Babe Ruth Gets Arrested in Long Beach!, Part Two

09/01/20 • 15 min

Don't Know Beach About History: Short Histories of Long Beach

In 1927, legendary baseballer Babe Ruth was arrested before his scheduled appearance at the State Theater, a vaudeville house in Long Beach, California.
In this two-part episode, we take a deep dive into the Sultan of Swat's epic visit to Long Beach--complete with Prohibition-era boozing, duck hunting, and an unhinged plane flight to make it to the show on time--and detail the events that led to the Babe's arrest for violating child labor laws.

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Babe Ruth Gets Arrested in Long Beach!, Part One

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The Wrigley Ocean Marathon!: 1927's Brutal Swimming Race From Catalina to the California Mainland

1927’s Wrigley Ocean Marathon was an epic and brutal swimming race from the island of Catalina to the mainland of California, a feat never before recorded. Many of the world’s most famous swimmers came to Long Beach to train and compete for the race’s $25,000 prize. In this episode, we’ll look at how two virtually unknown swimmers—George Young of Canada and Myrtle Huddleston of Long Beach—battled severe exhaustion, fierce currents, frigid water, disorienting fog, and a barracuda attack to accomplish something a Los Angeles Times headline called the “Greatest Achievement in [the] History of Aquatics.”