"Very Long Beach" a Long Beach Travel Page by gilabrand

Reading the International Herald Tribune the other day, I came across a little news report about Long Beach. It wasn't exactly hot news. It was about a fire in Long Beach a hundred years ago - July 29, 1907, to be exact. Even the language evokes the olden days.

"More than 800 patrons at the Long Beach Hotel were rendered temporarily homeless by a fire which burned that structure to the ground early this morning. Trunks piled on the sand made dressing rooms where the very insufficient costumes worn in escaping were improved upon. Thieves ran riot among the baggage, but were caught in a trap of nature's making. Long Beach is an island. Before the thieves could escape by the first train leaving after the fire, the police searched every passenger and arrested a dozen waiters and otehrs whose pockets were found filled with jewelry, the property of the hotel patrons, worth $20,000. Eight persons were injured by jumping from the windows, a woman servant fatally. The flames spread and destroyed the Congregational Church, several cottages and the bathing pavilion. The loss is more than $1,000,000. Defective electric insulation is blamed."