The iconic arches of Huntington Beach

 Landmark double arches once stood over the intersection of Main St. and Pacific Coast Highway (Ocean Ave) in Huntington Beach. (Photo 1938)

PART I: THE STORY OF THE ARCHES

The huge double arches over the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway near the base of the Huntington Beach Pier only stood from 1929 to 1941 but remain one of Huntington Beach’s most memorable landmarks. The arches and the large neon sign they supported appeared on countless postcards and promotional photos for the city, and countless thousands of people passed below them. 

The city had considered building a similar landmark sign at the northern city limits in 1924. This was probably timed to the opening of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) through Huntington Beach. This was at the height of the city’s first oil boom, money was no object, and the proposed arches would have had gas jet flames shooting out the top of them at night. But the proposal bounced around for a few years and went through big changes before the final (non-flaming) version near the pier was greenlighted in 1928.

Aerial photo of Main and PCH, circa 1930s.

Local historian Mary Adams Urashima credited City Councilman Samuel R. Bowen as the main figure pushing the arches idea forward. “He was [also] the first to hire a landscape architect for the City,” she said, “as an effort to beautify the community during the oil boom years.”

Responsibility for the design and oversight of the construction went to City Engineer Merwin Rosson. 

The Great Light of Inspiration

In October 1928, Rosson said his design for the planned arches was based on “The Great Light Way": A series of 15 lighted double-arches, installed in 1914 and 1915 at every intersection along Portland, Oregon's Southwest 3rd Avenue from Yamhill Street to Northwest Gilsan Street. Each of Portland’s arches was 82-feet long and featured 96 forty-watt bulbs. Surmounting each set of double arches was a 750-watt nitrogen lamp. (The Great Light Way was demolished during the Great Depression.)

"The Great Light Way" in Portland (Courtesy City of Portland Archives)

Rosson described his design for Huntington Beach’s single set of double arches: They would be forty feet tall and include integrated lighting for the intersection and traffic signals. Perhaps more importantly, they would hold a 16-foot-long and two-foot-tall orange and white neon sign reading “Huntington Beach.” The sign and lights were intended to be seen from as far away as Long Beach and Laguna Beach. (Expectations were later downgraded to Seal Beach and Newport Beach.) 

The location was key. Already there were plans to widen the highway and bring yet more traffic and more tourists to town. Huntington Beach was ramping up efforts to pave more of its streets and add streetlights to Main Street. And the old Pacific Electric Depot was about to be torn down at the foot of the pier, leaving space for a larger plaza area and clearer vistas.

Construction

The City of Huntington Beach called for bids in December 1928. On January 14, 1929, the local pioneer firm of S. Hill & Son was hired to build the arches. The Hills were in the plumbing, heating, and sheet metal business, and operated out of their large hardware and housewares store at 213 E. Fourth St. in Santa Ana. Among the many products they sold were “electric signs,” but this job for Huntington Beach was outside their typical range of services.

S. Hill & Son store, 213-215 E. 4th St., Santa Ana (Santa Ana Register, 12-7-1922)

The project was slated for completion by March 1929, but the first arch wasn’t ready for installation until April 18th. The lights of the still-incomplete arches were switched on for the first time on April 29th. The Huntington Beach News reported:

“’Why, it was light as day last night at Main and Ocean,’ said Mr. Charter, manager of the B & C drug store in commenting on the first illumination of the archway entrance. The lights were turned on Monday evening for the first time. The brightness at the intersection is due to the fact that the reflectors are all placed so that the light is thrown downward.

"Some surprise was expressed that the lights do not show up better at a distance. But the neon sign, ‘Huntington Beach,’ to be placed above the arch, will be plainly visible for several miles.

“If it is so desired, the reflectors on the archway lights might be adjusted so as to throw the light outward, rather than directly downward. The complete effect of the illuminated archway cannot be gained until every part has been installed."

By mid-May, the cement pillars at the four corners still hadn't been poured yet, the neon sign hadn’t arrived yet, and the traffic signal was still en route from the manufacturer in Peoria, Illinois. The neon “Huntington Beach” sign was finally installed on the last day of May 1929, but the wiring still wasn’t done and one of the letters was faulty and had to be sent “back East” to the manufacturer for replacement.

