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We Love Long Beach is bringing in the New Year with the Wrigley Neighborhood! Please come and get to know your neighbors, and enjoy free pancakes, eggs, sausage, fuit, oj, and coffee. We will have vegan options as well!
There will be face painting for the kids, a live DJ and a few giveaways.
Please stay posted.
The date is TBA
“It is very difficult to find pants that fit when you are this tall—which puts great pressure on my favorite dwindling corduroys,” says Jon Mansen, a 6’11” recent transplant from Seattle. Mansen visited Long Beach in March to see his brother and quickly fell in love with the people. “I had a deep desire in my heart to move to Long Beach and to be a part of the community, and so I did, much to my former landlord’s dismay,” he says.
But the transition to Long Beach has not been entirely easy: “My first prospective employment position was a self-serve dog-wash center on Ocean Blvd., but that didn’t pan out like I had hoped.” Instead, Mansen has made use of his free time by getting to know the city better—and practicing piano. “My finger reach is around an octave-and-a-half on the common forte,” he laughs.
And about his size: “The advantage is that I can see a lot of bald spots, and the disadvantage is that people tend to discriminate against me at concerts, yelling, ‘Down in front, Goliath.’” But at least his height is an icebreaker: “I look forward to the many new relationships that I will [form in Long Beach]. It’s not hard to begin a conversation when you’re nearly seven feet tall.” SCOTT JONES
“There are definitely some difficult times when you’re a store owner, but sometimes I stand in my store alone, and I can’t believe it is mine,” says Heather Duncan, owner of Second St. boutique Blue Windows. “My desire from the start was to make Blue Windows into a lifestyle store, where someone can find something for just about anybody.” And from cookbooks to women’s clothing, custom-made jewelry and cute baby gifts, Duncan’s store truly covers it all.
Having grown up near El Dorado Park, Duncan attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and studied classical singing. But her secret joy was frequenting the city’s small shops. “I guess you can say I was always a buyer. I had a hope chest, even as a teen, that was full of things for my future,” she recalls. In 2004, after working for the store’s previous owner for a few years, Duncan seized the opportunity to own Blue Windows, recently mentioned in Sunset Magazine’s Belmont Shore Holiday Shopping Guide.
“A huge part of the success of the store has been my loyal customers and my great staff,” Duncan says. She looks forward to new ways of being creative and to making a difference in Long Beach. “I have recently come up with the idea of dedicating our store window display each month to a different charity. A portion of the store’s profits will be donated. I’m excited to see how this new challenge effects me personally, and my customers, too.” SCOTT JONES
WLLB and Whole Foods Market partner for Belmont Shore Christmas Parade. Saturday, December 5th
This year We Love Long Beach and Whole Foods Market have partnered and are participating in the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade on Second Street. The parade is Saturday, December 5th and starts at 7pm. We hope to see you there.
“As an outdoor personal trainer, I need to be so much more innovative and creative with my surroundings,” says Jed Miller, owner of Level 9 Personal Training. “We don’t go heavy out there. I have learned from my experience that it is much safer to use your own body weight, rather than bulky gym weights, and yet still produce the results that my clients want.”
Upon graduating high school, Miller joined the army—an experience, he says, that helped his understanding of how people can accomplish great feats as a team. “When people share common goals and realize they don’t have to do it alone, they work harder and stay focused,” explains Miller, who has taken his military lessons and has applied them to his fitness training. “My clients naturally push and feed off one another and celebrate their accomplishments together.”
Having moved to Long Beach just this past year, Miller says he’s quickly fallen in love with the city. “The people in Long Beach have been very warm and welcoming to me. I feel like I was absorbed into this city like a sponge,” he says. His desire is to begin expanding into more areas in the city: “I am looking forward to 2010. I feel the responsibility to bring health and fitness to people that might not typically have the opportunity to be educated and experience fitness at little to no cost.” SCOTT JONES
Here is the Jed’s website: http://www.level9personaltraining.com
Patchwork: Indie Arts and Crafts Festival at Marine Stadium, November 29th from 11-5pm
Patchwork is a unique event showcasing emerging crafters, delicious food, and local music. Some items include home goods, clothing for men, women & children, paper goods, accessories, affordable artworks of all kind. We Love Long Beach is proud to co-sponsor with Patchwork at this event, and hopes that you can tell others. Please come out and support over 60 local vendors. Thank you! Let us celebrate our city!
