Business Innovation

LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 

MAY 2010 $3.95 

Innovation 

& Business 

GO SEE CAL! 

INNOVATIVE MINDS 

HEALTHCARE REFORM

HAVE YOU 

HEARD 

THE BUZZ? 

Long Beach Magazine has a new 

website coming soon! 

visit us at longbeachmagazine.com 

Including exciting new features: 

- Insider’s Weekly Find 

- Local Shopping 

- Reader’s Choice 

- Newsletter Subscription 

- MY FAVES 

- Calendar Events 

- Long Beach Guide 

and much more!

Aquarium Guest 

Speaker Series 

Learn something new at the Aquarium of the Pacific! 

We feature an ongoing guest speaker series on a monthly 

basis with engaging speakers who are experts in their fields. 

Topics range from marine creatures and sustainable 

seafood to conservation, climate change and more. 

Woody Clark II 

Sustainable Communities 

Woody Clark II • May 4 

Marine Adaptation Policy 

Jim Sanchirico • May 13 

The Great Ocean Conveyor 

Wallace Broecker • May 26 

Molina Animal Care Center 

Lance Adams • May 27 

A World Without Ice 

Henry Pollack • June 3 

The Secrets & Science of the 

World’s Most Effective Survivors 

and Thrivers 

Ben Sherwood • June 10 

Learning Science in 

Informal Environments 

Maureen Callanan • June 24 

Maureen 

Callanan 

Ben 

Sherwood 

Dr. Lance Adams 

Henry Pollack 

Special thanks to our lecture series sponsors: 

Visit the Aquarium’s website at aquariumofpacific.org 

for more details about our Guest Speaker series. To reserve 

your seat for the above event, call 562 . 590 . 3100.

Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach specializes in complex pregnancies and the care of 

critically ill and preterm infants that require special attention. 

Moms feel confident that Miller Children’s features a MemorialCare Center for Women and a 

state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit. Miller Children’s renowned high-risk pregnancy 

program coupled with advanced neonatal care makes it the safest place to have a baby. 

Having these high-risk and neonatal specialty doctors, allows both mom and baby to 

receive advanced care and support ... specialized care under one roof. 

Specialized Care Under One Roof 

High-Risk Maternity Care · Neonatal Intensive Care 

562.933.KIDS (5437) 

millerchildrenshospitallb.org

FEATURES 

MAY 2010 INNOVATION & BUSINESS 

FEATURE 34 

SUPER SALESMAN 

Cal Worthington was once named 

“the best-known car dealer pitchman in 

television history”. Now, as he reaches a 

crossroads, Worthington reflects on 

what has made him a success for so 

many years. 

Written by Elizabeth Aguilera 

Photographed by Wes Kroninger 

ON THE COVER & THIS PAGE: 

Cal Worthington 

FEATURE 40 

Profiles In Innovation 

When it comes to being innovative, 

our city has some of the best and 

brightest people around. Meet our 

picks for 2010. 

40 

Written by Contributors 

Photographed by Hartono Tai 

FEATURE 4 6 

To Your Health 

In light of recent healthcare 

legislation, local officials look to 

the future while also learning from 

the pioneers of the past. 

34 

46 

Written by Samantha Gonzaga

With you when you 

need a team rated #1 

by its clients 

At Wells Fargo Advisors, we’re committed to doing what’s right for our clients. 

In fact, according to Forrester Research, Inc., clients rated Wells Fargo Advisors 

(formerly Wachovia Securities) the #1 U.S. investment firm for doing what’s 

best for them. So when we say we put you first, we mean it. 

With Financial Advisors and offices nearby and nationwide, we’re with you 

when you need someone who has the expertise to address today’s unique 

challenges. 

Wachovia Securities is now Wells Fargo Advisors. 

“Customer Advocacy 2009: How Customers Rate U.S. Banks, Investment 

Firms, And Insurers,” Forrester Research, Inc., May 2009. 

*Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly Wachovia Securities) ranked #1 in percentage of customers who agree with this 

statement, “My financial provider does what’s best for me, not just its bottom line.” Forrester Research, Inc. surveyed 

5,000 U.S. Consumers to rate their banks, investment firms and insurance companies on customer advocacy. Out of 

the 11 investment firms rated in the survey, Wachovia Securities was the #1 rated U.S. investment firm in customer 

advocacy. The ratings may not be representative of any one client’s experience as the rating represents a sample of the 

Firm’s clients and past performance is no guarantee of future results. 

Richard K. Jacobs - Private Client Group 

Senior Vice President - Investment Officer 

Complex Manager 

Seal Beach - Rolling Hills Estates - Torrance 

562-493-3511 • 562-277-6127 

richard.jacobs@wfadvisors.com 

Investment and Insurance Products: u NOT FDIC Insured u NO Bank Guarantee u MAY Lose Value 

Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Member SIPC, is a registered broker-dealer and a separate non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. 

©2009 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. 0609-2129A [76765-v1] A1445

DEPARTMENTS 


14 16 24 26 

LUXURY&STYLE 

FOOD&WINE 

TRAVEL&LEISURE 

HOME&GARDEN 

SHOPPING 14 

Good Investments 

By Brenda Duran 

Invest in these innovative 

products designed to make life 

easier at home and the office. 

STYLE PROFILE 15 

Paul Overett 

By BreAnne Toepper 

Photographed by Jeff Farsai 

Relaxed and comfortable 

describes this lawyer’s style 

and personality. 

RESTAURANT REVIEW 16 

Delius Restaurant 

By Eric Wiener 

Photographed by Matt Fukushima 

Culinary and thematic variations 

anchored in sophisticated style. 

A TASTE 19 

Long Beach Dining Guide 

It’s hard to decide where to 

eat, let alone look, for new 

restaurants. We help you get a 

taste of what’s available. 

BY THE GLASS 22 

For The Connoisseur 

By Peter Surowski 

GETAWAY 24 

All-In Bet 


CityCenter Las Vegas is the 

most expensive privately funded 

construction project in the U.S. 

That is only one of many reasons 

you need to go see it. 

HOME TOUR 26 

A Homecoming 

By Ryan Ritchie 


Photo Assistant Alex Serrano 

Styled by Joen Garnica 

After more than a decade of 

living in Palos Verdes, Franklin 

and Renee Pratto were eager to 

return to Naples. 

HOME FRONT 32 

There’s An App For That 

By Ryan Ritchie 

Cell phone applications make our 

lives simple and more relaxing. 

Simple innovations have made 

wine tasting better. Here are a 

few examples.

52 

54 

58 

66 

BUSINESS&MONEY 

HEALTH&ENVIRONS 

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT 

FACES&PLACES 

NONPROFIT PROFILE 52 

Coming Together With Pride 

By Cristina De León-Menjivar 

Photographed by Chris Robertson 

The annual Long Beach Lesbian 

and Gay Pride Festival raises 

awareness about the gay and 

lesbian community, and also 

supports the city as a whole. 

ECO 54 

Breaking Barriers For Innovation 

By Jerry Schubel 

California should be a 

laboratory for applying, testing, 

and refining the ideas that 

come out of our universities, 

national laboratories and 

high-tech industries. 

HEALTH 56 

Raising The Fitness Barre 

By Alisha Gomez 

Ballet may be known simply 

as a form of dance, but these 

days it is being used as an 

effective fitness routine in 

strength training. 

MUSIC PROFILE 58 

The Rebirth Of Sublime 

By Edgard Zuniga 

After 14 years, Long Beach 

ska band Sublime reinvent 

themselves with a new singerguitarist 

and get revved up for 

the future by going on tour. 

HISTORY 60 

A Secret Society 

By Mike Guardabascio 


There are over 1,000 active 

Masons in Long Beach, 

members of a group both part 

of the city’s history, as well as 

its present. 

DAY IN THE LIFE OF … 66 

Robert Garcia 

By Cheryl Scott 

Visionary City Councilman 

Robert Garcia leads the city of 

Long Beach into the technology 

of the future. 

COMMUNITY HERO 68 

Musical Mentors 

By Diane Gershuny 

Jazz Angels provides 

aspiring young musicians an 

educational platform that 

fosters self-confidence. 

SCENE & HEARD 70 


ART SMART 62 

From Prosthodontics To Picasso 

By Mike Guardabascio 


For most people, going to the 

dentist can be torture, but for 

patients of Dr. Ting-Wey Yen, it is 

more like going to an upscale 

art gallery. 

ON THE STREET 71 

By Peter Surowski 


Locals weigh in: What makes a 

good local business? 

pets & people 72 

Saddle Up! 

By Lily Salter 

WISE BOOKS 64 

The Facebook Era 

By Kevin Hunter 

Author Clara Shih writes that not 

only is Facebook here to stay, it 

will also dramatically change the 

way we do business. 

Minutes away from downtown 

Long Beach, the Lakewood 

Equestrian Center and Pony 

Adventure Park offers city 

dwellers a slice of country life. 

SOCIETY 78 

CALENDAR 80 

By Jeff Brandvold 

LAST VIEW 82

TM 

NEXT MONTH 

TRAVEL & LEISURE 

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 5 

PUBLISHER Mark Stevens 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brenda Duran 

ASSISTANT EDITOR BreAnne Toepper 

HOME TOUR COORDINATOR Joen Garnica 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Elizabeth Aguilera, Jeff Brandvold, Marie Cardona, Cristina DeLeón-Menjivar, 

Brenda Duran, Diane Gershuny, Alisha Gomez, Samantha Gonzaga, 

Mike Guardabascio, Kevin Hunter, Dawn Mori, Sarah Peters, Ryan Ritchie, 

Lily Salter, Jerry Schubel, Cheryl Scott, Peter Surowski, BreAnne Toepper, 

Eric Wiener, Edgard Zuniga 

PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Jeff Farsai, Matt Fukushima, Wes Kroninger, Chris Robertson, 

Alex Serrano, Hartono Tai 

CREATIVE DIRECTION & DESIGN – THE YELLOW LOFT 

Arian Franz, Trina Luong, Chris Staiano, Pamela Wang 

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Linda Parrick 

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Brett Potter 

ADVERTISING 

562.366.2617 

sales@longbeachmagazine.com 

OFFICE MANAGER Jeff Brandvold 

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PUBLISHED BY 

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100 W. Broadway, Ste. 620 • Long Beach, CA 90802 

Phone: 562.366.2617 

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© 2010 Copyright All Rights Reserved. The Long Beach Magazine is published 12 times 

a year for distribution throughout Long Beach and the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Statements, opinions and points of view expressed by the writers and advertisers are their 

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herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act and Equal Housing Opportunities Act. 

10 

MAY 2010 INNOVATION & BUSINESS

POWER IN TEAMWORK 

City Light & Power (CLP) knows the value of 

experience, collaboration and a shared sense of 

urgency. When CLP needed a reliable, creative, 

and quick response for funding to design, engineer, 

and install a solar plant to power a local 

municipal building, they turned to Beach Business 

Bank. 

Bill Simmons, Jr. and Tom Simmons of CLP both 

live and work in Long Beach. With strong ties to 

the surrounding communities, and long-term 

goals, they wanted a bank that understood 

family-owned businesses and the challenges of 

unique project and financing requirements. 

Beach Business Bank’s Chief Credit Officer Phil 

Bond teamed with Bill and Tom to ensure the 

solar panel project was ready to go on time with 

financing that met the municipality’s special 

requirements. Bill noted “Beach Business Bank 

made this deal happen, quickly putting together 

a financing plan. Tom and I are glad to have 

found a local bank that actually gets it.” 

Phil Bond 

Beach Business Bank 

Tom Simmons 

City Light & Power 

Bill Simmons, Jr. 

City Light & Power 

180 E. OCEAN BLVD 

LOBBY LEVEL 

1230 ROSECRANS AVE 

LOBBY LEVEL 

LONG BEACH 

MANHATTAN BEACH 

CA 90802 CA 90266 

www.beachbusinessbank.com | 866.862.3878 

longbeachmagazine.com 11

editor’s letter 

I’m sure you’ve heard some of the debates going 

on among economists, government officials and the 

business community, regarding whether the recession 

is over. 

Read our exclusive interview with Worthington (pg. 34) 

about longevity in business and how a few innovative 

advertisements and good old-fashioned American 

ingenuity made him a local superstar. 

There is a lot of focus on employment, investment 

spending, the stock market, and, especially, business 

profits. The end of the recession really depends on the 

growth of these factors, most experts agree. 

We also bring you our annual picks for innovative 

minds (pg. 40). These are the locals who have some 

bright ideas for the future, and are putting those ideas 

to good use to make our city a better place. 

That is why in today’s world, innovation is key. 

These days, organizations are desperate for creative 

people who can visualize things differently, who 

can quickly size up problems and develop creative 

solutions to them. Innovation has played a significant 

role in launching successful businesses. 

Just take a look at history for some examples. 

Some of the most successful corporations — 

Microsoft, CNN and MTV — emerged during the last 

major recession in the 1980s. 

For those of you also following the contentious 

healthcare reform legislation, you will want to read 

about how President Obama’s legislation will affect 

this city and how fortunate we are to be able to boast 

some well-known and respected healthcare innovators 

who made their mark in this town long ago (pg. 47). 

The jury is still out on whether the recession is 

coming to an end, but isn’t it comforting to know we 

are surrounded by innovative minds and fresh ideas 

right here at home? 

These are exciting times.. 

When local businessman Cal Worthington opened 

his Ford dealership in this city in 1974, even 

he acknowledges he drew inspiration from his 

Depression-era childhood to succeed in business. 

Sincerely, 

Brenda Duran 

Editor-in-Chief 

12 


LUXURY & STYLE : SHOPPING 

Good 

Investments 

WRITTEN BY Brenda Duran 

1. iPad Craze 

The latest revolutionary product from Apple 

features a large multi-touch screen to help 

you manage your email, photos, calendar 

and contacts. You can also browse through 

the App store, read books, magazines and 

watch movies. Available at apple.com, 

$499 — $829. 

2. Two In One 

This tote bag has a padded laptop pouch, 

leather piping, and waterproof nylon interior. 

It is a stylish alternative to the generic black 

laptop case you’ve been lugging around. 

The bonus: it’s roomy enough to double as 

a purse. Available at nandahome.com, $68. 

3. Nice To Moo You 

Moo mini business cards will set you apart 

from the crowd. Upload your photo on the 

card or create your own design — either way, 

you’ll be a standout when passing these out 

at those business mixers. Available at 

moo.com, 100-pack for $19.99. 

4. Tick Tock 

This innovative wireless home weather 

station and desk clock lets you view 

5-day weather reports from AccuWeather. 

com as they develop — in real time. 

Displays current and forecasted weather 

conditions for your choice of 152 cities 

nationwide. Perfect for any desk. Available 

at brookstone.com, $99.95. 

5. Pour A Glass 

Next time you need to open a bottle of 

wine, try this simple, one-touch operation 

that easily removes wine corks. It’s 

rechargeable, so you can open 30 bottles 

on a single charge. It works with both 

natural and synthetic cork. Available at 

brookstone.com, $39.95. 

