Editing Long Beach, California (section)

===Incorporation===
[[File:Long Beach Pier 1905.png|thumb|Long Beach pier, 1905]]
[[File:Panoramic view of the Long Beach pier, Los Angeles, 1925 (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|Long Beach pier, 1925]]
The City of Long Beach was officially incorporated in 1897. The town grew as a [[seaside resort]] with light agricultural uses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.longbeachgrows.org/LongBeachGrows/Long_Beachs_Agricultural_Past.html |title=Long Beach's Agricultural Past: A Brief Summary of Long Beach's Ag History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515184338/http://www.longbeachgrows.org/LongBeachGrows/Long_Beachs_Agricultural_Past.html |archive-date=May 15, 2011 }}</ref> [[The Pike]] was the most famous beachside amusement zone on the West Coast from 1902 until 1969; it offered bathers food, games and rides, such at the ''Sky Wheel'' dual [[Ferris wheel]] and [[The Pike#Cyclone Racer|''Cyclone Racer'']] [[roller coaster]]. Gradually the oil industry, Navy shipyard and facilities and port became the mainstays of the city. In the 1950s it was referred to as "Iowa by the sea", due to a large influx of people from that and other [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] states. Huge picnics for migrants from each state were a popular annual event in Long Beach until the 1960s.
Another Bixby cousin, John W. Bixby, was influential in the city. After first working for his cousins at Los Cerritos, J.W. Bixby leased land at [[Rancho Los Alamitos]]. He put together a group: banker [[I.W. Hellman]], Llewellyn and Jotham Bixby, and him, to purchase the rancho. In addition to bringing innovative farming methods to the Alamitos (which under [[Abel Stearns]] in the late 1850s and early 1860s was once the largest cattle ranch in the US), J.W. Bixby began the development of the oceanfront property near the city's picturesque bluffs. Under the name Alamitos Land Company, J.W. Bixby named the streets and laid out the parks of his new city. This area would include Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and Naples; it soon became a thriving community of its own. J.W. Bixby died in 1888 of apparent [[appendicitis]]. The Rancho Los Alamitos property was split up, with Hellman getting the southern third, Jotham and Llewellyn, the northern third, and J.W. Bixby's widow and heirs keeping the central third. The Alamitos townsite was kept as a separate entity, but at first, it was primarily run by Llewellyn and Jotham Bixby, although I.W, Hellman (who had the largest single share) had a significant veto power, an influence made even stronger as the J.W. Bixby heirs began to side with Hellman more and more.

When Jotham Bixby died in 1916, the remaining {{convert|3,500|acre|km2}} of Rancho Los Cerritos was subdivided into the neighborhoods of [[Bixby Knolls]], [[California Heights, Long Beach, California|California Heights]], [[Los Cerritos, Long Beach, California|Los Cerritos]], [[North Long Beach, Long Beach, California|North Long Beach]] and part of the city of [[Signal Hill, California|Signal Hill]].

Pine Avenue near 4th became the center of a large shopping district. Besides upscale [[Buffums]] (1912; expanded 1926),<ref>{{cite news |title=New Buffums' Store Opens; 5th Under Way |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56018627/new-buffums-pomona-and-lb-history/ |publisher=Long Beach Independent |date=October 2, 1969 |page=9}}</ref> in 1929 alone [[Barker Brothers]], the [[Marti's|Hugh A. Marti Co.]], and [[Wise Company]] and [[Famous Department Store|Famous]] department stores built large new stores,<ref>{{cite news |title=$7 Million Spent for Building Downtown in 1929 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-nov-04-1959-4370500/ |access-date=March 19, 2024 |work=Press-Telegram |publisher=Press-Telegram (reprinted in November 4, 1959, edition) |date=December 31, 1929 |location=Long Beach, California |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Long Beach Marks Record-Breaking Era in Construction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56020026/long-beach-marks-record-breaking-era-in/ |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 7, 1929}}</ref> [[Fifth Street Store#Walker's Long Beach|Walker's]] (1933), and nearby at American and 5th, [[Sears]] (1928) and [[Montgomery Ward]] (1929). It would remain popular until suburban malls sprung up starting in the 1950s. (see also: [[History of Retail in Southern California]])

