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Los Altos Park is West of Bellflower Blvd and North of Stearns St.
“Working with the City of Long Beach is a different world for me because I am learning every day the many challenges of what it takes to help homeless people,” says Somatra Sean, a Cambodian homeless activist. Sean and team are currently working on a citywide project that invites local churches to come together with the purpose of collecting furniture to help house the homeless. “My hope is that the local churches would stay committed to the project, to the point that the city finds them faithful and useful for the overall common good of Long Beach,” says Sean.
Sean’s parents arrived in Long Beach in 1981, shortly after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. She attended Poly High School, where she played volleyball and basketball. During Sean’s sophomore year, she was waiting to be picked up at the Long Beach Main Library when a homeless man assaulted her. “After that experience, I thought that most homeless people were animals, and I never wanted to be around them again,” she recalls. But by Sean’s senior year she was working with homeless people at her church. “At first I was so hesitant, but I knew that I wanted to make myself available to homeless women. It just clicked with me. I felt that I could relate to some of the shame and pain that was talked about,” she says.
A few months ago, one of Sean’s longtime homeless friends committed suicide. “It was at that moment when I realized that I wanted to play a larger role in the problem of homelessness in our city,” says Sean. For Sean, trying to make a difference with this issue has been difficult, yet worthwhile. She can’t recall a time when churches were so willing to work together and with the city. “I am excited about meeting like-minded, passionate people who desire to come together and to do something to fix this injustice. We can’t wait to witness lives all around us being transformed.” SCOTT JONES
“People in the neighborhood are always coming up to me: ‘Mrs. Robinson, when is the next feeding? I don’t want to forget,’” says neighborhood activist Alice Robinson. On every third Wednesday of the month since 2003, Robinson and her friend Stella Davis have provided their neighborhood with lunch—for free. “It’s great because Stella and I get to use the little money that we do have from our Social Security checks to give back to our neighborhood,” Robinson says. “It’s rewarding because we have met so many people in the past few years and have built a relationship with them.”
Robinson, who lives near Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, grew up in the ‘30s in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In 1969 she moved to Long Beach with her husband, Bennie, and purchased a house near Cerritos Ave. and PCH (for $16,700!), where they started their family. In the mid ‘90 Robinson’s son, Bennie Jr., was involved in a car accident that left him paralyzed. “For over a year I took care of my son until he suddenly passed away,” Robinson recalls. “I was left devastated; I just wanted to crawl into a hole and die.” For Robinson, this tragedy was a major turning point in her life. “I never wanted to leave the house after my son’s death, until one day my daughter encouraged me to get outside myself and volunteer in the community,” she says.
The first of her community lunches—which now average 70 to 80 people—sprang from Robinson’s desire for all people in the neighborhood to be able to share a meal together. “Growing up in Alabama, everything was segregated. With our feedings, homeless and non-homeless are all gathered around one table. That is the way it is supposed to be. It’s all for a worthy cause. As long as we are able to do it, we are going to do it.” SCOTT JONES
“People know me as ‘the train man,’” says Greg Ruvolo, owner of El Dorado Park’s Caboose Corner. “My father and I opened this train park in 1995 after spending eight years restoring the train and five years negotiating the train’s park location.”
In the early 1970s, Greg’s father, Tony, was the owner of the park train at the Long Beach Pike. “My father loves trains, so growing up I was always around them,” he recalls. When the Pike closed in 1977, the two chose to sell the train and to move on. A few years later, though, they found a tattered park train, originally built in Virginia back in 1946 and powered by a live steam engine, inside a piano store in Colton. “Every weekend we worked on the train, rebuilding it back to working order,” Ruvolo says. In 1990, the duo was given the opportunity to operate the refurbished park train in El Dorado Park.
Today, the average attendance at the Caboose Corner is about 400 people per weekend. Open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., the train chugs along a one-and-a-half mile route through the park. Visitors can board for $2, and there are also Christmas Festival night train rides and kids’ birthday-party packages. “It’s rewarding for me to see so many kids around here enjoying the train. This hasn’t been a job—it’s been my passion,” says Ruvolo, dressed in his blue-and-white conductor’s overalls.
“We have been around for 14 years now. I love seeing the dream of my dad and myself come to life. The train has allowed us to become closer. We think that we are one of Long Beach’s best-kept secrets.”
More Information:
Website: http://www.caboosecorners.com/
“I am resolved to be dedicated to helping people and our community to do better,” says Omar Mayorga, a 17-year-old senior at Millikan High School and participant in the school-sponsored FOCUS (Finding Opportunities to Create Unity through Service). “I love being a part of the class. A lot of times it is easy for people to just talk about creating change and doing something good on campus or in the community. With FOCUS, we not only discuss the events, we also accomplish them.”
