Bits 'n' Pieces

Wild Fork Foods Opens Long Beach Store

Wild Fork announced the grand opening of its newest store at 6405 Pacific Coast Hwy. Built on the purpose of nourishing a better life, Wild Fork offers top-quality products curated by meat scientists and chefs, ensuring excellence through blast freezing at peak freshness.

Wild Fork offers over 700 products, including 450+ meat and seafood items. The selection ranges from everyday staples to rare finds like premium Wagyu and exotic meats. Complement your meals with their appetizers, sides, seasonings, fruits, veggies, breads and desserts. For convenience, they offer pre-seasoned meats and heat-and-eat dishes.

Quality is their top priority. Its team hand-selects and taste-tests every product, ensuring they are free from over 100 common additives. They source beef from Nebraska and Colorado, age it to perfection and blast freeze all products to lock in taste and tenderness.

Wild Fork provides the best prices without compromising on quality by controlling every step from farm to fork. Their fully frozen supply chain reduces food waste by up to 50%, passing the savings on to you. They blast freeze all products at peak freshness to seal in flavor, transforming how you shop for meat, seafood and more.

Vacancy to Vibrancy Interactive Real Estate Map

As part of the ongoing effort to expand the City of Long Beach’s business resources portfolio, the Economic Development Department has launched the Long Beach Vacancy to Vibrancy Real Estate Map, an interactive mapping tool where business owners, entrepreneurs and prospective businesses can access data on real estate available for lease or purchase throughout Long Beach.

Now available at longbeach.gov/vacancytovibrancy, the complimentary tool provides entrepreneurs and business owners with information to find the most suitable space for their business needs.

The map’s easy-to-navigate interface encourages business owners and entrepreneurs to engage in strategic decision-making and simplifies the way users can identify potential sites that offer prospects for economic growth for their business. Users can explore available listings by clicking on the interactive map to review site specific details, including location, description and intended use of space; or by using the filter or keyword feature to search by listing type, property type, square footage and more.

The platform will support local businesses in their ventures by providing easy access to valuable data, such as local, commercial real estate listings and more detailed information on specific regions of interest, such as business improvement districts (BIDs). BIDs are privately directed but publicly sanctioned organizations that supplement public services in different areas of the city. There are 10 BIDs within Long Beach.

The city supports BIDs as a tool for strengthening small businesses, creating and retaining jobs, improving quality of life and revitalizing commercial corridors. The city’s BIDs have received training to utilize and update the platform to easily identify leasing and for sale spaces that meet the specifications of individual entrepreneur and business needs within each respective district. BIDs are also able to upload spaces for lease and sale into the platform to help ensure a comprehensive list of available real estate. The tool will be updated with new data on a weekly basis.

The city encourages business owners and entrepreneurs interested in establishing or expanding their business in Long Beach to explore the new mapping tool. For questions or assistance with using the tool, businesses may call (562) 570-4BIZ (4249) or email 4Biz@longbeach.gov.

Bange Wins Award

Christopher Bange, a Long Beach magician and lecturer in theater at California State University, Long Beach, has won a prestigious award from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Bange won the Award of Merit and the Karrell Fox Comedic Excellence Award at the organization’s annual convention in Tacoma, Washington in July. This was the first time in 18 years the organization has bestowed this award.

Describing his act as “serious sleight of hand performed by a seriously silly guy,” Bange performs his “Physical Comedy Magic Show” in fringe theatres across the U.S. and Canada when not teaching at Cal State Long Beach.

Previously based in Seattle, Bange was a magician, actor and clown and performed at many theatre companies, including The Seattle Rep, Seattle Public Theatre, Macha Monkey, Theatre Schmeater and the Seattle Fringe Festival.

Bange was raised in Chehalis, WA, Bange graduated from W.F. West High School and received his associate degree in theatre from Centralia College. He later lived in Bellingham, WA, where he earned a BA in theatre arts from Western Washington University.

Port’s Small Business Spending Surpasses $55M

A commitment by the Port of Long Beach to include more small businesses among its vendors and contractors continues to be extraordinarily successful, broadening access to port-related construction and professional services contracts.

Last fiscal year, almost 42% of port funds spent on eligible contracts through the port’s Small Business Enterprise Program went to purchase needed services and materials from companies defined as “small business enterprises” and “very small business enterprises.”

The 41.8% participation by small and very small businesses in contracting in fiscal year 2023 is the second-highest since the program was started in 2004, behind only 48.9% in 2022. The amount of applicable spending on construction projects, consulting services, event planning and other supplies and services, rose year-over-year from $54.2 million to $55.7 million. The goal set for small business enterprise participation at the port, which is the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is 27%, higher than many peer agencies.

