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.