Police Station Could Become Museum

By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor

Long Beach police history might soon be displayed in a historic setting.

Discussions have been ongoing for the past couple of months about how best to turn the former police station at Second Street and Claremont Avenue over to the Long Beach Police Historical Society for a museum.

A formalized agreement between the city, which owns the building, and the nonprofit society has not been completed, but all involved say they expect it to happen soon.

“It’s a natural for the museum; there’s so much history in the building,” said Third District Councilman Frank Colonna, who in the past four years has spearheaded a reuse of the space. “It’s a very exciting opportunity and would be a complement to the east side of the Shore.”

The Second Street police station, along with the adjoining fire station, was built in 1928 and was an active station for 50 years. But in the 1980s, the police department consolidated operations and the Second Street station was closed. The space served as an annex for the Long Beach Museum of Art’s video library until 2001.

“I’m aware of conversations to put the (police) museum there 12 years ago,” said retired Commander Don First, who is part of a committee to put a police museum in the old station. “I think this time we’ll see it happen.”

When the Museum of Art vacated the building the thought was to turn a portion of it into a museum for the Long Beach Police Historical Society. The society, started nearly a decade before by Todd Houser, had thousands of pieces of police memorabilia but no place to display them. The Second Street station was an ideal location, all involved said.

But at the time the society didn’t have the financial means to operate such a facility and with the city facing budget problems, the city couldn’t provide the museum with financial assistance, according to Colonna. Additionally, city staff determined that there was a greater need to use a portion of the police station space as accommodations for female firefighters at the adjacent Fire Station 8.

In 2003, work began on expanding the fire department’s living quarters into the second level of the police station space. The lower level was renovated for use as a community resource center, with space at the front half of the building for informational tables and a meeting room in the back.

It opened in 2004 and has since been used by several community groups and as the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) headquarters.

First, Houser and other members of the society approached Colonna about reviving the museum plan several months ago. Colonna has said he’s pleased that CERT and other groups have been getting good use from the space, but the opportunity to put the museum there could not be overlooked.

“Our objective is to work toward this as a police historical museum,” Colonna said, adding that the Recreation Park Lawn Bowling clubhouse might become the new CERT home and the station could continue as a community meeting place under the supervision of the historical society.

First said there have been nearly 30 meetings between the historical society and the city to make the museum a reality. The society recently presented the city with a financial plan and a deal could be reached soon. He envisions opening the museum doors by Thanksgiving.

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