Friday, April 29, 2022

Los Altos Village to get LB's first fiVe BEL°W store

 Long Beach’s first fiVe BEL°W store coming to Los Altos Village


Long Beach’s first Five Below store is coming to Los Altos Village.  The new store will occupy the former Rite Aide space in the Los Altos North Shopping Center.

Five Below specializes in items under five dollars that are aimed at young teens.  Items include candy and beverages, school supplies, electronic accessories as well as sports and game-related items.  Items above the five-dollar price point are called Five Beyond but are still offered at very affordable price points.

First opening in 2002 in Philadelphia, the store has expanded to nearly 2,000 locations across 40 states.   The two closest stores to Long Beach are in Compton and Downey.  This year the fast-growing retailer announced a goal of 400 new stores with the goal of 3,500 retail stores by 2030.

The current Long Beach location is being remodeled but is accepting job applications online   The Los Altos Village store is expected to open this Summer. 

 


Friday, April 22, 2022

Supernaw is hosting a Los Altos reception for mayoral campaign

Councilman Supernaw is hosting a  Los Altos  reception to introduce residents to Suzie Price's mayoral campaign

Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw will host a campaign meet-and-greet style reception for Councilwoman Suzie Price’s campaign for Long Beach Mayor from 6pm-7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 26th  at Ecco’s Pizza in Los Altos.

The event gives East Long Beach residents the chance to see what all the local buzz around Price as the next mayor is all about. 

Supernaw is the Long Beach City Council’s only non-partisan member and he rarely makes any type of political endorsement. Even rarer for Supernaw is actually holding a reception for a candidate, which appears to be evidence of his depth of support for Price becoming Long Beach’s next mayor.

 
When you get to know Suzie Price and what she stands for, it is easy to see why Supernaw is so strongly supporting her.

Price’s broad-based support across the city is tied to her common-sense approach to some of Long Beach’s most pressing problems: the homeless; crime and public safety; infrastructure needs like street repair and support for common-sense solutions to increase housing. 

Price’s campaign slogan “Service over Politics”  clearly relates to Long Beach’s current local government climate.  Price articulates that a Mayor Price will focus on making Long Beach’s local government “competent and functional”.   That vision is in stark contrast to her main opponent Councilman Rex Richardson who is focused on partisanship, ideology, and promises based on current political rhetoric and verbiage.

The difference between Price being able to lead and Richardson not being ready for the mayor’s office is crystal clear in the San Pedro Democratic Club debate between the two in the short video below.  Watching the debate clearly shows that Price is ready to lead Long Beach as Mayor Price. 

For more information click on:

Suzie Price background

Suzie Price endorsements

Suzie Price website

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Part of LB Airport plus CSULB now in 4th District

Los Altos scores

TOUCH DOWN

in Long Beach Redistricting

 photo courtesy of Skyline Simulations 

On Thursday, November 18, the Long Beach Independent Redistricting Commission approved a historic redistricting map that included part of the Long Beach Airport again being in the 4th District and moving CSULB into the 4th District. 

The new maps are effective immediately but are subject to a 30 day opening for legal challenges.

The new map provides that Fourth District residents through their council representative will once again have a voice regarding the Airport.

New 4th District boundries

Los Altos neighborhood leaders joined neighborhood leaders from the 5th, 7th, and 8th Districts in January of this year to work on “sharing” the airport. The idea was to have airport impacted neighborhoods have a voice in the airport by having the airport be in more than one council district.  For years the airport has been exclusively in the 5th District which does not include any of the landing and take-off pattern neighborhoods affected by the noise of jets on the main runway.

The neighborhood leaders working on the change created a redistricting “community of interest” called the Airport Adjacent Neighborhoods Group.  That group worked since January to have the airport impacted neighborhoods’ council districts have a section of the airport.

Under the approved map,  District 4 with its Los Altos impacted airport neighborhood will have a section of the Airport that includes the touchdown area of the main runway.   The take-off neighborhoods of California Heights and Bixby Knolls will become a major part of the newly re-configured 5th District making the 5th District Councilperson directly accountable to the area of  Long Beach that accounts for the most noise complaints.

District 2 Councilwomen Cindy Allen and 5th District Councilwomen Stacy Mungo-Flannigan homes are now in new districts.  They will remain, councilpersons and will serve out their terms with the option of moving within the new district or running in their new districts when there is a scheduled election.

