Living in Long Beach: Neighborhood connections

How do you connect with your neighbors?  The organization We Love Long Beach has been trying to answer - and promote - that question for several years now.  This year one of the ways was with a Citywide Pumpkin Carving and Chili Party, with hosts in 30 different neighborhoods around the city.

We sponsored the one for our neighborhood, La Marina Estates.  I used both NextDoor.com and the La Marina Estates Facebook page to get the word out.  I supported one of the young neighbors by paying him to distribute 263 flyers to the neighbors.  Phone calls, emails and street conversations ensued, showing lots of interest.  Signs were put up the week of the event, reminding neighbors to come on over.  Pumpkins were donated through We Love Long Beach, as well as others purchased for the event at Pa's Pumpkin Patch.

On the day of the event, October 25th, we had more than 40 neighbors join us for a couple of hours, with children as young as 2 years old and neighbors well into their 80's who attended.  The turkey chili was a hit, with some toppings and cornbread available.  Several neighbors brought desserts to share, many pumpkin themed.  Two representatives from the LBPD East division stopped by to tell us about a recent rash of burglaries in the area and how to stay connected, safe, and informed.

Although pumpkins and carving tools were supplied, neighbors also brought their own, taking advantage of my plug "make the mess at our house".  Neighbors shared tales of when they first moved in the neighborhood, back in 1956, with neighbors who moved in 6 months ago.  We talked about Long Beach real estate, then and now, about former home owner associations and what we can do moving forward with Community Watch.

All the while, pumpkins were being carved, children were playing and connections were being made.  There was even talk about next year's event, and what else can we do to stay connected.  Next up?  A Community Watch meeting, which we'll host at our home.  I love living in Long Beach and being part of a thriving neighborhood.  How do you connect?

Long Beach Neighborhoods: La Marina Estates

In 2009 I wrote an essay about the La Marina Estates neighborhood that was featured on the "Everything Long Beach" website.  Here's an updated version of that essay.

Tucked between the CSULB campus and the flood channel, La Marina Estates is an enclave of mid-century tract bungalows fringed on the south by three blocks of large, custom homes.  When entering the neighborhood you are impressed with the pride of ownership shown in the many homes that have been renovated and those with beautiful landscaping.  What you can’t see right away, what is more a feeling you get when you enter the neighborhood, is the sense of belonging and caring in these 263 homes.

The community of La Marina Estates is filled with every generation and demographic: a few original owners, who have raised their children and grandchildren here, remain.  There is a family in their 20’s, just starting out in a rental home, owned by a neighbor down the street.  There is the retired college president who participates in one of the neighborhood book clubs, the Buddhist monk who gives Saturday morning mediation classes and the stand-up comedienne; the university art history and math professors, a famous author who has lived in the neighborhood more than 50 years, the fire fighter and the retired actress whose grandsons are famous on the Disney Channel and beyond.  A hairstylist who grew up a few blocks away on Bixby Hill works just half a mile away and another neighbor commutes on the Blue Line to downtown LA every day.  The retired school librarian gets together with the active city librarian; there is a pet therapist and a VA nurse, a former city manager, many small business owners, sales professionals, marketers, corporate managers, engineers and stay-at-home moms.

Neighbors know not only the names of the many dogs that live here, but their human companions, too.  You can hear them greet each other in the evenings, as they go for their walks.  The empty-nesters bring in the trash cans of their neighbors who are busy working full time and taxiing their children from school to soccer, tennis, theater rehearsals or water polo.  A neighbor in the hospital or a coyote sighting in the neighborhood has the keyboards of La Marina buzzing to get the word out via email or nextdoor.com to the book clubs, the Bunco group, the golf groups and the parents, organizing meal deliveries or making sure small pets are protected.  Women in the neighborhood meet monthly to play Bunco and collect an annual donation for local charities.  There’s the group of women that meet at 6:30 a.m. every morning a walk before heading off to their jobs.  Neighbors embrace the “think globally, act locally” mantra by supporting local charities like the neighborhood schools, Campfire, Cameo, Pathways to Independence, Long Beach Basket Brigade, local church missions and various cancer research organizations.

In the last year the neighborhood has pulled together to form La Marina Estates Community Action, a group that has had a Community Watch meeting, planted 125 trees along Palo Verde and sponsored a Candidate Forum for the 3rd District of the City Council, attended by all 5 candidates.  2014 activities are still in the planning stages.

La Marina Estates is a caring enclave that is as pretty inside as it is outside, another wonderful neighborhood that makes Long Beach a great place to thrive.

Houses do not come up for sale very often in the neighborhood and some of the sales are done privately, off the market.  There is almost a waiting list to get in.  I am working with buyers who want to move here by knocking on the doors of those houses that fit their wish list.  Sometimes there are not any houses for sale.  At this moment, there are two.  Few people want to leave La Marina Estates.

How may I help you get into the neighborhood of your dreams?