Alamitos Land Company Papers, 1885-2007

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Alamitos Land Company
Abstract:
This collection contains the records of the Alamitos Land Company of Southern California (in operation from the mid 1880s-2008), which operated first as a land sale company and later as a property management company, chiefly for properties in Long Beach and Signal Hill, California. Includes financial records, legal and land documents, annual reports, correspondence, minutes, project files, specifications and technical reports, and maps.
Extent:
338 Linear Feet (130 boxes, 86 oversize folders, 1 oversize box, 9 volumes, 20 rolls)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Alamitos Land Company Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The Alamitos Land Company papers are organized into four series: Administrative; Commercial Properties; Oversize, and Map series.

Administrative Series contains records relating to various facilitative operations within the Alamitos Land Company, including, but not limit to, account books, annual reports, appraisals, articles of incorporation, audits, balance sheets, bylaws, correspondence, financial records, financial statements, inventories, ledgers, legal documents, minutes, stock certificates, and titles (property rights). This series is organized alphabetically. A small number of oversize administrative records are stored under the Oversize Series.

Commercial Properties Series include a wide-ranging type of records relating to the company's commercial and industrial portfolio. As per the original order, records are grouped under the headings of their respective commercial properties or projects, which include, but not limit to, Alamitos Beach Townsites, Alamitos Tract, Bixby Center, Bixby Ridge, Brawley Beef Packing Plant, Brawley Steam Wells, Firebaugh, Geothermal, Hathaway Apartments, Hathaway Business Park, The Knolls, Long Beach Tidelands, Luckey Ranch, Palo Verde and Spring Retail, Paramount Business Park, Recreation Park, Reservoir Hill, Rosemead Flair Business Park, Signal Hill East Unit, Tract 10548, U.S. Navy Depot, and the Willows Office Building. All commercial properties and projects were located within the State of California. This series is organized alphabetically.

Types of records within the Commercial Properties Series include, but not limited to, agendas, agreements, annual reports, appraisals, correspondence, deeds, environmental impact statements, escrows, feasibility studies, financial records, insurance records, invoices, judicial records, land surveys, land valuations, leases, legal documents, maps, memorandums, newspaper clippings, notes, photos, plans (orthographic projections), proposals, receipts, reports, specifications, tax records, and technical reports.

Oversize Series includes oversize records and objects from both Administrative Series and Commercial Properties Series. They are appraisals, banners, bookkeeping records, company seals, correspondence, ledgers, minutes, photos, plaques, and stock certificates. This Series is organized Alphabetically and by dates.

Map Series contains oversize maps, circa 1885 to 1976. Most maps are related to properties and land owned by the Alamitos Land Company. The Map series is further categorized geographically into four sub-categories: Alamitos Tract, Tideland Survey, Farm Properties, and Other.

Biographical / historical:

Founded by members of the Bixby and Flint families and their business partner, I. W. Hellman, in 1888, the Alamitos Land Company was first organized as a land sale company during the real estate boom of Southern California in mid 1880s. The company was engaged in the subdivision of lands and offering them for sale as town lots, commercial properties, and farm lands. A large portion of the lands was eventually bought or annexed and is presently located in the City of Long Beach and the City of Signal Hill. When oil was discovered in 1921 under some of the company's properties, the Alamitos Land Company transformed itself into a land management company by leasing 240 acres of Signal Hill land to Shell Oil Company for drilling. As a result, the company added more revenue channels by collecting royalties from oil drilling and granting oil pipe easements. Subsequently, the company expanded its business operations into management of agricultural lands and commercial and industrial buildings. As the amount of oil started to dwindle in the early 1970s, the company turned some of its former oil drilling sites into a number of residential, commercial, and industrial projects. The company ceased operation on December 31, 2008.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Jean Bixby Smith, January 2009.
Processing information:

Processed by Li Wei Yang in 2010. In 2023, Mari Khasmanyan added oversize folder 57-58, and updated the finding aid's container information.

Arrangement:

Collection is organized alphabetically in five series: 1. Administrative Series (boxes 1-22); 2. Commercial Properties Series (boxes 23-88); 3. Oversize Series (boxes 89-92, and 9 volumes); 4. Map Series (oversize folders 1-58, and oversize box 1); 5. Addenda.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

NOT AVAILABLE: Series 5 is not available for paging until processed. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Alamitos Land Company Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website