As of late June, a company specializing in neon had a "force of men" making adjustments for several days. Soon the sign was working well and had "a more steady glow." It was under this nearly perfected lighting that Harry Bakre held the grand opening of his Golden Bear Cafe on the southeast corner of the intersection in June 29th.

Meanwhile, Rosson had taken over the creation of the cement pillars at each of the four corners of the arches. He’d had the city's street department make cement forms down at the city yard and now the pillars were nearly done. 

By the time of the city’s big 25th annual Independence Day celebration, there were still a few finishing touches to be made, but the arches were far enough along to impress visitors. And by a week after the parade, the final elements were completed: The traffic signals were installed and the support pillars were painted buff, matching most of the city’s other civic buildings. 

The arches were complete.

The Pageant of Lights

Mayor S. R. Bowen praised the street department for completing the arches and the lighting of Main Street – all under budget.  As a “thank you,” the City Council gave Rosson a pay raise from $275 to $300 a month.

From the Huntington Beach News, 7-25-1929

"A Quarter Century of Progress!," crowed the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce in their full-page ad in the July 18, 1929 edition of the Huntington Beach News. In highlighting the town’s most glowing attributes, the ad highlighted the still-ongoing oil boom, hourly stops by the Pacific Electric trolleys, the new lighting on Main St., "20 miles of well-paved streets," a concrete pier and saltwater plunge, the city's (still in-progress) purchase of its oceanfront, and of course, the addition of "a beautiful ornamental electric arch."

On August 17th, 1929, a “Pageant of Lights” -- including a parade, a band concert, a lengthy show on a giant stage in the middle of Main Street, and a rodeo at the Sea Breeze campground -- was held in conjunction with the ceremonial lighting of the arches and Main Street’s new electric lights. The pageant purportedly depicted the development of illumination -- from cavemen with torches through the modern era of incandescent lightbulbs. Each chapter of the story was portrayed by volunteers from local communities, including Smeltzer, Westminster, Newport Beach, Seal Beach, Oceanview and Talbert. Among the wide array of characters represented were Grecian dancers, Native Americans, “tiny gypsy dancers,” and cowboys. 

The arches, circa 1930.

Coastal Landmark

The double-arches immediately became a landmark and a symbol of Huntington Beach. While the pier also served as a landmark, it seemed almost every coastal community had a pier. The arches were unique. And in May 1938 the intersection became even more iconic with the opening of the Pavilion Huntington at the foot of the pier – complimenting the arches with its streamlined art deco design. 

The arches at PCH and Main also provided "a handy platform for Christmas decorations, year after year," recalled Huntington Beach City Clerk and City Historian Alicia Wentworth. And indeed, the arches were festooned with décor and additional lights each year. They were also a regular feature of the "Forty Miles of Christmas Smiles" annual decorating competition among the coastal communities of Orange County.

The intersection might have benefitted from a nickname, but there were already a lot of spots on the Orange County coast with an “arch” moniker. “The Arches” was already the name of a well-known landmark – named for the architecture of a gas station and adjacent café -- on Coast Highway in Newport Beach. And Laguna Beach had both an Arch Beach and Three Arch Bay. 

Fallen Arches

On January 27, 1941, Huntington Beach Mayor Marcus M. McCallen – who had called for the arches' removal for years – finally formally broached the issue with the City Council. He said the arches were expensive-to-maintain, antiquated, unnecessary, and poorly lighted. He noted that an auto wreck at any one of the four support pillars could bring the whole thing crashing down on the busy intersection. Staff was directed to make a study of the situation.

By early April, Rosson’s replacement as City Engineer, Harry A. Overmeyer, submitted a report recommending that the arch be removed because it was "becoming defective and ... there is great danger of collapse unless a considerable sum of money is spent on immediate repairs." 

View down Main St. toward the pier and arches.

This report followed on the heels of warnings from State Highway Department engineers that the arches must be strengthened or else topple in the next strong wind. The State also told the city that once the arches were down, they wouldn't allow them to be reconstructed. Already, the traffic signals on the arches had ceased to work and the busy intersection now required two police officers to direct traffic during rush hours. The City Council voted to have plans drawn up for new traffic signals for that intersection. The handwriting was on the wall.

