Bertran Smith Acres of Books, 240 South Long Beach Blvd.

Long Beach isn’t known for its architecture, but perhaps it should be. With waves of development following the 1933 earthquake and the completion of the 710 freeway, there are plenty of eye-pleasing examples of Art Deco (Bertrand Smith Acres of Books, above) and Modernist (International Tower, below) design–and then some. Here are some interesting edifices, none more than a few blocks from the Psychic Temple.

International Tower, 660 East Ocean Blvd.

Many of the older buildings had throwback styles to begin with. The Lafayette Complex juxtaposes vintage Spanish Renaissance (Campbell Apartments, right) and French Moderne (Lafayette Hotel, center) with newer, International (Lafayette expansion, left) aesthetics.

Lafayette Complex, 130-140 Linden Ave.

The Farmers & Merchants Bank and Tower were built with Italian Renaissance Revival details in 1923 and 1925, respectively. (The bank is on the other side of the tower.)

Farmers & Merchants Bank and Tower, 302-320 Pine Ave.

There are fantastic new structures, too. Bikestation Long Beach was designed and has been expanded twice over by modern architect Fernando Vazquez over to accommodate and facilitate the growing numbers of cyclists in Long Beach.

Bikestation, 105 The Promenade North

More to come…

After the Psychic Temple had been demoed and before reconstruction began, I took a walk around the building with local author, expert, and member of many preservation committees Stan Poe. He gave me the building’s history (link) and pointed out some architectural details, as well as some hints as to what architect Jan Van Dijs might have in store for the restoration.

“The Broadway façade was slightly out of style when it was built. Long Beach was that way even then! But the front is what is designated as historic, which give Jan room to work.

“We discovered a big parapet. At the top of the building is a big cornice, and above that the parapet, which was a short wall of chimneys coming off the top. They probably fell off or were taken off during the earthquake, but we found a picture of them that Jan’s going to copy.”

“This was an arched opening. We think that when the Temple of the Holy Kiss was opened in 1905, the first floor may have been one great big open area with stairs in back. The stairs on the far end were added in the 1920s.

“Permits were real loosy goosy, and when the earthquake happened a lot of stuff was thrown of city hall as trash. I think the architect’s name was Henry Starbuck. He also built the Masonic temple down the street. “

“These iron pieces are interesting. They’re interesting because they have an Eastlake design from the 1890s. They must have been sitting around the foundry and brought in for the building. Until Jan got in there, we didn’t know they existed. The front was all black reflective tile. They were added at some point.”

“There was another hotel here that was built in the teens. It came smack up next to the wall and they connected. You can see the fill-in.”

“The staircase isn’t grand but it’s nice enough to cut it. Over the stairs is a skylight that was painted out but once lit up the whole thing.”

“The little rooms had just enough space for a single bed. There’s been a lot of speculation about what went on in them, but people would check in to have their souls cleaned overnight.”