Don't Know Beach About History: Short Histories of Long Beach

Long Beach Public Library

In this new local history podcast, Long Beach Public Library explores the fascinating--and sometimes unbelievable--stories that have helped make Long Beach the great and unique city it is. Buckle up! This is not your grandmother's local history podcast!

  1. Murder on the Beach! Long Beach in 1899

    May 28

    Murder on the Beach! Long Beach in 1899

    Old‑timey Long Beach in 1899 was booming with bicycles, electricity, tent cities, and tasty waves—not to mention a headline‑grabbing murder that stunned the tiny new town. Join us as we explore the wild early days of the “Queen of the Beaches” and the murder that shook it.

    22 min
  2. Roy Beebe and His Incredible "Cosmic Ray" Machine!: The 1940s Health Scam Guru Who Shook Up Long Beach

    11/21/2023

    Roy Beebe and His Incredible "Cosmic Ray" Machine!: The 1940s Health Scam Guru Who Shook Up Long Beach

    Each day in the late 1940s, thousands of sick people visited the residential Long Beach home of Roy Beebe, a self-styled "scientist" whose homemade "cosmic ray" machine was said to cure all of mankind's ills. Beebe's "cosmic ray" laboratory and its growing army of true believers made national news as a normally quiet Long Beach neighborhood was overrun with thousands of desperate patients seeking treatment from the mysterious machine. Was it all a scam?  Join us, won't you?

    47 min
  3. The Spruce Goose! Howard Hughes in Long Beach 1947

    10/31/2023

    The Spruce Goose! Howard Hughes in Long Beach 1947

    With a wingspan as wide as a football field, the Spruce Goose was the largest plane ever built.   The craft—designed by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes and made out of wood—was intended for use in WWII, but the plane wasn't finished until after the war was already over.  Under intense pressure from the government to show results, and still recovering from a major crash of his own, Hughes took the Spruce Goose out for its one and only test flight in Long Beach harbor in November 1947.  Join us, won't you?

    42 min
  4. Minerva's Mailbag! 1920s Letters from Young Women in Long Beach

    10/03/2023

    Minerva's Mailbag! 1920s Letters from Young Women in Long Beach

    In 1923, the Long Beach Press began an advice column—Minerva's Mailbag, later changed to Tell It to Mary—geared toward the young women of Long Beach. What problems were vexing the teen girls and emerging adult women of Long Beach?  Join us for an absolutely terrif discussion about flappers, dating, petting, loneliness, and upturned gender norms in a hotsy-totsy, yet topsy-turvy, time of rapid change in Long Beach.

    47 min
  5. The Babbitt Murders of 1924! Part Two

    09/19/2023

    The Babbitt Murders of 1924! Part Two

    It's money, murder, and madness in old timey Long Beach as our case goes to trial!  Join us for the final installment of this tale of greed, guns, drugs, ice cream, oil scams, Charlie Chaplin, and Ponzi schemes among the upper class in Long Beach's golden age!

    54 min
  6. The Babbitt Murders of 1924! Part One

    09/05/2023

    The Babbitt Murders of 1924! Part One

    Did a prominent Long Beach businessman get away with killing his wife and his business partner?  Probably!  Join us for a tale of greed, guns, drugs, ice cream, and con games as we deep-dive into a case of murder most foul among the elite business class in Long Beach's golden age!

    47 min
  7. Elvis in Long Beach 1956!

    08/22/2023

    Elvis in Long Beach 1956!

    In June 1956, just days after his infamous hip-thrusting performance on the Milton Berle Show, young rocker Elvis Presley came to Long Beach to play the Municipal Auditorium and a near-riot broke out.  What did Long Beach teens and grown-ups think of Elvis and this new dangerous thing called rock and roll?

    39 min
  8. Tiger Girl Murder! Part Two

    03/13/2021

    Tiger Girl Murder! Part Two

    On July 12, 1922, two young women spent the day in a Long Beach speakeasy, drinking and commiserating about their unfaithful husbands.  That evening, on a remote road in Los Angeles, one of those women would beat a romantic rival to death with a hammer.  The brutal  murder case became one of Southern California's very first trials of the century, with the accused becoming the object of almost cult-like fascination in the public.

    30 min
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About

In this new local history podcast, Long Beach Public Library explores the fascinating--and sometimes unbelievable--stories that have helped make Long Beach the great and unique city it is. Buckle up! This is not your grandmother's local history podcast!

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