Any Long Beach City College student can tell you why this is called Viking Way: LBCC’s sports teams are the Vikings. The school was established in 1927 as Long Beach Junior College, alternatively Long Beach City Junior College. (The “Junior” was dropped in 1944.) ItsĀ Carson Street campus opened in 1935; Viking Way, right down the road, was named three years later. This was LBCC’s only campus until 1949, when the Pacific Coast campus was added and this property was rebranded the Liberal Arts campus. As for the Vikings, the team’s name was reportedly chosen in a school-wide election in 1927; “Zebras” came in second and “Eagles” came in third. The Scandinavian theme was adopted throughout the college and later carried over onto Norse Way.