On April 21, 1941, the City Council unanimously voted to direct the City Engineer to remove the arches. The Long Beach Press-Telegram mourned the imminent loss of "a famous old landmark." In fact, the arches were only 12 years old, but they’d become such a landmark that newcomers and visitors couldn’t imagine the town without them.

Taking down sign and arches, 5-28-1941 (Courtesy Huntington Beach City Archives)

Nonetheless, on May 28, 1941, the arches were removed. Wentworth later recalled that primary reason was the “corrosion of the galvanized steel" in the salt air. In any case, it had become unsafe. 

But lest anyone miss that neon glow, the City Council began angling to get the city-owned Pavilion Huntington renamed the "Pav-A-Lon," with a big neon sign to match. ("Pav-A-Lon" was a portmanteau of "pavilion" and the Catalina vacation destination of Avalon.) In fact, by that point, neon signs were going up on businesses all over town. Any novelty held by neon had worn off.

The Pav-A-Lon as it appeared in the 1940s. (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

Talk of a new landmark lighting structure -- shaped like a stylized oil derrick -- was bandied about but never acted upon. Ultimately the replacement lights and traffic signals at the intersection were fairly ordinary.

In any case, the entry of the United States into World War II later that year meant that having big glowing landmarks along the coast was going to be a poor idea, and that large metal decorative structures would be in short supply until metal was no longer needed for the war effort.

D. W. "Boxy" Huston (right) and others watch sign being removed, 5-28-1941 (Courtesy Huntington Beach City Archives)

The arches were gone. However, thanks to countless photographs and the memories of a few “old timers,” they would not be forgotten.

Son of the Arches

In April 2008 the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce proposed that commemorative arches be placed over the intersection of Main and PCH as part of the 2009 celebration of the centennial of the city’s incorporation. Councilman Gil Coerper brought the idea to the City Council and the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau (now called Visit Huntington Beach) supported the idea. An additional single arch, crossing over Main Street between the library and the art center, was also proposed -- to act as a welcoming gateway to downtown. The plan was to do all this with Redevelopment Agency funding, with plans to have the work completed in time for the big celebration on July 4, 2009. Designs were provided by Graphic Solutions, which also created "entry node signs" which were to be placed at the fringes of the city. 

Concept art (2025) for an arch at the pier echoing the earlier arches (City of Huntington Beach)

The City Council soon scrapped the plan for the second single arch by the library. Only Councilmember Jill Hardy voted against the amended proposal for the double arches at Main and PCH. However, it soon became clear that the work needed could not be completed in time for the centennial and that the estimated $900,000 cost could be better spent on other downtown development efforts. 

In September 2025, the City of Huntington Beach, in conjunction with Visit Huntington Beach, put forward plans for a new “Huntington Beach Pier Landmark Sign” on a single arch at the base of the pier. It’s depicted as including a lighted sign similar to the old “Huntington Beach” neon, with a “Welcome to Surf City, U.S.A.” sign below, and (in some plans) a dynamic LED sign incorporated as well. While this design includes only a faint echo of the old double arches over the adjacent intersection, people familiar with the town’s past may recognize the tribute to Merwin Rosson’s long-missing landmark.

PART II: THE STORY OF MERWIN ROSSON

Merwin N. Rosson was born Nov. 14, 1894, in Iowa. His father, Allen Rosson, was a steam engineer and farmer. During Merwin’s childhood and youth, the family moved numerous times, including to Medford, Oregon; Weaubleau, Missouri; and Alabama. Merwin go through 8th Grade before leaving school. By the time Merwin joined the Army in 1917, he was working as a miner for the Excelsior Mining Co. in Horseshoe Bar, Placer County, California. 

U.S. troops near Verdun, 1918 (Courtesy Library of Congress)

During World War I, he served as a Private in the Army Signal Corps and earned medals of valor at Verdun. After his discharge on April 29, 1919., he returned to Placer County and soon found a job as a “night policeman” in Merced. 

After a shoot-out with burglars at Merced's Hartman Department Store in 1920, the Merced County Sun said, "...Rosson is not a mollycoddle. He's a sort of a human buzz saw, and is not afraid of the devil and can whip his weight in wild cats. He was in the service and was awarded medals for bravery." 

