From the Archives: New Ford assembly plant in Long Beach

On April 21, 1930, Ford Motor Co. opened its new Southern California assembly plant in Long Beach. The plant replaced an earlier one at East 7thStreet and Santa Fe Avenue in Los Angeles.

The next morning, the Los Angeles Times reported, “Henry Ford’s idea of the last word in an automotive factory went into operation at Long Beach yesterday when Lieut. Gov. (Herschel) Carnahan, in the presence of some 600 luncheon guests of the Ford company at the Pacific Coast Club, pressed an electric button that started the assembly line of the plant in motion.”

“And it may be regarded in some quarters as another one of those Ford stories, but it is a fact that hardly had the button been pressed than the sound of the horn on the first completed car came back from the factory over the broadcasting system connecting the plant with the club dining-room. …”

Ford’s Long Beach facility closed in 1958, replaced by a new plant in Pico Rivera.