In Spring 1939 the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce began a campaign to reclaim the city’s lawful ownership of the title “the safest beach in California.” The campaign included calling out both Manhattan Beach and Carpinteria who also claimed the title via newspaper articles, sternly-worded letters to editors making the claim that nobody had ever drowned in Seal Beach.
Was it true? Of course not, but facts were inconvenient things that didn’t always concern new Chamber of Commerce Secretary Fred Hickman who unleashed a campaign that was equal parts clever marketing, friendly rivalry, and creative embellishment. Here’s how Seal Beach made waves with a new pier, a splashy festival, and a cheeky claim that sparked a coastal controversy.
The “original” Seal Beach pier, built in 1906 then expanded and enhanced in 1916, was destroyed in a Pacific storm in 1935, leading to the bankruptcy of the Bayside Land Company which defaulted all their unsold property — well over half of the town’s original number of surveyed lots — to the Security Pacific Bank.
The city then bought land where the old pier had been and got a bond approved to buy the adjoining lots on either side (current Eisenhower Park) and applied for a government loan to reconstruct the Pier. They received it in 1938 and construction soon began.
The town’s Chamber of Commerce, dormant since a fire destroyed much the roller coaster and surrounding boardwalk in the early 1920s, reorganized in late 1938 and was determined to shed Seal Beach’s reputation as a haven for rum-running and gambling. With the new pier as a centerpiece, they aimed to rebrand the town as a family-friendly coastal paradise.
The new pier was scheduled to finished in April 1939 and the new Chamber intended to formally dedicate it on Friday May 19, and then celebrate it with a two-day festival on May 20 and 21. The festival included a welcome parade, a formal dedication ceremony, a kids pet parade, a fishing contest and a revived Bathing Beauty Parade, and a number of aquatic oriented competitions.
But rather than waiting for the festival to generate good news for the town, two of the Chamber leaders wanted to get a head start on the good PR. These men were newly hired Chamber Secretary Fred Hickman and realtor Phillip C. Norton who had recently optioned the balance of the old Bayside Land Company. In a letter to the Chamber and City Council, Norton noted that Manhattan Beach had signs proclaiming it to be California’s safest beach, a claim first made by Seal Beach going back to 1906. Hickman jumped in by initiating a sternly worded letter campaign and a “motto battle” with Manhattan Beach and Carpinteria (and eventually even Huntington Beach), for title to California’s safest beach.
Ads going back to 1913 touted safety of the local beaches. “No Life Guards Need Apply” And the 1939 postcard shown above even said not one drowning in the town’s history. Bold? Yes. True? Not quite. Drownings had occurred, but Hickman treated facts as minor roadblocks in his campaign to drum up excitement for the pier’s grand opening. But in subsequent literature and brochures, they qualified it – no reports of drownings over the last seven years, no calls for lifeguards in 21 years.
The “feud” only last a couple weeks , and was soon replaced by the Chamber’s newest press release, announcing that the campaign to name the town’s upcoming festival had been won by Mrs. Aimee Zehender who came up with the winning entry — the Seal Beachcomber Festival. (The Post and Wave also gave a shout out to Ruth Meissner for her motto “Come and Play Between the Bays.”
The Beachcomber festival was so successful that the town and Chamber would host even bigger three-day festivals in 1940 and 1941 until World War II prevented holding the event. Below are some of the new group of photos we obtained and scanned that show some of the marketing and events of the May 1939 Pier dedication and celebration.
