It’s amazing how being 12,000 feet in the air can change your perspective. This shot looks north across Long Beach, California on December 2, 1955. That wide channel on the left is the Los Angeles river. And that huge arc jutting out into the Pacific was the Rainbow Pier, a horseshoe-shaped pier constructed as a protective breakwater around the Municipal Auditorium. I imagine it would have been lovely to stroll around it on a warm summer’s day.

Here’s a closer view of the pier and auditorium from 1946.

This is how that foreshore looks in 2022.