6. Get Organized 

These fun, simple products from local 

designers Ore Originals will help you get 

organized. Use the magnetic calendar, dry 

erase note board and a placemat Chalk-A- 

Doodle to jot down upcoming appointments 

and meetings. Available at oreoriginals.com, 

$12 — $20. n 

14 


STYLE PROFILE 

WRITTEN BY BreAnne Toepper 

Photographed by Jeff Farsai 

“I’ve always cared about 

what I wear, but never to 

the point of being obnoxious 

about it.” — Paul Overett 

His easy going style reflects his easy going personality. Paul Overett is a 

local attorney at law. His practice focuses on bankruptcy and personal 

injury. He started practicing law in 2000, after graduating from Loyola Law 

School. When you think of lawyers, you may think of “stuffy and cold”, but 

Paul is the complete opposite. He loves to help people and enjoys the 

fight to give his clients a fresh start. If he is not in the office or courtroom, 

you can find him near the water or with his wife, Melanie, on the sidelines 

cheering their kids on. 

Is there a fashion item you are 

on the lookout for? 

Cool shoes. I love shoes that are unique, casual, and not all over town. 

They are hard to find. 

What I love about Long Beach: 

I love the diversity in all respects; people, places, geography. We have 

everything here and usually within a few minutes drive. I’m very connected 

to the ocean, bays, and canals, and spend as much time as possible on 

the water paddle-boarding, swimming, taking pictures, throwing a ball for 

the dog, and running at the beach. 

What is your go-to item when you feel you 

have nothing to wear? 

Wetsuit. If that doesn’t work, I’ll go for T-shirt and jeans and hope for the best. 

What is one trend you wish never happened? 

Skinny Jeans. Seriously, who thought of that? Are we running out of 

options??? 

What is your typical outfit you wear to work? 

For clients, I usually wear a suit. If I don’t have meetings or court, I’ll dress 

down a bit. One time I wore jeans to work. Call me crazy. 

When you are not working, what is your style? 

Surf and athletic. 

What are your thoughts on recent trends 

such as sequins, harem pants and Ed Hardy? 

Wearing fads is a setup for blackmail two years later with incriminating 

photography. Ed Hardy, sorry man. It’s just a bit much. 

Do you have any innovative office products 

that are on your wish list right now? 

I just purchased a Bamboo writing pad so I can digitally sign documents 

on the computer. It saves so much time and is very green because I avoid 

unnecessary printing. n 

Do you know someone with their own sense of style? Email us at 

style@longbeachmagazine.com and let us know. 


FOOD & WINE : RESTAURANT REVIEW 

Tilapia with Mango – Avocado relish on rice pilaf 

16 


Delius 

Restaurant 

WRITTEN BY Eric Wiener 


Successful businesses change and adapt, and Delius Restaurant 

employs such techniques with their bi-weekly menus and 

innovative culinary-centric events. Likewise, their three different dining 

rooms offer unique environments and exclusive menus: a´la carte 

lunches and dinners, a prefixed seven-course dinner, and a prefixed 

10-course dinner. 

My lunch at Delius kicked off with a ‘build your own bruschetta’ 

appetizer — a medium sized platter of herb toast points with roasted red 

pepper hummus, diced tomato-basil mix, and a goat cheese spread. 

There was also a baby arugula salad with butter lettuce, radicchio, 

chopped and toasted pecans, crispy pancetta strips, and a lemon 

thyme vinaigrette. 

The restaurant has a chic, metropolitan a´la carte dining room with 

sharp and colorful modernist art that draws the eye from the simple 

leafy-green and tan wall paints. The brunette wood bar and wine racks 

also command visual attention. A relaxed ambiance comes from the 

quiet music and leisurely pace at which everyone takes an extra 

moment to relish their meal. The atmosphere remains sophisticated 

and as busy as one might expect when downtown a major urban center. 

There’s a touch of worldliness woven throughout Delius, perhaps 

owing to Executive Chef Louise Solzman’s British upbringing and 

extensive work aboard a luxury cruise ship. The menus — though 

changing — cross a lot of borders. The common connecting style is 

that of an upscale bistro. 

The server proved to be of the same constitution, offering travel 

Tandoori Chicken Salad 


FOOD & WINE : RESTAURANT REVIEW 

anecdotes, wise recommendations, exemplary service, and even a 

conversation in French. 

He quickly brought my main course — pan roasted tilapia in a lemon 

beurre blanc sauce on a creamy parmesan risotto with asparagus, and 

my companion’s wild mushroom raviolis in a rosemary cream sauce. 

Steamed baby spinach leaves were twisted into a small mound in the 

center of the pasta. Complex, smoke and hickory flavors unwound 

from the ravioli, and lingered for an extra, delightful moment. They were 

soft, with velvety textures and creamy, enchanting consistencies. The 

risotto followed suit, offering smooth, affluent qualities with each bite. 

Roasted Vegetable Sandwich 

The third and final course was a vanilla panna cotta with an almond 

biscotti and droplets of raspberry sauce. So faint, existing somewhere 

between yogurt and marshmallows, this custard dessert was neither 

too sweet nor too dense. In fact, it perfectly fit the whole prefixed 

meal’s motif: a gourmet meal designed specifically for the lunch hour 

— quick, light, and galvanizing. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we acquiesced to sampling 

their chocolate turtle torte, a fudge-like chocolate layer stacked over 

the nut and caramel turtle bottom. Our server brought a warm caramel 

sauce to drizzle, winking all-knowingly as he set it down. Indeed, it 

was impossible not to foresee how indulgent their prix fixe dinners 

must become. The secluded prix fixe rooms offer further intimacy and 

tastefulness. The 10-course dining area is actually a rear wine cellar, 

with a portal offering clear views of the chef’s cooking station and the 

preparation of meals. 

Dave Solzman, the co-owner, sommelier, and general manager, 

explained other innovations beyond the various dining options, 

including their monthly wine tasting dinners, an amphibious wine 

sharing tour, a yearly culinary arts cruise, and, of course, matched 

wines to every meal.“We’re heavily wine oriented,” he added. 

Solzman, along with his wife, have owned and operated Delius since 

1996, expanding and adapting their business as needed. “We try to 

keep variety at the forefront and give people reasons to keep coming 

back,” Solzman said. n 

Sticky Toffee Pudding 

Delius Restaurant 

2951 Cherry Ave. 

562.462.0694 

deliusrestaurant.com 

18 


A TASTE 

BOUCHEES BISTRO 

at Smooth’s 

144 PINE AVE. 

Gourmet casual American 

dining featuring the freshest 

ingredients and handmade 

sauces. Fantastic happy hour 

and plenty of plasma TVs to 

catch the game on. Open air 

patios on two floors. 

CAFÉ SEVILLA 

140 PINE AVE. 

Sangria, tapas, and Spanish 

guitar ensure that you enjoy 

every minute of your dining 

experience. Happy hour daily 

4:30 — 6:30 p.m. in the tapas 

bar with half off all tapas. 

562.437.7700 

bouchees.com 

562.495.1111 

cafesevilla.com 

FUEGO at the MAYA 

700 QUEENSWAY DR. 

Savor the cuisines of coastal 

Latin America by Executive 

Chef Jesse Perez as you enjoy 

waterfront dining, skyline 

views and fine tequila. Buen 

Provecho! 

562.481.3903 

fuegolongbeach.com 

LA STRADA 

4716 E. Second St. 

From our flaky, warm pizza 

oven bread to our signature 

dishes, everything La Strada 

has to offer is made with 

extra care and the freshest 

ingredients. Open 7 days. 

562.433.8100 

lastradaon2nd.com 

LONG BEACH DINING GUIDE

A TASTE 

McKENNA’S on the BAY 

190 N. MARINA DR. 

Parkers’ Lighthouse 

435 SHORELINE VILLAGE 

TANTALUM 

6272 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. 

Utopia 

445 E. FIRST ST. 

A unique dining experience with 

breathtaking views. Style, class 

and romance that intrigues your 

senses, with service and cuisine 

second to none. Truly waterfront 

dining at its finest. 

Featuring a panoramic view of 

the harbor, Queen Mary, and city 

skyline. We also offer the freshest 

seafood, prime steaks, chicken, 

and pasta. A dramatic waterfront 

destination with casual elegance. 

A journey into culinary paradise, 

Tantalum offers exotic waterfront 

dining and a chic lounge to 

enjoy cocktails, daily specials, 

promotions and live entertainment. 

The menu changes seasonally 

to ensure the freshest & highest 

quality ingredients. 

This bistro-type restaurant 

features superb California cuisine 

and an unparalleled wine bar. 

Live music Thursday — Saturday 

nights, with a critically-acclaimed 

art program. 

562.342.9411 

mckennasonthebay.com 

562.432.6500 

parkerslighthouse.com 

562.431.1414 

tantalumrestaurant.com 

562.432.6888 

utopiarestaurant.net 

A TASTE KEY 

Breakfast 

Lunch 

Dinner 

Sunday Brunch 

Kids Menu 

LONG BEACH DINING GUIDE 

WOKCANO 

199 THE PROMENADE N. 

For a limited time, come enjoy 

50% off Teppanyaki all day 

Monday — Thursday & before 

5 p.m. Friday — Sunday. 

562.951.9652 

wokcanorestaurant.com 

Bar 

Full Bar 

Live Entertainment 

Parking 

Valet Parking 

Delivery 

Catering 

Credit Cards 

Under - $15 

$15 - $30 

$30 - $50 

Over $50 

Based on appetizer, entrée, dessert, and 

non-alcoholic beverage for one person.

your food S E RV E D I N your community 

KEEP IT FRESH — ADVERTISE LOCALLY 

CALL 562.366.2617 OR EMAIL sales@longbeachmagazine.com

FOOD & WINE : BY THE GLASS 

For The Connoisseur 

WRITTEN BY Peter Surowski 

A great glass of wine is hard to serve, 

especially in this city. Luckily, a few innovative 

products are available to help. 

The first hurdle to serving great wine is it needs 

a cool, damp place to age. Basements are 

ideal, but almost non-existent in Southern 

California. The second hurdle is the lack of 

space. With our dense population making 

every inch of extra room a luxury, few people 

have the cabinet space to keep a special glass 

for every wine they serve. That’s a problem for 

a well-aerated glass of wine. 

A few innovative devices can help get around 

these problems and bring out the best in 

any wine. 

“You can turn a $5 bottle of wine into a $15 

bottle of wine — or a $15 bottle of wine into 

a $50 bottle of wine — by doing two things,” 

said Randy Kemner, the owner of The Wine 

Country in Signal Hill. “It needs to be stored 

well, and it needs to be and aerated.” 

“A good glass of wine starts before the bottle 

is even opened,” Kemner continued. Ideally, a 

wine should be aged in a cold, dark, wet cellar. 

For those with no cellar, a wide variety of wine 

cooling systems are available, ranging from 

simple, self-contained refrigerator-like systems 

to elaborate wall-mounted systems that will 

cool and humidify a big wine room. They 

range in price from a few hundred to several 

thousand dollars. 

“Using one of these systems may seem like a 

lot of trouble, but aging a wine well makes all 

the difference,” Kemner said. It slowly removes 

all the tannin, which gives wine that grit on the 

tongue and the bitterness in the flavor. “It’s like 

the hard cocoon, and once that’s gone, the 

butterfly emerges,” he said. 

After the bottle’s opened, storing gets more 

22 


complicated. The moment the wine touches 

the air, it begins to oxidize. Oxidization is what 

happens when oxygen gets into the wine and 

starts ripping apart its molecules, degrading 

the aroma, flavor, and even the color. 

Fortunately, a number of products on the 

market can help, ranging in price from less 

than $10 to more than $1,000. The simplest 

solution is an airtight cork, but this still leaves 

some oxygen in the bottle. Another cheap 

fix is a little plastic disc that slips inside the 

bottle and rests on the surface of the wine, but 

there’s no guaranty the seal is air-tight. The 

more elaborate systems either suck the air out 

of the bottle or fill the bottle with argon and 

keep the wine chilled to the right temperature, 

effectively putting it back in the condition it was 

in before it was opened. 

The next challenge to serving a great glass of 

wine is aerating it. 

“Traditionally, every wine has a specific glass 

designed specifically to aerate it,” Kemner 

said, but this takes up a lot of cabinet space. 

“It gets a little excessive,” he added. “If you 

need a wine cellar for all your wines, you’ll 

need a wine glass cellar for all your glasses.” 

“In the last two years, a device called a wine 

aerator picked up a lot of popularity,” he said. 

The device is a glass funnel-shaped device. 

The bottom end goes over the glass, and the 

top end takes in wine. As the bottle is poured 

through the aerator, it mixes the wine with 

the air. 

“Aeration allows the aroma molecules and the 

flavor molecules to waft up into the air. The 

more you’ll smell, the more you’ll taste. The 

smell is a lot more important to the taste than 

your taste buds. People don’t realize that,” 

Kemner said. “You only think it’s your tongue, 

but it’s actually a combination between 

the two.” 

The power of the wine’s aroma is so strong, 

Kemner always tells his customers to take 

three or four whiffs of the wine before tasting 

it. “Suddenly, the flavor will unleash,” he said. 

“Though a whole cellar-full of glasses is 

unnecessary with the aerator, having at least 

a few glasses on hand can help the aroma 

reach the drinker’s nose,” said Devon Smith, 

co-owner of Vin de Pays, a wine store in 

downtown Long Beach. 

When Smith hosts wine tasting in his store, 

he pours red wines in a large, open glass 

to let the wine swirl around and get some 

air. For white wines, he does the opposite, 

instead using champagne flutes. The long, 

narrow shape keeps the bubbles in so they 

last longer. 

“A well-aged, well-stored, well-aerated glass 

of wine takes a lot of care,” Kemner said. “It’s 

just like getting to the soft center of a hard 

candy. It takes a lot of work, but the reward 

is sweet.” n 

Photo courtesy of Vinturi. 


TRAVEL & LEISURE : GETAWAY 

All-In Bet 

WRITTEN BY Brenda Duran 

Forget walking the Strip. CityCenter is Las 

Vegas’ new must-see visual marvel. 

The massive complex is the most expensive 

privately funded construction project in the 

Western Hemisphere, and everywhere you 

turn, it shows. 

The $11-plus billion, 68-acre project features 

three lavish hotels, Aria Resort & Casino, 

Mandarin Oriental and Vdara, as well as 

countless high-end restaurants, shops and 

spas. Every aspect of the center features 

inspired architecture, ultra-chic décor 

and breathtaking views that will make 

your experience in Vegas so much more 

memorable than the giant buffet lunch and 

those few wins at the slot machines. 

With $40 million worth of modern sculptures 

and installations by world famous artists, there 

is plenty of eye candy as you make your way 

into the gargantuan art Mecca. There really 

is no other place on the Las Vegas Strip that 

24 


can boast such an extensive fine art collection 

— one reason out of many that make it a 

worthwhile trip. 

Some of the artists you will find include 

Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer, Nancy Rubins, 

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 

Frank Stella, Henry Moore, Richard Long, 

François-Xavier Lalanne and Isa Genzken, 

among others. 

As soon as you hand over your keys to the 

valet, pay attention to every intricate detail of 

the place — art is everywhere, from the carpet 

to the windows to the walls to the ceilings. 

Every corridor, every room seems to have its 

own unique style. 

Before you begin your exploration of Sin City’s 

newest attraction, settle into a room at the Aria 

Resort & Casino. There are 4,004 rooms in the 

61-story hotel to choose from — all equipped 

with the latest technology. 

As soon as you walk into your hotel room you 

realize it is not your standard Vegas stay for 

that reason alone. Upon opening the door, 

the lights come on automatically, the curtains 

glide open and the TV monitor greets you. 