CSULB and Puvungna site now in the 4th District and other changes

In addition to the Airport section, Los Altos neighborhood leaders worked with members of the Puvungna community to move CSULB (that includes the historic Puvungna site)  into the 4th District from the 3rd District.

Los Altos leaders used evidence of the overwhelming parking impacts from the campus on adjacent neighborhoods.  Members of the Puvungna community noted the Los Altos community's long-standing and vocal support to keep the sacred Puvungna site undeveloped by the University.

Other border changes in the 4th District were necessitated by changes elsewhere in the city.  The Zaferia District,  the 4th District section of Cambodia Town, the Byrant Neighborhood, and the Community Hospital Campus were all placed in other council districts. 

Communities added to the 4th District because of shifts in other parts of the city include: Park Estates;  La Marina; Bixby Hill, South El Dorado, College Estates Park; El Dorado Estates; The Plaza; the Ranchos, and Rancho Estates.

The 4th District’s infamous and much-maligned example of gerrymandering of the El Dorado Park known as the “whale tail”  was an easy target of the Redistricting Commission.  That area took the Nature Center out of the 5th District's  El Dorado Park and placed it in the 4th by contorted boundary lines.

The irony however is that the area was reunited with El Dorado Park by placing the entire park into the 4th District.

Welcome to the 4th !

Friday, October 22, 2021

Los Altos' trick-or-treaters beware: FAIRBROOK MANOR is back!

 Fairbrook Manor returns to haunt Los Altos' trick-or-treaters

For the second year, Fairbrook Manor Haunted House returns to haunt  Los Altos' trick-or-treaters with an expanded front-yard-themed Halloween experience at 5426 E Fairbrook.

This year’s Fairbrook Manor includes actors from local high school drama classes providing the creepy characters for the 1932 haunting theme.

Entry to the neighborhood haunt is free, but food and personal care item donations for the Long Beach Rescue Mission are being accepted. For more information on the types of donated items sought, please see the details in this week's Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw’s newsletter:  COUNCILMAN SUPERNAW'S NEWSLETTER.

Fairbrool Manor is open 7 pm – 10 pm on the weekends:  Friday- Sunday October 22nd, 23rd and 24th; then October 29th, 30th and 31st



Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Two new eateries and one store closing in Los Altos area

 Two new eateries and one store closing in ELB

Hot Dogs, Hot Chicken, and Hot deals

Two new specialty foodie locations will be opening in the 4th District while the Traffic Circle’s PetCo Unleashed will be closing.

L.A.’s Dirt Dogs featuring bacon-wrapped hot dogs will be opening its seventh location in the Circle Center. With three locations in Las Vegas,  the CSULB accessible Long Beach location will be the fourth in L.A. County where the chain originates. Other L.A. County locations are in Downey, Pasadena, and Downtown L.A.



Dirt Dog’s origin story is rooted in the Los Angeles street vendor scene.  The menu is heavy on bacon-wrapped hot dogs, but it does feature a vegetation Dirt Dog option, flaming corn, special versions of esquite cups (ie. Mexican corn meets flaming Cheetos)  tacos, and fries.   Two kids' meals are served, one with mini corn dogs and one with chicken nuggets. Desert is deep-fried based including Oreos, Twinkies, and Churros.  

Dirt Dogs' House Dog        photo courtesy of Dirt Dogs 


The menu already features a nod to one of Long Beach's favorite sons with the Snoop’s Dogg that the menu describes as: 100% Premium All Beef Nathan's 5/1 Dog, Wrapped In Center Cut Bacon, Grandma's Slaw, Doggy-Style BBQ, Billionaire Bacon, Gin & Juice Ketchup.

And yes, it is just a block away from The Circle cannabis store.

 

Chix, Nashville Hot Chicken

In the former Subway space at Palo Verde and Stearns,  Chix, Nashville Hot Chicken is preparing to open.   An independent entry into the chicken sandwich wars. The new restaurant will feature the niche  "Nashville style” chicken sandwich. 

