Long Beach Launches Time Capsule to Celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary

The City of Long Beach celebrated 908 Day this year by announcing plans to assemble a new time capsule to mark America250, the nationwide celebration of the country's 250th anniversary. Earlier this summer, the City opened its 1976 Bicentennial time capsule, revealing mementos of the era such as Bicentennial flags, newspapers and publications from 1976 and handwritten letters from local elementary school students reflecting on life and their hopes for the future. During an unveiling ceremony in July, some of those former students returned to City Hall to read their letters and reflect on what’s changed in the last five decades. Building on that legacy, the City is creating a new 50-year capsule to preserve the stories, milestones and memories that define Long Beach today.

Community members are invited to submit items to be considered for inclusion in the new time capsule. An online form is available now through Dec. 1, 2026, offering residents the opportunity to submit ideas for items across four categories: historical, cultural, personal or “other.” While not every item submitted will be chosen to be placed in the capsule, the form will give community members across Long Beach a chance to be represented. At the start of the new year, the City will add the full submission list—including resident names and ideas—to the capsule to document what Long Beach residents valued in 2026.

The time capsule and memorial plinth are funded through the city's Special Events and Promotion budget which is supported by revenue from transient occupancy taxes and is restricted funding only for the use of promoting the City.

The capsule will be presented at the Mayor's State of the City in early 2027 before it is sealed inside a plinth on permanent display in the Civic Center Lobby in Downtown Long Beach, marking this moment in the City's history for future generations to discover.