Everything from the temperature in the room 

to the lighting can be adjusted with a click on 

a remote — very 21st Century. 

This is only the beginning of the fun. 

dishes such as black cod, spicy octopus or 

akamutsu deep-sea snapper. The restaurant 

even offers a rare Japanese musk melon at 

$34 a slice — really just a glorified honeydew 

melon that’s only worth the price for the 

bragging rights. 

High-end cuisine is definitely one of the 

highlights at CityCenter. Barmasa is joined by 

other notable places such as Jean-Georges 

Steakhouse, Michael Mina’s American Fish 

and Sirio Ristorante. 

Once your palette is satisfied, make sure to 

catch the latest show from Cirque du Soleil 

honoring the life of quintessential Vegas 

performer Elvis Presley in Viva Elvis! After all, 

what is a Vegas trip without a good dance and 

acrobatics show with Elvis impersonators in it? 

When you leave, pick up a few souvenirs at 

Crystals, the 500,000-square-foot retail and 

entertainment district where you can find 

everything from a new purse at Louis Vuitton 

to a new scarf at Hermés. 

The visual stimulation is abundant at this 

place. Leaving will just make you want to 

come back for more. 

In the words of the Aria hotel T-shirt slogan: 

“The rest of the world will seem so ordinary.”n 

Photo courtesy of CityCenter Land, LLC. 

“Every time we 

turn around 

Studio One Eleven 

is working on 

something new 

and interesting 

in Long Beach.” 

- Curbed LA 

As you head to the casino, the first thing that 

is evident is that the days of cheesy, bright, 

seizure-inducing lights and sounds are over at 

this new neighbor to the Bellagio and Monte 

Carlo. The casino at CityCenter brings back 

the touch of elegance on which Vegas was 

founded. Beautiful chandeliers adorn the 

ceilings and cigar lounges with piano players 

are visible from the slot machines. You can 

easily imagine the Rat Pack sauntering 

through in their fine suits to go play some 

roulette. 

If gambling is not your forté, head over to 

Barmasa and try a range of modern Japanese 

How to Get There 

JetBlue offers roundtrip flights out of Long 

Beach Airport starting at $137 

Where to Stay 

Aria Resort & Casino, 

visit arialasvegas. com 

Rates for deluxe guestrooms: $149 — $799 

Rates for suites: $425 — $7,500 

Where to Eat 

Barmasa at Aria Resort & Casino 

What to See 

Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis!, 

visit lasvegas.com 

East Village Creative Offices 

Long Beach, Calif. 

562.901.1500 | www.studio-111.com 


A Homecoming 

WRITTEN BY Ryan Ritchie Photographed by Matt Fukushima 

Photo Assistant Alex Serrano Styled by Joen GarnicA 

26 


LIVING ROOM

longbeachmagazine.com 27 

WINE ROOM

KITCHEN / GREAT ROOM 

Living in Palos Verdes is a dream come true for many homeowners. 

The area is lush with beautiful trees that line the city streets, property 

sizes are large enough that some have horses on-site, and a select 

few enjoy breathtaking ocean views. But for Franklin and Renee Pratto, 

the city on the hill had one major drawback — Palos Verdes wasn’t 

Naples Island. 

The couple first lived in the famed Long Beach community for 16 

years and didn’t want to leave, but decided to move to Palos Verdes 

because the distance between their home and their daughter’s 

education at Chadwick School was becoming an issue. In Palos 

Verdes, the family lived on an acre, but the constant maintenance 

of the property — combined with their daughter’s upheaval to the 

University of Pennsylvania — meant that the Prattos not only required 

a smaller living space, they also could live wherever they wanted. With 

this in mind, the duo said goodbye to 13 years in Palos Verdes and 

began to look in the Costa D’ Oro section of Naples, where they found 

a three-story waterfront home that was everything they were looking 

for — and then some. 

“The isolation in Palos Verdes got to be an issue,” Renee Pratto said. 

“The trek to the freeway could take 45 minutes, and there is nothing 

to do up there. Here, we go outside our front door and we can walk to 

a bunch of restaurants. The convenience of everything here is great.” 

Living in Naples also puts Renee closer to the industrial buildings she 

owns in Santa Fe Springs, but the retired Franklin jokes that there are 

days when he spends up to two hours reading the newspaper on 

his patio. 

28 


DINING ROOM 

DINING ROOM 

“We looked at the 

weather, and this 

area has the best for a 

beach city in Southern 

California. You cannot 

beat Alamitos Bay.” 

—Renee Pratto 

The Prattos bought their current residence in 2005, but due to a 

complete remodel of the property, the abode was not finished until 

September 2008. Just about the only aspect of the couple’s three-story, 

4,250-square-foot Lido Lane home they didn’t alter was the bay water 

that serves as their front yard, as the outside was refurbished with stone, 

smooth stucco, teak, copper, stainless steel and succulents operated 

by WeatherTRAK, a satellite system that automatically waters plants 

based on local weather conditions and landscape needs. 

For the inside of their home, the couple “counted every inch” in order 

to maximize the 27-foot width of each floor. Nana doors allow the duo 

to incorporate outside patios with their indoor living spaces, while 

European toilets save eight inches because they do not use the same 

type of tanks as the American counterpart. Baseboards are flush with 

the walls, and a retractable television on the first floor allows the usual 


30 


guest bedROOM

FRANKLIN PRATTO 

30 visitors during the holidays to surround the wine room without fear 

of hitting their heads on the screen. 

The second floor of the Pratto residence exemplifies the family’s 

penchant for utilizing space. In order to get work done, the couple 

built an office in a corner where there is no ocean view, for fear that 

staring at the amazing bay could become counterproductive. With the 

office tucked away, the twosome knocked down all walls to create an 

open floor plan that spans 78 feet. The smaller portion of this space 

is devoted to couches nestled around a fireplace, while the larger 

section is a custom Neff kitchen that hides appliances to create an 

open, clean ambiance throughout the room. 

The Prattos are happy with their home — they jokingly told the 

designers to build two caskets to match the walnut interior because 

moving once more is not in their plans. Even their 16-year-old dog, 

Basenji Tut, loves his new digs. 

“We looked up and down the coast from Newport Beach to Marina 

del Rey,” Franklin said. “We looked at the weather, and this area has 

the best for a beach city in Southern California. You cannot beat 

Alamitos Bay.” n 

This home is one of five that will be featured May 16 in the 2010 Steel Magnolias 

Style Long Beach Home Tour. Visit thesteelmagnolias.org or call 562.331.8007 for 

more information. 


HOME & GARDEN : HOME FRONT 

There’s An App 

For That 

WRITTEN BY Ryan Ritchie 

Our homes are supposed to be our private 

sanctuaries from irritants such as traffic, 

unreasonable bosses, deadlines and 

long lines at grocery stores, but there are 

unfortunate times when the “real world” 

our parents warned us about grabs hold 

and won’t let go. 

Luckily, every problem has a solution, 

and in 2010, the answer is at our literal 

fingertips. Its name is the cell phone App. 

Some Apps are designed to do nothing 

more than titillate our funny bones, but the 

real beauty of the App is the slew of handy 

downloads that make our homes that much 

more relaxing and enjoyable. 

In the old days, people who wanted to paint 

a room would go to a store with at least 

a vague idea of what color they wanted, 

then not only hope the store had that color, 

but that the shade looked as good on the 

swatch as it would on the wall. 

But these are not the old days, and by 

downloading the free Ben Color Capture, 

homeowners can take pictures and tap 

images to be given suggestions for 

matching Benjamin Moore paints. 

Matching new paint to existing household 

items is akin to meeting your future spouse 

on a blind date. It could happen, but more 

than likely, that couch you’ve loved for years 

and the wall behind it will be as different 

as you and your dinner companion. 

Downloading the free ColorSnap can help 

with matching paint colors to objects, but 

provides nothing in the way of awkward 

conversations over sushi. 

32 


Cell phone Apps offer a 

variety of handy downloads 

that can help anyone make 

their home life more relaxing 

and enjoyable. 

a ffor d a b le 

efficient 

r esults 

For $2.99, users of ColorChange are able 

to change the shades of items in pictures 

before spending money on paint only to 

discover that the idea of sleeping in a 

fluorescent green bedroom is a better 

proposal than actuality. 

Your home now has the best color 

palette on the block, but you need stuff 

to put inside. The economy has taken a 

massive bite into expendable income, 

and sometimes that furniture-buying 

excursion doesn’t sound nearly as good 

as a nap, which is why the free Yard Sale 

Mapper exists. Between Thursdays and 

Sundays, users can search all sales within 

a 20-mile radius while viewing complete 

advertisements and map routes. 

We’ve all dug underneath couches or 

between beds and walls, desperately 

searching for remote controls or car keys. 

By downloading the free Flashlight App, 

phones illuminate and dim at the touch of 

a screen. Or you could ditch the remotes 

altogether by downloading the Remote 

App, which allows users to create iTunes 

playlists and operate Apple televisions. 

For those whose homes are already in 

perfect condition or renters who aren’t 

afforded the luxury of doing whatever they 

want to a property, there are still plenty of 

downloads to improve our lives. The free 

Pandora App creates music playlists based 

on songs and/or artists selected by users, 

while the $1.99 Red Laser App scans bar 

codes to not only tell the price at whatever 

store you’re at, but the price of the same 

item at other establishments. 

Getting decent rest can be a chore, 

particularly for renters with thin walls. The 

remedy is the $1.99 White Noise App, 

which re-creates a soothing fan, peaceful 

crashing waves, or chirping crickets to 

drown out the outside world. 

For less than a dollar, the iLoupe App 

takes phones and transforms them into 

magnifying glasses, while the $4.99 House 

Plant 411 is like having a private gardener 

on hand, thanks to an encyclopedia of tips 

and care instructions. For those answers 

not readily found, a private response can 

be issued to those who email photos of 

their plants. 

The cell phone App is merely one example 

of how technology can improve our lives. 

Unfortunately, until someone creates an 

App that can go to our jobs for us while we 

bask in the beautiful California sunshine, 

that dreaded “real world” will continue to 

be a hindrance. n 

Photo courtesy of Benjamin Moore. 

our brand has become 

synonymous with our 

passion, instinct & integrity. 

we design & create 

emotionally magnetizing 

spaces that sell. 

identityhome.com 

Find us on 

+ 


34 


Photo courtesy of Cal Worthington

Super Salesman 

WRITTEN BY Elizabeth Aguilera 

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Wes Kroninger 

Generations of Southern Californians have Cal Worthington’s 

jingles and madcap stunts with exotic animals forever etched 

in their consciousness. 

The auto dealer-turned showman became famous for nuzzling a 

Bengal tiger, wrestling a grizzly bear pup and waving his white Stetson 

while riding atop an elephant in television commercials coupled with 

a catchy jingle and chorus of “Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal” 

— all to get TV viewers to come buy a car. 

There has been recent buzz around town that Worthington has been 

offered a deal by Ford Motor Co. to relocate, and city officials are 

talking about negotiating with Worthington to keep the business 

in the city. 

However his grandson Nick Worthington, who manages the Long 

Beach store, said that although he could not offer insight into any 

ongoing conversation, he assures his grandfather is committed to 

this city. 

The campaign, called “Dog Spot”, features Worthington with an 

animal each time — but never with an actual dog. 

“I started to use ‘Dog Spot’ as a joke. I didn’t intend to keep it but 

people loved it,” Worthington said. “When I meet people today, they 

don’t tell me hello — they say ‘where’s your dog Spot?’” 

For 57 years, Cal Worthington, now 90, has been selling cars 

in Southern California. At the height of his career he owned 29 

dealerships and various other businesses, had sold more than 

1 million cars and grossed billions of dollars. The TV Bureau of 

Advertising once named him “the best-known car dealer pitchman 

in television history”. Worthington inspired a national Dodge ad 

called “The Good Guys in the White Hats”. During that same time 

he appeared as himself in a movie, Save the Tiger. Box Cox wrote 

his biography My Dog Spot, The Cal Worthington Story in the 70s. 

Worthington opened his Long Beach dealership — now his flagship 

location — in 1974 after operating in nearby cities since the 1950s, 

first in Huntington Park and later in South Gate. In 2007 Worthington 

told Long Beach city officials his dealership had generated more 

than $20 million in sales tax since it opened. Then manager of the 

city’s Economic Development Bureau, Robert Swayze, told the Press- 

Telegram that Worthington had “certainly been the most recognized 

retailer in Long Beach.” 

“I don’t see any change in the foreseeable future. I could be wrong, 

but I don’t think so,” he said. “Cal should be in Long Beach for the 

next 15 or 20 years. Cal loves Long Beach — Long Beach has been 

great to him for years and he has been supporting the city for years, 

and he’ll keep doing that if he can.” 

The ongoing marketing of the Worthington Ford business empire also 

does not give indication there are plans to leave the city. These days 

the car culture icon is in a radio ad with Snoop Dogg, and recently 

taped some new “Dog Spot” ads with reindeer and sled dogs. 

Branding expert Liz Goodgold remembers similar ads from her 

childhood, and now, as a well-known voice in marketing and 

branding, she recognizes them as brilliant business. She is the 

author of Red Fire Branding. 

“I remember the ads as being comforting,” Goodgold said. “Oh my 

goodness — here’s Cal again — and let’s see what crazy animal 

he has today. It made TV an adventure.” 

Worthington chuckles when asked about his strategy. “It’s simple 

really,” he said. “The lesson is to get people’s attention. A good 

way to do it is with a baby, and the next best thing is with animals 

and then a pretty girl.” 


FEATURE : GO SEE CAL! 

Photo courtesy of Cal Worthington 

This is true, but Worthington also has a Depression-era, Dustbowl 

memory-inspired work ethic that has served him well in his half 

century in the car business. He has endured economic downturns, 

oil crisis’, and countless other shake-ups in the auto industry. In the 

late 70s he faced lawsuits — later settled — filed by the state for 

alleged deceptive advertising. He settled without admission of guilt 

and paid thousands in fines. 

and competitor who had ads with his actual dog, Storm, a 

German shepherd. 

But Worthington was doing something else, too, as he enticed 

animals to play with him during his commercials. “He was branding 

himself,” said Goodgold. “Great characters become celebrities. If 

we can’t remember you we don’t do business with you.” 

Worthington points to competitors and the occasional hard-to-please 

customer for those challenges. “If you get run over, you dust yourself 

off and get up again,” he said. “That’s how you succeed in business.” 

Or you make a joke, as Worthington did with his “Dog Spot” 

ads. He was making fun of Ralph Williams, another auto dealer 

Goodgold likens Worthington to Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin 

Airlines. “His flamboyant character is part and parcel of his brand 

and attributes,” she said. “Flying on Virgin Air is as if purchasing a 

piece of Richard.” 

Viewers can’t forget the time Worthington stuck his head in the open 

36 



mouth of Shamu, the killer whale, or the time he drove a go-cart 

with a tiger sitting next to him. Or the time he rode a hippo through 

the car lot or encouraged a chimp on roller skates to follow him 

around the lot. 

Worthington “became a larger than life character,” Goodgold said. 

“He brought in the outrageous and kept us tuned in.” 

The joke turned into a monumental success. His television production 

days started with entire shows. Before the commercials he hosted 

a three-hour variety show from Cal’s Corral at the dealership. He 

featured rising country stars and cars. 