Oil was discovered in 1921 on Signal Hill, which split off as a separately incorporated city shortly afterward. The discovery of the [[Long Beach Oil Field]], brought in by the [[oil gusher|gusher]] at the [[Alamitos oil well|Alamitos oil well#1]], made Long Beach a major oil producer; in the 1920s the field was the most productive in the world.<ref name="MMS">Schmitt, R. J., Dugan, J. E., and M. R. Adamson. "Industrial Activity and Its Socioeconomic Impacts:
Oil and Three Coastal California Counties." MMS OCS Study 2002-049. Coastal Research Center, Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California. MMS Cooperative Agreement Number 14-35-01-00-CA-31603. 244 pages; p. 47.</ref> In 1932, the even larger [[Wilmington Oil Field]], fourth-largest in the United States, and which is mostly in Long Beach, was developed, contributing to the city's fame in the 1930s as an oil town.<ref name="annual2007">{{cite web | title = Oil and Gas Statistics: 2007 Annual Report | work = California Department of Conservation | date = December 31, 2007 | url = ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_reports/2007/0102stats_07.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190412020957/ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_reports/2007/0102stats_07.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = April 12, 2019 | access-date = August 25, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/a-history-of-housing-practices-in-long-beach|title=A History of Housing Practices in Long Beach|date=September 13, 2017|work=KCET|access-date=November 14, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114060805/https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/a-history-of-housing-practices-in-long-beach|archive-date=November 14, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The M6.4 [[1933 Long Beach earthquake]] caused significant damage to the city and surrounding areas, killing a total of 120 people. Most of the damage occurred in [[unreinforced masonry building]]s, especially schools. [[Pacific Bible Seminary]] (now known as [[Hope International University]]) was forced to move classes out of First Christian Church of Long Beach and into a small local home due to damage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.hiu.edu/pbs/pbs.htm|title=Pacific Bible Seminary|work=hiu.edu|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331064031/http://library.hiu.edu/pbs/pbs.htm|archive-date=March 31, 2012}}</ref>
[[File:LongBeachFord.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]'s [[Long Beach Assembly]] in 1930]]
[[File:Woman worker in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant1942.jpg|thumb|Worker in the [[Douglas Aircraft Company]] plant, Long Beach, 1942. Photo by [[Alfred T. Palmer]].|left]]
[[File:Douglas Aircraft plant, Long Beach, CA.tiff|thumb|[[C-54]] transport planes being built in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Long Beach during World War II<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II'', p. 47, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref>]]
The [[Ford Motor Company]] built a factory called [[Long Beach Assembly]] at the then address in 1929 as "700 Henry Ford Avenue, Long Beach" where the factory began building the [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|Ford Model A]]. Production of Ford vehicles continued after the war until 1960, when the plant was closed due to a fire,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fordmotorhistory.com/factories/long_beach/index.php|title=Ford Long Beach Assembly Plant|work=fordmotorhistory.com|access-date=July 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150313131315/http://fordmotorhistory.com/factories/long_beach/index.php|archive-date=March 13, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> and January 1991 when the factory was demolished partially due to [[Smog#Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley|air quality remediation efforts]]. Ford had earlier opened a factory in Los Angeles at 12th Street and Olive, with a later factory built at East Seventh Street and Santa Fe Avenue after 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca1600/ca1604/data/ca1604data.pdf |title=page 13 |access-date=August 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904094158/http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/ca/ca1600/ca1604/data/ca1604data.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Come 1938, the creation of Housing Authorities for both the City and County of Los Angeles were complete — and North Long Beach was to be home to the County Authority's first order of business: the Carmelitos Housing Project, Southern California's first affordable housing complex.<ref name="auto" />