West Beach: The Forgotten Long Beach Neighborhood that transformed into The Jungle

[@Haiokbai]

Jesse you’re a great historian, love your voice and it’s easy to follow along. This was super interesting !!!! Loved the pictures. Please continue making these! Thank you

[@LongBeachCityCAJoe]

LB should preserve as much of it's history as possible. Instead, my hometown has been transformed into a hipster transplant haven.

[@-FishLove]

I think if anything the "hipsters" enjoy more quaint and historic areas. The real enemy is corporations and capitalists who raze culture to the ground to install all of the dead space that is downtown lb today.

[@Porsche996driver]

You kind of missed some key factors - THE NAVY LEFT! I can vaguely remember the early ‘70s my mom took me down to the Pike. Even then with the rides and carnival games it was just a shell. The old Buffums store downtown got less traffic. The Navy community supported everything ==> then they were all gone! So of course it all fell into disrepair. (There’s an old episode of Charlie’s Angels with a runaway boy filmed at The Pike.) People weren’t all dying for a place by the beach in those days. Building nice office buildings there was probably the best option. Thereafter came the Marina dredging and Parkers Lighthouse - that was all a huge project for another video ha. And don’t forget how the Long Beach Grand Prix really helped to get momentum for revitalization and a new beginning. We lost a lot of great buildings - but many still remain! Love Long Beach!

[@jessethelopez]

So, the Navy didn't start leaving until the 1990's. Well after the demise of West Beach and the development that was derived from the Redevelopment Agency's recommendations. As for the Pike, by the 1960's, the park was a shadow of its former self thanks to other seaside parks along the coast and a little thing called Disneyland. Hence it's rebranding in the 1950's as "Nu-Pike" which only prolonged the redevelopment that would eventually swallow whole the rest of the Pike area. It's a little ironic to say that making the area of West Beach into "nice office buildings" was the best option for the city, when just recently, the Union Bank building has been approved to be converted to apartment buildings as was the old GTE building across the way from Lincoln Park. Slowly, but surely, the area is being brought back to it's "West Beach" roots. Thank you for watching :)

[@blazeinbacc]

I wish they made the jungle into something other then hotels and high rises. It would be interesting to see something new and different in Long Beach

[@jessethelopez]

I wish the city would have kept one or two of the more elegant buildings like Venetian Square. Such is life 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@shawnamelva583]

I was stationed at the Naval Base and fell in love with Long Beach. It is major heartbreak to not see one building or one artifact from the base and also West Beach. At least I can drive up from San Diego to visit. Thanks for the history, instantly subscribed!

[@Andrea-nu7jw]

Wow that was awesome history. Please please 🙏 make more

[@HeyLongBeach]

Thank you so much for watching :) More are on the way!

[@melissacolver8550]

Anything but hotels and shopping. A new amusement park or updating the old pike would have been great. Wish I lived here back then.

[@Kim63146]

I agree with you. . The Pike was everything when I was growing up in the 70's. The Pike makes Long Beach. ❤️

[@rafaelis21]

This video for all people that loves this city are amazing. Connect us more with the real value of each place and makes us to know the real value of each piece and each site. Thanks Jesse for sharing this and hope could be more videos.

[@HeyLongBeach]

Thank you so much for watching Rafael 😊

[@deborahguidas4873]

I rember all that. When I first moved to long beach it was still there.

[@herbert92x]

Great video. Glad to see it redeveloped. What do you have on the 'Seaside' area of Long Beach west of the river?

[@DanStiel]

Hoping you might help... At 3:50 into watching this excellent video, I spotted an article on the front page of the September 23, 1963 issue of the Long Beach Independent newspaper titled "Coast Guard Rescues four - Boat in Ski Race Sunk by Sharks" - which described an attack of sharks on a competitor of the Catalina Ski Race. I was the volunteer media director for the Catalina Ski Race in the 1990s and never heard this story about the shark attack. So, I've been trying to track down a copy of this article, but couldn't find it anywhere. I was hoping you could give me some direction where you got the archival copy of the paper so I could share it with the Long Beach Boat & Ski Club members, which still hosts the race! Thanks in advance. Dan

[@dugtlr72]

I was born in 1972 Raised just north of Edison Elementary. I remember a lot of the building in this video.

[@veramann]

The parking spaces in that area is terrible today.

[@MissSarahe]

I live in one of the Hotels from the 1920s in this area

[@JigsawPuzzleConnection]

Wish there was no distracting annoying loud music going.

[@captlarry-3525]

Great!

[@khadijahbilal9325]

I wish they could have kept some of its history 😕

[@humpsandbumps3976]

Long Beach has no respect for its rich history.

[@danielnunez8412]

Grew up here 4st from pine all the way to Golden

[@tuskedbeast]

This is the story of working class beach property all over the US. Capitalism primarily, and population growth are the reasons for the changes. 62 year old here. Grew up in Venice, visited the Pike around 1970 and went to collage in Santa Cruz in 1980. Similar beachside transformations along similar timelines. I miss the old residents and don't relate to the new ones. Miss the old buildings.

[@dugtlr72]

I need some help, anyone remember the Pizza place that was at LB Plaza it was on the outside on LB Blvd.

[@dxmachina777]

Sbarros

[@longbeachhippy694]

Would have been great to turn this erea into a amusement park. After the Pike was taken down. 2022, parking lots and high rise crap.

[@-FishLove]

Yeah zero soul down there

[@butch3ful]

Thumbs up S uper interesting ! more like this please

[@HeyLongBeach]

Thank you for watching :)

[@thomastrout9997]

The "Jungle" may have been ugly but what occupies the space today could hardly be called beautiful. But I'm betting the tax revenue is 100 X what it used to be

[@HeyLongBeach]

You would be correct. Unfortunately, for 1970's Long Beach, this was the priority.

[@katrachosps]

It later bacame Old BST town cholo barrio I remember how ghetto it was.

[@divinejustice536]

🌞

[@moiliosis5423]

Sigh, what Long Beach would’ve been w/out the war 🥲

[@chrisignacio1791]

They should have left it the way it was..

[@mr.ckrisz1965]

Cedar 15

[@nakfx134]

Damn Jerry a snitch

[@jeannicoleon]

Gerry was a snitch

[@hombrelobomedia3503]

Redevelopment projects suck