Long Beach City Map Poster

About Long Beach

Long Beach is the location of the Port of Long Beach, one of the world's busiest container ports. The city also maintains a robust commercial and industrial base, with extensive shipping terminals at its waterfront. It is also known for its large oil refinery district containing major petroleum refineries operated by ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation as well as a significant number of petrochemical processing facilities owned by Dow Chemical Company (formerly Union Carbide), Occidental Petroleum (formerly Oxychem) and other companies. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has recognized several areas within Long Beach as Distinctive Communities that are more than just neighborhoods but less than official cities or villages; these include: Long Beach was originally founded in 1881, when real estate promoters Thomas Edwards and Andrew McNally purchased along Pacific Coast Highway between present day Third Street Promenade to Fourth Street via Ocean Boulevard from Elisha Spurr Wilcox who had previously acquired it from Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant on November 23, 1843.