Walk the path along the Naples canals in Long Beach on a quiet afternoon and you pass through more than a century of Southern California in a few blocks.
Category Archives: History
The stories behind Alamitos Bay, Naples Island, the Red Cars and the hydrobike.
27
Oct
Oct
Long before LA28, a lagoon at the top of Alamitos Bay hosted the 1932 Olympic rowing races. Here is the story of Marine Stadium, from its first regatta to its second Olympics.
23
Sep
Sep
Before Naples had its bridges and canal homes, it needed a way to get people there. That came from the Pacific Electric Red Cars, the railroad that helped sell a neighborhood, and you can still find traces of the line today.
09
Sep
Sep
How a duck-hunting marsh became Naples Island: Arthur Parsons’ canals, the Red Car, Olympic rowing at Marine Stadium, the Naples Sabot, the Frank House and decades of holiday lights on Alamitos Bay.
02
Sep
Sep
Riding a bicycle across the water sounds like a modern invention, but the idea is more than 150 years old. Here is how the pedal-powered boat went from a 19th-century curiosity to the hydrobikes you see on Alamitos Bay today.