[aesop_image imgwidth=”350px” img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-05-at-12.09.26-PM.png” credit=”Photos by Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Dustin McCarty, a stuntman with Robert Castillo’s BMX Freestyle Team performs mid-air tricks with his biking crew on April 29 at Beach Streets University’s Extreme Hub, the open-street event’s entertainment stop on Spring Street. The event, which highlighted east Long Beach, was the city’s fourth Beach Streets.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”]
Video and story by: Denny Cristales— Editorial Assistant
For the fourth time in Long Beach, a mob of locals carelessly made their way to the middle of the road and strolled along with no regard for any vehicles.
Of course, this was all pre-planned, per the City of Long Beach, as the festive event on April 29 was attributed to Beach Streets University, the city’s fourth open-streets occasion that allowed residents to bike, skate and walk through car-free zones— which primarily highlighted east Long Beach and a small area adjacent to Cal State Long Beach.
The route began at the intersection of Atherton Street and Palo Verde Avenue and continued along to Bellflower Boulevard, Los Coyotes Diagonal and Spring Street, finally culminating at the intersection of Spring Street and Studebaker Road. The pathway included the 3rd, 4th and 5th council districts.
The journey included many hubs that served as pitstops and entertainment centers featuring musical guests, performers, food and general recreational activities for adults and kids.
The Pyramid Hub, located in front of CSULB’s Walter Pyramid, featured artists, such as Knyght Ryder, King Kang, Black Noise, Rufrano, One High Five and DJ Dennis Owens. The Whaley Kids Hub, located at Whaley Park, included jumpers and rock climbing. The West Hub, on Spring Street and Bellflower Boulevard, featured artists, such as DJ Polyester, Big Sun, Chola Orange, Forest of Tongue and Bobby Blunders. The Extreme Hub, on Spring Street and slightly past Palo Verde Avenue, had a skate park and BMX show.
Yeselin Martinez, a first-time volunteer with Beach Streets, expressed enthusiasm about the festivities, mostly because she enjoyed seeing people having a good time and being near Cal State Long Beach, which she attends.
“It’s pretty fun,” Martinez said. “It’s a cool environment, cool afternoon. Everybody is enjoying themselves. I’m happy to see everyone coming out with their families, so it’s pretty nice to see everybody enjoying themselves.”
Ray and Mary Muro, a local couple, thought it was an “awesome” day biking out on the sunny afternoon. They particularly enjoyed being able to go eat at nearby eateries and shopping at local businesses, they said. They had attended other Beach Streets events and have also participated in other similar rides, such as one in Venice Beach.
Alex Maltezos, owner of the Tenni-Moc’s Shoe Store, 6502 E. Spring St., said her business thrived being along the Beach Streets route. She said it served as a way to introduce her and her store to the community.
“I own another store downtown, so I’ve actually had two Beach Streets already, and they were really fun,” Maltezos said. “This one has been way more active, so there is a lot more people walking around. We’ve met a lot of new people, so it’s been pretty cool.”
Business wasn’t great for everyone, however.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”350px” img=”https://signal-tribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Screen-Shot-2017-05-05-at-12.09.40-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Beach Streets University, the city’s fourth open-streets event that allowed residents to bike, skate and walk through car-free zones, took place on April 29 in east Long Beach and a small area adjacent to CSULB.” captionposition=”right” revealfx=”off”]
Denise Jongerius, co-owner of Straw Hat Pizza, 6522 E. Spring St., said miscommunication between her and the City of Long Beach led to her restaurant booth, used to advertise Straw Hat Pizza and encourage locals to try it out, placed literally in front of her business, inside of a shopping plaza, as opposed to the middle of the street where most of the people were.
“They told us the best place to be would be in front of our business, but the best place for us to be would be out there in the middle of the street,” she said. “Communication could have been a little better between us. They anticipated we were going to be a lot busier than what we were. […] We weren’t busy at all. I mean, I love it. I hope they do it again. I’m learning from it for next time.”
At the Extreme Hub, Dustin McCarty, a stuntman with Robert Castillo’s BMX Freestyle Team, and the rest of his biking crew periodically presented stunt shows for the people in attendance. The riders performed mid-air tricks, which included a few backflips, and jumped over a few volunteers who were willing to lie down in the middle of the street.
McCarty noted that although the wind picked up toward the end of the day and made it difficult to perform some of the tricks the team had originally intended, the group was still able to “blast off” a few ramps earlier during the event to make it fun for the audience.
“It was a great day, and a lot of people came out […] Thousands and thousands,” he said. “I’m not sure what the projected number is, but I’ve seen more people on bikes today than in an other street-bike event in the past five years, for sure. It was a good day. A good, long day.”
