Wednesday, December 4, 2002

A 1907 bell may 'ring in' the new year for 2003

It may be time to truly "ring in" the new year on Pine Avenue.

The long-dormant bell at the old First National Bank Building on Pine at First Street in downtown Long Beach is being readied to toll again.

The goal is to have it ready by midnight on Dec. 31, but it may be good to ring by Dec. 15.

Crews are replacing broken mechanical parts in the bell tower of the six-story building, which features L'Opera restaurant on the ground floor.

The Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association recently gave $8,500 to L'Opera Investment Group and Beverly Hills-based Blue Real Estate Management Co., the building's managers, to repair the mechanism that strikes the bell.

"It would be nice to have it ring in the new year," said former City Councilwoman Renee Simon, president of the Navy Memorial Heritage Association. "It's something the public will welcome and further the cause of historic preservation."

The bell project is part of $135,920 in grants the group earmarked in November for various projects. Other awardees include the oral history archive at Cal State Long Beach, a sidewalk restoration project at the historic Lafayette Condominiums downtown and the so-called "Secret Garden" at Rancho Los Alamitos.

Though the bell doesn't ring, the clock still keeps time on a glass face adorned with large Roman numerals.

The mechanism that causes a hammer to hit the bell is broken and needs to be replaced, said Ted Ries, who handles investments and acquisitions for Blue Real Estate.

"As far as we know, everything is moving on track," he said. "There were some parts that needed to be specially purchased or fabricated."

When the repairs are done, the bell will ring hourly and count out the time, he said.

The brass bell is original and engraved with the name of a Baltimore foundry and the year it was made, 1907. A creaky wooden staircase on the roof of the six-story building leads to the 40-foot bell tower, which offers vistas of the Queen Mary, Port of Long Beach, World Trade Center, City Hall and Signal Hill.

On Monday, the hammer that rings the bell rested motionless on the outside of the bell.

Those involved with the project were not sure when the bell last tolled, but it was probably about five years ago, said David Cruz, co-owner of the Antique Clock Gallery on Fourth Street near Cherry Avenue.

Cruz, now 73, and his late business partner Bob Davidson once had the contract to care for the clock.

They repaired the broken clock in 1993 before the New Year's celebration on Pine Avenue. They were in charge of making sure it rang in 1994. It did.

After that, the clock, and the subsequently the bell attached to it, routinely broke. Cruz said the clock was working and the bell was ringing when he gave up the contract in 1995.

Done in the Beaux Arts style of architecture, the First National Bank Building is on the local and national historic registries, said Ruthann Lehrer, city preservation officer.

The first three stories of the six-story structure—one of Southern California's first office buildings—were built in 1900 by the Train and Williams architectural firm. The upper three floors were added in 1906.

Though the building still carries the First National name, Bank of America is more closely associated with it since it had a branch there from 1927 to 1983. The structure also is routinely called the Enloe Building for Keith Enloe, an attorney who once owned it.

With the help of federal tax credits for historic projects, it was refurbished in 1988.

L'Opera opened in 1990 and the building now has a host of tenants, including the Michael Levy Gallery and Art of Hands and law firms.

Today the building, which is finished in fine stone and wood, is in pristine condition—save for the bell.

"It's been years and years since those parts worked, and we're hoping the people of Long Beach will hear it ring," said Nancy Latimer, a trustee of the Navy trust.