Tuesday, 28 October

The first few manuals have been added to the brand-spanking-new Reading Room. Please stop in and take a look. Feedback (bug reports, critiques, etc.) is always welcome. There are three manuals to kick things off, all from the WWII era: a safety manual, the DAC plant rules, and a hand signal manual.

The Reading Room is the first section of the planned "Douglas Heritage Collection" that will house selected historical documents, photos, and more from the proud heritage of the Douglas, McDonnell, and Boeing companies.

In other site news, the photos of the Skylinks renovation has been moved to the Outside the Fences gallery section. This will allow interested readers to keep tabs on the golf course renewal, but keep the main focus of the mainstream wilexa.com site on the demolition work.

Thanks for your patience while we work to make this site better every day!

Monday, 20 October

More historical photos are on the way! It has always been the intent of this site to build a collection of DAC historical images in addition to the PacifiCenter news.

Thanks to the generous help of Scott Kaczorowski of xb-70.com, the historical images will make their way here in the near future.

Wilexa.com will be undergoing a major renovation this autumn. As the site is rebuilt, visitors are still welcome. Check back often to see the new additions. Please bookmark the home page to be sure to have the latest site news.

To get things started, here are a few sample photos to view. Look forward to many, many high quality/resolution images as we upgrade the site.

View the slide show or examine individual pictures below:

Click on a picture to see a larger image:

Monday, 13 October

Ever wonder what went on in the buildings that you see demolished on these pages? Do you have first-hand knowledge?

Visit the new DAC Building ID Project in our forums today!

Each building that you see on this site was once a vibrant, humming beehive of activity. Each one has a story. Maybe it housed workers engaged in turning out planes for the war effort. Or maybe it was filled with engineers designing the next commercial jet that would bring the people of the world closer together. Or maybe both, during different eras.

Former and current employees: If you know what happened in a certain building or buildings, and when, please post the information to the DAC Building ID Project forum. It will bring history and life to the buildings that will soon be gone forever.

Monday, 06 October

A grab bag of images is the offering today. For those readers who cannot see the goings-on around Lakewood Boulevard on a day-to-day basis, we present a few photos of the street itself, along with a sample of Skylinks images. Banners and trees line Lakewood these days. Skylinks Golf Course is closed, as reported here last week. Skylinks news will be moved to a separate page in the near future. We are previewing a possible new slide show format. Please send in an email and let us know your opinions. The new format should be more dial-up friendly.

Take a look at our Outside the Fences pages for views of the Skylinks Golf Course and Lakewood Blvd.

View the new format slide show, the old format slide show. Here's a few samples:

Click on a picture to see a larger image:

[Edited 2003-10-26]

Thursday, 02 October

Skylinks Golf Course closed on Tuesday for a year-long renovation. This municipal course is just to the south of the Boeing plant along the east side of Lakewood Blvd.

According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram,

Skylinks Golf Course will close Tuesday for a one-year, $6 million renovation that includes new hole configurations, expanded landscaping and an upgraded clubhouse.

When the course reopens in October 2004, it will play 475 yards longer and feature new grass, enlarged tees and bigger greens. Landscaping additions include more slope, four lakes and fountains, 700 trees, 1,000 shrubs and course fencing.

The Municipal Golf Commission has also recommended that the course reopen with a new name, Long Beach Legends Golf Course, to coincide with the relocation of the city's Golf Hall of Fame.

Note to readers: Visit our Skylinks photo album in the Outside the Fences pages.

[Updated 2003-10-26]?>

Wednesday, 01 October

The view has not changed much in the last month. There are the snake-like sandbags in place and blue tarps covering the wells, but other than that, this panorama looks just like the one from the end of August. As always, you can compare with panoramas from the past.

[Note: Apologies for the reflections from the windows. The glare during overcast days is unavoidable.]

Date 30 Sep 2003. Sizes 2250x250 (121 KB) 4500x500 (257 KB) QuickTime VR (1.75 MB) Base Photos (not yet avail)