Captain John Terry scored his second of pre-season with a low-left footed drive, that went in off Galaxy keeper Joe Cannon's left hand post.
While man of the moment Beckham couldn't feature from the start, it didn't stop a capacity 27,000 crowd, and a flood of A-list celebrities turning up to see the action.
Friends of the Beckhams Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were spotted, as was Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking time off from governing the state of California to witness the Blues at the Home Depot Center.
Following on from Tigres' earlier 3-0 victory over Samsung Bluewings, we needed a six-goal margin of victory to guarantee the World Series of Soccer trophy, but this never looked likely despite there being plenty of chances on offer for the Blues.
The game, perhaps missing the allure a starting appearance from Beckham may have brought, took a while to get going, but in the tenth minute Ferreira's deep cross was met by Malouda, who volleyed low towards the bottom corner, but Cannon did well to beat the ball behind for a corner.
Already the vulnerability of the Galaxy defence was starting to show, with former Portugal international Abel Xavier looking particularly shaky.
It was Galaxy though who nearly opened the scoring two minutes later, when Petr Cech failed to deal with a cross on the edge of his area.
The rebound fell to Cobi Jones, but Cech made amends with a fine parry, diving at full stretch to keep the ball out.
Anybody expecting a one-sided contest would be disappointed, and it was Jones again causing trouble after 18 minutes.
His cross presented Kyle Martino, unmarked at the far post, with the simplest of headers, but somehow he contrived to miss the target, nodding tamely wide of Cech's right hand post.
In the 22nd minute, Malouda's raking past from the left put Salomon Kalou in on goal, but he too wasted his opportunity, failing to trouble Cannon in the Galaxy net, instead driving wide when well placed.
The French winger was beginning to find his range, and as another of his curling crosses was nodded away, Wright-Phillips was on hand to fire in a stinging half volley, which flashed past Cannon's post and behind the goal.
By the half hour mark, Chelsea's domination was such that a goal never looked far away, and when Ricardo Carvalho played a one-two with Ben-Haim inside the Galaxy box, it looked as though he had broken the deadlock, but his toe poke hit the side netting.
The next opportunity fell to Kalou, who beat Xavier with ease but was guilty of holding on to the ball too long, allowing Cannon to narrow the angle before he could get a decent shot away.
From the resulting corner, Terry headed well over when unmarked 12 yards out.
If Xavier was dangerous at his own end, he posed an equal threat in the Chelsea box. Donovan's 39th minute inswinging free kick found the blonde defender, whose header was goalbound before Cech used every inch of his 6'5 frame to tip the ball over the bar.
The second half saw Chelsea change to an attack-minded 4-3-3, with Essien and Malouda dropping back into defence, as John Mikel Obi and Joe Cole replaced Paulo Ferreira and Tal Ben Haim.
Andriy Shevchenko joined Kalou and Drogba up front as Shaun Wright-Phillips made way, and Carlo Cudicini replaced Cech in goal.
José Mourinho's changes had an immediate effect, as after 48 minutes Joe Cole's drive deflected to John Terry, who instinctively drove an unstoppable low effort in off Cannon's left hand post.
It was the captain's second goal of pre-season, and was the perfect catalyst for the Blues to press on and score more.
Less than a minute later Kalou could have doubled the lead, but his powerful header was directed straight at the keeper.
In the 54th minute, Chelsea set about creating the dream goal, as Shevchenko beat his man before playing a one-two with Kalou and squaring for Drogba, who slotted into the empty net.
Sadly the officials saw an offside somewhere, though the decision looked dubious, and we were denied a breathtaking second goal.
By the three quarter mark, the game had slowed and was waiting for one of two things to happen, though a second Chelsea goal and the introduction of Beckham still proved elusive.
Drogba headed over from close range, while Beckham tied his laces and jogged up and down the touchline.
In the 70th minute Galaxy skipper Landon Donovan missed the chance of the game, heading over from six yards as Cudicini remained stuck to his line.
With quarter of an hour to go, the crowd, much of it standing, began to grow impatient, chanting for the introduction of the Galaxy's latest signing, and they were finally rewarded two minutes later when he replaced Alan Gordon, slotting into central midfield.
The screams were deafening, and the flashes of a thousand cameras frantic. All that was missing was the firework display to welcome in the most high-profile player the MLS has yet to see.
This proved to be the final meaningful action of the game, ensuring the Blues sealed another victory and a clean sheet, and the crowd finally got to see their man.
All that was missing was the trophy to take home to England.
By Andy Jones
Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech (Cudicini 45); Ferreira (Mikel Obi 45), Carvalho, Terry (c), Ben-Haim (J Cole 45); Wright-Phillips (Shevchenko 45), Essien, Lampard (Sidwell 73), Malouda (Johnson 73); Drogba (Hutchinson 88), Kalou (Makelele 60).
Goal Terry 48
LA Galaxy (4-4-2): Cannon; Roberts, Xavier, Harden, Jazik; Jones (Kirk 55), Gray, Donovan (c), Martino (Glinton 71); Pavon (Vagenas 60), Gordon (Beckham 77). - Source: Reprinted from CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB OFFICIAL SITE News Release
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