By Some aspects of Long Beach State have become iconic since its inception in 1949, like the Walter Pyramid’s towering presence, the James Burns Miller Japanese Garden’s zen and the backdrop of the Go Beach letters.
Another iconic staple of the university: It’s parking.
Why is parking at CSULB the way it is?
At the start of the academic year, new and returning students know the drill. Similar to his peers, transfer student and Associated Students Inc. Vice President-elect Shelton King Jr. had been warned about parking.
“My friend had warned me and told me all about parking. I didn’t think it would be that bad,” King Jr. said. “But it really was that bad. It’s a bit depressing that you pay all this money and can’t park anywhere.”
Sentiments like King Jr.’s are often echoed online each year by many, complaining of limited parking spaces, circling lots for hours, and the distance of student lots from academic buildings.
While it’s become more prevalent over the years, parking is not a modern issue. Since its founding, parking at the university has been contentious, and the question of where and how to build more parking remains unclear.
Dirt lots and mudslides
The university was founded on Sept. 28, 1949, under the name Los Angeles-Orange County State College. On its first day of classes, 160 students met in a converted apartment building.
In 1950, the City of Long Beach authorized the City Council to buy a 320-acre tract of land that would become the college’s official home. Construction began in the summer of 1951 and temporary buildings were used to accommodate the incoming fall class.
The start of the fall semester brought the issue of parking to the forefront for the first time. On the sprawling 320 acres, the designated student parking lot was on the side of a dirt hill.
“What’s now lower-campus where the [University] Student Union is and Brotman Hall, most of that was unpaved and that’s where we parked,” Lee Brown, a class of 1960 alumnus, told the Long Beach Current, formerly Daily 49er in 2019. “When it rained, AAA made millions. They came and winched and pulled everybody out.”
Dirt lots and the hilly nature of the campus made for sliding and stuck cars in the rain, prompting the first paved parking lot to be built in 1959.
Why is the campus T-shaped?
CSULB’s campus is often referred to as T-shaped, with most academic buildings located on the upper campus and parking relegated to the lower campus. Edward A. Killingsworth was the master plan architect for 40 years, and his vision for the university was laid out in the 1962 master plan.
Killingsworth’s vision for the campus was pedestrian-oriented, with cars specifically stationed away from the campus’s academic core. Landscape architect Ed Lovell also worked with the Killingsworth firm to create a park-like landscape.
His master plan is why both lots are on the outskirts of campus and far from academic buildings. With enrollment increasing to over 40,000 students in 2025 and the university remaining a commuter school, options for additional parking have become limited within the bounds of 322 acres.
Nowhere to go but up
By the 1980s, most of the parking lots students recognize today were established, but the need for more lots grew and room to pave ran out. In 1994, the Palo Verde parking garage was completed and added 2,800 parking spots.
According to the university’s current master plan, there are no major plans to build new parking lots or garages. With residential neighborhoods, the Veterans Affairs Hospital and Puvungna surrounding the campus, options for expansion are slim. Instead, the university intends to make improvements to existing lots.
For now, parking continues to be an obstacle for the student body just as it was 75 years ago.