Born Calvin Coolidge Worthington in November 1920 in Oklahoma, 

Worthington was the seventh of nine children. Growing up poor 

during the depression shaped Worthington as a hard worker and 

a risk taker. He dropped out of school when in the ninth grade to 

work on a road crew to help his family. At the time his late father, 

a man Worthington admired very much, sought work for $1 a day. 

Young Worthington signed up for the Civilian Conservation Corps. 

The CCC paid $30 a month, of which $25 was sent home to his 

family. After leaving the CCC, he hauled gravel for $2 a day, and 

later, when WWII began, he signed on with the Air Force to become 

a combat pilot. Worthington flew 29 combat flights over Germany 

and was recognized for his service, but returning to civilian life in 

1945 was boring for the young man. 


FEATURE : GO SEE CAL! 

38 


“I was used to so much excitement after going on bombing missions,” 

he said. “So I knew I would get a job as an airline pilot, but guess 

what? They would not take anyone without four years of college. I 

was a great pilot and I still fly now.” 

The requirement dashed his dreams of flying commercial airliners. 

The rejection led to Worthington purchasing a Texas gas station. 

Business was slow and he sold it quickly, but not before he used 

the station to sell a few cars. 

“I thought I would buy cars and sell cars,” he said in his familiar deep 

voice. “I bought a car and sold it and made $60, and then another 

and made $118, and woo-hoo! — I thought that was a lot of money.” 

At the time he received a call to check out a failing Hudson dealership 

in California. He did, and he bought the Huntington Park dealership. 

He had $13,000 and the bank loaned him another $13,000 to get 

started. Later he opened a Dodge store in South Gate. In the 60’s 

he was the country’s top Dodge dealer. 

Worthington, who now lives outside of Sacramento, has been married 

three times and has six children. His sons Calvin and Rod work with 

Worthington in other areas of the business. 

These days Worthington’s ads remain legendary. 

It’s understandable, as who can forget Worthington’s perhaps most 

famous stunt that traded exotic animals for a biplane. As the plane 

flew and rolled upside down, he stood on top, attached only by 

straps around his feet. Cal waved and smiled as he stood upside 

down, the hard earth visible several miles below his head. 

Worthington loved the stunts, always having a good time with the 

animals or the biplane. But his antics were not reserved only for his 

TV audience. He saved some of his gags for his employees too. 

“The idea in advertising is to get their attention,” Worthington 

chuckled. “I did this with my salesmen too. One time we were having 

a sales meeting and I pulled out a revolver and fired it in the air. 

I woke them up.” n 


Profiles In Innovation 

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Hartono Tai 

In today’s world, innovation is the key to success. The fast pace of technology is changing the 

way we communicate and work together as a society. In revolutionary times, our city has risen 

to the challenge every time with the help of those who are ready to lead us into the future with 

new ideas. This time is no different. We are pleased to highlight the rising stars of innovation in 

our community. Meet the people who are making a change by using their innovative minds to do 

everything from making the most of technology to changing the way we view parenting. They are 

examples of how our city is always full of people who are one step ahead of the game. 

TINA ALDATZ 

FOOT PETALS 

Written by Dawn Mori 

Photo courtesy of Foot Petals 

Every successful journey begins with a single step. For Tina Aldatz, that 

step was in a stylish pair of heels with handmade insoles. Aldatz is the 

president and founder of Foot Petals, the company whose cushioned 

insoles make any pair of shoes bearable and wearable throughout the day. 

“There was a void in the market for a fashionable solution for women 

who wear sexy shoes,” said Aldatz. Founded in 2001, Foot Petals relieve 

real-world shoe problems such as foot fatigue in business pumps or “toe 

scrunch” in stilettos. They are a welcome revelation to an experience 

shared by millions of women, and an innovation that has paid off in a 

big way for Aldatz. 

While she remains immersed in the design process, Aldatz credits a firm 

footing in the business world as a reason for her success, especially in 

understanding the importance of infrastructure. 

Her rewards come not only from Foot Petals’ success, but also from 

helping her employees with the first steps in their careers. Aldatz promotes 

from within, and hires with an intention to see employees succeed. 

“It is the best feeling in the world to empower women and know that 

we are creating jobs,” she said. “When I hire people, I ask them ‘what 

is your dream and how can we make it happen here.’” 

It was during an 11-year run in fashion merchandising and retailing 

where Aldatz found herself customizing standard orthopedic insoles 

as a way to keep her feet comfortable in her heels. 

From this do-it-yourself innovation sprang Foot Petals, which has grown 

into a multi-million dollar business headquartered at the Marketplace 

along the Alamitos Bay Marina. Her products are distributed through 

department stores and online retailers such as Nordstrom and Zappos, all 

in her signature petal shape that help each insole lie flat within the shoe. 

With celebrity testimonials and nationwide press, the 41-year old Aldatz 

is now an established part of the fashion world — an industry where she 

has found constant success. 

Like Aldatz herself, her products are stylish and practical, and include 

a line of slippers as well as a philanthropic focus — a portion of the 

proceeds from Sexy Safari animal print cushion sales goes to Fashion For 

All, the not-for-profit that helps prepare women to reenter the work force. 

SCOTT GOEGEBUER 

VIDEO PROJECTIONIST 



Elton John’s Academy Awards viewing party, Michael Jackson’s 

memorial and NBC’s international feed for its season previews, share 

a local connection — video projectionist Scott Goegebuer. 


FEATURE : Profiles In Innovation 

Widely regarded as one of the best in the business, Goegebuer, 45, 

makes images appear onscreen in an effortless manner. His work 

is seen on television, at concerts, and corporate events by millions. 

He has a natural eye for matching color — a skill he uses to operate 

several projectors at once — combining images to create single 

projections up to 100-feet wide. Goegebuer works with light — his 

pre-show work can be compared to a visual sound check, where 

sound engineers can hear frequencies. 

“I can actually pull out a pixel of light, then fine-tune that so you can 

only see one seamless image all the way across. It’s a bizarre talent, 

but I can actually move the point where white is, where it falls on the 

color scheme,” he explained. 

Goegebuer is also a video engineer and director; however, he makes 

most of his living as a projectionist. He has worked the 2006 Academy 

Awards, a few post-awards Governor’s Balls, and, for the past two 

years, his focus has also been Elton John’s Oscar party. He handles 

up to 40 jobs a year. His career has taken him to on the road with 

Carlos Santana, as well as Tokyo and Singapore for corporate clients. 

Eventually, he would like to expand on his role as a technical director, 

working with the cameras, audio, lighting, and video packaging. 

For the moment, however, his national reputation and client 

recommendations as a projectionist keep him busy. “I don’t want to 

be scaling trusses into my 50s,” he said, “but right now, there’s a lot 

of creativity in creating a show.” 

— as well as running one of the city’s oldest restaurants — running 

for political office would be a good guess. Cristiano even said that 

some often mistake her for an up-and-coming politician. But what 

she’s actually doing is far from it. Cristiano is the Project Director for 

the Atlantic Avenue Connected Corridor. 

The Connected Corridor is a non-profit organization that’s funded by 

the James L. Knight Foundation through the Long Beach Community 

Foundation. It is designed to transform neighborhoods into one 

community by creating connectivity and empowering stakeholders, 

and to create a “Blueprint for the Future” for implementation on other 

Long Beach corridors along the eight-mile North/South stretch of 

Atlantic Avenue. It is the first of its kind in the state, and Long Beach 

is only the second city in the nation to implement such a project. The 

other was in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

Started in 2007 with phases one and two, and with the final stages 

three and four already underway, Cristiano said that the Atlantic 

corridor project’s goal is to serve the community in ways that it has 

never been served before. 

“Entrepreneurship is very much alive and well in Long Beach, and 

it’s incredible how vibrant this city is,” Cristiano said. “We want to 

find other ways to serve the area. What can we do? How can we 

volunteer? It’s all about innovation, and innovation is about taking 

risks and asking ‘what else’? We have to give up on the ‘out of the 

box’ thinking and go beyond that and do things differently.” 

The Connected Corridor Project isn’t just about serving the businesses 

in the area. Cristiano said that along with creating a “Pedestrian 

Community”, the project is heavily involved with local schools, with 

some $30,000 in grant money awarded to help schools in need. 

Cristiano calls the Atlantic Corridor Project her full-time job and relishes 

every moment of it. “It is a work of love, because I absolutely love to 

work with so many amazing people on creating collaborations along 

the Atlantic Corridor,” Cristiano said. “It is important work because 

it’s about asset mapping, informing, engaging, and empowering. 

CARINA CRISTIANO 

ATLANTIC AVENUE CONNECTED CORRIDOR 

Written by Kevin Hunter 

Photo courtesy of Vangie Ogg 

One of the many things patrons, residents and business owners on 

Atlantic Avenue see Carina Cristiano doing besides running her familyowned 

Nino’s Ristorante Italiano, is going door-to-door introducing 

herself, shaking hands and handing out flyers and business cards. 

Upon seeing her, one might get the impression that she is running 

for political office. 

With the many hats she wears and the connections she’s made 

DAVID ERICKSON 

FREECONFERENCECALL.COM 

Written by Kevin Hunter 


42 


While setting up an interview with David Erickson, it provided the 

perfect opportunity for him to show off one of the most innovative 

businesses in Long Beach — if not the country and the world. 

Erickson conducted the phone interview from his Ocean Boulevard 

office where he has 30 employees, using FreeConferenceCall. 

com where he is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Free 

Conferencing Corporation. FreeConferenceCall.com serves 11 

million users per month, has facilities in 12 cities throughout 

the U.S., and conducts business in 127 countries. According to 

Erickson, his business has grown so much since it was created 

in 2000, that it handles six percent of the conference calls in 

the world. 

But offering conference calls for free or for a fraction of a cent 

could not have been one of the easiest ways to make money 

— in fact, it wasn’t — early on. But with aggressive marketing, 

advertising and virtually no competition, Erickson made it work. 

“We started from scratch,” said Erickson, who started his business 

after having a big interest in voice and video data. “We used 

banner ads, and the growth has never stopped. We were sort 

of the first to start a ‘viral effect’. You get a conference call and 

invite five people. They tell others what it’s all about, and they 

tell others who sign up, and so on.” 

That strategy may be one of the reasons FreeConferenceCall. 

com has been the conference call company of choice of some 

of the world’s top businesses, that include Mary Kay, Toyota, 

General Motors — and even the campaign for then presidential 

candidate Barack Obama. 

Not only do big companies and corporations benefit from 

FreeConferenceCall.com, but small businesses, non-profits and 

individuals do as well. During Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana in 

2005, Erickson developed a voice messaging service for homeless 

and displaced residents in the area if they did not have a cell 

phone or home number by simply using pay phones. 

Like any successful innovator, Erickson says there is always 

room for growth and new ideas — even after 10 years in 

business. “I think we still have a long way to go,” said Erickson. 

“We want to reach out to more non-profits, charities and their 

events, churches and prayer groups. We’re also looking into 

high-definition voice, which would carry more than 40 percent 

of a person’s voice in the room. Our goal is to become the 

ultimate in conference call connectivity.” 

ANTONIO PEDRO RUIZ 

CREATIVITY NETWORK 

Written by Sarah Peters 


A city where all forms of art — visual, print, television and multimedia 

— are linked together for all people to effortlessly access and enjoy, 

is the vision Antonio Pedro Ruiz has for the future. 

With a diverse media background beginning in the 1970s, Ruiz had 

his hand in much of the changing cultural landscape. He recognized 

the valuable opportunity that was presenting itself as more forms of 

art and entertainment moved first to television, and soon after, online. 

“Our most powerful friend is the Internet,” Ruiz said. “Video itself is 

a big force on the Internet, but what people don’t understand is that 

the lines are blurring. It’s no longer unusual to go onto a website and 

find a video of some kind.” 

“This integration of media can be harnessed today like never before,” 

Ruiz said. “Information, news and especially art, can be shared faster 

and to a greater audience through new technologies. Promoting literacy 

in these new technologies is of the upmost importance.” 

With his vision of an interconnected community in mind, Ruiz’s most 

current project aims to put the reigns back into the hands of the 

audience. The Public Access, Education and Government Collaboration 

is a partnership between the city, Public Access producers, media 

training groups and city and state colleges, to reinstate a program 

for public television. 

An April grant application to the Knight Foundation may provide the 

funds necessary to bring back a “community media network” to this 

city. However, the group will not know if the project has been funded 

until late August. In the meantime, Ruiz is keeping his eye on the prize. 

A long-time advocate for arts and culture in this city, Ruiz served as a 

board member for the Long Beach Arts Council for five years. In 2004, 

he co-created The Creativity Network with his wife, Sumire Gant, to 

connect artists of all outlets to each other and the community. The online 

network has been successful in publicizing community events, seminars 

and interconnecting the community via the web at open meetings. 


FEATURE : Profiles In Innovation 

His continued contributions were recognized in 2009 by the city arts 

council, which presented Ruiz with the Distinguished Arts Patron and 

Volunteer Award. 

“I see Long Beach as a wonderful experiment of a city harnessing new 

technology to get information out. We have so many opportunities in 

front of us to design a great future.” 

With 300 volunteers, Food Finders serves 230 agencies in the two 

counties. The network continues to grow as more unemployed are 

seeking assistance, Mercer noted. 

“I don’t imagine that we will ever entirely fill the need,” Mercer said, “but 

we try to help as many people as we can. If I am ever convinced that we 

have fulfilled all the need in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, then I 

will take on more. But I don’t want to spread myself too thin. I have to 

remain effective here.” 

ARLENE MERCER 

FOOD FINDERS 

Written by Sarah Peters 


The local organization Food Finders began with one single bright idea 

— to help others in need. Today the organization brings meals to more 

than 50,000 hungry people a month, and has provided 7.5 million pounds 

of food last year alone. 

Two decades ago, Food Finder’s founder Arlene Mercer had a shopping 

cart and a collection route of two grocery stores and a Kentucky Fried 

Chicken franchise. Her one-woman operation would soon see more 

poverty — and volunteers — than a single shopping cart could contain. 

“It started with me toying with the idea of how to help the less fortunate 

that I saw on my way to work,” Mercer recalls. “But, then you think, ‘I’m 

only one person. I work full-time and I have a family. How can I possibly do 

something that would make a dent in this ever-increasing population?’” 

Mercer started by placing phone calls to a food collection organization 

in Kentucky and the Long Beach Health Department for advice. Feeling 

encouraged, she looked for a place in need and found the Long Beach 

Rescue Mission was without produce for Easter dinner. 

Within a year, Mercer had six volunteers and was delivering 1,000 pounds 

of food each month to three local agencies. When a county health 

food inspector introduced her to the world of wholesale marketers, her 

operation exploded. 

Since then, Food Finders has provided more than 80 million pounds 

of food to agencies across Los Angeles and Orange Counties. “All that 

food would have been thrown away — isn’t that incredible? I’m so glad 

that we were able to find this pocket,” Mercer said. 

DR. DONG-EUN KIM 

3D GARMENT SIMULATION 


Photo courtesy of Mary Byrd 

Gone are the days of tape measures and stick pins. Today’s fashion 

designers use computer-aided design to transform their ideas into 

reality, and one CSULB professor is making that reality a virtual one. 

Dr. Dong-Eun Kim’s cutting-edge research is in 3D garment simulation, 

computer graphic technology similar to 3D animation. Her research 

analyzes new software which allows fashion designers to evaluate a 

garment’s style or test its fit on a 3D model. 

