Amy Bodek is the Director of Development Services for the City of Long Beach. I met the former Bostonian at the It’s a Grind coffeehouse (on the always bustling corner of Pine and 3rd, right around the corner from the Psychic Temple) to talk about her impressions of and relationship with Downtown Long Beach as […]
More often than not, whenever I visit the Psychic Temple (later called the American Hotel) I also stop by DoLy’s Delectables because they have a great iced coffee for less than two bucks. Nice! But they also have excellent breakfasts and yummy sandwiches, not to mention amazing baked goods, pastries, and macarons. The proprietors Julie […]
The Long Beach Fencing Club’s winning concept for the Design a Fence contest is streetwise, inexpensive, and flexible. The use of wheat paste is also brilliant because it flips a medium that is best known for illegal advertising, revolutionary politics, and street art. What has become synonymous for rebellious expression on someone else’s wall is […]
Before renovation began, the Psychic Temple looked rather bleak from the outside. However, the interior was once quite colorful. Even after the initial demolition, many of the remaining surfaces revealed a springlike palette.
Because the Psychic Temple’s first floor has been made over so many times over its 100+ years, it has lost its historical value. Nonetheless, we want to share how it looked before the renovation begins. Above: Low-budget American Hotel signage and entrance. On the far left was a shoe repair shop, complete with antiquated machinery. […]
Richard Lewis is the Controller/Project Manager of JRVD, which is handling the redevelopment of the Psychic Temple. I visited Richard shortly after the project, which was put on hold for over a year due to California’s budgetary crisis, began to pick up steam once more. PT: You’re revisiting the Psychic Temple for the first time […]
Jan Robert van Dijs is the namesake of JR van Dijs, Inc. Drawing from his experience and expertise in constructing large-scale, high-end projects in New York, Paris, London, Italy, and Asia, he and his crew are committed to changing the way people perceive and experience Long Beach, CA, one old structure–more often two or three–at a […]
“You can hardly see the glass,” says Long Beach-based historian Stan Poe pointing at a section of sidewalk in front of the Psychic Temple. “But those were prisms that would increase the light and illuminate the basement. We don’t know what it was used for…”
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 […]