Down on the Farm ... in Long Beach

Farm-to-table has become a popular method for food service merchandising. Did some research to see if Long Beach has ever, or is currently providing locally-grown ingredients to serve up at home or city eateries.

According to information from Long Beach Grows, www.longbeachgrows.org, and area interviews, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Long Beach was known for crops like sugar beets and for livestock, including sheep and some cattle. Farming was a significant part of the city’s economy before it became more urbanized.

Several portions of Signal Hill and the Zaferia, Bixby Knolls and Belmont Heights neighborhoods of Long Beach had citrus orchards, corn fields, poultry farms and dairy and cattle ranches. An ostrich farm, supplying items for the fashion industry as well as the food industry, operated on Long Beach Boulevard in the early 1900s.

The Zaferia neighborhood, near the intersection of Anaheim and Redondo Streets had many small farms, and residents who worked in the agricultural areas of Rancho Los Alamitos. The Bixby Knolls and Los Altos neighborhoods remained agricultural until the 1920s.

Long Beach had a history with citrus farming, with large tracts of citrus groves growing on the slopes of Signal Hill until the mid-20th century. While the commercial citrus industry declined after World War II due to development.

People who didn’t have the time to grow their own, but wanted to purchase locally-grown products could shop at the Long Beach municipal market, called a “farmers market” today, from 1913 to 1973.The Woman’s City Club of Long Beach, assisted by the Ebell Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Long Beach Realty board go the market going. According to the Long Beach Post, Squire DuRee was the market’s first manager, presiding over a grand opening on March 23, 1913, with thousands of people shopping along a stretch of Pacific Avenue from Ocean to Broadway alongside Pacific Park (now Lincoln Park). The municipal market, opened several days a week, remained a Long Beach “happening” until the 1970s, when the current civic center area was developed.

 Long Beach continues to maintain some of its agricultural endeavors. Long Beach Organic LBO) was founded by local environmentalist Captain Charles Moore, also known for discovering the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The nonprofit operates nine community gardens around the city, using vacant lots for residents to grow their own produce. LBO also offers gardening workshops, volunteer opportunities for scout troops, and internships, and donates produce to alleviate food insecurity.

Farm Lot 59, located at 2714 California Avenue, was established in 2010 by Sasha Kanno. It is a nonprofit urban farm that grows and sells fresh cut flowers to support its fruit and vegetable crops that are donated to local food pantries. The seasonal flower stand sells bouquets, wreaths, and flower seeds, and the farm hosts regular tours, classes, yoga sessions, and farm-to-table dinners. The farm demonstrates a small-scale model of regenerative agriculture using current and best practices and has a traditional greenhouse and two USDA-funded high tunnel specialty greenhouses used for season extension. The farm’s name comes from the 185 numbered farm lots sold in the late 19th century and later subdivided into residential lots, except for Lot 59, which remained unused due to its unusual topography.

Organic Harvest Gardens, owned by Chef and UC-certified Master Gardener Rod Dodd, is an urban farm in north Long Beach, located at 6751 Atlantic Ave. The farm supplies produce to local restaurants, raises poultry and livestock, donates to local food banks and organizations working to address food insecurity, and serves as an educational resource for local students. Farm dinners, open to the public, help to provide an opportunity for farm tours and to taste dishes created with ingredients grown on site

Long Beach Mushrooms is a specialty grower, located in Long Beach, selling products at farmers markets from Santa Monica to Huntington Beach, as well as at the farm. Located at 1659 Obispo Avenue in Signal Hill, owners, Justin and Maria grow their unique and varied mushroom crop using local, sustainable farming techniques. According to the farm’s website, “some of the most respected chefs and restaurants in Southern California are our customers, as are our neighbors and friends.”

In season, customers can visit Sante Fe Strawberries, located at 3535 Sante Fe Avenue, and pick their own bucket of strawberries. Using land leased from Southern California Edison, Sante Fe Strawberries has a decades-long legacy of selling fresh berries to Long Beach and surrounding communities.

There are ways to create your own Long Beach agriculture story, by signed up for a plot in a community garden. Take some time on the Long Beach Community Garden Association website https://www.lbcg.org/ or send an email, lbcg.membership@gmail.com, for an overview of kitchen farm opportunities.

For a bit of living agricultural history, visit Rancho Los Alamitos. Rancho Los Alamitos houses a variety of livestock representative of the early 20th-century ranching era in Long Beach. Currently, animals such as horses, goats, sheep, mules, donkeys, rabbits, ducks, and chickens help to show how the rancho supported different types of working animals during the Bixby ranching era.

Please email the author at foodprof2@gmail.com with ideas for future columns or for health or nutrition questions.