“A computer image may look good enough, but in the garment industry, 

has to be really accurate to substitute for fit,” explained Dr. Kim. “For 

designers to approve one garment, we have to make three or four 

samples to evaluate style or fit, and it can be a waste of money and 

resources. By using 3D simulation, we can eliminate the first or second 

samples.” 

This latest innovation is all happening in Dr. Kim’s classroom through 

the Fashion Merchandising & Design Program at CSULB. Garment 

simulation builds on existing 3D body scan technology, where lasers 

and cameras are used to scan a person’s body, extracting an exact 

3D image from thousands of data points. 3D body scans are currently 

used by large retailers such as Brooks Brothers for custom tailoring 

and locally by Unique Boutique at the MarketPlace. 

Dr. Kim envisions consumers will someday fit clothing onto their own 

virtual model before making purchases. “If 3D simulation is accurate 

enough, online shoppers can use this technology to view 3D images 

of their own body scan or a computer-generated avatar using their 

own body measurements,” Dr. Kim said. 

44 


LINDA & TY HATFIELD 

PARENTING FROM THE HEART 

Written by Marie Cardona 


Linda and Ty Hatfield, creators of the organization “Parenting 

from the Heart”, provide an innovative spin on teaching parents 

effective tools to use with their kids. Through classes, workshops, 

and coaching, their services create an atmosphere in which Long 

Beach parents can learn skills to empower their families. 

It wasn’t until Linda completed a Child Development course at Long 

Beach City College that she knew what she wanted to pursue. After 

earning a Bachelor’s Degree, on to a teaching credential, and in 

later years a Master’s Degree, she teamed up with her husband 

Ty (who carries under his belt a career in law enforcement and 

his own sources of leadership and inspiration) to form Parenting 

from the Heart. 

“I absolutely loved learning all the different stages that children 

go through as they mature,” Linda states emphatically. 

The innovation, the couple asserts, is in the strategy. The class 

provides parents with the skills to respond instead of reacting to 

their children in a healthy, productive way, which actually enhances 

the relationship and gains cooperation in the home. 

Issues range from bedtime, chores, and school work to sibling 

conflicts and teen issues. Using their own experiences as parents 

and staying updated on the latest information regarding child 

rearing and development, they bring a high-level of efficiency and 

quality to their teaching methods. 

“We teach parents how to create that level of a connected 

relationship and how to solve problems by involving parents in fun 

and interactive role-plays, and they receive personalized attention 

throughout the program,” explained Linda. 

The couple, who are also working on completing three books 

to assist parents and educators in connecting with children on 

a deeper level, has earned high praise from many parents and 

teachers, and the organization continues to flourish. 

JAMES BARTLING AND ARLAND BOLL 

AB AUDIO VISUAL 

Written by Peter Surowski 


James Bartling spent the summer after his graduation secretly 

recording his conversations with his friends. Yes, it was a little sneaky, 

the skinny, 32-year-old local filmmaker admitted, as he sat on the edge 

of a sofa during a screening of his latest movie. But his intentions 

were good. 

He turned the recordings into the script for Nostalgia, a movie he 

wrote, directed, produced and starred in. The entire film is shot in 

Long Beach, and is set to appear in select theaters in California in 

December. 

Nostalgia is the only completely non-scripted film in recent memory. 

The actors are saying what they said in Bartling’s secret recordings. 

And the actors aren’t actors — they are Bartling’s friends. 

The concept for the movie is unique, but that’s all in a day’s work for 

Bartling. He’s one of an innovative duo of multimedia gurus at AB 

Audio Visual, a sound studio in Lakewood that has had a number 

of clients in this city for 20 years. Arlan Boll, the owner of the studio, 

brings his unique innovation into every project he works on. Though 

Nostalgia is the high point of the duo’s collaboration, it’s not the first 

time they worked together. 

They met in 1998, when Bartling was working on his first film, the 

70-minute short film Naked Clouds. Boll helped Bartling with the 

sound. “I didn’t even know the difference between a mono and a 

stereo channel,” Bartling said, when he recalled their first meeting. 

The two have been working together ever since, creating movie 

soundtracks, recording musicians — and even cleaning up sound 

recordings for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the County 

Superior Court. 

The duo are now conceptualizing their next film project, which Bartling 

hopes to shoot next year. n 


46 


To Your Health 

WRITTEN BY SAMANTHA GONZAGA 

Y 

ou can’t put a price on health, though if you must, take heart. 

English dramatist Thomas Dekker famously wrote, “Gold that 

buys health can be ill spent.” 

For many, that’s easier read than done. Economists estimate that health 

spending accounted for 17 percent of the national GDP in 2009. In 

recent years, healthcare expenditures have outpaced national income 

growth — and even inflation — according to the Centers for Medicare 

and Medicaid Services. 

“This is a very exciting time for U.S. healthcare,” said Dr. Pratibha Patel, 

Long Beach regional director for HealthCare Partners. The national 

medical group serves about 45,000 in the Long Beach area. “This 

creates many opportunities for us, as well as challenges.” 

Such as finding a source to fund the reforms the bill plans to implement, 

and finding enough providers in an industry with a shortage of healthcare 

workers, said Mario Molina, CEO of Molina Healthcare, a governmentfunded 

health provider serving some 1.5 million patients nationwide. 

The price of healthcare couldn’t be more apparent in Los Angeles 

County, where it’s beyond the means for every 1 in 3 patients under 65. 

In Long Beach, one fifth of the population lacks coverage. 

“The real issue in the future is the pipeline,” Molina said, adding that 

there is also a shortage of medical and nursing teachers, many of 

whom are approaching retirement age. 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which President Barack 

Obama signed into law on March 23, intends to be a cure for this ailing 

and expensive system. The ambitious piece of legislation that will change 

the landscape of American healthcare was hailed by most Long Beach 

health advocates and officials as a step in the right direction. 

“It’s early in the analysis of the legislation, but redesigning around 

a prevention-based model is cost-effective,” said Michael Johnson, 

spokesman for the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department. 

Johnson also noted, “There’s a lot of analysis going on and a lot of 

concern in the medical community, hospitals and other large medical 

groups, because they have to revisit their models and realign to those 

new models the federal government will be pressing for.” 

A provision in the legislation could be a boon for the Long Beach Health 

and Human Services Department — the creation of a funding stream 

for wellness and public health programs, such as the nearly two dozen 

prevention-based projects and programs the department provides. 

Hospitalizations for preventable conditions totaled nearly $30.8 billion 

in 2006, according to the Health Cost Utilization Project, a pool of 

healthcare databases linked in a three-way federal, state and industry 

partnership sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality. 

How that will be rolled out — and which arm of the federal government 

will disburse those funds — have yet to be determined by the federal 

government, Johnson said. 

A FINGER ON THE PULSE OF THE CITY 

The healthcare reform bill will require most U.S. citizens and legal 

residents to have healthcare insurance, prohibit insurance companies 

from discriminating against patients with pre-existing conditions, raise 

the age limit for dependent health coverage to 26, and create separate 

health benefit exchanges for individuals and small businesses. 

The city’s Health and Human Services Department is no stranger to 

providing large-scale healthcare services. “People don’t discover us 

until they need us,” said Department Director Ron Arias. 

As one of three California cities with its own health jurisdiction, it can 


directly monitor the community health issues and exercise control over 

the creation and operation of programs critical and specific to the city’s 

health demography. 

That privilege was best exemplified by the department’s response to the 

swine flu pandemic scare, when it used its Public Health Emergency 

Management Program resources for bioterrorism to stave off outbreaks. 

Over 17,000 H1N1 vaccinations — and later on, an additional 50,000 

— were provided to residents. 

too. “Two-thirds of department employees live in the city,” Arias said. 

The department operates a state- and federal-certified laboratory; 

immunization, HIV/AIDS, family planning and tuberculosis clinics; nearly 

two dozen environmental, food, family, health and vaccination programs; 

provide animal care services; reaches 28,000 residents through its WIC 

Program, disseminating about $34 million in WIC vouchers; all while 

monitoring, collecting and interpreting data to constantly adapt and 

serve Long Beach’s half-million residents. 

“It was probably one of the most dynamic periods we had in the last 20 

years because of high projections of the pandemic,” Arias said, “though 

in the end, [the pandemic] didn’t have a lot of punch.” 

It’s a big department with a sizable annual budget to match. Accounting 

for $5 million of the annual city budget, Health and Human Services pulls 

in an additional $45 million every year from federal, state and private 

sources to help fund its educational health campaigns and array of 

public health programs. Powering those is a professional staff of 300, 

60 percent of whom are health professionals ranging from physicians 

and epidemiologists to microbiologists. These minds are local talents, 

“I can’t say enough good things about the department in terms of what 

they do and how they serve the community,” said Health and Human 

Services Boardmember Annette Kashiwabara, whose career in the health 

industry spans some 15 years in nursing and hospital administration. 

“While they do take a portion of the general fund, they’re able to do a 

lot of good for the community. They’re the unsung heroes and you don’t 

know what a good department you have until they’re gone — and you 

don’t want them to go away.” 

Currently, the department is working on a local initiative — an education 

campaign targeting obesity — childhood obesity, in particular. Its 

48 


FEATURE : to your health 

challenge, at least for now, is the absence of a sustainable revenue 

source, Arias noted. “This has the potential for unbelievable problems we 

might face,” Arias said. “The economic cost of obesity, the projections 

are in the billions of dollars in terms of healthcare costs and managing 

the disease.” 

Obesity rates in the county have blown up at an alarming rate. Among 

adults, it’s expanding from 14.3 percent in 1997 to 22.2 percent in 

2007. Rates for school-aged children went from 18.9 percent in 1999 

to 23.1 percent in 2008. 

and record-keeping technology instrumental to disease prevention 

and management — the kind of vital capital that HealthCare Partners 

already had — bolstered the decision to join HealthCare Partners, 

Patel continued. 

“The greatest strength of HealthCare Partners is its ability to adapt to the 

changes in health care — especially in light of recent reform,” she said. 

The department is a milestone in a long line of healthcare innovations 

in the city. Long Beach was one of the early adopters of anti-smoking 

policies in the 1990s, banning it at all city restaurants, offices, and later 

on, social venues like bars. 

“The resistance to early efforts was formidable,” Arias said. “The industry 

fought us in every venue they could. Restaurants feared it would affect 

business. The exact opposite happened.” 

The city’s smoking rate has since declined from 22.7 percent in the 

1980s, to 14 percent in 2005. That wasn’t the first — nor would it be 

the last — leap forward in health improvement. 

HEALTHCARE INNOVATORS 

Dr. Harriman Jones 

The history of modern medicine in Long Beach starts with one of its 

first town physicians — Dr. Harriman Jones. 

Arriving at the city at the turn of the 20th century, Jones numbered among 

the handful of practicing town physicians. He became Long Beach’s 

first health officer, shaping its early health policies and organizing two 

hospitals — Seaside Hospital and Long Beach Hospital, today the site 

of St. Mary Medical Center. 

Harriman’s vision was far-reaching. In 1930, he opened Harriman-Jones 

Clinic, operating on a model decades ahead of its time, combining 

many medical services under roof and extending its services to the poor. 

Harriman-Jones eventually grew, and the brand retained his name 

until January 2005 when its present leadership agreed to merge with 

HealthCare Partners Medical Group, the Long Beach area’s dominant 

provider organization. 

Harriman-Jones as a group was officially dissolved in February 2010, 

said Patel, who worked at Harriman-Jones at the time of the merger, and 

in the subsequent years of transition. Changes in healthcare and the 

scale of financial investment required for ongoing upgrades to medical 

Dr. C. David Molina 

Growing up in rural, Depression-era Yuma, Arizona. shaped the founder 

of Molina Healthcare. 

“He came from a background that’s not well-to-do,” said Mario Molina, 

son of Dr. C. David Molina. “In medical school, one of the things 

impressed upon him was the idea of giving everyone respect and 

care, regardless of their financial needs.” 

The elder Molina’s time at the emergency department of Pacific Hospital 

— where he helped develop Long Beach’s first intensive care unit — 

frequently brought him in contact with patients who turned to the ER 

for their healthcare because they lacked insurance. 

In 1980, he opened a community clinic for an underserved population, 



50 

DR. ROBERT GUMBINER 


Photo courtesy of Long Beach Business Journal/Thomas McConville


welfare recipients. Most of his peers were skeptical about its viability. 

“Medi-Cal didn’t pay a lot, and at the time, there was a strong stigma 

attached to it,” said Mario Molina. 

His father “ran a tight ship” and kept a close eye on overhead. Over 

the years, this model matured into a national HMO for Medi-Cal and 

Medicaid patients. Today, it serves 1.5 million people across 10 states, 

including three clinics in Long Beach. 

Despite its size, it’s still a family-owned business. “Though publicly 

traded, 57 percent of the stock is owned by the Molina family,” Mario 

Molina said. 

was simple — patients paid a flat fee every month, and in exchange, 

received all the care they needed from the group’s doctors. 

“He felt it was wrong for patients to pay more the sicker they became,” 

said Gumbiner’s son, Burke Gumbiner, who would later serve as FHP 

senior vice president and then president. 

Physicians in FHP were salaried, freeing them from the conflict of being 

a businessman or a doctor, and allowing them to focus fully on caring 

for patients. The 10 doctors that were part of the first FHP even received 

benefits. When FHP became an HMO, patient coverage extended to 

specialists and hospital care. 

In anticipation of increased demand for primary care, Molina Healthcare 

plans to open additional clinics and develop partnerships with UCLA 

and Florida International University. 

Dr. Robert Gumbiner 

When Dr. Robert Gumbiner founded Family Health Partners in 

1961, fellow doctors feared its unconventional model might lead to 

socialized medicine. 

The idea behind what would later become FHP International Corp. 

Gumbiner’s legacy as a physician, pioneer of prepaid health care and 

philanthropist are still visible today. 

The doctor’s two original medical offices still stand, now under the 

banner of Talbert Medical Group, at Spring Street and Palos Verde 

Avenue, and Sixth Street and Alamitos Avenue. 

His other legacy as a patron of the arts is manifest in the Museum of 

Latin American Art (MoLAA), home to his own private Latin art collection. 

After retiring from FHP in 1996, he spent most his time on two major art 

projects — MoLAA and the adjacent Ethnic Art Institute of Micronesia. n 

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BUSINESS & MONEY : NONPROFIT PROFILE 

JULIE BROWN, BOB CROW, SERGIO MACIAS 

Coming Together 

With Pride 

WRITTEN BY Cristina De León-Menjivar 


52 


It started off with a couple of carnival games 

and a nominal entrance fee. Today, 27 years 

later, the annual Long Beach Lesbian and 

Gay Pride Festival has evolved into a multimillion 

dollar event, which raises both funds 

that support the city as a whole and awareness 

about the gay and lesbian community. 

The first Long Beach Pride Festival took place 

in 1984, and was founded by Bob Crow, 

Maryilyn Barlow and Judith Doyle. The idea 

for creating an event in Long Beach evolved 

when the founders noticed that easily over a 

third of West Hollywood’s Gay Pride Parade 

attendees were from this city. 

“We saw a lot of the crowd was from Long 

Beach, and asked ourselves, ‘why are we all 

going there?’” Crow said. 

Now, the Pride Festival has its own following 

which is just as loyal and large as the one in 

West Hollywood. The event has grown so much 

that it now covers the entire Shoreline Drive 

area, including the park, Rainbow Lagoon and 

the streets that run through it. 

