More than 100 years ago, Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian mechanical engineer, came to America and developed the first successful automatic water heater. That early success marked the beginning of a tradition of innovation and value that led to the introduction of RUUD heating and air conditioning equipment in the 1950s.

The 1968 through-arch Gerald Desmond bridge was designed by Moffatt & Nichol Engineers and was constructed by Bethlehem Steel as a replacement for the World War II-era pontoon bridge that connect Long Beach to Terminal Island. Gerald Desmond served as City Attorney for Long Beach and played a significant role in obtaining tideland oil funds which helped finance the bridge. Desmond died in office at age 48 of kidney cancer. One year after Desmond's death in January 1964, ground-breaking for the construction of the new bridge occurred on October 19, 1965, and it was completed in June 1968. Desmond's son, also named Gerald, sank the final "golden" bolt.

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From their website, the Varden Hotel, a Downtown Long Beach Boutique Hotel, has a rich and eccentric history, which makes it a true downtown Long Beach Landmark. Originally built in 1929, the 35-room Varden Hotel has been a prominent visual feature of downtown Long Beach for 80 years. Named after a colorful and eccentric circus performer who horded jewels, Dolly Varden lived in San Jose, but had an admirer who lived in Long Beach, and wanted her closer. The legend states that Dolly Varden’s admirer was a wealthy man, somehow related to the Bixby family. He bought the hotel for her and she lived on the top floor in a penthouse. Dolly Varden died in the 1950’s and is buried next to her lover near San Francisco. The 1935 sign on the roof of the hotel was given city landmark status in 1995. The sign’s landmark status was partially granted based upon the message on the sign, evoking the nostalgic flavor of Long Beach’s past as a prominent beach resort town. The remaining basis for landmark status is its silhouette and shape, typeface of the letters, and the use of neon and metal supporting struts. These are all typical of “thirties signs,” and therefore, historical significance.

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From their website, the Varden Hotel, a Downtown Long Beach Boutique Hotel, has a rich and eccentric history, which makes it a true downtown Long Beach Landmark. Originally built in 1929, the 35-room Varden Hotel has been a prominent visual feature of downtown Long Beach for 80 years. Named after a colorful and eccentric circus performer who horded jewels, Dolly Varden lived in San Jose, but had an admirer who lived in Long Beach, and wanted her closer. The legend states that Dolly Varden’s admirer was a wealthy man, somehow related to the Bixby family. He bought the hotel for her and she lived on the top floor in a penthouse. Dolly Varden died in the 1950’s and is buried next to her lover near San Francisco. The 1935 sign on the roof of the hotel was given city landmark status in 1995. The sign’s landmark status was partially granted based upon the message on the sign, evoking the nostalgic flavor of Long Beach’s past as a prominent beach resort town. The remaining basis for landmark status is its silhouette and shape, typeface of the letters, and the use of neon and metal supporting struts. These are all typical of “thirties signs,” and therefore, historical significance.

From their website, the Varden Hotel, a Downtown Long Beach Boutique Hotel, has a rich and eccentric history, which makes it a true downtown Long Beach Landmark. Originally built in 1929, the 35-room Varden Hotel has been a prominent visual feature of downtown Long Beach for 80 years. Named after a colorful and eccentric circus performer who horded jewels, Dolly Varden lived in San Jose, but had an admirer who lived in Long Beach, and wanted her closer. The legend states that Dolly Varden’s admirer was a wealthy man, somehow related to the Bixby family. He bought the hotel for her and she lived on the top floor in a penthouse. Dolly Varden died in the 1950’s and is buried next to her lover near San Francisco. The 1935 sign on the roof of the hotel was given city landmark status in 1995. The sign’s landmark status was partially granted based upon the message on the sign, evoking the nostalgic flavor of Long Beach’s past as a prominent beach resort town. The remaining basis for landmark status is its silhouette and shape, typeface of the letters, and the use of neon and metal supporting struts. These are all typical of “thirties signs,” and therefore, historical significance.

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The Walker Building in Long Beach, CA, a Historic Landmark, was built in 1929 and designed by Architects Meyer and Holler. Originally a Marti’s Department Store, this building, located in the heart of the city’s retail district later because Walker’s Department Store before being converted to a multi-use building including residential lofts (the purpose of my photographic visit).

