Long Beach, California is a port city 23 miles south of downtown Los Angeles along the coast in southern Los Angeles County. The Port of Long Beach is one of the largest shipping ports in the world and the second largest port in the United States behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles. Long Beach has a population of 469,450, which makes it the seventh most populous city in California.
Spanish explorers first arrived in the area of present-day Long Beach in the 16th century. In 1784, the king of Spain gave a land grant called Rancho Los Nietos to a Spanish soldier who subsequently divided the ranch into Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos. In 1843, Jonathan Temple, who moved to the area from New England, bought Rancho Los Cerritos and developed a prosperous cattle ranch.
In 1866, Jonathan Temple sold his ranch to a sheep-raising company based in Northern California who hired Jotham Bixby to manage the property. Bixby sold 4,000 acres of the ranch in 1880 to William E. Willmore. Willmore wanted to create a farming community, but when this failed, Willmore sold his land to the Long Beach Land and Water Company. The company named the land Long Beach, and in 1897, Long Beach was officially incorporated.
Long Beach developed into a seaside resort until the oil industry, the naval shipyard, and the commercial Port of Long Beach took over as the economic base of the city. Long Beach became known as an oil town when oil was discovered in the Long Beach Oil Field in 1921, which became the largest oil-producing field in the world at the time. Other oil fields were found in Long Beach and in surrounding areas, including offshore.
As the Long Beach oil industry declined over the years, other industries developed. Manufacturing industries involving aircraft, electronic equipment, precision metals, automotive parts, and more have found a home in Long Beach. The Port of Long Beach is a significant employer in the city. 1 in 5 containers that flow into all U.S. ports flow into the Port of Long Beach. Port of Long Beach-related employment accounts for 1 in 5 jobs in Long Beach and 2.6 million jobs in the U.S. Nearly $200 billion in product flow into the Port of Long Beach each year.
Long Beach still has plenty of attractions for tourists to visit despite its industrial image. The Queen Mary is the most popular attraction in Long Beach. It is a 200-foot long ocean liner, which makes it longer than the Titanic, and it was used to transport troops during WWII. The Queen Mary is permanently docked in Long Beach and is used as a hotel and a maritime museum.
The Aquarium of the Pacific is a short distance from the Queen Mary and features close to 13,000 animals from various regions of the Pacific. It has three permanent galleries and an interactive shark lagoon. The Aquarium of the Pacific was rated the second favorite family destination in the Los Angeles area behind Disneyland.
Long Beach has over 90 parks covering over 3,100 acres throughout the city. Rancho Los Cerritos and Rancho Los Alamitos are two of the historic parks in Long Beach that are on the land that was the original Rancho Los Nietos Spanish land grant. Many of the parks feature bike trails, campgrounds, picnic areas, archery ranges, lakes, streams, and forested areas. The city of Long Beach has won several awards for its park management from the National Recreation and Park Association.
Long Beach is an active sports town thanks to its year-round mild Mediterranean climate. The warm, dry summers and cool, damp winters allow you to enjoy a variety of outdoor activities and sports. The biggest annual event in the city is the IndyCar Long Beach Grand Prix, which occurs every April. The annual Long Beach Marathon is held in October and is a qualifying marathon for the Boston Marathon. Long Beach will be the site of many events during the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, including water polo, triathlon, sailing, and handball.
If you are a resident of Long Beach, you probably like to enjoy all the outdoor sites and activities the city has to offer. If you do not enjoy doing yard work, then let Lawn Love take care of your yard for you. Lawn Love offers a variety of lawn care services that can meet your needs at a reasonable price. Go out and play golf or go sailing and let Lawn Care take care of your property.
