Leisure World, Seal Beach, California

Leisure World Seal Beach is an active-seniors’ retirement community opened in 1962 that introduced many innovations characterizing later senior property developments.

While both were taking evening real estate classes at Hollywood High School, Ross W. Cortese, a Depression-era high-school dropout, and a part-time contractor flipping homes in Compton, met former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract actress Alona Marlowe (née Ilona L.

[5] Frematic Homes employed designer Cliff May’s innovative California Ranch residential concept “that let the outside in,"[6] integrating extensive prefabrication techniques, post-and-beam construction, slab floors, and floor-to-ceiling windows later incorporated into Leisure World.

[11] Nonetheless, the couple's study of medical services drew their attention to the health and housing needs of older adults, whose numbers were growing rapidly in the post-war period.

The Corteses’ interest culminated in the couple's $4 million gift[12] founding what became the University of Southern California’s gerontology school, now the world’s largest academic program researching older adults.

One of the most important amenities was a plan offering free on-site medical care and prescriptions as part of the monthly resident's fees, again a first in a U.S. retirement community.

[18] Rossmoor Leisure World (as it was initially named) was to be built on a portion of the Hellman Ranch in what was then an un-incorporated square-mile plot in Orange County.

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. eventually agreed to finance the project, but stipulated the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guarantee the loan.

[28] Hill and Knowlton, then the world's largest public relations firm, obtained widespread newspaper, radio and television coverage that by mid-1963 let the community claim residents from 43 states and 11 countries.

Leisure World's prominence soon allowed the Corteses to assemble a Leisure World Foundation board headed by William G. Simon, the former head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office and a founding director of The J. Edgar Hoover Foundation;[31] and executive vice president Kenneth E. BeLieu, the former undersecretary of both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army.

[32] While the development would include usual retirement amenities - a golf course, swimming pool, clubhouses and shuffleboard courts - the Seal Beach construction incorporated insights the Corteses had gained through their “desire for data about older adults.”[33] Stairs, steps and curbs would be replaced by ramps.

[35] Every mutual would include large greenbelts, and centralized parking structures would preserve the residential units’ parklike setting and encourage walking and physical activity.

[52] Ironically, the Corteses’ health care plan precipitated their removal from direct involvement in Leisure World Seal Beach's management.

[58] The rollout of the federal Medicare program, enacted by the Johnson administration in 1965, caused Leisure World to abandon its community-run health plan.

In 2021, the community opened an internet-enabled learning center to host college courses, and a fully equipped cooking classroom for instruction in cuisines and nutrition.

Arts events and guest speakers appear in the clubhouse meeting rooms and two specially dedicated performance venues, a 2,500-seat outdoor amphitheater that hosts a summer-long series, and a smaller stage adjoining the library.

Leisure World is one of Seal Beach's major employers, and its approximately 175 full- and part-time workers provide maintenance, infrastructure inspection, property transfer and financial services.

He mocked retirement villages as escapist, places where “reality and utopian fantasy merge in ‘an air of elegant euphoria.’”[66] Simultaneously, “old-age ghettos” was how a syndicated essay portrayed Leisure World and its ilk.

[67] An Associated Press article, “Let’s Quit Working and Retire,” even chided the pre-70 retirees of Leisure World and similar developments for slacking in their duty to enrich the American economy.

[69] Leisure World Seal Beach's pioneering role in introducing cooperative community governance to California led it to be a party in two important lawsuits that helped establish the state's homeowner association (HOA) regulations.

As community fees rose to pay for the Leisure World medical plan, an often-bitter series of public meetings erupted pitting residents against management.

A bronze statue of a ballerina, Premiere Danseuse Etoile,[89] by noted Italian sculptor Pino Conte (1915-1997), is mounted at the entrance to Leisure World Seal Beach’s Administration Building.

Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach In 1964, ABC’s Queen for a Day broadcast an entire show dedicated to women in Leisure World.

At the show’s conclusion, host Jack Bailey granted that day’s winner, Leisure World resident Mabel Menke, with her wish for a new tricycle.

The weekly events have featured singers Debbie Reynolds, Rosemary Clooney, Kathryn Grayson, Pat Boone, Glen Campbell, Anita O’Day, Tony Martin, Buddy Greco, Frankie Avalon, John Davidson and Frankie Laine; and the bands or orchestras of Harry James, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Les Brown, Nelson Riddle and Lawrence Welk.

Prominent small groups included The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots, The Lettermen, The Kingston Trio, The Four Freshmen, The Coasters, The Lennon Sisters, and The Diamonds.

Among the actors who appeared at the Amphitheater were Mickey Rooney, Dorothy Lamour, Buddy Ebsen, Nanette Fabray, Martha Raye, Florence Henderson and Sally Kellerman.