“Each year [the festival] just got better and 

better,” said Crow, who is currently Vice- 

President of Long Beach Lesbian and Gay 

Pride (LBLGP). “I never dreamed it’d be a multimillion 

dollar event.” 

This year, the event will take place the weekend 

of May 15 – 16, and will include pre- and postevents, 

such as a free concert hosted by 

Interfaith in Bixby Park on Friday, May 14 from 

6 – 8 p.m. 

The festival boasts seven different themed 

stages and areas, including Fiesta Caliente, 

Urban Soul, and a Country area. One new 

addition to this year’s festival is the Trans 

Awareness area, which during the day will 

feature lectures and information. During the 

evening, the area will feature entertainment, and 

among the scheduled performers are Shawna 

Virago, Alex Davis and Joshua Klipp. 

While the festival is a time to celebrate, the 

focus of the event is not just to have fun. Sergio 

Macias, Co-President of LBLGP, said that the 

annual pride festival is “the biggest bridgebuilding 

event, celebration and fundraiser”. 

Each year, the event raises enough funds so 

that LBLGP can invest over $100,000 back 

into the Long Beach community. The money 

is used for grants and scholarships for a 

variety of schools and organizations, such as 

the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Long Beach 

AIDS Foundation and the Girl Scout Council 

of Greater Long Beach. Last year, LBLGP 

provided grants to local public schools, 

including Franklin Middle School, Willard 

Elementary School and Cabrillo High School. 

These funds were used to purchase items such 

as books, supplies and computers. “We give 

all the money we can back to the community,” 

Macias said. 

Since its inception, the Long Beach Pride 

Parade and Festival has gained popularity not 

only within the state, but also nationally, and 

even internationally. According to Macias, the 

latest report shows that 76 percent of attendees 

were from outside of Long Beach, and 13 

percent were from outside of California. Crow 

also added that he knows several people from 

Europe who use the festival to kick-off their 

vacation in the United States. 

What Crow and his fellow founders created 

in Long Beach is just part of a growing 

international movement. According to 

Crow, there are now over 125 pride festivals 

throughout the world. To his surprise, there 

are even some in his native state of Alabama. 

Although the Long Beach Pride Parade and 

Festival is now internationally recognized, 

Crow said he always thinks about the reason 

that motivated the initial effort. “We wanted 

to create a respectable, nice event to make 

people proud of who they are and give back 

to the community,” Crow said. 

Visit longbeachpride.com for information 

about the parade and festival events, and 

to learn about its scholarships and grant 

submission deadlines. n 

McKenna’s 

on the Bay 

Steak, Seafood 

Sushi & Oyster Bar 

Enjoy the sunset 

with fine food & wine 

on our waterfront patio! 

Upcoming Events 

Sat. May 1 st 

Kentucky Derby Celebration! 

Women donning traditional 

derby bonnets will receive a gift! 

Tues. May 4 th 

Tequila Petite Pairing 

Kick off Cinco De Mayo 

Sun. May 9 th : 

Mother’s Day Brunch Buffet 

seafood, craving station, 

fresh omelets & more! 

Alamitos Bay Landing 

190 N. Marina Dr. 

Long Beach, CA 

For Reservations Call: 

(562) 342-9411 

www.mckennasonthebay.com 


health & environs : ECO 

Breaking Barriers 

For Innovation 

WRITTEN BY Jerry Schubel 

Innovation can be defined as “ideas applied 

successfully in practice”. The goal of innovation 

is to create positive change — to make 

someone or something better. Innovation is 

the fundamental source of wealth creation in an 

economy. It is the energy that drives business. 

Innovation is potentially an inexhaustible and 

renewable resource, but societal conditions 

can nurture or stifle it. 

Creativity is the driving force behind innovation, 

but they are different. Ideas don’t keep very 

well. Something has to be done with them. 

That’s where innovation comes in. One might 

argue that we have greater opportunities now 

than ever before in human history for individual 

creativity and innovation. For those innovations 

that fall within the domain controlled by 

governmental regulations, governments 

often determine how easily they can enter 

that domain. 

We are told that we live in the greatest state in 

the nation, and I agree. We have the number 

one agricultural economy, twice that of Texas, 

which comes in at number two. We have the 

largest ocean economy of any state. The most 

outstanding public university systems and a 

number of outstanding private universities. 

California is home to three national laboratories 

— more than any other state. 

We can claim nearly half of all the venture 

capital in the nation; are home to Silicon Valley 

and all the high-tech firms that it continues 

to sprout. We have the nation’s two largest 

ports. We have the most diverse range of 

environments and climates of any state in the 

nation. These sum up to putting California’s 

54 


economy among the top ten economies of 

nations in the world in 2009. 

And we are broke. Busted! We are closing 

schools, reducing social services, firing 

those who protect us and our families, 

and cutting back our support for higher 

education. What’s wrong? 

Yes, we have bloated government retirement 

funds at local and state levels, and we have 

a large number of people in desperate need 

of our social services. But there is a more 

fundamental disconnect, one that keeps 

us from applying all the creative ideas 

that originate here in ways that benefit 

our residents and our state economically. 

Ideas and innovations that could benefit our 

state environmentally and economically are 

generated in abundance in our state, but the 

regulatory environment often is inhospitable 

to them being implemented here. Often they 

find more receptive conditions in other states 

and other nations. 

of our universities, our national laboratories, and 

our high tech industries to deal with the changing 

natural systems and the responses of our social 

systems to these changes. We already are 

making a difference in many parts of the world. 

California’s renewable energy technologies in 

capturing ocean wave energy and solar energy 

are being used in Australia and China, but not 

here in the state where they were developed 

— or at least not to the extent they should be. 

We hear a lot of talk, particularly since this is an 

election year, about stimulating the economy. 

In studies of natural biological systems we 

have found that often the best way to enhance 

productivity is to identify and remove — or at 

least relax — the limiting factors rather than 

simply applying more stimulants. Instead of 

looking for ways to “force” economic growth 

through stimulation, we should examine the 

constraints that limit productivity and profitability 

in California — and be ruthless about eliminating 

them. We might be surprised by the results. 

Two of the biggest constraints are the lack of 

transparency and predictability of our policy 

and regulatory frameworks and the associated 

difficulty in getting permits to do anything 

innovative, at least in the environmental and 

energy fields. We do not have to sacrifice our 

environment. Indeed, we must not. 

Regulations are important in protecting human 

health and environmental qualities for the 

common good — clean air, clean water, and 

biodiversity. California has a tradition of setting 

high environmental standards, and we should 

continue to do that. High standards stimulate 

innovation. Prescribing how to achieve those 

standards, however, stultifies innovation. 

Predictable and transparent regulatory and 

policy frameworks would encourage the private 

investment that drives innovation. n 

Jerry R. Schubel, a lifelong environmentalist, is 

President & CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific. 

We are the state where climate change will 

impact more people than in any other state, 

except perhaps Florida. A compromised 

water supply system, sea level rise and 

flooding — all will take a heavy toll on 

California well before the end of this 

century. There is no question that these are 

formidable challenges. One can look at them 

as problems or as opportunities. 

Since they are inevitable, I prefer to focus 

on the opportunity side of the equation. 

California is rich in opportunities. The 

comic strip character Pogo once observed 

“some opportunities are so large, they are 

insurmountable”. Ours are large, but not 

insurmountable. Why not transform these 

opportunities into financial gains for our state 

while we are helping our state, our nation, 

and the rest of the world get ready for a “new 

normal” that will result from global climate 

change. 

We should be a laboratory for applying, 

testing, and refining the ideas that come out 

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health & environs : HEALTH 

Raising The 

Fitness Barre 

WRITTEN BY Alisha Gomez 

I like to mix up my fitness routine. So popping 

in for an occasional ballet class doesn’t frighten 

me. Now I’m a far cry from a ballet dancer, 

or any type of dancer. But I sometimes get 

bored with my regular routine of jogging, 

spin classes and strength training. So on two 

recent occasions, I found myself wandering 

into some local dance studios in search of 

some innovative fitness routines by taking a 

ballet class. 

The first was on a Thursday evening at The 

Long Beach Ballet dance studio. For $20, I 

took a 90-minute beginning adult class with 

Hilde Byrne. Byrne teaches twice a week, 

Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and is superprofessional 

and fun. 

The class was a little fast, but Byrne was great 

about correcting positions and working with 

you until you got the various positions and 

movement right. It started off with a typical 

warm-up of pliés through the various positions 

(i.e. first, second, third, fourth and fifth position). 

And then it went into a mix of exercises from 

kicks, turns and bends to running across the 

dance floor. 

The idea is that ballet tones and strengthens 

the body. You’re constantly lifting yourself in 

every exercise, from your legs and stomach up 

56 


to your head. Such focus and attention on 

your posture and arm and leg movements 

are like quick jolts to your muscles, helping 

your body to become stronger and build 

muscle. Of course, diet is also part of that, 

Byrne reminded me. 

Every movement isn’t just a movement. 

Take the striking of the floor, or frappé, as 

it’s called in ballet. When done properly, the 

movement is felt in several areas, from your 

abs and thighs to the last point of your toes. 

If done a couple of times of week, you’ll see 

and feel the results. You may start noticing 

more definition in your arms and legs, and 

even firmer abs and derrière. While ballet 

class may not be like heavy cardio classes 

such as kickboxing or spinning, don’t be 

fooled, because your body is working 

muscles that are often ignored. 

Attire is pretty flexible, although in traditional 

ballet, you wear tights, leotard and ballet 

slippers. Some places are strict with 

the colors, but for the most part, adult 

classes aren’t. 

battement exercises. You will definitely feel 

these movements. 

Kitano agreed that about two classes a week will 

help a person reap the benefits of ballet. “Ballet 

is a great alternative to your fitness routine,” she 

said. “It’s not something your body just does, like 

sitting or walking. It uses the muscles differently 

and your body has to recover from that.” 

She also encourages people to get a good 

instructor and stay in tune with your body and 

your body’s limitations. “Go out and sample 

some classes and instructors and see what 

works best for you,” said Kitano, who has 

been teaching for about 25 years. “Don’t push 

yourself,” she said. “If it doesn’t sound right or 

feel right, don’t do it. And don’t be afraid about 

not knowing the movements or terminology,” 

she added. “After a few weeks, you’ll get the 

hang of it.” n 

Local Ballet Studios 

The Dance Company 

4205 Montair Ave. 

562.425.7231 

thedancecolongbeach.com 

Long Beach Ballet 

1122 E. Wardlow Rd. 

562.426.4112 

longbeachballet.com 

Los Altos Dance Center 

5531 E. Spring St. 

562.429.7486 

losaltosdance.com 

Elevation Studios 

1900 E. 27th St. #101 

Signal Hill 

562.424.2711 

elevationstudios.org 

Marrillyn McDowell Studio of Dance 

324 Redondo Ave. 

562.433.5753 

Byrne’s class was plenty of fun, with her 

colorful personality and her classical 

versions of famous TV show theme music. 

But beware: other students said she can 

be tough — apparently, she was easy on 

us that night with the exercises she gave us. 

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On a Saturday, I strolled into The Dance 

Company and took an hour-long class with 

Melissa Kitano for about $15. Her class was 

even faster-paced and a little more aerobic 

in some ways because of this. Also, it’s 

mixed in with young girls who are studying 

the dance. 

Kitano also was fun and energetic, and 

she played awesome music, from Disneythemed 

songs to Tori Amos. Her approach 

isn’t quite as hands-on, which helps to 

keep the class moving. Again, it started off 

with the typical warm-up of plié exercises 

and moved into various others, including 

some turns or pirouettes and attitude and 

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT : MUSIC PROFILE 

From left: Rome Ramirez (vox/guitar), Eric Wilson (bass), Bud Gaugh (drums) 

The Rebirth Of 

Sublime 

WRITTEN BY Edgard Zuniga 

The vast Southern California musical landscape is rife with tales of 

promise, tragic loss and rebirth. When Sublime vocalist and guitarist 

Bradley Newell died of an overdose in 1996, it meant the sudden end 

of the iconic Long Beach ska band, at a crucial time when Sublime 

was on the verge of branching out from modest Long Beach roots 

to what many felt would be widespread success. 

For drummer Floyd “Bud” Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson, it was 

difficult to carry on without Bradley, which prompted the surviving 

members to break the band up. Nevertheless, Sublime’s self-titled 

major label debut went on to sell more than 6 million copies, with 

many people around the world embracing their unique style and 

sound, which has become timeless. 

Although Bud and Eric continued working together as members of 

the Long Beach Dub Allstars until 2002, bringing back the band was 

always on their minds. “It was something that, as far as I’m concerned, 

was a good possibility, that Eric and I would get together and do 

something Sublime. It was just a matter of when, and, in particular, 

finding the right person,” Bud said. 

The right person turned out to be Rome Ramirez, who was recording 

with a friend of Eric’s, who noticed something familiar about Rome’s 

voice and encouraged Eric to meet with Rome. “If Eric was holding 

this guy in high regard, maybe I owed it to myself and my friends to 

check this guy out,” Bud said. 

It had been eight years since Bud and Eric had played together but 

the meeting with Rome went better than Bud could have imagined. 

“We sat down and started playing Sublime songs and it was like we 

never stopped. There were times that were very surreal, like, where 

I could close my eyes and open my eyes up and be startled that it 

wasn’t Brad right there,” he said. 

With Rome in tow, the band is officially back together and about to 

hit the road again, giving adoring fans an opportunity to see live 

performances of Sublime classics like “Santeria” and “Wrong Way” 

as well as hear new material from Sublime with Rome. 

58 


Last March, the guys decided to put together a “secret” impromptu 

show at the end of a set by Bud’s other band, Del Mar, at a small 

club in Sparks, Nevada. Word got around and the place sold out 

with screaming, jumping fans. The crowd was so loud that in videos 

posted on YouTube Rome can’t even be heard above the din. 

“We never named it anything,” said Bud, of the newly reunited 

band. “The people that posted the videos named it ‘Sublime with 

Rome’ and that just seemed to stick — the fans named the band.” 

Beethoven 

da-da-da-dummm 

Saturday, June 5, 2010 – 8pm 

Long Beach Terrace Theater 

Now known as Sublime with Rome, the guys are setting out on a 

mini, two-week tour as a warm-up for a bigger tour later this year. 

There are also plans to cut a new album before setting out on a 

world tour next year. “We’re going to use the same recipe that’s 

always been used before, and just continue that mindset,” Bud said. 

And, of course, the guys haven’t forgotten Long Beach. “We’re 

gearing up for something special — to do a hometown deal there. 

So, keep your eyes peeled. You won’t be disappointed.” 

Although, Bud now calls Nevada home, he still cherishes memories 

with Eric and Bradley, when they were coming up in the Long Beach 

music scene. “Some of the best memories that I had were when 

we were playing backyard parties and stuff like that,” he said. “The 

cops would come and we had to grab our equipment as fast as we 

could and get the hell out of there before they tried to confiscate it. 

Watching people go crazy in someone else’s backyard, knocking 

fences down, skating vert ramps in front of the band. Those are 

memories that will never go away.” 

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With those memories safely stowed away in their minds, the guys 

are already putting together new ones, such as when they hit the 

stage at a Cypress Hill event in October. “There was a sea of 

people out there — like, 15,000 or more screaming fans. I had to 

take a couple of seconds to stand on my drum throne and check 

out the crowd and take it all in, because it was really an emotional 

moment for me,” Bud said. “I looked over and saw Eric smiling 

from ear to ear. There’s no greater feeling for a friend to see another 

friend that happy.” 

