Map of the City of Long Beach Jan. 1910 and Vicinity preserves Long Beach at a formative instant—months before the oil boom would redefine its skyline and economy. Compiled as a promotional survey for The National Bank of Long Beach, it captures the pivot from Rancho Los Cerritos ranchlands toward a planned seaside city, with the Pacific Ocean carefully set against an emerging grid. As one of the earliest surviving city plans, it is a notably honest portrait: streets are named, blocks are platted, and districts are labeled to showcase both opportunity and order. For a city map, its significance lies in how thoroughly it balances boosterism with groundwork, revealing the civic ambition that preceded the region’s industrial acceleration.

The street system is the map’s narrative engine. Pine Avenue, Pacific Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, and Long Beach Boulevard read as parallel spines, while Broadway and Anaheim Street stitch the grid east–west, guiding movement inland from the shoreline. Redondo, Cherry, Magnolia, and Rose Avenues, joined by Elm and Walnut, extend the urban fabric into new tracts, and the inclusion of Spring Street, Colorado Street, Clark Avenue, and Keynote Drive hints at corridors poised for growth. Shoreline Drive, fronting the Pacific, anchors the seaside orientation. Inset panels isolating residential blocks convey the sales logic of the era: precise lotting, easy access, and orderly expansion as the city scaled beyond its original core.

Amid the careful urban geometry, the Long Beach Brick Yard stands out as a telling landmark. Its placement signals the city’s self-sufficiency in materials during an intensive building phase and hints at the infrastructural pragmatism behind the map’s optimism. The coastal edge—an enduring draw for a community intent on resort identity—sits in tension with inland subdivisions that reveal agricultural parcels dissolving into streets, avenues, and neighborhood grids. This is a city map with dual focus: it valorizes the beach while charting the interior mechanics of growth, from commercial corridors to residential blocks. That juxtaposition—the surf-line and the survey line—makes the plan historically resonant and especially instructive for tracing Long Beach’s early urban DNA.

E.P. Dewey, who served first as Assistant City Engineer and then as City Engineer, compiled the survey with an engineer’s precision and a promoter’s clarity. His authorship lends administrative authority: the layout reflects the municipal mind at work, organizing future utilities, transportation, and civic access as much as marketing lots. The elegant title script and crisp linework underscore the map’s dual purpose—technically trustworthy and visually persuasive. Bank sponsorship makes sense in this light; the document reassures investors by diagramming order, connectivity, and momentum. Dewey’s map is less a static portrait than a planning brief, translating land subdivisions into a legible, investable city.

Historically, the sheet bridges failed experiments like Willmore City and the community’s renewed push to become both seaside retreat and viable town. It documents Long Beach before oil at Signal-adjacent hills would redraw priorities, preserving an urbanism still shaped by tract lines and beachfront allure rather than derricks and refineries. For historians and collectors, its value lies in specificity: named avenues, early commercial-residential distinctions, and the crisp plotting of blocks that forecast neighborhood contours for decades to come. For a city map, this early, candid view is rare—revealing how corridors like Anaheim Street and Redondo Avenue organized expansion, and how the Pacific’s proximity remained the city’s constant point of orientation.

Streets and roads on this map

• Anaheim Street
• Atlantic Avenue
• Broadway
• Cherry Avenue
• Clark Avenue
• Colorado Street
• Elm Avenue
• Keynote Drive
• Long Beach Boulevard
• Magnolia Avenue
• Pacific Avenue
• Pine Avenue
• Redondo Avenue
• Rose Avenue
• Shoreline Drive
• Spring Street
• Walnut Avenue

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Long Beach Brick Yard
• Position of the Pacific Ocean relative to city layout
• Inset areas indicating specific residential blocks
• Locations of key streets and avenues that signify growth patterns

