Beachcombing – 25th Anniversary

We started this journey with the first issue of the Beachcomber on July 19, 2000, and celebrated our 25th anniversary last Friday. My company, Beeler & Associates, had just completed a year-long Census 2000 project for the City of Long Beach.

With a quarter-million-dollar budget, our objective was to convince the skeptical Long Beach minorities that participation in Census 2000 would be beneficial to all concerned. For everyone counted it represented more than $1,700 in US funds coming to the city each year. The strategy was to focus most of our messages on their school-age children, and it worked.

B&A had several other clients that kept our team busy, like Bixby Land Company, F&M Bank, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Don Temple Storage, Bloeser Carpet Company and the Fish Tale Restaurant, where our offices occupied the second floor.

In June 2000, John McNaughton, publisher of the Los Altos Neighbor, came to B&A to pick up an advertisement. He had just accepted a job as field representative for newly elected Fourth District Councilman Dennis Carroll. John wanted to know if I’d like to buy his newspaper.

Why not? As a teenager I was a correspondent and photographer for two newspapers, which evolved into a minor degree in journalism from Long Beach State in 1970. For the next 30 years I was involved in the preparation of several hundred corporate news publications.

Stacey Francis was B&A’s graphic designer/editor, who took on the role of executive editor when we purchased the newspaper. Our CSU-Fullerton intern that semester, Elizabeth Pose, was hired to be the editor and layout each issue. Soon, Steve Propes, John Tosdal and Kirt Ramirez joined the team, and their names still show up in the masthead (lower-right-corner box on this page).

In short order we changed the name to Beachcomber and increased the circulation three-fold, to 36,000. It has been challenging and fun, with emphasis on fun. Special thanks to the many advertisers who have supported us through the years.

Things change. Today most of the staff that’s involved in sales, writing and design work from home, thanks to computer programs, communications technology, the internet and COVID-19. Our offices at PCH and Anaheim rarely get used, so I’m selling or giving away the furniture this month and taking advantage of the free space in my Park Estates home of 51 years.

The furniture includes desks, chairs, credenzas, wall unit, futon, reception desk, conference table with chairs, refrigerator, microwave, file and storage cabinets (with locks and keys), storage shelves, bookcases, cubicle dividers & Gradco light table. Most can be had for $49 or $99. Call me at (562) 716-6565 if you’d like to see any items.

For the next 25 years the Beachcomber offices will probably remain virtual, except for the post office box that we’ve rented since 1978. Café Lorel is nearby as a conference room, if needed.

Words of wisdom:

• No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain (1866)
• Talk is cheap, except when Congress does it. – Anonymous
• The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. – Ronald Reagan
• The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill

publisher@beachcomber.news