Part 2: Grobaty on Los Altos and Taco Beach

What's Hot-Part 2 Grobaty on Los Altos and Taco Beach

Direct LINK to What's Hot Press Telegram column by Tim Grobaty:
http://www.presstelegram.com/columnists/ci_22862659/tim-grobaty-calling-us-out-trailer-trash-we

By Tim Grobaty presstelegram.com Tuesday March 26, 2013

The bulk of our mail and calls last week was inspired by the Los Altos Center Adjacent Neighborhoods (LACAN) and its close monitoring of the soon-to-open Taco Beach at 2099 Bellflower Blvd., formerly the site of Best Place Cafe (and, long before that, the Village Inn). We noted that the LACAN watchdogs were keeping close tabs on Taco Beach's conditional-use rules, which includes barring the restaurant/bar from advertising aimed at Cal State Long Beach students. We don't recall taking a stand on the issue, other than the likelihood that the savvy students at the university, just a few blocks away from Taco Beach, were likely to discover the place anyway.

Regardless, we got a phone message Thursday evening from a woman who told us, "A year or so ago you hated everyone in Orange County because they were coming in your neighborhood getting off the freeway. Now it seems you don't want the young people, although they would be 21 and older, anywhere near your place. I think if you stopped going to the, quote, `Barn' with a drink and a TV set watching news and actually went out and enjoyed some of the activities, you would find that you wouldn't need booze at all. I think you're turning into a rather bitter old man. You might want to work on that."

Look: A.) We didn't hate everyone in Orange County, and they weren't coming into our neighborhood during the time the 405 freeway's Seventh Street offramp was closed. We live a couple miles north of that. B.) We also live a couple of miles north of the soon-to-open Taco Beach. C.) We're not a bitter old man, we're a fat, puffy liberal. D.) Get off our lawn.


We wish we had a Taco Beach by our house, but all we have is a gas station and a Baskin-Robbins. In any event, it seems like a First World problem, especially when other Long Beach neighborhoods are dealing with the presence or impending presence of crematoria, railroads and homeless shelters on their blocks.

And, the Taco Beach problem isn't a problem for all the neighbors. We received several pro-Taco Beach letters. Terry McQuaid, who lives in the "impacted" area, writes, "What we are wary of is if Taco Beach doesn't open, then another fast-food/drive-thru will take its place. We don't want to hear the cacophonous squawk box echoing throughout the neighborhood until 2 a.m. Our neighborhood kids are applying for jobs at Taco Beach, and the obvious investment being made in the building is only appreciating our neighborhood's desirability. I hope to see you there sometime to shake hands and have a taco and a cold margarita."

Sounds great! But, seriously, get off our lawn.

tgrobaty@yahoo.com, 562-714-2116 or twitter.com/grobaty

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