History of Newspapers in Long Beach

Since 1888, the year Long Beach first incorporated as a city, residents have kept up on local events by reading a newspaper. Beginning that year, the Long Beach Journal was published every Friday. In 1890, it was sold and its name changed to The Breaker. In 1893 it was joined by The Eye, which was soon the towns first daily paper. In 1897 the competition heated up when the Press began bi-weekly editions. The little town couldnt support three papers; they barely lasted out the year. Only the Press survived. In 1902 the Press Publishing Company was formed by forty of the towns business and professional leaders, and they began publishing the paper daily. A competitor, Frank C. Roberts, arrived in December, 1904, and began publishing the Daily Telegram. When the decade ended, Long Beach was declared the fastest growing city in the United States. The citys growth continued, and in 1911 William and Charles Prisk, in partnership with A. J. Hoskins, bought the Press. They were experienced newspapermen; William owned the Grass Valley Union and Charles and Hoskins owned Pasadenas Star News. When oil was discovered on Signal Hill in 1921, growth accelerated and a million dollar a month building boom began in Long Beach. In 1924, the Press moved into a new million dollar building at Sixth and Pine and merged with the Daily Telegram. The new paper was the Press-Telegram and by 1927 circulation reached 39,600. In 1923, the Long Beach Morning Sun debuted. The papers publishers printed special editions for San Pedro, Wilmington and Compton. When the Great Depression hit, it ran into trouble and, in 1932, was purchased by the Press-Telegram. In 1938, as Long Beach was emerging from the Depression, Lawrence A. Collins began the Independent as a free semi-weekly. By 1947, it was issued seven days a week. By 1950, Collins claimed it had the largest classified advertising section of any tabloid newspaper in the world. In 1952, Ridder Publications monopolized the local media when they purchased both the Independent and the Press-Telegram. At first, Ridder continued to publish separate morning (Independent) and evening (Press-Telegram) papers, but later consolidated them into the morning Independent Press-Telegram. In 1981, they dropped the name Independent from their masthead, and continued to publish the Press-Telegram as a morning daily. In 1974, Ridder Publications merged with Knight Newspapers, Inc. and became part of Knight-Ridder. Still later, Knight-Ridder sold their interests to the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (a division of newspaper conglomerate MediaNews Group). They donated their collection of archival newspapers to the Historical Society of Long Beach in 2011 followed by the microfilm collection in 2013.

Newspaper Collection Contributors

Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association Rich Archbold & the Press-Telegram
John Ahouse Lee Anderson Leslie & Randy Arrington William & Donna Bayless Greg Bombard Evan A. Braude & Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal Harold Brown Honorable George & Gloria Deukmejian Councilmember Gary & Dawna DeLong Fred Dunn Environ Architecture Evalyn M. Bauer Foundation Charles Fowler & Laurie Angel Lisa Hamner Honorable Bob Hight Lillian Kawasaki & Craig Carter Laura Killingsworth Dr. Geraldine Knatz Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, 4th District Jon Masterson Family Trust Victor & Patty McCarty Gerald Miller Marsha Naify Maureen Neeley Frank Newall Honorable Beverly ONeill Lou Palmer & Terry McAlpine Doug & Frieda Otto Richard Powers Melinda Roney Dave & Jenny Shlemmer Renee Simon The Sky Room Jean Bixby Smith Robert Smith Marion Stocking Dr. & Mrs. Raymond Sugiyama Judith VanderLans Zarzana Chiropratic, Inc.

Long Beach Newspapers

18972013

4260 A TLaNTIC AVENUE of Long Beach LONG BEaCH, CA 90807 HOURS: TUESDaY, WEDNESDaY, FRIDaY 1 5PM THURSDaY 1 7PM, SaTURDaY 11aM 5PM

Historical Society

elcome to the Long Beach Historical Newspaper Collection at the Historical Society of Long Beach (HSLB). This collection began when the Press-Telegram needed to find a permanent home for its bound volume newspapers (1897 1989) and its microfilm (1947 present) and asked the HSLB if it had space for it. As the collection grows with each new reel of microfilm, the HSLB is glad to be the steward of this unique collection long into the future. The collection of newspapers we received from the Press-Telegram includes its predecessor papers. Throughout the Newspaper Collection many years and volumes are missing. Its not surprising considering the number of owners and location changes over the 117 years represented. The collection also includes newspapers from other sources, including the Marina News and the Argus which came to us through members of the North Long Beach Community Action Group.

Accessing the Newspaper Collection

Complete an Appointment Application in person at the HSLB, 4260 Atlantic Avenue or via http://www.hslb.org. Email completed application to newspaper@hslb.org.

Whats In the Collection?

Not all years are complete. For an itemized list please visit our website at http://www.hslb.org or call 562.424.2220.

Reproduction Policies
1. Copies cannot be made of the bound volumes. No exceptions. 2. Researchers must purchase a new USB drive from the HSLB to download content from microfilm. No exceptions. 3. Photos and images found on the microfilm cannot be used for reproduction or commercial purposes.

The Breaker 1897

Long Beach Press 1902 1924 Daily Telegram 1904 1905 Long Beach Telegram + Long Beach Daily News 1923 1925 Argus 1924 1958 Press-Telegram 1924 1964; 1971; 1973; 1981; 1983 1989; 1947 2013 Microfilm Long Beach Independent 1938 1964; 1971 1939 1981 Microfilm Long Beach Sun 1925 1944 Long Beach Morning Sun 1924 1926 Southland Magazine 1949 1966 1948 1968 Microfilm

The partnership between the HSLB and the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association has been essential to securing and preserving the Newspaper Collection and in making it available to the public. Thanks to the LBNMHA, the Newspaper Collection has been inventoried, catalogued, shelved or placed in archival boxes, is accompanied by a timeline in the gallery, and can be accessed at a workstation with a microfilm viewer that can copy articles onto a portable drive. We are pleased to be part of making these important historical documents available to researchers and others who are interested in knowing more about the citys history as chronicled in its newspapers.

Long Beach Shopping News 1927 1928; 1932 1933; 1936 1938 Marina News 1956 1978 Impacto USA 2006 2011 Microfilm