Rose Park in Long Beach, CA

The Rose Park neighborhood in Long Beach was a subdivision of the old Rancho Los Alamitos property done by the Alamitos Land Company. The assets of the Alamitos Land Company were made up of the third of Rancho Los Alamitos that went to the J. Bixby & Co.

Houses started popping up in the Rose Park neighborhood around 1905. To gain some historical perspective, that was 9 years before World War 1 started and two years after the Ford Motor Company incorporated. Five years later in 1910 the Alamitos Land Company would donate the iconic circular park that is associated with this historic district’s name. As I understand it the park is not named after rose flowers that may have been planted in the park, but instead for the rose family who had property in the neighborhood.

I think there are a lot of folks who will find it fascinating that many of the houses in the area were mail order houses purchased through the Sears catalog. I am surprised that Home Depot doesn’t sell do it yourself houses.

A bit after the Rose Park area was developed Alamitos Land Company built the first Sears store in Long Beach. That was in 1928 five years before the big 1933 Long Beach Earthquake.

I never saw the original Sears building but I did grow up with part of the original Bixby built Sears building in my life. My parents and grandparents lived through the 1933 earthquake and I have heard a lot of stories about that time. In fact they camped out in my uncle’s backyard under tarps hung over the clotheslines. This same uncle salvaged bricks from the Sears building and made them into a patio and fireplace. Even as a child loved the rustic good looks of those bricks and I found the story about them quite fascinating. As I remember those bricks had a historic story even before the earthquake, after the earthquake they were really a part of history.

Since this website is connected with my Television show I wanted to mention how important 1928 was in what was then a new electronic media. 1928 was the year that Television really got started. 1928 is when the Federal Radio Commission issued the first television license. It is also the year that the first color television was invented. Regularly scheduled television programming also began in The United States during this year. I don’t know which is better television or sliced bread? Wait a minute, sliced bread was developed in 1928 too.

Rose Park is a lovely little neighborhood park with a wonderful restored craftsman style gazebo. If you receive my newsletter you will have read that I had a friend who lived in this area. I always liked the historic beauty of the Rose Park area and the interesting people who call this part of Long Beach home.

Rose Park is a historic neighborhood so there are certain rules about doing home improvements that all local residents need to be aware of. If you live in a historic house you may want to contact city planning before you start your home improvement project.

The Rose Park neighborhood in Long Beach was a subdivision of the old Rancho Los Alamitos property done by the Alamitos Land Company. The assets of the Alamitos Land Company were made up of the third of Rancho Los Alamitos that went to the J. Bixby & Co.

Houses started popping up in the Rose Park neighborhood around 1905. To gain some historical perspective, that was 9 years before World War 1 started and two years after the Ford Motor Company incorporated. Five years later in 1910 the Alamitos Land Company would donate the iconic circular park that is associated with this historic district’s name. As I understand it the park is not named after rose flowers that may have been planted in the park, but instead for the rose family who had property in the neighborhood.

I think there are a lot of folks who will find it fascinating that many of the houses in the area were mail order houses purchased through the Sears catalog. I am surprised that Home Depot doesn’t sell do it yourself houses.

A bit after the Rose Park area was developed Alamitos Land Company built the first Sears store in Long Beach. That was in 1928 five years before the big 1933 Long Beach Earthquake.

I never saw the original Sears building but I did grow up with part of the original Bixby built Sears building in my life. My parents and grandparents lived through the 1933 earthquake and I have heard a lot of stories about that time. In fact they camped out in my uncle’s yard under tarps hung over the clotheslines. This same uncle salvaged bricks from the Sears building and made them into a patio and fireplace. Even as a child loved the rustic good looks of those bricks and I found the story about them quite fascinating. As I remember those bricks had a historic story even before the earthquake, after the earthquake they were really a part of history.

Since this website is connected with my Television show I wanted to mention how important 1928 was in what was then a new electronic media. 1928 was the year that Television really got started. 1928 is when the Federal Radio Commission issued the first television license. It is also the year that the first color television was invented. Regularly scheduled television programming also began in The United States during this year. I don’t know which is better television or sliced bread? Wait a minute, sliced bread was developed in 1928 too.

Rose Park is a lovely little neighborhood park with a wonderful restored craftsman style gazebo. If you receive my newsletter you will have read that I had a friend who lived in this area. I always liked the historic beauty of the Rose Park area and the interesting people who call this part of Long Beach home.

Rose Park is a historic neighborhood so there are certain rules about doing home improvements that all local residents need to be aware of. If you live in a historic house you may want to contact city planning before you start your home improvement project.

You can learn more about Long Beach and Southern California history by watching “My On The Road With Andrew” we’re going back into production