This photograph (1918) of the town's most predominant feature is of the South San Diego School at 10th & Elm. The building was built in 1888. For information . . .

Several of the next historical photographs are presented courtesy of Mike Halowell, former owner of I. B.'s Red Hawk Restaurant  We thank Mike for extending his permission to utilize these photographs of the early days of Imperial Beach life. Mike had to take them down off the wall (they were nailed) in order for us to scan them for you. Thank you Mike! (The photographs are listed as being from the historical collection of the Title Insurance & Trust Company.)

1910 - The above photograph taken from the end of the Imperial Beach pier, looking south-east across the Town of Imperial Beach. The pier is located at the foot of Date Street

From the collection of Freda Adams

1910 - Above, are two views the motor launch Imperial bringing sightseers from San Diego to the San Diego Bay channel at 10th Street. From there a battery operated car took the visitors to the Imperial Beach pier and beaches.

The above aerial view (1924) is looking north-east across Imperial Beach. The large structure (right - lower) is the South San Diego School located between 9th & 10th on Elm

The above, taken about 1910, is looking north on 10th Street from Elm and shows the battery powered car of the Mexico and San Diego Railroad Company.

This last view, from the Red Hawk Restaurant collection, taken in 1924, is looking north-west across Imperial Beach. Palm Avenue, if you look closely, runs diagonally, we are told, through the center of the photograph.

  Checking out the "Wave Machine" - (1912)

A picnic on the beach - (1918) - in front of the Imperial Beach Dancing Pavilion.

Also in 1918, two of the local young ladies on our beach in the latest in swim wear fashions with the pier in the background.

This photograph, also taken in 1918 is another view of the south side of the South San Diego School at 10th & Elm.

Here, in 1960, is the IB's first City Hall, 4 years after incorporation.

This photograph, (1950) is of Sid & Sara Robbins' Bakery & Coffee Shop at First (now Seacoast Drive) and Elm Streets. The coffee shop was a favorite spot for those enjoying the beach, as well as serving as a bus stop, a resting place, and a place to stop and visit en-route to the Post Office. Jay Robbins, son of Sid & Sara, is a former City Councilman.

The newspaper article shown above is quoted below:

Her ‘Boys’ Leave, But Don’t Forget

San Diego Union, December 21, 1963 by Neil Ball

IMPERIAL BEACH --Most of her "boys" have grown up and become fathers -- and the Navy Radio School where they trained here has been closed three years — but they do not forget Mrs. Sara Robbins.

Sara’s Coffee Shop and Bakery, 903 First Street, was a "home away from home" for hundreds of young sailors, 17 to 20, who otherwise might have forgotten Imperial Beach.

"It’s all in the past now," she told a reporter who asked about how she had advised, tutored, banked money for, scolded, loved and wrote letters for a host of a lonely young sailors.

Every year she gets Christmas cards from all over the nation and world from her Navy and ex-Navy "boys" and every now and then the telephone rings and she hears from one "just passing through."

"I have been on this corner 15 years and lot of those boys now tell me about their families," she said. "It is not the same since the Radio School moved to Pensacola, Florida."

She tried to make the young sailors write home often, banked their money for them so they would not waste it "or go to places where they could lose it" and let them use her address for their mail.

She has received letters and Christmas cards from such places as North Pole, Alaska because her boys get around.

The Sweetwater Dam suffered severe erosion in - 1916