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Welcome to Virginia Country Club

The privileges of a country club atmosphere that we enjoy today stemmed from a mere notion among friends in Old Town Long Beach, California. The year was 1905, the same year the U.S. Open of Golf celebrated its eleventh birthday, but it would take a few more years to establish a country club charter. If it were not for the vision and initiative of leaders like Colonel Charles R. Drake, the Bixby family and several other prominent local businessmen of the early 20th century, driving down Virginia Road to a sign that says, "Welcome to Virginia Country Club" might never have been made a reality.

To this day, we hold true to our heritage and at 415 members, we are among the most exclusive country clubs in all of Southern California. But despite this aura of exclusivity, the membership is humble, with a strong sense of "family" and a proud desire to always engender a warm welcoming atmosphere to all who pass through our gates. We represent over 100 years of Virginia Country Club golf, hospitality and camaraderie.

History of Virginia Country Club

History of Virginia Country Club

Plans for a country club in Long Beach were first formulated in 1905, but several events interfered with those plans and the idea was tabled. If it wasn’t for those initial challenges, Virginia Country Club as we know it could very well have carried on a different name. To attract tourism to the high-end hotels in the beautiful oceanfront boulevards of Long Beach, the idea of a classy country club as a quality amenity for hotel guests became more and more an enticing reality. Thus became the original raison d'etre of Virginia Country Club. On March 26, 1907, the Daily Telegram announced that the Hotel Bixby located near the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Ocean Boulevard—and sister hotel to Hotel Maryland in Pasadena—would change its name to the Hotel Virginia upon reopening. The opening of Virginia Hotel was considered a spectacular study in Roaring Twenties opulence, from its lavishly furnished grand salon and masterpiece paintings to its curved marble staircase and massive pillars. The Virginia Hotel became known as one of the "five great hotels of the West" in company with The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco and the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. It was stated that a single night's stay could wipe out a working man's bank account. But for the owners, the Virginia Hotel was not enough. They desired to up the ante by adding a country club to its long list of classy amenities. Plans for a country club for the guests of the popular Virginia Hotel were resumed as the appointed committee continued its search for a suitable place. Although there were initial talks of using the Old Adobe house at the Rancho Los Cerritos as the clubhouse for The Virginia Country Club, complications with that arrangement caused the search committee to look at two other sites of interest. "The Los Alamitos" site, the center of a sheep-grazing pasture on top of Reservoir Hill, was chosen as its first location with the signing of a ten year lease. In November 1909, plans for the new country club were completed, enabling the official seal to be formally stamped on the certificate of incorporation of “The Virginia Country Club.”
 

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