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“Grid Series #25,” oil on canvas by Victor Hugo Zayas See page 7
See “Haunts and Happenings” on pages 8 and 9 Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and the City of Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. 37 NO. 22
October 30, 2015
If walls could talk...
With a storied past, historic Signal Hill home now undergoing restoration
Courtesy Larry Blunden
The home that now has the address of 2477 Gaviota Ave. in Signal Hill was the subject of this watercolor painted by Walden James in 1963. Courtesy Marlene Bollinger
A photo taken in the mid 1900s shows the home at 1667 E. 25th St. in Long Beach (now 2477 Gaviota Ave. in Signal Hill) with nearby oil derricks. The 1,252-square-foot house sits on a property that is 35,100 square feet. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
A 107-year-old Signal Hill home that has been at the epicenter of ownership conflicts and City intervention is now in the hands of a new owner who has agreed to retain its historic value.
For some time, the Signal Hill Historical Society had partial ownership of the building and planned to convert it into a museum. However, because the structure was in significant disrepair, it would have cost the organization too much to renovate it and bring it to code in order to use it
as a historical attraction. The 1,252-square-foot home, located in the Crescent Heights Historic District at 2477 Gaviota Ave., was built in 1908, and it has changed owners numerous times since. In 2008, Willard Gilliam, who co-owned the house with Arthur
Holland, bequeathed his half of the ownership to the historical society. Terry Rogers, a local realtor who also serves as president of the Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce, ultimately handled the sale of the home when Rama Singhal purchased it a year ago. “[Singhal] purchased the house in October of last year,” Rogers said. “It did not close until July of this year.” Because the home is in Crescent
Heights and the City has stringent rules for what can be built there, Singhal is required to maintain its integrity. “There’s a specific type of architecture that is allowed to be in that area,” said Signal Hill City Manager Charlie Honeycutt. “Because this house was considered historical from the specific plan perspective, the buyer of the property (Singhal)... see GAVIOTA page 14
El Niño panelists urge long-term planning beyond anticipated season of heavy rains CJ Dablo Staff Writer
Heightened anticipation that El Niño will likely happen in the next few months drew a packed audience to the Pointe Conference Center at the Walter Pyramid at California State University, Long Beach on Thursday, Oct. 22. Invited to be a part of California State University, Long Beach’s Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series, four panelists discussed the challenges for the area if an upcoming El Niño does offer just a little too much rain for the state to handle. Mark Jackson is the meteorologist in charge at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service office. He described El Niño as a weather phenomenon characterized by a warming phase in the equatorial Pacific Ocean combined with a reversal of the usual trade-wind pattern. With an El Niño, trade winds blow from west to east. Jackson said that there is a 95-percent chance that El Niño conditions will continue through the winter. Jackson said that one media outlet had misunderstood the 95-percent figure and reported in error that there would be a 95-percent chance that there would be an El Nino storm. He stressed that it doesn’t mean that there is a 95-percent chance that we will have an El Niño storm. see EL NIÑO page 11
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CJ Dablo/Signal Tribune
Mark Jackson (left) chats with an audience member after his presentation on the El Niño phenomenon on Oct. 22. The event was part of California State University, Long Beach’s Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series. Jackson is the meteorologist in charge at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service office.