Poe is not only surrounded by the past in his home, but he has devoted most of his life to studying and preserving Long Beach’s rich architectural heritage. When he was in his early 20s, he worked as an antique appraiser, thrust into the business by a large household of antiques inherited from his great grandmother. For 37 years he was a special ed teacher and school administrator in Harbor City, but also taught enrichment classes on architectural history in Palos Verdes. Since 1993, Poe has served on the Cultural Heritage Commission, which has designated 17 neighborhoods as culturally and architecturally significant.

As president of Long Beach Heritage, a nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation of the city’s architectural gems, Poe conducts tours of the Bembridge House at 953 N. Park Circle Drive in the Drake

Park/Willmore City Historic District near 10th Street and the 710 Freeway. This late Queen Anne Victorian, purchased by LBH in 2000, is considered one of the most important historical residences in the city.

Last year, the Bembridge House’s Christmas event attracted more than 300 visitors. Though this was a huge success, Poe is most impressed by the pride that the district’s residents take in the historic house. Even neighborhood children are well-versed in its history.

Such involvement is key to a city’s health, contends Poe, who is the author of two books on his beloved neighborhood,“Naples: A History in Words and Pictures, 1784-1984” and “Naples: The City of Red-Tiled Roofs, The First 100 Years.” An active member of many local charities, including the American Heart Association, the hospice program at St. Mary’s, and Camp del Corazon for children with heart transplants, Poe vigorously encourages others to become involved in their community, “not just by writing a check, but by devoting time and energy” to a worthy cause.

One such cause was preventing a Texaco station on Campo Avenue and Second Street from unloading the effluent from leaking oil drums into the Naples canals. Though Texaco had received the go-ahead from the Coastal Commission to discharge 43,000 gallons a day of gasoline-laced drainage over a period of two years, Poe organized his neighbors and members of the Surfrider Foundation to protest the dumping. In the end, Poe’s commitment to keeping Naples’ waterways clean prevailed when Texaco agreed to route its waste water through the county’s sewer treatment system instead.

Poe is supported in his endeavors by his wife of 27 years, Maureen, and son, Adam, who is coincidentally a history teacher.

John Thomas, president-elect of Long Beach Heritage, says of Poe’s commitment to Long Beach, “Stan is extremely passionate about the historical architecture of the city. From the brick-and-mortar preservation of important buildings to educating the public about the city’s history, he is very dedicated.”

“Most cities are just places where people make their money and leave, without becoming involved, without getting to know anything about the place they’re living,” Poe laments. “I don’t want Long Beach to just be another stopping place. I want to keep Long Beach as a place where people want to stay and raise their kids, to make a life for themselves.”

”Long Beach Heritage is for growth,” contends Poe, who acknowledges that people will continue to move here for economic opportunities and good weather. “Growth is fine, but quality growth, not growth for growth’s sake, not growth just to bring in tax revenue.”

Poe realizes that when an historic home is knocked down to build a boxy apartment building, it’s not just street parking that suffers. The entire character of a neighborhood changes. “It’s important to incorporate the old in with the new,” he says, to have a sense of the past as a foundation for the future.

Boundaries: Wardlow and Bixby Roads and Lime and Gardenia Avenues. Consisting of approximately 1,500 predominantly Spanish Colonial Revival homes built in the late 1920s, this is the city’s largest historic district. You can also spy a few examples of Craftsman bungalows and Tudor Revival and Neo-Traditional homes of the late ‘30s and early ‘40s.

Boundaries: Loma Vista Drive, Park Court, Fourth Street, Magnolia Avenue, Nylic Court, and Seventh Street. Drake Park, named for Col. Charles Drake, best-known for developing the Pike, and Willmore City, named for William Willmore, the developer of Willmore City, which was renamed Long Beach, this district was part of the city’s original 1881 plan and contains the highest concentration of early 1900s homes in Long Beach. Victorian, Craftsman, Mission, Prairie, Italian Renaissance, and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

Boundaries: Carroll Park East, Carroll Park West, Carroll Park North, Junipero Avenue, and Third Street. Landscaped “islands,” curving streets, several old barns, and Craftsman bungalows.

