Long Beach State grew up right along with the sprawling Southern California suburbs. Born in 1949, it swelled to accommodate the post-world war enthusiasm for education and land. The rapid expansion brought its share of growing pains. Students took classes in a cramped converted apartment with no books and playing ring-around-the-rosie for physical education. Money was scarce, and faculty at times feuded with the administration. But the new college’s let’s put on a show spirit produced a scrappiness that endures today. Read about the personalities that grew the college from Fred Bixby’s bean fields into one of the largest universities in California.