Four years ago this month, my wife and I pulled into the bustling parking lot at 1901 E Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. It was our first visit to Mariscos El Garage, a family-run seafood truck we had just read about in a moving LA TACO feature. The lot was packed. Lines were long.
We arrived early – my wife, several neighbors, and I – stepping off the municipal bus at 8:30 a.m. near Bixby Park, a half-hour before the No Kings Day demonstration was scheduled to begin. But it was already clear: this wasn’t going to be an ordinary protest.
Mayor Rex Richardson told the LB Post that there’s nothing the city – or the Long Beach Police Department – can do to stop federal immigration agents from violently disrupting peaceful demonstrations in our community.
The cargo cranes are stalling. Ships are bypassing the San Pedro Bay. And in homes across America, back-to-school budgets are about to buckle under the weight of Donald Trump’s latest political stunt.
With Long Beach debuting on Prime Video in the eight-episode police series “On Call” on Jan. 9, here come the inevitable suggestions for further shaking things up, without the usual Richter scale reading.
Sometimes, past plans phase into future fads and fashions. Such is the case of 2024 into 2025 when certain expectations might well be met, others falling short. In Long Beach, the carryover events begin on the rails, sky and roads, and we’re not talking about donuts.
As described in the Beachcomber article, “Bridges, Bags and Broken Bonds” (August 22, 2024), advanced by the Long Beach City Council and Mayor Bob Foster, the ban on lighter free grocery bags influenced public opinion into mandating thicker, non-recyclable, single-use plastic bags costin