Boundaries: Junipero Avenue, Loma Avenue, Ocean Boulevard, and Second Street. Large single- and multi-family houses built between 1903 and 1949. Along the ocean bluffs, Craftsman bungalows and Period Revival residences predominate.

Boundaries: 2008-2191 Eucalyptus Ave., 439 W. 20th St., and 417 W. 21st St. Named for chewing-gum William S. Wrigley, Jr., who developed this two-block area of Spanish Colonial Revival style homes between 1928 and 1934.

Boundaries: North side of Ninth Street between Orange and Walnut Avenues; Hellman Street from Orange Avenue to Walnut Avenue, including Toledo Walk to alley; both sides of Orange Avenue from 730-937 Orange Ave.; west side of Walnut Avenue between Hellman Street and Ninth Street; 733-915 Hoffman Ave. Named for Isaias W. Hellman who developed this neighborhood, this district features Craftsman bungalows, Spanish Colonial Revival homes, and Victorians.

Boudaries: 230, 260, and 280 Junipero Ave., and 2202, 2220, and 2230 Lowena Drive. Chateauesque structures built between 1919 and 1926 are found on this street named for developer H. N. Lowe, whose family owned a flower farm on the land beginning in 1898.

Boundaries: 1045-1085 Minerva Park Place and 1724 and 1746 E. 11th St. Sixteen Spanish Colonial Revival homes built in 1925.

Boundaries: East side of St. Louis Avenue, the alley north of Seventh Street, Coronado Street, and 10th Street. Though Craftsman bungalows constructed between 1910 and 1922 dominate, Spanish Colonial Revival homes of the ‘20s and ‘30s, as well as Neo-Traditional styles of the ‘40s, are among this district’s more than 500 architecturally significant structures.

Boundaries: 2515-2596 Lime Ave., 2444-2588 Olive Ave., 638-836 Sunrise Blvd., 701-745 Vernon St., and 804 E. Willow St. Originally a ranch, then a dairy, this neighborhood features predominantly Craftsman bungalows built between 1908 and 1924. The El Cortez, built in the early 1920s as a “motor court,” or motel, is now an apartment complex.

Boundaries: 3800-3926 Wilton St. between Termino and Grand Avenues, 1634 Grand Ave., and 1637 Termino Ave. Spanish Colonial/Mission Revival homes built in 1924 by a single builder.

Boundaries: Junipero Avenue, Redondo Avenue, Fourth Street, and Broadway Avenue, but not including the Carroll Park and Lowena Drive historic districts. Predominately Craftsman bungalows built between 1910 and 1923.

Boundaries: Third and Colorado Streets, and St. Joseph and Argonne Avenues. A single block of small, Mission Revival and Craftsman homes line a narrow street. All were constructed in 1923 by a single builder, Boland & Smith, and all the original construction still stands today.

Boundaries: A single block located east of Alamitos Avenue between Seventh and Hellman Streets.Ten identical single-story houses on both sides of a narrow private street and two two-story structures next to an alley make for a sense of intimacy of a bygone era.

Boundaries: The alley north of Anaheim Street to 14th Street, consisting of eight houses from 1324 - 1357 Linden Ave. Seven of the homes were built for prominent citizens and display Greek Revival, Craftsman, Victorian/Craftsman blend, and American Foursquare architectural styles popular in the early 1900s, while the Mediterranean multi-family structure was constructed later for tenants.

Boundaries: North side of Fourth Street, south side of Seventh Street, Cherry Avenue, and Coronado/Obispo Avenues. Includes only those residences that are facing these streets. Like its sister district of Rose Park, the predominant architectural style of Rose Park South is the Craftsman bungalow.

Boundaries: Newport Avenue, Roswell Avenue, Fourth Street, and Seventh Street. A few Victorian homes, though Craftsman bungalows predominate.