Scroll down to get a feel for Seal Beach’s history!
The Gabrielino-Tongva Indians were in the Seal Beach area as long as 2,000 years ago. The Shoshone-speaking members of this tribe lived near the San Gabriel River in the village of Puvungas and gathered mussels and clams from the seashore and ground acorns for flour. Learn more about the tribe and visit the Interpretive Center in Heron Pointe near Gum Grove Park. The Rancho was part of the famous Spanish, California land grant. In 1862 Don Abel Stearns was granted 200,000 acres of the Rancho that included present day Seal Beach. In the late 1800’s John Bixby, his cousin Jotham Bixby, and I.W. Hellman (founder of Farmers and Merchants bank purchased much of the Rancho Alamitos land from Stearns. The names of Bixby and I.W. Hellman still ring through the history of Seal Beach. The Hellman Ranch was an original Spanish land grant, purchased for a reported three cents per acre.
Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe: Seal Beach’s First Residents
1862 Land Grant
The Purchase