosted the mainland's first surfing competition—it was at a private gathering of the annual Minnesota Picnic. But its popularity really took off after the war with the arrival of legendary surfer Blackie August, who taught many of the local kids how to surf. August's son, Robert, was one of the pair of surfers featured in the classic surf film, ''Endless Summer''. Local legends Jack Haley and Mike Haley were the winners of the first two national surfing championships.

<gallery widths="230px" heights="190px">
Image:SealBeach-1920.jpg|Seal Beach amusement park, 1920.
File:Anaheim Landing aerial photo, Seal Beach, circa 1930s.jpg|Anaheim Landing aerial photo, circa 1930s
File:Anaheim Landing (P5470).jpg|Anaheim Landing 1891
</gallery>

===Mid to Late 20th century===
In 1962, Seal Beach opened [[Leisure World, Seal Beach, California|Leisure World]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leisure World |url=https://apeoplesguide.org/sites/leisure-world/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=A People's Guide |language=en-US}}</ref> one of the first age segregated communities in the U.S. that caters to people over 55. 

===21st century===
In 2002, a construction crew discovered the remnants of a large Tongva village and burial site while working on a project to construct a new gated community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=From City of Long Beach Staff |date= |title=Comments on the Coastal Commission Staff Report |url=https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2018/8/W15a/w15a-8-2018-correspondence.pdf#page=210 |access-date=May 14, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lewinnek |first1=Elaine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2j6xf5f |title=A People's Guide to Orange County |last2=Arellano |first2=Gustavo |last3=Vo Dang |first3=Thuy |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-29995-5 |edition=1 |volume=4|jstor=j.ctv2j6xf5f }}</ref> The Heron Pointe project was picketed by members of the Tongva tribe who successfully mitigated development in the area. The tribal community, alongside the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust, has continued to work to preserve the coastal environment. 

===2011 shooting===
{{Main|2011 Seal Beach shooting}}
The deadliest mass killing in Orange County history occurred in Seal Beach. On October 12, 2011, a [[mass shooting]] took place at the local Salon Meritage hair [[Beauty salon|salon]]. Eight people inside the salon and one person in the parking lot were shot, and only one victim survived.<ref>{{cite news|title=8 Slain in O.C.'S Deadliest Mass Killing (video)|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/business-321651-medical-beach.html?videos|access-date=October 13, 2011|newspaper=[[The Orange County Register]]|date=October 12, 2011}}</ref> The suspect in the shooting, 41-year-old Scott Evans Dekraai, was arrested without incident<ref name = "lat">[https://web.archive.org/web/20111013221125/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1013-seal-beach-shooting-20111013,0,5703976,full.story Gunman kills 8 at Seal Beach salon]. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', October 12, 2011.</ref><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15284053 California shooting: Eight killed at Seal Beach salon] [[BBC News]], October 13, 2011.</ref> and charged with eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.<ref>{{cite news|date=October 14, 2011|title=Seal Beach shootings: Death penalty sought|newspaper=[[The Orange County Register]]|url=http://www.ocregister.com/news/salon-321997-killing-beach.html|access-date=October 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923092452/https://www.ocregister.com/2011/10/16/seal-beach-shootings-death-penalty-sought/|archive-date=September 23, 2021}}</ref> Prior to the shooting, there had been only one murder in Seal Beach during the previous four years.<ref>{{cite news|title=8 Dead in O.C.'S Deadliest Mass Killing|url=http://www.ocregister.com/news/business-321651-medical-beach.html|access-date=October 12, 2011|newspaper=[[The Orange County Register]]|date=October 12, 2011}}</ref>