In Nashville, Nashville-style chicken is king. The “Nashville style” features fried chicken that gets its “hot” from cayenne and hot sauce in the coating and more spicy sauce drizzled over the cooked chicken.  Add white bread and pickles and that is “Nashville-style”.  Of course, like BBQ,  each restaurant has its recipe (yes and many are “family recipes)  of coating, sauce and fixings making Nashville style like BBQ in Texas- very competitive.

Of course, with every great food named after a local, you have to have an origin story. Local lore has the Nashville-style chicken sandwich attributed to Thornton Prince in the 1930s. The gist of the story features a girlfriend, some womanizing, and revenge food that Prince ended up liking.

PetCo Unleashed closing 

While Dirty Dog sets to open in the former Dickey’s BBQ spot, a  few doors down in the Circle Center the PetCo Unleashed location will be closing.  They are having an inventory “everything must go” sale now.


Wednesday, July 14, 2021

New Los Altos restaurant: Love Full Native Kitchen

 Love Full Native Kitchen opens in Los Altos Village

 Love Full Native Kitchen has opened in the Los Altos North shopping center.  It is the third location for the popular California Caribbean inspired restaurant that features a menu with many vegan options as well as dessert and breakfast.  

The Los Altos Village store located in the former Wok a Roll next to Trader Joe’s had a soft opening on Tuesday, July 13, 2021.

The Los Angeles locations opened under the name Grilled Fraiche boast 4.7 stars on yelp. Fraiche is French for fresh. The Hyde Park and South Central locations will be rebranding to the new name Love Full Native Kitchen. The new website for the new name is currently being developed.

The current Long Beach soft opening menu features Vegan Veggie Tacos along with salmon, shrimp, and chicken.  The Believe Stew (which the restaurant was offering samples) is a jerk-flavored black and kidney bean-based stew in a coconut milk base.  The menu includes a Build-a-bowl option and burritos and quesadilla’s build options that include vegan sauces.



Breakfast offerings include a “Shrimp and Grits” as well as a Cajun-seasoned omelet, an egg and cheese wonton wrap and a breakfast bowl. 

Desserts include bread pudding, baked or ala mode, and anytime plantains.  The current menu has two juice offerings: Unsopable- pineapple, sour sop, lemon, honey and ginger; and Mango Manifesto-mango,  passion fruit, lemon, honey and ginger.

Then menu boasts “organic ingredients, range free proteins and eco-friendly containers”. 

For more information see

WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Grilled Fraiche Instagram account


Supernaw requests Long Beach ordinance to target street takeovers

Supernaw requests Long Beach ordinance to target street takeovers 

July 9, 2021, East Long Beach street take-over at Bellflower and Stearns

Long Beach Fourth District Councilman Daryl Supernaw has agenized a council item for July 20, 2021 meeting to “prepare an ordinance to enhance penalties for participating in or being a spectator at a street takeover”.      

The request to the City Manager and City Attorney came just days after a street takeover at the corner of  Bellflower and  Stearns on the night of Friday, July 9th.  That takeover saw cars doing donuts in the middle of the intersection and racing up and down Bellflower, including on the wrong side of the road.   The takeover included dozens of people standing in the street videotaping the takeover.

As the police arrived, the participating cars raced south on Bellflower, some without headlights, as some turned into Los Altos Village neighborhood streets to avoid the police.

Close to the freeway, both the Los Altos Gateway Shopping Center north of the 405 and the Los Altos Shopping Center North have been taken over by social media-promoted car events.

The street takeovers promoted on social media have had deadly consequences for both drivers and bystanders. Many of the bystanders come with the cars to video the takeovers for social media. 

Regular street takeovers in the Los Angeles suburb of Sylmar  took an inevitable  dangerous turn last month when a car predicating in the street takeover almost hit a pedestrian before slamming into a nearby business and heavily damaging it.

This year the City of Anaheim passed an ordinance aimed at giving the police more power to deal with the takeovers, including charging spectators.  Both city’s responses were to incidents where people were injured in street takeovers in those cities.  Other California cities enacting similar ordinances.

The street takeover problem grew nationwide during the pandemic. In May, the state of Georgia passed a law to deal with the growing problem.  The new Georgia law creates a new crime category called reckless stunt driving, requires mandatory jail time, and increases fines and penalties on participating, organizing, or promoting the takeovers.

 For more information click on:

Supernaw’s July 20th Agenda Item

East Long Beach  street take over with  video