Water has become a valuable California resource, and conservation is the buzz word today when it comes to water usage, but many would be surprised to learn that our area once had too much fresh water.
Don’t panic! This prediction has nothing to do with the tsunami generated by a volcano near Tonga, which the California coast and other areas of the world experienced on Jan. 15th. However, it does perhaps have ties to another tsunami that struck Tonga on April 30, 1919.
Professional auto racing through the streets of Long Beach has been a yearly tradition since 1975, but did you know the city’s first racetrack was established in 1889 at the west end of town south of Anaheim Street? There meets were held and horses trained.
Time passes, people die and their memories and experiences are mostly lost. Some may have left diaries, letters, artifacts, books and genealogical information with family who later felt these recollections from a past generation would best be preserved in libraries.
In my many books about Long Beach, I’ve tried to keep history alive by telling true stories about interesting people and events. Some historic tidbits I just haven’t been able to segue into the narrative, let me change that now.