Post By: Gina Hakim, Peer Mentor 2022
Long Beach is a coastal city approximately 24 miles northwest of Irvine and one of the country’s most diverse cities where you’ll be able to find a range of activities, from coffee shops to restaurants to beach activities.
Some of my favorite coffee shops are in the downtown and 4th street corridor areas. Rose Park Roasters is a small chain local to Long Beach, with three locations; my favorite is the one located on Ocean Blvd, which has a large shaded patio where you can work or meet with friends. It’s also a short walk to the beach and to Shoreline Village, a shopping and dining area located on the boardwalk. The downtown area near Rose Park Roasters as you head towards Linden Avenue and the East Village Arts District has many small shops, including BYO Long Beach, a low-waste store for personal care products, and hosts an art walk on the second Saturday of every month.
Portfolio Coffeehouse is another popular coffee shop, although I don’t find it quite as comfortable for hunkering down to work for long periods of time; the nearby Viento y Agua, however, is a welcoming space with large tables if you want to work on your laptop and spread out your papers. If you find yourself in that area, you’ll be in Retro Row on Fourth Street, a multi-block area with about 100 independently owned stores that include thrift shops, record stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. Some of the most popular places here are Gusto Bread, Honduras Kitchen, Little Coyote, and Wide Eyes Open Palms. Plantiitas, a plant shop, also recently reopened a bigger location in this area. On the fourth Friday of every month, street vendors open stalls on this street and there’s live music and activities.
Belmont Shore is another popular area, with a long strip of restaurants and shops running down 2nd Street. My favorite restaurant in this area is Open Sesame, but there are a lot of options to choose from as well as several bars that are very busy on the weekends.
Long Beach has the second largest population of Cambodian Americans and will be holding a Cambodian Restaurant Week in October 2022. Some of the popular Cambodian restaurants in the area include Monorom Cambodian Restaurant and Phnom Penh Noodle Shack
In general, Orange County beaches are considered to have cleaner water than those in Long Beach – there is a breakwater in Long Beach that doesn’t allow for the ocean circulation that would break down contaminants – so I would recommend visiting an OC beach if you only want to go swimming. However, there are great activities near the beach I would recommend checking out. There are free yoga classes offered through Yoga on the Bluff seven days a week on Bluff Park on Ocean Blvd and Junipero Ave. You’ll also find many vendors around the park selling jewelry, tacos, fresh fruit, and coconut water for after your workout. A staircase from Bluff Park takes you down to the beach, where on the weekends there are many more vendors set up selling everything from fresh juice to burgers. Rosie’s Dog Park is another Long Beach fixture; it’s an off-leash beach for dogs, close to Chuck’s Diner where you’ll find many people with their pets before they head to the water.