Los Altos power outage

Los Altos power outage on Thursday

A local electrical "switch" problem at an electrical substation caused a power outage for about 1 hour on Thursday 3/17/16 to the Abbeyfield Neighborhood of Los Altos. Over 1130 homes and one business was affected. 

AT 7:12 PM, The lights flashed off then on, then off and stayed out for an hour in the neighborhoods west of  Bellflower to Atherton and northeast of Atherton to approximately the eastside of Greenbrier to the southside of Abbeyfield. 

The only local business affected with a power loss was the Los Altos TacoBeach at 2099 N Bellflower Blvd.

The power to businesses on both sides of the Bellflower Blvd. in the South Los Altos Center did not go out.  

While the outage was inconvenient,  the power outage also completely shut down the traffic light at Abbeyfield/Britton and Bellflower Blvd. With no flashing lights because of the complete power outage dozens of near accidents occurred because cars (especially traveling northbound on Bellflower)  did not stop at the lightless intersection as required by law.  Near misses of people crossing Bellflower and cars exiting the South Los Altos Center at Britton; and exiting the neighborhood at Abbeyfield were observed by neighbors as well as workers and patrons of Taco Beach.

Councilman Daryl Supernaw took to posting on Nextdoor with an update and warning about the traffic light situation. He posted:

Traffic signal out at Bellflower & Stearns... use extra caution. Power outage in the area southwest of the intersection. SCE crews are on scene and LBPD has been notified.

A long time neighborhood resident reported when they called 911 to report the dangerous condition at the traffic light, the police dispatcher stated that they were aware of the situation.  A police patrol went by the traffic light impacted area twice, but did not stop as cars continued to buzz at high speeds through the intersection. 

Garcia coming to Los Altos

 Mayor Garcia to hold meeting in Los Altos this weekend

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia will be visiting Los Altos this Friday as part of his Saturday meetings series around the city.

Mayor Garcia will be at the Los Altos Center Bagelry & Bistro this Saturday March 5th at 1:00 pm.

For more information about the Bagelry & Bistro CLICK ON:

Los Altos Bistro

New Targets for East Long Beach

East Long Beach "Targeted"

With the opening of the new smaller Target store ( the City Target and Target Express monikers as well as the larger Super Target names have been abandoned by the retailer) in the former Ralph's Market at Long Beach's Iron Triangle corner ( PCH/2nd/ Bellflower streets), the Los Altos Target is undergoing more change and renovation.

The large white tent in the parking lot outside the former garden center of the Target has sparked the interest of shoppers on local social networks.

The remodel to the Los Altos Target will include three major additions, the change of the Target Pharmacy into a CVS Pharmacy, a Starbucks and a new healthy food option.

In December of 2015, CVS paid $ 1.9 billion to Target to take over the in-store pharmacies. The sale comes as Target tries to refocus to its core business under new CEO Brian Cornell after an expensive  and disastrous attempt to expand into Canada that ended in a $5 billion dollar loss as it closed all of its stores in Canada last year.   

The first conversion of a Target Pharmacy to CVS took place in February 2016 with plans to convert the over 1,600 Target Pharmacies to CVS Pharmacies by the winter of this year.  Target Pharmacies have already started to sell out of the  Target brands of over-the-counter drugs.

According to employees, the Los Altos Target CVS expects to be fully integrated into the CVS online prescription system by sometime in March 2016.  

Also coming with the Los Altos Target update will be a Starbucks.  Target signed a deal with Starbucks in 2002 and began placing the coffee stores in new and remodeled stores in 2003.

Finally, employees beleive the Los Altos Target may be getting a new "healthy sandwich" cafe as Target jumps on the healthy food bandwagon while giving up their own Target Cafes. That however could nto be confirmed. 

Target has been testing three options in stores for replacing its company run Target Cafes.  

The Los Altos Target remodel options do present some challenges from local competition as destinations aside from the eaiser access CVS across Stearns and the drive-thru CVS at the Traffic Circle. 

Starbucks already has one store in the Los Altos North Center where Target is located (with easier parking).  Just across the parking lot is Mc Donald's Mc Cafe with a drive-thru. 

Finally, the long-shot, but most likely big draw a Pret A Manger  would compete with the near-by Lazy Acres Cafe  and self-cooking health conscious Trader Joes shoppers.

When the company announced the new healthy strategy and closing its Target Cafe's they announced each site would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Long Beach honors Clark

Former Mayor, 4th District Councilman and LBCC Trustee Dr. Thomas Clark honored today

Mayor Garcia greets Clark

Dr. Thomas Clark was honored today for his 30 years of public service to the City of Long Beach and Long Beach City College.

For more information CLICK ON:
CLARK and Event honors Clark

Councilman Supernaw welcomes crowd

Juice, CSULB, and Supernaw news

 New Los Altos juice store?

Nope...just a new name!

The owners of the now former Local Press Juicery are still there at 2125 N Bellflower-but now with a new name: Yago Juice,

The owners announced last week over social media to their growing customer base that they are were making a few minor changes including a new name : Yago Juice.  A banner with the new name is now hanging over the storefront.

The Yelp page for Yago Juice has already been updated  with the new name and still has that 5 Star Yelp Rating.

Click on:  Yago Yelp

CSULB back in session on Tuesday January 19

They're back!  The thousands of CSULB students will be back for the Spring 2016 semester starting Tuesday January 19th.

