As of Wednesday, June 15, Tommy and Keiko Sugihara will have lived in their College Park East home in the city of Seal Beach for 45 years.
While College Park East has quite a large number of “original owners,” Tommy and Keiko are the first of the original owners, and they are still there.
The history of College Park East is tied into the history of the old ranchos. Able Stern purchased land from the Rancho Los Alamitos, and part of that was purchased by John Bixby. He in turn left the land College Park East now sits on to his son Fred H. Bixby.
The Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base is on land once owned by both Fred H. Bixby and his sister Susanna Bixby Bryant.
The S&S Construction Company purchased the land from the Fred H. Bixby Ranch Company to build College Park East, and on December 31, 1964, the area soon to be known as College Park East was annexed to the City of Seal Beach.
The first building permits were issued on March 4, 1966. Three houses were constructed and the Sugihara’s moved in on June 15, 1966.
Jim and Helen Clark were the second owners to move in on July 1, 1966. Both the Sugiharas and Helen Clark still live in College Park East (Jim Clark passed away in 2007).
At the time the Sugihara’s moved in, only three houses had been constructed. Then S&S built six more, and then six more.
After that, construction was in earnest. Only a few of the roads were in. Lampson Avenue went only as far as Tulip Street; it was not yet cut through to Seal Beach Blvd.
When asked what it was like to be the first to move into the tract, Keiko Sugihara said it was lonely, as there weren’t any neighbors, as for the first two weeks they were the only ones there. She didn’t speak English well in those days and didn’t have a car, so she didn’t get out.
In addition, her daughter Lisa was only two years old and she was pregnant with her second child, Thomas, who was born several months later (daughter Joann came along four years later).
At the time she didn’t think about being the only one here as she was very busy with her small children.
When asked about the changes in the area, she said that all the old stores in Rossmoor Center are now gone. The golf course was not yet built in 1966.
Of course the traffic has increased quite a bit. The neighborhood is now very diverse; for the first couple of years, they were the only Asian family in College Park East.
Keiko Sugihara said she is very happy here in College Park East: she has learned everything here — the culture, the language and she obtained her citizenship. She said that College Park East is her home and has no regrets.
She said what has stayed the same is that the people here are all very nice. She and her family are very proud to be the first family of College Park East.