The thresholds of annual receipts and number of employees for classification as a small business vary widely by industry, as determined by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The very small business eligibility is equivalent to the state of California’s microbusiness designation – businesses with $5 million or less in annual gross sales, averaged over the last three fiscal years, or manufacturers with 25 or fewer employees.

Aspiring contractors for the port apply for posted contracts on the port’s “Planet Bids” online system, where the business owners can pre-register their companies and check back for posted bids. Go to www.polb.com/businessopportunities and click on “Access the POLB Vendor Portal.”

Two New Hospital Community Board Members

Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center (SMMC) has appointed two new members to its Hospital Community Board (HCB): Robina Smith, MD, MBA, and Sunny Zia, M.S., P.E., PMP.

Robina Smith, MD, MBA, is a fellowship-trained Breast Surgical Oncologist with more than a decade of practical clinical experience treating breast cancer patients, establishing and managing a Hereditary Cancer Syndrome High Risk clinic, leading a multidisciplinary breast tumor board and enrolling patients into late-stage oncology studies while in practice.

In addition to her experience seeing patients as an attending physician, she has been a co-investigator on several clinical trials in breast oncology. Dr. Smith has more than ten years of experience in the biopharma industry, leading many phases 1 through 3 clinical programs in medical oncology, hematology and general internal medicine. She has strong leadership skills substantiated by real-world experience and an executive MBA degree.

Currently, Zia is a senior civil engineer and program manager at the Port of Long Beach responsible for overseeing multi-million dollars in Capital Improvement projects. Zia is a first-generation Iranian American serving her third term on the Long Beach Community College District Board, having been elected trustee for Area 3 in April 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

Under her leadership as a trustee, she has championed measures supporting students experiencing food and housing insecurity, support for formerly incarcerated youth and led building public private partnerships to support a pipeline for the career and educational future of the students.

LB Library Launches KOALA Quest

The Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) has announced the launch of KOALA Quest: 500 Books Before Middle School, a dynamic reading challenge designed to prepare children ages 6-12 for their middle school journey. Registration begins Monday, Sept. 9, and this ongoing challenge will continue until each participant completes the goal of reading 500 books.

KOALA Quest will be available at no cost through the library’s Beanstack app, providing participants with the tools to complete activities, access recommended book lists and track their progress to earn prizes. This engaging reading challenge focuses on fostering a love for reading by allowing children to explore books of their choosing. More than just a fun activity, reading for pleasure significantly enhances vocabulary and comprehension skills, essential for academic success.

KOALA Quest also encourages participants to develop their social skills by visiting their local LBPL branch and discussing their reading interests with librarians. Participants can earn badges not only by reading but also by attending specific library activities. Those who reach the 500-book milestone will be celebrated with a congratulatory pizza social.

For more information about registration for KOALA Quest: 500 Books Before Middle School or about Long Beach Public Library, including a vast array of programs, services, events and activities, visit lbpl.org or call (562) 570-7500.

Teams Reunite with Former Patients, Families

Hundreds of former patients of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Rehabilitation Center at MemorialCare Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach were invited, along with their families, to a series of reunions to reunite with their care teams.

These reunions offered patients and their families a chance to reconnect with the care teams who provided clinical and emotional support during their hospitalization. The entire multi-disciplinary care team including physicians, nurses, therapists, respiratory therapist and Child Life specialists were all in attendance.

Patients and their families often form a strong connection to their care teams, especially for those who have longer hospital stays, which is often the case with neonates or children with a serious illness or injury. For many of these patients, these reunions mark a major milestone in their journey, sharing with the care teams how much they have progressed since they were discharged from the hospital.

Along with reuniting with care teams, each reunion also serves as a joyous and fun celebration featuring a variety of games, face painting, arts and crafts and mini obstacle courses for patients and families to enjoy. They also received special visits from Marvel characters, Star Wars characters and Millie the Dolphin, the official mascot of Miller Children’s & Women’s. Several community members and volunteers also participated in these reunions, setting up booths and interacting with patients, playing games with them and giving them gifts.

For the NICU and Peds Rehab care teams, seeing patients thrive during these reunions is one of the most rewarding experiences. Miller Children’s & Women’s treats nearly 1,200 critically ill and premature babies each year in its level IV NICU and the Rehabilitation Center sees a wide range of conditions within patients due to disability, injury, or illness. These care teams see a large number of patients each year and each one makes a lasting impression – even after the patient and families have left the hospital.