Long Beach Library Local History: The West End

Join Librarian Eileen Pollis with special guests David Lieberman & family, Joe Ponte & Ann Evelyn Alterman. Let’s go back in time and indulge in enjoyable recollections of past events & famous West End places.

“The West End” Tibits

The West End Theatre was originally a barracks from World War I that was at Camp Upton. It was dismantled and brought to Long Beach by barge and delivered via Reynold Channel. The barracks was reassembled and became the West End Theatre later re-named the Nautilus.

The streets in the West End are wide and narrow. Lester Kappel told me that the wider streets had a center and that the narrower streets were used for the horse and buggy’s that were kept behind the bungalows.

Joe Ponte spoke of an amazing find at West End School. Mr. Ponte spoke of a car from the 1920's and many historical documents that were found while digging at the site in the 1960's. The article I found on West School dated May 30, 1968, "New West End School construction to start". I spoke to Kathryn Cadier, daughter of William B. Cadier, Director of the Long Beach Public Library from 1958-1967 and in our conversation, she spoke about a Time Capsule that was in the West End School that her father had the keys.

Long Beach Memories explores various topics related to Long Beach history through the Library’s gallery of photos, our Local History Collection, and other resources. Let’s share our memories!

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