This collection recounts weekly activities, businesses, events, people, sports, arts, culture, and other hyperlocal Long Beach, CA community interests from 1977- 2022. Materials include newspapers, photographs, two newspaper racks, and one art sculpture.

The Gazette is a weekly newspaper that has been in operation since June 23, 1977. Tedi and Pat Cantalupo started the newspaper to serve the Belmont Shore and Naples neighborhoods of Long Beach, CA, with circulation eventually including East Long Beach. Fran and Jon Blowitz purchased the Grunion Gazette in 1981 and increased scope, content, and circulation. They began publishing the Downtown Gazette to serve those communities in 1988. All titles were sold to MediaNews in 2004, who added the Uptown Gazette to serve North Long Beach, California Heights, Bixby Knolls, Virginia Country Club and other communities in the northern area of Long Beach in 2008. All titles and content combined in 2018 under the Grunion Gazette moniker, and continued to serve all of Long Beach. The Gazette collection offers a counter-point to the Press-Telegram’s coverage of the city and community. How and what the Gazette family of newspapers reported affected generations of local people. In the Gazette’s early years, circulation and advertisements catered to the white, affluent, neighborhoods of Belmont Shore and Naples, however, readers included Latinos, Japanese Americans, African Americans, and residents who may not have been subscribers to daily newspapers. Because the Gazettes were free, they were a “go-to” source of information for high school and college students before the internet. It was an accessible source of news and local information, a place to learn about cultural events, find housing, employment, and like-minded individuals to share experiences.

: Total 43 linear feet Series 1: 40 linear feet; 80 document boxes. Newspapers are paper volumes 11.5x17 inches, between 30 and 75 pages; ObjectID numbers 1 to 4,066. Series 2: Two square feet of display space, 3/4 archival shelf.

Requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Historical Society of Long Beach. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Historical Society of Long Beach as the owner of the physical materials, and does not include permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.