Growing up on Long Beach’s Westside, Mayorga, the youngest of five children, watched his mother take on the task of providing for her family as single parent. “We saw a bunch of stuff growing up: gangs forming and how people treated us differently because of my ethnicity and where I lived,” he recalls. The gang lifestyle was always presented as an option. “In 2006 my cousin passed away because of gang violence. That is when it hit me: I didn’t want to take the path of my cousin.”
As a freshman, a teacher invited him to a local fundraiser 5K beach walk to raise money for the Children’s Clinic in Long Beach. “This event motivated me to want to help people. I saw some of the families in need at the event, and I knew that I needed to step up,” says Mayorga. He continues to plan service events with his FOCUS class, and next year he plans on attending LBCC in order to get his Associates’ degree in culinary arts. “All I know is that I want my life to be remembered for doing something that matters in the community. I want that to be my legacy.”
After the storm, tornado warnings and floods met Long Beach, a few surfers went to work. Here is a video of the surf in Long Beach on January 19th 2010. Not even the mighty break water could calm this swell at Bayshore Ave. Surfs up Long Beach!!! Enjoy! We Love Long Beach!!!
“The reason that I came to Los Altos was because I wanted to create a unique coffeehouse that could offer a special meet-up experience, a gourmet product and a great atmosphere,” says Mikael Hashoul, owner of Toorak Coffee. With a wide selection of drip coffee, gourmet espresso, whole-leaf teas and lots of other delights, Hashoul hopes that Toorak will be the new community space in Los Altos. “We want to allow for personal connections to happen between people, where they can have a conversation, an interaction and share ideas in a warm environment.”
Born in Israel, Hashoul moved to Australia to start a family with his wife. While living there, he became fascinated with the country’s coffee culture, studying it via books and classes and setting off on a search for the best coffee in Australia. In 2004, Hashoul opened his first coffeehouse to a wave of excited and faithful customers. Four months later, he opened two more locations, and one year after that, his fourth. But with a desire to move to the United States, Hashoul sold the four stores in Australia to begin afresh in Southern California. “We wanted to bring the Australian experience [here],” he says.
Hashoul finds American culture a lot more fast-paced than Australia’s. “We hope that Toorak will allow our customers to take a moment and reflect on their life, relax and enjoy their family over a cup of coffee outside the rat race,” he says, adding that he looks forward to introducing more music nights, social activities and new partnerships with the neighboring schools. “The coffeehouse does not belong to the owner, it belongs to the community,” he says. “We want to start the year together as a neighborhood and society.”
Toorak’s Website: http://www.toorakcoffee.com/
Hey Wrigley, We Love Long Beach is excited to be coming your way! We want to give you the opportunity, in a safe and friendly environment, to get to know your neighbors better. (There will be free pancakes, sausage, eggs, fruit, vegan delights, orange juice, and coffee.) Also face painting for kids and a live DJ to set the mood. Remember LB, community is the home that WE build together, valuing our differences and the common good, to make Long Beach a great place to live. Please spread the word and invite your neighbors. We can’t wait!
“No matter how fantastic a woman you are, your life partner is not going to magically show up at your door. You have to get yourself ready and then go out and find him,” says Bobbi Palmer, owner of Date Like a Grown Up. Created to help successful women over 40 understand themselves and men better, Date Like a Grown Up offers dating and relationship advice to clients via telephone. “The reason why I call it Date Like a Grown Up is because it is really about becoming a more confident, authentic and educated woman who can enjoy life’s journey,” Palmer says.
For a time, Palmer defined success along tangible lines—a big office that overlooked the city, for example. “My life was good: I had nice things, lots of great friends, I traveled and then I turned 40,” she recalls. This middle-aged milestone made her rethink everything she once believed about men, relationships and her own desires. “I think that I realized that it was all a sham. I had been living my life with a fear of depending on someone and being hurt.”
After working though some of her deep-seated fears and insecurities through psychiatrists, seminars and lots of first dates, Palmer found the confidence and courage to accept love into her life. At 47 she met her husband Larry, who, she says, “rocked my world.” But it did not stop there. “When I got married I felt that I had a lot to share with other women, and that is why I became a dating coach,” she says. Today, Palmer has a Web site, a dating resource blog and in January she will host a dating teleseminar for older women. “Clearly, by focusing on making some changes and learning some new things, I was able to find the ultimate happiness of my life. I see it working for my clients, as well, time and time again.” SCOTT JONES
For more information:
Website: http://www.datelikeagrownup.com/
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