Hartman's Dept Store, Merced (Courtesy Merced Courthouse Museum)

Hard Times 

Rosson resigned from the Merced Police Dept on Oct. 19, 1920, after there was fallout when he busted up what was apparently the WRONG gambling ring. He first arrested Joe Goldman, who countered with charges against Rosson, saying the officer had kicked him during the arrest. Then Rosson arrested William Goldman, a pool-room proprietor, charging him with conducting an illegal gambling house. Ultimately, all three charges were dropped and Rosson resigned before the City Council could fire him. 

Rosson then went to work for a local garage. Still “in Dutch” with the local authorities, the police soon raided his home supposedly searching for "stolen goods." They found nothing. Rosson left Merced but was arrested in Bakersfield and sent back to Mariposa County on the charge of stealing a surveyor's transit belonging to the State Highway Commission, from El Portal the previous summer.

Downtown Merced, 1922 (Courtesy Merced Courthouse Museum)

His brother came up with the $1,000 bail and he left jail on March 11, 1921 after several weeks in the clink. "I'm not worrying about the trial," he told the Merced County Sun. "I am not guilty of any crime. I was fool enough to try and do another man a good turn, and got into this scrape." When asked whether he had any family, his voice broke: "I had a wife and a baby boy when I went to war. They died while I was in France, and ever since then I have not cared much what happened." 

He was acquitted at his trial on April 16th. Immediately putting fifty miles between himself and his enemies in Merced, he moved to Sacramento and bought a home there. That same month, he married Bessie Reid of Seattle. 

Coming to Orange County

Sometime in the following few years, Rosson became a self-taught civil engineer and became registered to practice in both California and Oregon. It’s likely he spent time in both states during those years, including a possible stint as an engineer for the State of California. Then, from at least April 1924 to 1926, Rosson was on the staff of the Santa Ana City Engineer Nat H. Neff.

Fourth St., Santa Ana, circa 1925 (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

Rosson was appointed City Engineer of Huntington Beach on May 10, 1926, shortly after being accepted into the American Society of Civil Engineers. His earliest tasks for the city included designing the first restroom ever built at the end of the Huntington Beach pier and unclogging the city sewer line that drained into the ocean. He ultimately would be responsible for developing a new sewer system for the east side of town, paving many streets, implementing new safety measures for oil drilling operations, installing electric streetlights in many parts of the city, extending the length of the pier, and convincing the city that all future pier construction should be done with reinforced concrete. Up until that point, the pier had been entirely made of wood.

Over time, Rosson was assigned more and more additional roles and duties at the city. In addition to his original role as City Engineer, he also was appointed the city’s street superintendent, electrical inspector, plumbing inspector, weigh master, and building inspector.

Looking downcoast from at the arches. (Courtesy Don Dobmeier)

Considering all Rosson was contributing to the infrastructure, safety and development of the city, the iconic double arches he designed and built over the intersection of Main and PCH were just the icing on the cake.

Interocean Oil

Numerous new health and safety regulations for oil field operations were put into effect during Rosson’s time as City Engineer. Among the countless compliances efforts made was a notice of public nuisance posted on November 1, 1930, on an old wooden derrick between today’s Pecan Ave and Acacia Ave on the northwest side of 14th St. (lots 9, 11, and 13 of Block 514, 17th Street Section). The notice indicated that the owner, Interocean Oil, had to either bring the derrick up to code – which would have involved major reconstruction – or remove it altogether. This would prove to be the beginning of the end of Rosson’s time at Huntington Beach.

Oil fields of Huntington Beach (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

Over a month later, on December 15th, Rosson informed the City Council that the Interocean derrick had not yet been made safe. The Council then declared the derrick a public nuisance and directed Rosson to “abate” the problem. 

Interocean would later claim that Rosson told them he would provide instructions on how to proceed with said abatement and that Rosson didn’t answer when they wrote to him in late December for instructions on what was required. What’s known is that on Dec. 28, 1930, with the blessing of the City Council, Rosson had the derrick demolished. 

Interocean immediately announced that they were preparing a lawsuit against the city, each of the councilmembers, and Rosson.