After the blackest night comes the brightest day, and Sublime with 

Rome are basking in the sun and looking forward to the future. 

“It’s a good feeling to be playing our music again. It’s good to be 

hanging out and rolling down with my best friend again,” Bud said. 

“As long as the music is great and we’re all physically capable of 

doing this, then, I don’t see it ever ending.” n 

Visit sublimewithrome.com for more information on Sublime’s upcoming 

tour schedule. 

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT : HISTORY 

From left: Alan M. Ruby, PM, Bob Kelly, WM, Adam Lieblein, and Jeff Schimsky, PM 

A Secret Society 

WRITTEN BY Mike Guardabascio 

You’ve probably heard plenty of rumors 

and stories about Freemasons. That they 

inserted codes into the constitution and our 

currency, that they have secret handshakes 

and signals, that over half our U.S. presidents 

were Masons, that the groups meet in secret 

cabals to quietly shape history. None of that, 

of course, is true — well, except the bit about 

the presidents. 


The truth is both more boring and more 

interesting at the same time. 

This city is home to three Masonic Halls; 

the Long Beach Masonic Hall on Locust, 

Lakewood Hall behind Heartwell Park, and 

International City at Pacific Coast Highway 

and Anaheim. The Halls are home to different 

Lodges (groups of Masons), a total of five of 

which are currently in Long Beach, with over 

1,000 active members belonging to Long 

Beach Lodge, Los Cerritos Lodge, Lakewood 

Lodge, Pacific Rim Lodge, and International 

City Lodge. 

In the post-World War II boom — Masonry’s 

heyday nationwide — a Navy-heavy Long 

Beach had more than 13 Lodges, and 

thousands more members. The state of 

California had 120,000 members, more 

60 


“People call us a secret society, 

but we prefer to call ourselves 

‘a society with secrets’.” 

— Jeffrey Schimsky, Past Master, 

Los Cerritos Lodge 

than double the state’s current number of 

active Masons. Today, there are still more 

than a million active members throughout 

the United States. 

The Lodges, local and worldwide, meet in their 

Halls to perform their “work”, their term for a 

memorized spoken ritual that incorporates 

centuries-old symbolism and language. This 

might sound like a window into a clandestine 

world of secrets and intrigue, but Jeffrey 

Schimsky, a Past Master (former president) of 

the Los Cerritos Lodge and a third-generation 

Mason, laughs the idea off. “People call us a 

secret society,” he jokes, “but we prefer to call 

ourselves ‘a society with secrets’.” 

Almost all of those secrets aren’t actually 

kept secret, it turns out. Schimsky willingly 

pulls out his ritual book, showing the parts 

written in English, and the parts written in 

cipher, which he translated a few lines of. 

During a tour of the Long Beach Masonic 

Hall, Schimsky explained the significance of 

any symbol he was asked about. The most 

easily recognized — the Masonic logo of a 

Square and Compass — is meant to remind 

Masons to circumscribe their personal desires 

for the betterment of society. 

Schimsky said that a dedication to the 

memorized ritual and the ideals of Masonry 

binds all Masons together. One of his favorite 

aspects of the fraternity is that all its members 

are equal, whether a rich magnate or a lowly 

servant. An American President will still refer 

to the servant who cuts his lawn as “Brother” 

in a Masonic meeting (a true story according 

to Masonic lore). “Masonry has a message 

that’s very ‘today’,” said Schimsky. “It’s all 

about equality.” 

Freemasonry’s 100-plus years of history 

in this city, like all of Masonry’s history 

and symbolism, hides in plain sight. The Z 

Gallerie at Pine and Broadway, downtown 

Long Beach’s oldest building, was originally 

constructed as the city’s first Masonic Hall, 

and the Masonic compass is still embossed 

on the exterior of the building’s third floor. 

Downtown’s Temple Lofts are condominiums 

housed in a former Masonic Hall as well. 

The fraternity’s remaining members are still 

very active in the community, as Lodges 

sponsor Cub Scout and Boy Scout troupes, 

hold golf and pool tournaments for charity, visit 

VA hospitals monthly to thank injured veterans, 

and donate food left over from their meetings 

to the hungry. As for all the National Treasure 

and Dan Brown stories, Schimsky said the 

intrigue is fine by him. “When we’re portrayed 

as superheroes, it’s a little goofy to us,” he 

said. “But for the most part, we like it.” 

It’s a point of pride for Schimsky and other 

Masons that they aren’t allowed to recruit new 

members — they have to be asked. But this, 

like so much associated with Freemasonry, 

is so normal it’s almost shocking: on 

freemasonry.org, you can put your zip code 

into a “Lodge Locator” to submit a petition 

for membership. 

Of course, if you do, you might want to check 

those conspiracy theories at the door. n 

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT : ART SMART 

From 

Prosthodontics 

To Picasso 

WRITTEN BY Mike Guardabascio 


For most people, going to the dentist can be torture, but for patients 

of Dr. Ting-Wey Yen, it is more like going to an upscale art gallery. 

That’s because Yen, a prosthodontist who’s practiced continuously 

in the city for more than 20 years, has designed, decorated, and lit 

his office as though it were exactly that. 

Yen’s work is interspersed with pieces he’s collected from up-andcoming 

artists, a few accompanied by explanatory exhibit cards. It’s 

so packed with paintings and sculptures, the office almost has the 

feel of a gallery with dental equipment in it, instead of a dental office 

with art on the walls. 

His third-floor Bixby Knolls practice doesn’t have a carpet or a generic 

linoleum. Instead, the floor is made of a soft wood paneling, and the 

walls of the reception area are shaded to match the paintings hung 

there. In one area there is a large abstract piece given to Yen by a 

grateful patient, placed near an impressionist jaguar peering out from 

a canvas that is dabbed with blues, greens, reds, and yellows. “Oh, 

that’s the office mascot,” joked Yen. The gallery-quality labeling tape 

beneath the painting reveals the jaguar was, in fact, painted by Yen 

himself, along with another dozen-plus paintings around the office. 

Each art piece is fit with a frame that perfectly matches its color tones, 

and lit attractively from above with track lights — not the standard 

poster art, or standard office. 

Perhaps it’s no wonder that Yen has difficulty answering the question 

of whether he’s a dentist who paints, or a painter who works on teeth. 

“My specialty, prosthodontics (a cosmetic branch of dentistry) is like 

creating art for the mouth,” Yen said. “When you look at a picture, 

there’s the painting, then the frame, then the lighting in the gallery. 

All three have to work together. Same thing with the mouth. You can’t 

just fix the tooth, you have to look at the gums around it, the frame 

and the facial structure beyond that — the gallery.” 

Yen grew up in Ethiopia, where his father practiced dentistry. An 

African influence can be seen in many of his paintings, including the 

jaguar. He remembers doodling and drawing, making copies of the 

Spider-Man and Iron Man comics he read as a child. After coming 

to the United States to attend college at 14 (the four-year headstart 

62 


“Creating a smile is 

so much like creating 

a painting. You have 

to have a vision of the 

overall effect you’re 

trying to create.” 

— Dr. Ting-Wey Yen 

helped him become the youngest board-certified prosthodontist 

in American history), art became less of a priority. 

Then in 1999, he felt the itch. Learning that a patient taught an art 

class at Orange Coast College, he enrolled in his class. Every night 

that quarter, he’d pack up the office, drive to school and paint, and 

not get home until 10 p.m. 

In 2004 he ended up acquiring a 500-square-foot space adjacent to 

his office, and saw the opportunity to realize his dream of combining 

his two passions. 

He built the office out, installing the lighting, framing paintings 

and displaying them, pieces professional (Da Vinci’s Vitruvian 

Man redone with a focus on teeth), personal (one painting shows 

his hand being cradled by doctors after he’d broken it), and a 

combination of the two (a portrait he did of his staff that hangs 

behind the reception desk). Instead of poster art, he added his own 

versions of the classics, and his well-executed versions of Starry 

Night, Girl With a Pearl Earring, and Monet’s Japanese Garden are 

on display alongside the original creations. 

While Yen says he enjoys the opportunity to display his work to 

a limited audience — he’s had several patients bring friends in 

to see his work — he’s not looking to shift careers. “It’s a tough 

field to break into,” he laughs, “so I’m not giving up my day job 

any time soon.” 

The dentist/artist — or artist/dentist? — emphasizes that he doesn’t 

see much of a distinction between his disciplines. When asked 

whether he’d prefer a compliment on his painting skills or on his 

work with teeth, he shrugs the distinction away. “Either way,” Yen 

said. “If they love what I did with their mouth, it’s still a compliment 

to the artistry.” n 


ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT : WISE BOOKS 

The Facebook Era 

WRITTEN BY Kevin Hunter 

Since its creation in 

2003, Facebook has 

been the new beast in 

social networking. With 

more than 300 million 

users worldwide, the site 

has attracted everyone 

from teenagers to family 

members to old high 

school and college friends 

who want to reunite and 

reconnect. Small and large 

businesses have even 

jumped on the bandwagon 

for a bigger presence 

to market their products 

and brand. 

But like every trend that seems to dominate pop culture for the better 

part of any decade, could Facebook be just another flash in the pan 

after its users get tired of it, and/or find something else new and 

innovative? 

Shih breaks it all down in 

three sections: “Part I: Brief 

History of Social Media”, 

“Part II: Transforming the 

Way We Do Business”, and 

“Part III: Your Step-by-Step 

Guide to Using Facebook 

for Business”. 

In Part I, Shih takes us on 

a trip down memory lane 

with a refresher course on 

the history of computers, 

the Internet and social 

media from their humble 

beginnings. She talks 

about the beginnings of 

social networking sites 

such as LinkedIn, MySpace and Orkut, as well as Facebook, and 

ends up giving almost a blueprint for businesses large and small — 

and individuals — on how to use Facebook as a great tool to “Sell 

More Stuff”. 

Not according to Clara Shih in her new book The Facebook Era: 

Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New 

Audiences, and Sell More Stuff. In the book, Shih notes that not only 

is Facebook here to stay, it will change the way we do things from 

both a personal and business perspective. 

Shih wastes no time by boldly declaring in Chapter 4, titled “Social 

Sales” that “I believe Facebook is CRM (customer relationship 

management). I created Faceconnector (originally Faceforce) in 

the autumn of 2007 to help reps connect the dots between the leads 

they were getting and the real people behind the leads.” 

64 


Shih knows what she is talking about and has the resume to 

back it up. Not only did she create Faceconnector — the first 

business application for Facebook — she is also the product 

line director of AppExchange, previously worked in strategy and 

business exchange at Google, and was also a software developer 

for Microsoft. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in 

computer science from Stanford, and a Master’s degree in Internet 

studies from Oxford, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar. 

Shih leaves no stone left unturned in her book as she deals with 

some of the personal issues on Facebook, such as privacy, friends 

lists and personal sites, as well as tools for businesses such 

as Social Recruiting, Return on Investment (ROI), and strategy 

objectives for how businesses can engage customers. 

“Before establishing your own community, it’s a good idea to first 

research what people are already saying about your company and 

find out who is doing the talking,” Shih says in Chapter 8, titled 

“Engage Your Customers — Find Your Unsanctioned Communities.” 

“The blogosphere never sleeps, and in our age of online media 

and an increasingly mobile, connected world, someone somewhere 

could be talking about your company or product at any given time 

of the day.” 

Even if you are well-versed about Facebook or other social network 

sites, this is not an easy read. It’s very technical, and once you get 

past how to use Facebook for sending emails, who to invite and 

not to put on your friend’s list, to something as simple as how to 

set up a Facebook account -the rest of may not be for you. 

However, for those looking to do some marketing via social 

networking and find new and exciting ways to market a brand, 

product or yourself as well as “Sell More Stuff”, this is the book 

for you. 

Millions of individuals have taken to Facebook like bees to honey. 

The potential for businesses to tap into that is huge. But with the 

short attention spans most of us have, it’s a bit ambitious to believe 

that Facebook is even here to stay, let alone revolutionize the way 

we do business. The skeptic in me says it may be only a matter 

of time before we move on and find something new on which to 

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The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better 

Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff 

Prentice Hall, 221 pp 

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FACES & PLACES : DAY IN THE LIFE OF … 

day in the life of… 

Robert Garcia 

WRITTEN BY Cheryl Scott 

Robert Garcia is all about communication. He 

is all about service to the community, and he’s 

all about family. But most of all, he is all about 

technology and innovation. As the 1st District 

City Councilman, he is determined to bring 

this city into a technological renaissance that 

will make it a model of service and efficiency. 

At 32, Garcia is the youngest member ever 

elected to serve on the council. He won his seat 

in a special election held last May when Bonnie 

Lowenthal was elected to the State Assembly. 

Garcia sees a place for social media in the 

city’s communications. “This is how young 

people communicate,” he said. “We need to 

reach them and do it in a way that will get them 

involved with city government.” 

Garcia said he is a self-proclaimed techie 

— and proved that early on — when he was 

the first city council member to publish his 

calendar online on his website, robertgarcia. 

com. “Technology will lead the way toward 

transparency in government,” he said. “And 

it will allow the city to better serve its citizens.” 

He was also a founding partner in LBPost.com, 

an online news site that covers local news and 

events. He is no longer involved with the site, 

but holds it in high regard. “I’m very proud of 

it. It epitomizes my idea that new technology 

allows us to be more successful in whatever 

we do,” he said. 

This summer Garcia will earn his doctorate 

degree in higher education from CSULB. 

He currently holds a master’s degree in 

communication management from USC. As 

the first in his family to graduate from college, 

Garcia said education is very important to him. 

When he was five, his family came to the U.S. 

from Peru, settling in the Covina area. The 

immigrant experience has been a major force 

throughout his life and the motivation behind 

his success. “I was raised by three strong 

women — my mother, my grandmother and 

my aunt,” he said. “They instilled in me their 

great respect for education and their deep 

appreciation for this country. The proudest 

day of my life was the day I became a United 

States citizen.” 

Garcia turned his characteristic enthusiasm 

toward the city of Long Beach shortly after 

moving here 15 years ago. With a group 

of neighbors, he founded the North Pine 

Neighborhood Alliance (NPNA), a downtown 

neighborhood association that works closely 

with community leaders on public safety, 

economic development, and environmental 

issues and which has brought significant 

improvements to the downtown area. 

Speaking in the clipped, high-energy parlance 

of technology enthusiasts, he outlines his vision 

of the city’s enhanced use of its website. 

“There’s no reason that a citizen can’t do 

everything online that now requires a visit to 

City Hall,” he said. 

Garcia points out one of his most recent ideas 

as an example — a smart phone application 

would allow instant communication between 

66 


citizens and the city by allowing them access 

to a graffiti hotline that would allow a person 

reporting graffiti to take a picture of the site 

and a GPS capability would give the city the 

precise location. “It’s amazing what we can 

do with the new technology that is already 

available,” he said. 

He has also put his ideas to work in an effort to 

bring ultra-high speed Internet to the city. When 

Google Fiber announced that it was looking 

for cities with 50,000 to 500,000 population 

in which to locate its pilot service, Garcia 

spearheaded the city’s response. While other 

cities staged gimmicks showing their interest, 

the city submitted a business-like, detailed 

response emphasizing its commitment to the 

latest technology available. 