The Walker Building in Long Beach, CA, a Historic Landmark, was built in 1929 and designed by Architects Meyer and Holler. Originally a Marti’s Department Store, this building, located in the heart of the city’s retail district later because Walker’s Department Store before being converted to a multi-use building including residential lofts (the purpose of my photographic visit).

A place you call home...beautiful, inviting, and welcoming...

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The graceful three-masted schooner American Pride (red sails) was built in 1941, originally as a two-masted “schooner-dragger” and launched as the “Virginia”. She spent over forty years commercially fishing the Grand Banks and George’s Banks. Her career spanned the New Englandports of New Bedford and Gloucester in Massachusetts, Rockland in Maine. She was a working fishing boat, spending weeks at sea in search of Cod, Haddock, Flounder, and Ocean Perch. From 1968 to 1986 she was known as the “Lady in Blue”, named after a prayer, and was captained by Sam and Paul Frontiero, father & son who fished out of Gloucester. In 1986, she was completely rebuilt in Thomaston, Maine, and certified by the United States Coast Guard. The restoration included adding a third mast, watertight bulkheads, new deck, bulwarks, interior, rigging, machinery, etc. She was renamed the “Natalie Todd”, and operated as a charter boat out of Bar Harbor, Maine. In October of 1996, she was purchased by the Children’s Maritime Foundation, and began her historic 7,500 mile sail through the Panama Canal to her new home in Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach, California.

The SSV Tole Mour is a 156 ft (48 m) schooner and sail training vessel operating in the Channel Islands of California, off the West Coast of the United States. Built by the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound to withstand the extreme conditions of the South Pacific, she is extremely seaworthy and meets or exceeds all of the United States Coast Guard’s regulations as a Sailing School Vessel, while offering luxurious accommodations in comparison to other tall ships. At 229 gross registered tons she is the largest active tall ship on the West Coast. The Tole Mour was originally commissioned by the Marimed Foundation of Hawai’i in 1988 as a self-contained primary health care support vessel, operating in the US trust territory protectorate of the Marshall Islands. The name of the ship was selected by a competition of Marshall Islands school children, and means ‘A Gift of Life and Health’ in the Marshallese language. With onboard medical, dental and ophthalmological offices, the Tole Mour provided medical services to over 15,000 islanders over a period of 4 years, until the Marshallese government commissioned their own fleet of medical delivery vessels and the Tole Mour returned to Hawai’i to serve other purposes.

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The graceful three-masted schooner American Pride (red sails) was built in 1941, originally as a two-masted “schooner-dragger” and launched as the “Virginia”. She spent over forty years commercially fishing the Grand Banks and George’s Banks. Her career spanned the New Englandports of New Bedford and Gloucester in Massachusetts, Rockland in Maine. She was a working fishing boat, spending weeks at sea in search of Cod, Haddock, Flounder, and Ocean Perch. From 1968 to 1986 she was known as the “Lady in Blue”, named after a prayer, and was captained by Sam and Paul Frontiero, father & son who fished out of Gloucester. In 1986, she was completely rebuilt in Thomaston, Maine, and certified by the United States Coast Guard. The restoration included adding a third mast, watertight bulkheads, new deck, bulwarks, interior, rigging, machinery, etc. She was renamed the “Natalie Todd”, and operated as a charter boat out of Bar Harbor, Maine. In October of 1996, she was purchased by the Children’s Maritime Foundation, and began her historic 7,500 mile sail through the Panama Canal to her new home in Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach, California.

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The graceful three-masted schooner American Pride (red sails) was built in 1941, originally as a two-masted “schooner-dragger” and launched as the “Virginia”. She spent over forty years commercially fishing the Grand Banks and George’s Banks. Her career spanned the New Englandports of New Bedford and Gloucester in Massachusetts, Rockland in Maine. She was a working fishing boat, spending weeks at sea in search of Cod, Haddock, Flounder, and Ocean Perch. From 1968 to 1986 she was known as the “Lady in Blue”, named after a prayer, and was captained by Sam and Paul Frontiero, father & son who fished out of Gloucester. In 1986, she was completely rebuilt in Thomaston, Maine, and certified by the United States Coast Guard. The restoration included adding a third mast, watertight bulkheads, new deck, bulwarks, interior, rigging, machinery, etc. She was renamed the “Natalie Todd”, and operated as a charter boat out of Bar Harbor, Maine. In October of 1996, she was purchased by the Children’s Maritime Foundation, and began her historic 7,500 mile sail through the Panama Canal to her new home in Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach, California.