Long Beach opened a 50-year-old time capsule on Wednesday, July 22 — unveiling flags, newspapers from 1976 and other city memorabilia.
Five Long Beach Unified School District graduates read aloud letters they wrote for the time capsule in elementary school.
The event, which took place at the Civic Center, began with opening comments by Griselda Suarez, the city’s cultural affairs officer.
“We celebrate the people, the memories and the moments that have shaped our city,” Suarez said. “This time capsule offers us a remarkable opportunity to enter the everyday life of Long Beach residents from generations past.”
Mayor Rex Richardson displays items found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson displays a vile of crude oil found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson displays a Long Beach “Key to the City” found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson displays a McDonnell Douglas airplane model found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson carefully opens a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Lee Beausoleil reads a letter he wrote in 1976 that was found in a time capsule in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
City Manager Tom Modica displays a bar of soap found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
City Manager Tom Modica displays an unopened Sears catalog found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
The Historical Society of Long Beach’s Julie Bartolotto speaks during the opening of a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Sharon Schreiber-Fisher reads a letter she wrote in 1976 that was found in a time capsule in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Mayor Rex Richardson displays an article from the Independent Press-Telegram newspaper found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
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Mayor Rex Richardson displays items found in a time capsule buried 50 years ago in Long Beach on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Suarez then introduced Julie Bartolotto, executive director of the Historical Society of Long Beach. The capsule was a gift to the city from the organization.
Bartolotto discussed how the country has changed from its founding in 1776 to its bicentennial celebration in 1976 — when the capsule was buried on July 4 to dedicate the former City Hall and library — to today, during the U.S.’s 250th anniversary year.
“The struggles to recognize the civilizations on this continent before the United States was formed,” Bartolotto said, “the struggles to recognize women in the Constitution, the struggles over who is a citizen, what rights are afforded to them, including voting rights, and the struggles to acknowledge people who were brought here against their will are not over.”
Mayor Rex Richardson, for his part, recognized the increased diversity in city leadership over the decades. The 1976 City Council was entirely male, Richardson said, with the first African American council member, Jim Wilson. Today, seven out of nine council members are women, including the first Cambodian person on the council, and Richardson as the first African American mayor.
“We know that there are things in this box that are going to represent what folks saw as their identity,” Richardson said, “their economic makeup and mix and things that represented what they wanted us to know about them.”
As Richardson put on white gloves and pulled the first item out of the silver box, the Civic Chambers were full of spectators, who pulled out their phones to record the moment. Richardson revealed a DC-10 model jet, representing Long Beach’s aviation history and its then-modern innovations in aerospace technology. He also displayed a Los Angeles County flag and a Long Beach flag.
“I remember my parents taking me to a small parking lot next to the airport, where I would spend hours watching airplanes take off and land,” Lee Beausoleil, one of the elementary letter authors, said in an interview. “To know that all the DC-10s flying came from my hometown is pretty cool.”
Next out of the capsule were the books of elementary student letters, a gold key to the city, a cassette and clippings from the Independent Press-Telegram and the American Revolution Bicentennial newspaper.
“Is this a phonebook? I forgot about these,” Richardson said to laughter, pulling a 1976 phonebook out of the capsule.
He continued unveiling items, including gifts from then-Mayor Tom Clarke to the 2026 mayor and his wife: Queen Mary cuff tie bars, Long Beach flag cuff links and a bracelet with the city key and seal.
“We have a gift for the wife of the mayor,” Richardson said, holding up the bracelet, “assuming the mayor was male, straight and married.”
The last item Richardson revealed was a vial of oil, showing the value of oil in 1976 and highlighting the city’s changing priorities, given rising oil prices and efforts to maintain clean beaches.
City Manager Tom Modica then took the mayor’s place at the front of the chambers. He removed from the capsule a city pamphlet, matchbooks, a Civic Center ashtray, a “Welcome to Long Beach” bar of soap, a Jones Dining Room menu, a municipal band record, a Sears catalog, a Port of Long Beach briefcase and a Frisbee.
To conclude the ceremony, the five former LBUSD students read letters they wrote in elementary school about life in 1976 and their predictions for 2026. They wrote about smog, loud planes and tar-filled beaches, but also about the city’s schools, parks and landmarks, such as the Queen Mary and new downtown buildings.
“I loved the letters from the students,” City Clerk Monique De La Garza said in an interview. “They really brought home this whole event to me because they were so personal.”
One speaker, who attended Bret Harte Elementary, imagined televisions running on water and cars that didn’t need gas. Another described a futuristic Long Beach with skyways and UFOs.
“‘Fifty years from now, cars will run on electricity on rails,’” Beausoleil, also from Bret Harte, read from his letter. “So close.”
Beausoleil, now a teacher in Las Vegas, returned to Long Beach to see the capsule’s contents and reconnect with his Bret Harte classmate.
“My fondest memories of my elementary school,” he said, “were my fifth-grade teacher and some of the students.”
After the student speakers, Suarez invited the audience to the front to view the capsule’s contents up close.
“As somebody who works a lot with city records and all the different departments,” De La Garza said, “seeing that org chart and the departments that existed 50 years ago compared to what we currently have was really interesting.”