Seal Beach, California

Seal Beach is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 24,157 at the 2000 census. The City was incorporated on 25 October 1915.
The city's beginnings were modest, just an idyllic backdrop for silent films and a destination for Los Angeles pleasure-seekers riding the Pacific Electric Red Car to the seaside amusement park and it's rollercoaster.
The black and photo above is of the Seal Beach Bathing Beauties of 1918.

The roller coaster is long gone, but Seal Beach has kept much of its old-time character. There's hardly a chain store to be found on Main Street, where parking is still free.
Seal Beach is about 12 square miles located in the westernmost corner of Orange County. San Pedro Bay, part of the Pacific Ocean, lies to the southwest. To the northwest, just across the border of Los Angeles County, lies the city of Long Beach. To the southeast is Huntington Harbour (part of Huntington Beach) and the unincorporated community of Sunset Beach. To the east are the cities of Westminster and Garden Grove. To the north is the unincorporated community of Rossmoor and the city of Los Alamitos.
The fight over new three-story homes in Seal Beach's waterfront Old Town has simmered for years. On one side are the people who want to preserve the throwback look of Old Town. On the other are those who argue for property rights and "progress" in the form of real estate development.
With the city's laid-back beach atmosphere and good schools, competition for homes in Seal Beach is intense. Buyers pay big prices for small houses on small lots, so building up makes financial sense. Often, a third story can suddenly give a home a sea view.
It's that classic Southern California conundrum: change versus charm.
In contrast to most beach cities across the region, Seal Beach's present population is smaller than the 27,200 residents it had in 1974.
This beach town is "graying." With Leisure World within its boundaries, one in three residents are of retirement age or older.
Because the city is all but built out, and planners overhauled the zoning code in the 1970s to lower density, there's generally nowhere to go but up. Seal Beach is following the path of several SoCal beach towns (including Manhattan Beach, San Clemente, and Oceanside) that have worked to limit the scale of oceanfront homes.