In 1946, with the war over and Southern California building as fast as lumber could land, a small roofing supplier opened on 11th Street near Redondo Avenue in Long Beach, selling wood shakes and asphalt shingles. A few years later it hired a bookkeeper named Sam Riddle. That hire turned out to be the whole story.
The family
Sam rose from the books to running the place, and the Riddles never left. All three of his sons grew up in the yard — Saturdays with their dad, then whole careers. Ross, the eldest, joined full-time in 1968 while studying business at Long Beach City College and Cal State Long Beach; today he's still President & CEO. Two of his brothers are gone now, and missed every day — but if you've ever been treated right at this counter, you've felt their work. The third generation holds down both yards today: Brandon Riddle in Laguna Niguel, Ryan Riddle in Long Beach.
The moves
In 1963 the company moved to its current Long Beach home on South Street near Cherry — "out in the boondocks then, all oil property," as Ross puts it. Somewhere along the way came the Laguna Niguel yard, three showrooms people have called the best in the nation, and a wall of vintage roofing signs that amounts to a small museum — Mule-Hide tins, a 1941 calendar, black-and-white photos of trucks long gone.
The comic strip
For decades the company has run its own single-panel comic strip, "Rufus Leakin" — say it out loud — starring two roofers who heckle cheap bids, bad weather, and now, our AI Roof Designer. All 47 strips live in our archive, and the boys themselves still appear on this website, calling B.S. on anything that claims to replace a roofer.
Why it matters to your roof
Companies don't last 80 years in a trade this unforgiving by cutting corners. The same family answers for the materials they sold your parents — and maybe their parents. That's the entire pitch: four acres of stock, people who know what they're holding, and a name that's been good since 1946. Come see it. We're open at 6 AM, like you.
Written by the counter crew at South Coast Shingle — supplying Southern California roofing & masonry since 1946. Questions? Long Beach (800) 540-7626 · Laguna Niguel (800) 580-7626.