The Miss Universe Pageant

Harbor Commissioner John P. Davis with Miss Universe Hillevi Rombin of Sweden at Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue, Nov. 8, 1955.

The Miss Universe Pageant? What does the Port of Long Beach have to do with a beauty pageant? Well, the Port for many years has been heavily involved in sponsoring major civic institutions and events -- today the Port sponsors the July 4 fireworks, the Long Beach Sea Festival, the Grand Prix, and literally dozens of other festivities and programs, large and small, throughout Long Beach.

In 1952, one of the newest and biggest civic events was the Miss Universe Pageant, which was first held here at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium (Armi Kuusela of Finland won the title, and the Miss USA Pageant was held at the same time). Miss Universe held eight pageants in Long Beach before moving to Miami for a long stint; now the ceremony moves among the participating countries.

The Port of Long Beach Miss Universe float, 1955.

Naturally as a civic supporter the Port did its utmost to boost the contest; it ran a float in the annual Miss Universe parade along Ocean Boulevard and hosted the contestants on harbor cruises, at Disneyland and at various events around town. In fact, after Miss Universe left the Port continued to host contestants in the International Beauty Congress competition -- you can see a photo of some of them feeding the sea lions at Pierpoint Landing here.

The Port archives don't have any photos of the ceremonies (although there's a lot of film on YouTube of crownings), but the other events offer great snapshots of Ocean Boulevard, early days at Disneyland and of course some glimpses of 1950s fashion. Enjoy!

You can read more about Miss Universe here.

See a photo gallery of Miss Universe and the Port here.

The 1955 parade rides past "The Seven Year Itch" playing at the Fox West Coast on Ocean.

Pierpoint Landing's animal attraction

Contestants in the International Beauty Congress stop by the sea lion pool at Pierpoint Landing, 1960.

We came across some more photos of Pierpoint Landing in our archives last week, and coincidentally a reader wrote in, almost at the same time we were uploading the photos, to share her memories of the sportfishing mecca's famous animal attraction:

"I am a 52-year-old mother who has the fondest memories of Pierpoint Landing, especially the seal tank. My father would take our whole family for crab and smoked fish, while I could not wait to get there to feed MY seals!

"My father would give me change so I could buy a bag of anchovies to feed MY seals. This would go on all day until it started getting dark. To this day when I see a seal it reminds me of one of the best times of my life.

"Now that I am a parent to a 25-year-old and at 26-year-old I share this story with them. They now go to [the new] Pierpoint Landing often for the sport fishing!

"Thank you for having this forum to express my happy memories. I thought I was the only person that knew about the seals...OH YEH "MY SEALS".....THANK YOU!"

-- Elizabeth Gomez


More pics of Pierpoint Landing

Our original post on Pierpoint Landing

Pierpoint Landing circa 1964.

Remembering Pierpoint Landing

Pierpoint Landing opened on what is now Pier F at the Port of Long Beach in 1948. It grew to become the world's largest sportfishing operation, attracting 2 million anglers annually, before it closed in 1972. As many as 22 day boats and 30 charter boats would set out daily in pursuit of yellowtail, albacore, sea bass, barracuda and bonita.

Besides the fishing, the complex attracted visitors with fondly remembered restaurants, shops, rides for the kids and a seal tank. A new Pierpoint Landing opened in 2000 near the Aquarium of the Pacific.

At top: Pierpoint Landing in the mid-1950s, looking out to sea; below: a view looking toward Long Beach of the same area in 2009, with the Port's Command and Control Center and Jacobsen Pilot Service in the foreground.

We'd like to hear from you with your memories and photos of Pierpoint Landing -- either leave a comment here or use this form to upload a picture we can share.


(This photo is from an excellent collection of vintage postcards and photos on Flickr -- click the picture to see another photo of Pierpoint Landing and some vintage maps of the Port.)

More pics of Pierpoint Landing