A day or two later, on January 1, 1931, Rosson let the City know that he would resign in three months – around the time that repairs and expansion of the municipal pier were scheduled for completion.

Huntington Beach City Hall, circa 1930s (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

It seems that word about his impending resignation didn’t circulate widely. In February 1931 Rosson was appointed to the Orange County Planning Commission, where he would serve alongside such Orange County notables as his old boss, Nat H. Neff; longtime chairman Dr. Walter L. Bigham; Orange County’s first practicing woman attorney, Clara R. Cushman; and surveyor Warren K. “Cap” Hillyard.

Hello, I Must Be Going

Two months later, on April 6, 1931, Rosson tendered his resignation as City Engineer. The City Council scheduled a special session for the following day to discuss the resignation. This special session was marked with a certain amount of chaos.  Appropriate compensation for Rosson was debated (e.g. should he get the full-month’s salary for all the positions he held), and temporary appointments of replacement for each of his positions were made. Somewhere along the line, Robert’s Rules of Order went out the window, frustrating Mayor S. R. Bowen tremendously. And the Council was undoubtedly flustered, if not panicked, about the departure of one of the city’s most critical employees.

Most of the council members were aware of Rosson’s earlier letter of intent to leave. But Bowen may have been blindsided. It’s unclear what set of aggravations drove Bowen’s actions, but he immediately resigned as mayor. Perhaps there was more to the story, but the newspaper accounts and the Council minutes seem to leave out critical details.

The newly improved Huntington Beach Pier, early 1930s (Courtesy O.C. Archives)

By this point the Rossons had already moved out of Huntington Beach and settled in Santa Ana. The reason given to the newspapers was that “Mrs. Rosson desires to locate away from the beach to enjoy a change of climate.” In a final letter to the city, Rosson recommended assistant engineer Harry Overmeyer as his replacement for City Engineer, recommended improvements to water and sewer systems, and encouraged the hiring of a dedicated engineer to oversee the widening of PCH through the city.

More Waves Before the Calm

In early June 1931, Interocean filed an amended complaint in the court of Orange County Superior Court Judge Homer Ames. A couple weeks later, on June 24th, Rosson was arrested for drunk driving near San Clemente and resigned from the County Planning Commission. In 1932 he no longer appeared in Orange County directories and his wife, Bessie L. Rosson, divorced him for desertion. And in 1933 he was again charged with and fined for drunk driving. Rosson probably hadn’t experienced this dark a patch in his life since upsetting the Merced gambling racketeers. 

On June 9, 1932, the Interocean Oil Co. officially sued the city of Huntington Beach, the City Council, and former City Engineer Rosson for $124,000. They claimed the city tore down their wooden derricks without due process. After a couple months of City Attorney Ray Overacker chipping away, it seems Interocean’s case fell apart. At the very least, from this point on the only ones still in the crosshairs were those who’d been sitting on the Council at the time of the incident. Soon, whatever was left of the lawsuit seemed to fade away. No further mention of it was made in City Council meetings or in any major local newspapers.

But it took Rosson longer to recover from the debacle. In late 1932, he was apparently trying to drown his sorrows when he was arrested and convicted for drunk driving on Whittier Blvd in Los Angeles County. 

Within a year, however, he seemed to have at least mostly turned his life back around. And on March 12, 1934, he married Clarissa May “Billy” Hilliard in Yuma, Arizona. Both were residents of Long Beach at the time. A few months later he received or renewed his Civil Engineer Certificate.

Clarissa Hillyard (Courtesy FamilySearch.org)

By 1938 Rosson was a state highway engineer working in Yosemite, in 1940 he was working as a construction engineer in the Coulee Dam Precinct in Washington, and in 1942 he was living in Boulder City, Nevada and working for Basic Magnesium, Inc. of Las Vegas.

Merwin and Clarissa moved to Oregon in 1944 and he worked as a self-employed construction engineer. He retired in 1965. Merwin Rosson died at his home in Salem, Oregon at age 79, on September 18, 1974. He is buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.

PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Thanks to Stephanie George, Charles Beal, Huntington Beach City Archivist Kathie Schey, and the late Don Dobmeier.