SIDES: written by Miles Clements
Giving, it seems, is often only a yearly occurrence, a single surge of goodwill propelled mostly by the holidays. Local food banks that are dry during the other nine months of the year suddenly see a swell in supply that correlates precisely with the giving season and disappears as soon as it’s over. But in these notoriously stingy times, those who can afford to spare some staples from their pantry should consider helping those in need—especially considering that food banks are suffering through an overall drop in supply and a marked increase in demand. Long Beach agencies, for example, are reporting a 60% rise in local needy families. To that end, all-around do-gooders We Love Long Beach have partnered with Food Finders for a pre-Thanksgiving food drive to benefit Long Beach’s hungry. The joint undertaking began October 19 and extends to November 20, with drop-off options located all over the city, including Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls, Retro Row, the Broadway Corridor, CSULB and downtown. Suggested items include canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, jellies, rice, beans, canned soup, pasta and other long-lasting foodstuffs. Of course, Thanksgiving doesn’t have to signal the end of our generosity; we can make it a year-long effort.
“It all started when I was driving through Anaheim and noticed day after day the poverty all around me. I knew that I needed to do something about it,” recalls Arlene Mercer, founder of the non-profit organization Food Finders. Twenty years later, Food Finder provides 50,000 meals a day to people in need, sharing over 76 million pounds of food with the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas.
Essentially, Food Finders stems from two modern-day challenges: 1) Many restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores throw away perfectly good food every day that can still be eaten; and 2) food banks and homeless shelters are always in need of more food. The challenge for Mercer is to bridge the gap in-between. In her first year, Mercer—working out of her home with the help of family and friends—transported over 1,000 pounds of food per month to three Long Beach needs-focused organizations.
“Love is the answer to everything” she says, smiling. Now based out of Food Finders’ main office off Wardlow and Atlantic, Mercer is preparing for the holiday season. “There are too many people falling through the cracks,” she explains. “We seek not just to feed people, but to help them to build a better life.” Over 150 volunteers assist her in picking up and delivering food and helping out at Food Finders’ thrift stores. Even so, Mercer recognizes that Food Finders alone can barely scratch the surface of poverty in the city. “There is so much more need and so much food being wasted. I believe that together we have the power to do more for our neighbors.” SCOTT JONES
“Every other garage in Long Beach has a surfboard in it,” observes Graham Day, who cites this as one of his reasons for opening Shelter surf shop on Fourth St. in 2007. “People are surprised when they come in to the store; they are always saying, ‘This is how a surf shop should be’ or ‘This is how it used to be when I was a kid.’
“The other reason we opened Shelter was Long Beach’s rich surf history,” Day continues. “Historically, Long Beach was one of the best waves around. In fact, one of the surfing legends, Duke Kahanamoku, always made sure to surf Long Beach when he was in Southern California.”
Having grown up in the South Bay, Day moved to Huntington Beach as a teenager. With a father and uncle who grew up surfing, the sport was in his veins; it was only natural for him to be captivated by its lifestyle. “It’s always been about my time in the ocean—the shared experience with my friends and the inspiration that comes through music and art,” Day explains. After he and his wife Kim moved to Long Beach 18 years ago, he “quickly felt that Long Beach kind of existed on its own. It’s not LA and it’s not OC, and I liked that and fell in love with it.”
Known for the art shows and music events that he holds at the store on the last Saturday of every month, Day looks forward to 2010. He intends to have even more swap meets and events in the coming year, continuing his support for local artists and designers—especially those inspired by the ocean in our decidedly non-surf-oriented town. “I love making things work where they shouldn’t work,” says Day. “It doesn’t get any better than that.” SCOTT JONES
“About four years ago, I found a bike frame in my neighbors’ front yard that they were giving away, and well, it’s been all downhill from there!” recalls Long Beach resident Jason Wood, aka “Woody.” He had no idea what he—and his bike—were getting into. With his outgoing personality and friendly smile, Wood has since become a popular figure, earning the nickname the “Mayor of Downtown.” “I’m known as the weird guy who will talk to anybody,” he says.
Born and raised in Norwalk, Wood moved to Long Beach 11 years ago. “I remember my first time driving through the city and seeing all the lights and thinking, ‘This is my home,’” he explains. In addition to working as a stagehand for such festivals as Coachella, last month Wood launched a fun, healthy and innovative way to earn some cash on the side. With “Take It Away, Biker,” his twofold advertising and courier business, Wood pedals through town on errands for his clients. “You got dry cleaning? We’ll pick it up! Got a headache at work? We’ll pick up some aspirin for ya!” he explains. Joining him on his assignments is a makeshift billboard that he totes behind him, open to those seeking to advertise their businesses.
Wood recently added his friend Zack to the team. “Zack has been phenomenal in taking over the biking and allowing me to take courier calls,” Wood says. On a recent weekend the two completed nearly 100 runs, biking anywhere from downtown over to Cal State Long Beach. “The good thing about this is that it’s completely green, and no one else is doing anything like it,” he says. Plus, it’s a surefire way to stand out: “I like being a weirdo. I don’t want to be like everybody else!” CAITLIN HOLLIDAY
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