A Google Street View Look At My Robledo And Nieto Ancestors’ Long Beach Residence Off Now-Trendy Pine Avenue

When my Mexican-born Nieto and Robledo ancestors immigrated from San Luis Potosi in the 1910s, little did they know that their first home, a Long Beach, California address (123 E. 4th St.) would one day be part of a hip and trendy urban redevelopment spot.

According to Google Maps, my ancestors’ former Long Beach home is now the City Place Shopping Center located on Pine Avenue and 4th street. The exact spot appears to now be an entrance way, off 4th street, into a parking structure — next to Wingstop, and across the street from Big 5 Sporting Goods. I guess Hubby and I are going to have to head out there for lunch some Saturday or Sunday so that I cook stare at (and photograph) the spot that used to be home to my family.

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I have spent many sunny Saturdays and Sundays hanging along this stretch of trendy Pine Avenue — shopping, eating, clubbing, and watching movies. Yet I never bothered to look up my great-grandparents’ address on Google Maps until a couple years ago. I’ve stood right on the corner of Pine and 4th…but did not realize that if I just looked due east, I would have seen where my Robledo and Nieto ancestors lived when they settled in California after immigrating from Mexico.

According to Google Maps, this is a Street View look at what used to be 123 E. 4th Street.

This is the same address that my great-grandfather Jose “Joe” Robledo (1875 – ca 1936) listed on his World War I draft card as home to him and my great-grandmother Maria Nieto (1887-1974) in 1918 in the rear unit or home. On the 1920 US Census, I still find them living at this same addressa, along with my great-great-grandmother — Maria’s mother — Maria Aurelia Compean (1858-1963), a bunch of cousins, and my great-grandparents’ children Guadalupe, Refugio, and Benjamin. Infant Benjamin (1919-1990) was my grandfather, and at just 8 months old in the 1920 Census, that means this address was his very first home.

By the 1930 US Census, my great-grandparents Joe and Maria, along with their children (including my grandfather Benjamin), had already relocated to Los Angeles. And my great-great-grandmother Maria Aurelia has already relocated to Glendale.

I would love to find an old photo of the home that once stood at 123 E. 4th Street in Long Beach!