Local residents can expect a lot more traffic and continued parking problems as the student's settle in to the Spring semester.

While some residents may see the parking inconveniences and added traffic as bothersome- having the college right in our backyard can provide local residents with lots of opportunites.  

CSULB Sports teams like basketball at the Pyramid or baseball at Blair Field can make for an inexpensive family outing.  CSULB offers the Kids Beach Club with special benefits for kids under 13 and FREE admission to all games for just $20 (see links below).

During the summer CSULB also offers close-by Summer Camps for numerous youth activities (link below).

In addition, the Carpenter Center and University Art Museum offer outstanding world class events.

Plus, if you have never been to the peaceful Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, you are missing one of Long Beach's hidden gems that include a koi pond with 25 cent pay food dispensers so the kids ( or you) can feed the fish.  Plus-admission is FREE!

So while the CSULB students take advantage of all Long Beach has to offer- return the favor and take advantage of what our local university has to offer. For more information CLICK ON:

CSULB Baseball

CSULB Basketball

CSULB Beach Kids Club

University Art Museum

Carpenter Center

Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden

Councilman Daryl Supernaw has 4 more years begining in April

No one filed to run on the April 2016 ballot against the popular 4th District Councilman Daryl Supernaw by the Friday January 15th deadline.  

Supernaw will therefore automatically be re-elected and the 4th District residents are spared the 3rd local election for a councilman in less than two years.

Former Los Altos homeless man passes

Former homeless man who "lived" at the 
Los Altos Center passes away in dignity

Photo of Richard Clough memorial by LBReport.com

Richard Clough, a long-time homeless man who for years spent his days in the Los Altos Center North parking lot by the Bank of America, died earlier this month- but he did not die homeless.

Thanks to intense efforts by a team of City of Long Beach personal   that were brought together by 4th District Councilman Daryl Supernaw's office, Richard Clough was able to spend his last days in comfort and dignity in his own home. 

After his election this year, one of the first challenges presented to Councilman Supernaw was Mr. Clough's homelessness.  Supernaw was contacted by Los Altos Center business people about the chronic homeless man spending his days in the shopping center.  Private efforts to keep Mr. Clough off the streets had failed.

The Fourth District Councilman met with the business people and started to contact and gather city services. Local residents had long been trying to help Mr. Clough- even getting him temporary housing. 

After a team from the various City of Long Beach agencies was assembled by Supernaw's office to work on Mr. Clough's problems related to his chronic homelessness, Clough was eventually sucessfully placed in permanent housing. 

That team included: Susan Price Manager of the City of Long Beach Community Health; Teresa Chandler, City of Long Beach Homless Services Ofiicer; Shannon Parker, City of Long Beach Chronic Homeless Iniative Coordinator and LBPD Officer Clausia Lopez.

By accounts of those familiar with his case, Mr. Clough was happy and content with his new home even as his poor health started to disintegrate rapidly. 

Clough passed away-no longer homeless-on November 3rd.

At last month's Back-to-Back 4th District Community Meetings, Councilman Supernaw announced that his office was forming a 4th District Homeless Taskforce.

LBReport.com has the story of the Los Altos Center memorial at the Bank of America dedicated  to Mr. Clough (Click here: LBREPORT ).

This month's Back-to-Back 4th District Council meetings are this Tuesday November 24 at the Los Altos Library-6:30 pm-7:30 pm and Wednesday November 25 at the Orazaba Park Center- 6:30-7:30 pm. 
For more information click here: 4th Newsletter .

New juice place and Dunn Edwards moves

Local Press Juicery opens at Los Altos Center as a healthy local alternative

The long awaited  replacement to the popular Los Altos  Hole Mole has opened at the Los Altos Center.

Local Press Juicery is the newest addition to the unique stores and services found at the Los Altos Center. East Long Beach's first juice store is owned by  long time East Long Beach resident Paulo Lopez .

Acai bowl

The all organic Local Press Juicery specializes in using Acai berries and Pitaya (dragon fruit) - both known for having the highest anti-oxidant qualities.  Lopez said that they do not add ice to the Pitaya inspired smoothies- just 100% ingredients. Another specialty are the Acai Bowls (Pitaya bowls are also available) - a way to eat your drink!

While many juice enthusiasts adhere to juice cleansing program, Lopez feels that that juice maintence program is more beneficial.   To that end, Local Press Juicery will include a weekly subscription service.  When signing up on the website (coming soon) subscribers will get a weekly delivery of  juice.  "It's like the old milkman but with juice!" Lopez said.  The delivery will be free to juice subscribers.

Local Press Juicery will be reaching out to business meeting planners to include a juice option with their breakfast meeting planning.

Last week was the soft opening with a grand opening planned for early December. Local Press Juicery will be open 7 am - 7 pm Monday- Saturday and until 5 pm on Sundays. 

Los Altos Dunn Edwards Paints moves

The Los Altos Dunn Edwards Paints has relocated to  Lakewood Blvd. and Willow Street.  The new space at 2533 N. Lakewood Blvd is located in a new building adjacent to the Shoe City lot across from Spires and the Holiday Inn.

The Los Altos store was in the former bank building at 2211 Bellflower Blvd.   That lot has long been rumored to be one of the two possible locations of a new Walgreens ( the other being at the Traffic Circle Hooman's  Toyota space).