Lakewood Village, or simply known as ''The Village,'' is a neighborhood in the northeast portion of the city of

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. It is bordered on the west, north and east sides by the City of Lakewood. It is located south of

Del Amo Boulevard Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes t ...

, north of Carson Street, east of Lakewood Boulevard and west of Bellflower Boulevard.

History

Between 1869 and 1897, the Rancho Los Cerritos land skyrocketed in value - from $5,000 for the entire ranch in 1869, to $50 an acre in 1897—when the Bixby Investment Company sold to the brothers

William A. Clark William Andrews Clark Sr. (January 8, 1839March 2, 1925) was an American politician and entrepreneur, involved with mining, banking, and railroads. Biography Clark was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He moved with his family to Iowa in 1 ...

and J. Ross Clark of Montana. In 1897, the Clarks purchased 8,139 acres of rancho land for $405,000. The land extended from Signal Hill to Bellflower and from Cherry Avenue to the San Gabriel River. In 1904, the future sites of the City of Lakewood and of the Lakewood Village in the City of Long Beach came under the ownership of the Clarks' newly formed Montana Land Company. The farming operation was named "Montana Ranch", with 2,000 acres of the land devoted to sugar beets and the remainder of the acreage was devoted to raising alfalfa and to pasture for dairy cattle and sheep. When William A. Clark and his brother J. Ross Clark died (in 1925 and 1936 respectively), management of the Montana Ranch passed to J. Ross Clark's nephew, Clark J. Bonner, a Los Angeles insurance executive. When the Los Alamitos sugar mill closed in 1926, due to declining beet production, Bonner envisioned turning part of the Montana Ranch into an upper-middle-class suburb to take advantage of the local real estate boom due to the discovery of oil wells. The new subdivision was a leisurely commute from downtown Long Beach, removed from the smells and noise of the oil fields around Signal Hill, and 25 miles away from downtown Los Angeles. By the early 1930s, Bonner has filed his plans and turned to noted Charles B. Hopper to subdivide the land and sell house lots. In August 1932, the Los Angeles Times announced "Huge New Tract Launched; 9,000 Acre Development Near Los Alamitos Being Built Around Golf Course Project." It is suggested that Bonner selected the name "Lakewood" because 1) the land featured boggy remains of the former Bouton Lake, and 2) he named it after the winter resort of Lakewood, New Jersey where his uncle William A. Clark had built estates at the end of the 19th century. Several houses had been built in the rural area known as Lakewood Village. The houses were favored with a pleasant setting and the proximity of the Lakewood Country Club. It has been suggested that Bouton Lake, located on the golf course and formed in 1895 when drilling operations opened an artesian well, is the source for the name “Lakewood.” The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

began an era of profound change for the future Lakewood area. The Douglas Aircraft Company completed a massive defense plant and home for the Douglas workers were begun in what is now Lakewood Village. Yet even as the defense workers moved into their new homes, the fields between South Street and Lakewood Village remained empty. By 1949, most of the land comprising west Lakewood—some —had been purchased for nearly $9 million by Louis Boyar, Ben Weingart, and Mark Taper. From their experience as homebuilders in Long Beach and Norwalk, they knew that the Lakewood area was ready for planned development. Together, they formed the Lakewood Park Corporation and, with the financial assistance of the Prudential Insurance Company, began building the first of 17,000 new homes.

Setting

A number of architectural styles are found in this neighborhood, with styles including: English Tudor,

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

, Country, French Country, Medieval,

Ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...

, Spanish Colonial,

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

, Contemporary, Asian, Tropical/Tiki, Streamline Moderne/Art Deco, Craftsman, and many more. Lakewood Village is located in the center of the Lakewood/Long Beach area, and is close to the 91,

710 __NOTOC__ Year 710 ( DCCX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 710 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

, 605 and

405 __NOTOC__ Year 405 ( CDV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Anthemius (or, less frequently, year 1158 ''Ab ...

Freeways. Lakewood Village is part of the 90808 ZIP Code that also includes communities such as the El Dorado Park Estates, Los Altos, and Rancho Park Estates.

The Village Shoppes

Along Viking Way (the southeast corner of Lakewood Village). Since the 1950s, "Parkview Village" (originally known as "The Triangle") has included a collection of shops, restaurants, and service providers along Viking Way and Village Road in the heart of the residential community of Lakewood Village. The Village is located at the intersection of Bellflower Boulevard and Carson Street adjacent to Heartwell Park and the

Long Beach City College Long Beach City College (LBCC) is a public community college in Long Beach, California. It was established in 1927 and is divided into two campuses, the Liberal Arts Campus in Lakewood Village and the Pacific Coast Campus in central Long Beach ...

Liberal Arts Campus, and near

Long Beach Municipal Airport Long Beach Airport is a public airport three miles northeast of downtown Long Beach, in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is also called Daugherty Field, named after local aviator Earl Daugherty. The airport was an operating base ...

and Skylinks Golf Course. Parkview Village has the characteristics of an outdoor shopping "main street" with over and more than seventy businesses. Along Norse Way (the southwest corner of Lakewood Village). This shopping center, built in 1941, was originally used by the Douglas Aircraft Company workers. The Sunnyspot Diner, Bank of America, grocery store and ration stamp office have since left. It was the beginning of Lonnies Sporting Goods, Rex L. Hodges Real Estate and the First Lakewood Village Walk In Theater. Rexall Drugs and a malt shop are fond memories of early LBCC Students. A wide variety of stores and businesses are offered along this street. One can find several restaurants ranging from Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Greek, Mexican, and even Classic American food from Dale's Diner. These shops are located near the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard and Carson Street. Many of these businesses offer discounts to Boeing employees since Boeing is located just across the street. The shops are also near the

Liberal Arts Campus.

Schools

Part of the

Long Beach Unified School District The Long Beach Unified School District is a school district headquartered in Long Beach, California, United States. Established in 1885, Long Beach Unified School District now educates 81,000 students in 84 public schools in the cities of Lon ...

, this area's schools include Mark Twain Elementary School and Bancroft Middle School, both California Distinguished Elementary Schools. There are several Christian elementary schools at local churches in the Village. The area high school is Lakewood High School.

's Liberal Arts Campus is also located in the Village.

Notable residents

Ralph Luther Criswell Ralph Luther Criswell (October 12, 1861 – November 17, 1947) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for ten years in the early 20th century. He then became a special agent, or lobbyist, for the Colorado River Project that brought water to ...

, Los Angeles City Council member, 1925–27, and later a lobbyist for the Boulder Dam project *Barbara Boylan, lovely dancer from the Lawrence Welk Show is from Lakewood Village.

References