Typical Activities of a Beach and Harbor City (AKA Recreation in Long Beach)

Various Artists

The glazed tile mosaic mural measures 38 ft in height by 22 ft wide and was officially titled “Typical Activities of a Beach and Harbor City.” It was completed in 1938 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project through the Southern California Arts Program (SCAP). Sixty artists worked on the texturized mosaic, laying pieces at a warehouse in L.A. The pieces were then installed in sections on the arched upper story facade of the Municipal Auditorium (erected in 1932), facing north. When this structure was razed in 1975, the mosaic was saved and stored by a community effort* and installed at its current location on the south side of the City Place parking structure in 1982. The site was commemorated as Harvey Milk Promenade Park in 2013. *In 1969, as the impending demolition became public, the first organization to seek to save the Mosaic Mural was the Long Beach Municipal Arts Commission, a precursor to the Arts Council of Long Beach.