Historical and design context

• Name of the map: Map of the City of Long Beach Jan. 1910 and Vicinity
• Mapmaker: Compiled by E.P. Dewey, City Engineer of Long Beach
• Date of creation: January 1910
• One of the earliest surviving maps of Long Beach
• Pre-dates the discovery of oil in the area, showcasing an era before significant industrial changes
• Produced as a promotional map for The National Bank of Long Beach, highlighting the city's developmental phase
• E.P. Dewey served as Assistant City Engineer and later City Engineer during the early 20th century
• Themes shown: urban planning and street layout of the early 1900s; residential and commercial districts; land subdivisions relevant to early infrastructure
• Regions depicted: Long Beach, California, USA
• Design style: grid layout typical of early 20th-century maps; elegant title font and illustrative elements reflecting promotional intent
• Historical context: transformation from Rancho Los Cerritos ranch lands to a burgeoning urban center; community push to establish a seaside resort and agricultural community after the failure of Willmore City

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

Please note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 20in (50cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.

The model in the listing images is holding the 24x36in (60x90cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.

Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.

Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.

We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.

• We can deliver directly to the recipient
• Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
• Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
• Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
• 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide

If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.

Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.

We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.

Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.

Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.

Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.

If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.

Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.

Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.

Read our full delivery and local production guide

Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.

We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.

Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.

Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.

All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.

If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.

My maps are extremely high quality reproductions of original maps.

I source original, rare maps from libraries, auction houses and private collections around the world, restore them at my London workshop, and then use specialist giclée inks and printers to create beautiful maps that look even better than the original.

My maps are printed on acid-free archival matte (not glossy) paper that feels very high quality and almost like card. In technical terms the paper weight/thickness is 10mil/200gsm. It's perfect for framing.

I print with Epson ultrachrome giclée UV fade resistant pigment inks - some of the best inks you can find.

I can also make maps on canvas, cotton rag and other exotic materials.

Learn more about The Unique Maps Co.

Map personalisation

If you're looking for the perfect anniversary or housewarming gift, I can personalise your map to make it truly unique. For example, I can add a short message, or highlight an important location, or add your family's coat of arms.

The options are almost infinite. Please see my map personalisation page for some wonderful examples of what's possible.

To order a personalised map, select "personalise your map" before adding it to your basket.

Get in touch if you're looking for more complex customisations and personalisations.

Map ageing

I have been asked hundreds of times over the years by customers if they could buy a map that looks even older.

Well, now you can, by selecting Aged before you add a map to your basket.

All the product photos you see on this page show the map in its Original form. This is what the map looks like today.

If you select Aged, I will age your map by hand, using a special and unique process developed through years of studying old maps, talking to researchers to understand the chemistry of aging paper, and of course... lots of practice!

If you're unsure, stick to the Original colour of the map. If you want something a bit darker and older looking, go for Aged.

See some amazing examples of Aged maps.

Se non sei soddisfatto del tuo ordine per qualsiasi motivo, contattami per un rimborso senza problemi. Si prega di consultare la nostra politica di reso e rimborso per ulteriori informazioni.

Sono molto sicuro che ti piacerà la tua mappa restaurata o la stampa d'arte. Lo faccio dal 1984. Sono un venditore Etsy a 5 stelle. Ho venduto decine di migliaia di mappe e stampe d'arte e ho oltre 5.000 recensioni reali a 5 stelle.

Utilizzo un processo unico per restaurare mappe e opere d'arte che richiede molto tempo e lavoro. Trovare le mappe e le illustrazioni originali può richiedere mesi. Utilizzo tecnologia all'avanguardia e incredibilmente costosa per scannerizzare e restaurarle. Di conseguenza, garantisco che le mie mappe e stampe d'arte siano superiori alle altre - ecco perché posso offrire un rimborso senza problemi.

Quasi tutte le mie mappe e stampe d'arte sembrano fantastiche a grandi dimensioni (200 cm, 6,5 piedi+) e posso anche incorniciarle e consegnarle a te, tramite un corriere speciale per oggetti di grandi dimensioni. Contattami per discutere delle tue esigenze specifiche.