Long Beach does not stink. Okay, the port could use a clean-up and our shoreline is not going to win any beauty contests. (Although, did you know that Long Beach hosted the Miss Universe pageant in the 1950s?) Since I moved here 25 years ago, I’ve done my best to keep my cool when people put down my city, calling it rundown, dirty and crime-ridden, but now I’m talking back.
Heads up, all you snobs who cruise by on the 405 and think you know something about the LBC, Long Beach is not a bedroom community that’s seen better days. It began as a farming community when L. A. was still a pipsqueak and then morphed into a world famous seaside resort. Then, oil was discovered, the navy came to town along with big boys like McDonnell Douglas, and the city has been running on its own steam ever since. Long Beach has a long history of people who just want to have fun but don’t mind getting their hands dirty when they have to. My kind of people.
Long Beach been very good to me. Both of my sons were born at Community Hospital, and one even came home swaddled in an oversized Christmas stocking. We’ve made good use of the city’s award-winning parks, libraries, and schools, not to mention the Beach—love that bike path! Some of my current favorite locales are the Marina Farmers’ Market on Sundays, Signal Hill on a clear day, and Marine Stadium at twilight.
In my blog, I want to share the special qualities of these places and so many others that offer serenity in the midst of one of the most densely populated places in the country. Even more, I want to talk to other people who live and work here about what they like best about this city with the heart of a small town. I’ll throw in some history, interviews, and maybe a rant or two, but mostly it’ll be my take on what makes this city hum.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a writer. I’ve scribbled in journals for years: poems, stories, plays, you name it. I’ve even been published a few times. In the last two years, I’ve pushed hard to get my writing out there without much success. I have this theory that my style will become more relaxed and fluid if I write here in a blog where no one will ever read it. (I got an idea how hard it will be to get blog readers after I mentioned at work I was starting one, and five people told me their computers were broken within the hour. I mean, I hadn’t even posted anything yet, and they were coming up with lame excuses about why they couldn’t read it.)
I'll be experimenting with styles and formatting as well as posting some photos and stories that got published or should have been. Some of my posts might touch on things that concern me as a writer -- time management, stress reduction, surly editors, etc. So, whoever you are out there reading this, drop me a line and let me know what you think.
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