Taking on the LBC

The city beckons, and I must respond. After a year in Orange County, it was time to move on. For a variety of reasons, I've crossed the line into Los Angeles County and moved to the city of Long Beach. Land of palm trees and gangsters ... trendy storefronts and urban ghettos ... California sunshine followed by heavy marine-layer fog. Ahhhh Long Beach ... the LBC. What the C means is a mystery to all but the inner circle of the gangster hip-hop culture where the phrase originated. The dispute continues on UrbanDictionay.com. Perhaps only the Snoop Dogg himself could clear up the matter, but he long since fled his hometown ... so that he could rap about what a great time he had in the LBC.

So much drama in the L.B.C.

So, let me introduce you to my latest hometown. Actually, Wikipedia can probably do it a lot better, so follow the link to learn more about Long Beach:

Long Beach on Wikipedia

But for the lazy reader, here's the gist of it: Long Beach ... approximately half a million residents ... perhaps a quarter million coffee shops ... second busiest seaport in the U.S. ... one of the largest populations of Cambodians outside of Cambodia.

Looking down over Long Beach from Signal Hill.

An interesting side note: contrary to a name that might suggest otherwise, Long Beach is not well known for its beaches. In the 40's, the U.S. government built a large "breakwater" to provide a safe haven for it's Pacific fleet during World War II. Currently, however, the only known Axis invasion is the flood of Japanese students at Cal State Long Beach. The Breakwater, however, no longer serves any useful purpose, other than to kill the waves and create a lifeless squalid oceanfront. It's time to Sink the Breakwater.