Long Beach restaurants, shops and businesses with at least 35 years of history in the city will soon receive city-approved bragging rights and the title of a Legacy Business.
Along with a certificate to commemorate their decades of commerce, legacy businesses will be able to receive support from the city in the form of grants, lease renewal and acquisition aid, marketing assistance, eviction defense and more.
There are 16 businesses being considered for the City’s Legacy Business registry including Joe Jost’s, Outer Limits Tattoo, Long Beach Playhouse, Tuttle Cameras, Buono’s Pizzeria, George’s 50’s Diner and others. Long Beach Heritage, a local nonprofit that focuses on historic preservation, created the program in July 2022 and brought it to the city earlier this year.
“This item expands on the idea to include a wider breadth of support services that will help us retain cherished historic businesses that make our community so special,” said Councilmember Mary Zendejas, who brought the item forward with Mayor Rex Richardson and Vice Mayor Cindy Allen. “We can support the viability of our historic businesses and make sure that they are around for many more generations to come and continue to tell the story of Long Beach.”
There are no qualifications to the services that a business must have, only that they have been in operation in Long Beach for at least 35 years. A business can also be considered if they have at least two of the following qualities:
- Has operated in Long Beach for at least 25 years
- Contributes to a sense of history in its surrounding neighborhood
- Has distinctive architecture, interior design or landscaping
- Supports the neighborhood’s cultural life, diversity or identity
“The motion today is not just to start the process to recognize legacy businesses, but also to recognize the community of legacy businesses,” said Manuel Valenzuela, acting director of Long Beach Heritage and one of the creators of the program. “It’s almost a partnership when you start a business and work incredibly hard to get past the hurdles. I think these businesses wear it as a point of pride to exist as long as they do and support the community.”
The existing list of 16 businesses are already in Long Beach Heritage’s program and will be sent to the City’s Arts, Culture, and Tourism Committee and Economic Development and Opportunity Committee for “input and discussion.”
Richardson said that businesses that are not on the list, but meet the qualifications to be considered will be entered into discussions. There is no timeframe for how often the list will be updated. Other businesses can include the oldest Cambodian restaurant, a business that used to hold historical neighborhood meetings or has a cultural importance such as VIP Records “where hip-hop was created,” Richardson said.
One of the main goals of the Legacy Business registry is to protect businesses from closure, in light of recent hardships due to COVID-19 and increased commercial rent and operating costs. Cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Antonio and Pasadena have created similar programs to aid their most cherished businesses.
Long Beach will expand upon the support services it already provides to local businesses and historic preservation. Services can include technical assistance in the form of lease negotiation, specialized grants, help with navigating City permits and project approval and help with transitioning to an employee ownership model if a legacy owner is looking to sell.
“Many of our neighborhoods throughout our city are changing rapidly and really struggling to prevent, not only longtime residents from being displaced, but also our small businesses that are legacy businesses,” said Councilwoman Suely Saro. “This is going to be a great item to talk about how we can prevent them from being displaced.”
The creation of the Legacy Business registry was passed unanimously by Long Beach City Council.
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