As of presstime, Google has yet to announce 

when it will be making its decision. 

“It would be really great to get the contract. It 

will bring Internet connections that will deliver 

1 gigabit per second, 300 times faster than 

current broadband connections,” Garcia said. 

Garcia currently works in communications 

at Long Beach City College. Once he has 

received his doctorate, he hopes to land a 

professorship at CSULB. “I have ideas about 

education reform,” he said. “That is another 

one of my loves. I believe that education is 

the most important foundation for a person’s 

future success. I want to share my ideas with 

the education community.” 

With a schedule that is packed with civic duties 

and constituent services, it may seem that this 

high-tech crusader would have no time for 

recreation. “I do get around a bit,” he said. 

Garcia lives in a loft in downtown Long 

Beach and frequents 4th Street Deli, Open 

Sesame and George’s Greek Deli. “I love the 

camaraderie that exists among downtown 

residents. I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” he said. 

Currently single, Garcia says he wants a family 

“not soon, but in the future. Family has been 

the bedrock of my life to this point. It’s certainly 

in my plans, but right now I’m focused on 

doing the job of city councilman to the best of 

my ability.” 

College professor, de facto high-tech guru 

for the city, higher education reformer and 1st 

District representative — it may seem to most 

people like a lot to take on — but to Garcia, 

it’s just life as he’s always lived it. “I don’t see 

obstacles,” he said. “We can always overcome 

obstacles. I learned that firsthand from my 

mother and grandmother. They overcame the 

obstacles of moving to a new country where 

they knew no one and couldn’t speak the 

language. If they could do that, I can do all 

the things I want to accomplish.” 

It will not be surprising to find one day there will 

be access to a garage sale permit, payment 

for a traffic ticket and pothole repair with the 

click of a mouse. Garcia said he hopes he will 

be leading the way into the technologies of 

tomorrow just as he is doing today. n 

Photo courtesy of Russ Roca. 


FACES & PLACES : COMMUNITY HERO 

CONNER SCHNICKER 

Musical Mentors 

WRITTEN BY Diane Gershuny 

Barry Cogert’s mission to bring jazz to juniors is on an upswing. What 

began as a casual conversation a few years ago between Cogert, a 

local bassist and educator at El Camino College, and long-time friend 

and fellow musician Mark Barnes, has transformed into a lively program 

called ‘Jazz Angels’. 

the year. Each session includes four level-specific bands, each with 10 

to 15 musicians, consisting of eight rehearsals and two performance 

opportunities. They rehearse at the Westerly School of Long Beach, 

where Cogert also teaches part-time. Grammy-nominated saxophonist/ 

arranger, Albert Alva, eventually replaced Barnes, and is now co-director. 

With a performing arts fellowship grant from the Arts Council for Long 

Beach in 2006, the program got a boost to help provide aspiring 

musicians ages 11 – 17 with an educational platform that fosters selfconfidence 

and leadership skills while learning, playing and preserving 

jazz through professional music mentoring. 

What initially began with 10 kids in the first session has grown to more 

than 40 for their current spring session. Cogert estimates that they’ve 

taught more than 125 kids in the last several years — and that number 

is only growing, which speaks volumes to the success of what they’ve 

created in a short time. 

“As professional musicians and businessmen, we were concerned about 

the future of music education in our schools, specifically jazz education 

and performance,” explained Cogert. 

Cogert saw the need for a summer jazz program that would give young 

people the opportunities to grow as jazz musicians, learn about the rich 

history of the music and artists of jazz, and, most importantly, have the 

opportunity to play with other musicians. 

The Jazz Angels program consists of eight-week sessions throughout 

“This is our third year of programming, so it’s still relatively new. We 

look for children who have at least six months of experience on their 

instrument. They need to know some basics, like how to put it together 

and are able to read notes and play a few scales and have a passion 

for improv,” Cogert said. 

Cogert added the bands are comprised of clarinet, flute, saxophone, 

trumpet, trombones, piano, bass, drums, guitar, violin, and occasionally 

a singer. “We’re hoping to branch out next year to include a vocal jazz 

program, too,” he said. 

68 


“We believe that live 

jazz performance 

gives young people of 

all musical abilities 

character traits far 

more reaching than 

the mere notes on the 

page.”— Barry Cogert 

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One of the more memorable performances from the group was back 

in 2007 at an awards ceremony. “I was chosen to receive an award 

for ‘Distinguished Artist of the Year’ by the Arts Council for Long 

Beach,” Cogert recalls. “One of the entertainers scheduled for the 

award ceremony cancelled at the last minute, and I was asked to 

put together a band for the show. We ended up playing a rousing 

rendition of James Brown’s ‘I Feel Good’ in front of a distinguished 

crowd of over 500 people, including the Mayor. The kids got rock star 

treatment and were thrilled!” 

Cogert said live jazz performances gives young people the ability 

to learn everything from confidence and personality development to 

group interaction and listening skills. 

“We believe that live jazz performance gives young people of all 

musical abilities character traits far more reaching than the mere notes 

on the page,” Cogert said. “The improvisational platform of jazz can 

prepare you for anything in life. If you can stand up and take a solo, 

you can certainly speak in front of a group of people in a boardroom 

to get your message across.” 

That’s only one aspect of what Cogert hopes to achieve with Jazz 

Angels. “The main aspect is so that kids can have fun doing something 

that’s creative and spontaneous together in a safe environment,” 

Cogert said. “Our goal is for them to have a great experience with 

us, to give them a love of playing that’s fun and spontaneous, and, 

at the end of the day, will make them feel good about themselves 

and of the world at large.” n 

Visit jazzangel.org for more information. 

Photo courtesy of Lee Van. 

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longbeachmagazine.com 69 

4/19/10 4:56 PM

FACES & PLACES : SCENE & HEARD 

SCENE &HEARD 

A Legend Returns 

Celebrating 30 Years 

Happy New Year 

Tennis champion Billie Jean King returned to 

her hometown on April 14 to tape an episode 

of Homecoming with Rick Reilly of ESPN. 

King’s shoot took place at the Billie Jean King 

Tennis Center, located at Tenth Street and Park 

Avenue, where King took lessons and won her 

first tournament as a 12-year-old. 

The Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater 

Long Beach celebrated its 30th anniversary 

with a reunion party for former staff and 

volunteers on March 27. Memorabilia of 

the Center was displayed to showcase 

the Center’s accomplishments throughout 

the years. 

The non-profit Cambodian coordinating 

council hosted two events — a parade on 

April 4 and a party on April 10 to celebrate the 

2010 Cambodian New Year. The sixth annual 

parade featured between 70 and 100 parade 

entries. Cambodian New Year officially took 

place from April 14 — 16. 

Getting A Boost 

The Long Beach Daugherty Field Airport 

received a $2.26 million grant from the 

Department of Transportation on March 31. 

Congresswoman Laura Richardson noted 

the grant will provide funding to continue 

the phased rehabilitation of the aircraft 

terminal apron. 

A Park For Rosa 

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, 

along with Sixth District Councilman Dee 

Andrews, held a groundbreaking celebration 

on April 8 for the new Rosa Parks Park at 

Alamitos Avenue and 15th Street. The new 

11,300-square-foot park includes a walking 

path, benches, drought-tolerant landscaping 

and a bus stop. 

Stars Out For A Cause 

Stars from High School Musical, ABC Family’s 

Greek, the Cheetah Girls, and Dreamgirls 

came out to participate in the Peace4Kids/ 

Project Homebound 4K Walk/Run on March 

27 at Shoreline Drive to raise awareness and 

funds for foster kids’ transitional housing. n 

70 


“You have to have a demand, something 

everyone wants. You have to be diverse, 

have something that appeals to everyone’s 

personality.” 

— Choyce Brown, 32, Eastside Long Beach 

resident and a shipping company customer service 

representative 

“You can do sales ahead of time and stress test it, 

sell it before you even get it made.” 

— Colin Campbell, 28, Manhattan Beach 

resident and financial advisor 

“I think the people are the selling point. If you 

make it engaging, it welcomes the customer. 

Once you get them in the door, you can sell them 

whatever they want.” 

— Doug Thomas, 57, Carson resident 

and phone company technician 

ON THE STREET 

What Makes A Good Local Business? 

Written by Peter SurowskI 


“I like some of the unique shops down on 

Broadway and Belmont Shore. I guess because 

you feel like you know them and they remember 

your name.” 

— Helen Noble, 58, Downtown Long Beach 

resident, human resources executive 

“What makes a good business is knowing how 

to count your money and having good customer 

service, doing great work and having passion. For 

instance, it’s like art. You can tell how much time 

goes into a picture.” 

— Almond Lampkins, 20, Downtown 

Long Beach resident and student 

“Location, convenience, cleanliness, and a cool 

vibe.” 

— Gary Thornton, 50, Montebello resident 

and Long Beach City employee 


FACES & PLACES : PETS & PEOPLE 

LEGO AND BRAVEHEART 

Saddle Up! 

WRITTEN BY Lily Salter 

With spring in full swing, it’s time to get out of the house and explore 

the great outdoors. For those looking for ways to combine family fun 

and fitness, Lakewood Equestrian Center and Pony Adventure Park 

is the perfect setting. 

The 20-acre facility, owned by the city of Lakewood and operated by 

Sandie Mercer Ranch, Inc., provides private and small-group riding 

lessons, individual training, and boarding. The family-owned Pony 

Adventure Park has a petting farm, picnic grounds and offers party 

packages, programs for youth, pony rides for children one-year and 

up, and lessons for children aged 3 – 7. All ages can pet and feed 

the goats, sheep and ponies. Also, rabbits, birds and a pig are on 

72 


site for viewing. Entry to the petting farm is $1 and pony rides are $4 

— simple family fun and a wonderful way to introduce your kids to 

the sport of riding. 

“Many of our students start out at Pony Adventure Park. When they get 

comfortable and gain some skills, they come over to the Center for 

lessons,” said Sandie Mercer, the Equestrian president and instructor. 

“Our youngest student is 8-years-old and our oldest is in his 70s.” 

Besides the intrinsic joy of being around this majestic animal, horseback 

riding has many health benefits. It helps to burn calories, increases 

coordination, builds confidence and relieves stress. Lessons are 

held every day except Sunday, and are available in Western and 

English styles, including jumping and dressage. Classes are $45 

and equipment is provided. 

For those of you interested in purchasing a horse and keeping it at 

the Lakewood Equestrian Center, it’s imperative that you do some 

homework. Zee Ryken, who boards at Lakewood, said finding the right 

horse is a challenge. “I searched for six months before I found Havana.” 

Ryken paid $4,000 for her 11-year-old Thoroughbred/Quarter horse 

mix. “Of course with the economy being what it is, nowadays you can 

pick up a horse for free,” Ryken said. 

Regardless of purchase price, horses are not cheap to keep. As horse 

owner and longtime Lakewood Equestrian Center boarder Nancy 

Touchard notes, “It’s the gift that keeps on eating!” Plus, Touchard 

admits her “hot blooded Arabian” Jordan, is a lot of work. Besides 

needing regular exercise, there is also the labor involved in grooming, 

training, and the expense of tack, riding apparel, veterinarian and 

farriar (blacksmith) bills. The cost of stabling a horse can vary. Room 

and board at Lakewood runs $400 — $600 a month, depending on 

the size of the stall. 

If owning a horse seems too much of a commitment, leasing is always 

an option. Lisa Strong leases Tavis, a chestnut Quarter horse that is 

boarded at Lakewood. Her monthly fee, which includes use of saddle 

and other equipment, is a fraction of the cost of owning a horse outright. 

A busy mom, Strong enjoys her time alone riding Tavis along the 

trails at Lakewood. “I’ve been riding since I was six years old, but I 

stopped when I went to college. Then I got married and had a family,” 

Strong said. 

Now that her children are older, Strong is rekindling her love for riding 

just minutes away from downtown Long Beach at the Lakewood 

Equestrian Center and Pony Adventure Park. The place offers city 

dwellers a slice of country life. n 

Photo courtesy of Doug Alchorn. 


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74 


CUSTOM TWITTER PAGE DESIGN 

John-David Minjares, designer & programmer 

The Yellow Loft, (sunny long beach, ca) design firm 

Warner Bros. Consumer Products, client 

WBCP strives to build the next NEW brand. The Yellow Loft designed a 

custom twitter page and profile for SUPERGIRL by Nastia. Olympic 

gymnast Nastia Liukin is the new face for SUPERGIRL. Look for her new 

girl’s line, SUPERGIRL by Nastia exclusivley at JCPenney this June! 

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FOR DESIGN INQUIRIES, 

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4821 E. 2ND St., Long Beach CA 90803 HARDING CONSTRUCTION 

& Sustainable Solutions 

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SYDNEY HERWER 

COLOR + DESIGN 

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a passion for color’s ability to 

completely transform spaces. 

sydneyherwer.com 

color + design consulting 

space planning 

interior + exterior 

residential + commercial 

SASHA WITTE DESIGN & 

SASHA’S — LIVING 

WITH STYLE 

“Make your home your 

favorite destination!” 

3237 East Broadway 

Long Beach, CA 90803 

562.434.8824 

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LONG BEACH MARKETPLACE

SENNIKOFF ARCHITECTS 

25 Years of 

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innovative Innovative design. Design. 

Specializing in 

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and residential Residential remodels Remodels in 

Long Beach in Long and Beach the surrounding and 

coastal communities. the Surrounding 

Coastal Communities. 

David Guettler 

David Guettler is a 

commercial photographer 

located in Long Beach 

specializing in portraiture, 

architectural, corporate, 

and travel photography. 

562. 881.5318 

562.881.5318 

www.sennikoffarchitects.com 

sennikoffarchitects.com 

Guettler Photography 

562.225.1941 

davidguettlerphoto.com 

TING-WEY YEN, DDS, 

MS, FACP 

It’s not just a dental office it’s an 

art gallery, where every smile is 

a work of art. 

AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC 

The Aquarium of the Pacific 

is Southern California’s largest 

aquarium. Visit today! It’s where 

the ocean and people connect. 

Please visit us at 

drdreamsmile.com 

to learn about the speciality 

of prosthodontics. 

562.423.7878 

100 Aquarium Way 

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aquariumofpacific.org 

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The trusted choice in 

interior design. 

We translate your vision 

into beautiful, innovative & 

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Complex Manager - Senior VP 

Private Client Group, Seal Beach 

-Torrance - Rolling Hills Estates 

562.277.6127 

richard.jacobs@wfadvisors.com 

JIM & CHRIS ITALIANO 

Coldwell Banker Coastal Alliance 

REAL ESTATE 

Dynamic Spouse Team. 

Over 45 combined years experience. 

Broker & Co-Owner 

Largest and #1 office in Long Beach. 

Web Site: italianohomes.com 

562.961.1234 

DRE License #00756275 #00964750 

562.242.9122 

garnicainteriors.com 

facebook.com/ 

GarnicaInteriorsFan 

FUKUSHIMA PHOTO 

Matt Fukushima is a professional 

photographer with over 25 

years experience. His work 

includes Architecture, Corporate, 

People and Advertising. He is 

available both nationally and 

internationally. 

949.722.9695 or 714.785.7345 

fukuphoto@earthlink.net 

fukushimaphoto.com

MAY 2010 $3.95 

IDENTITY HOME 

Staging | Design 

We design & create emotionally 

magnetizing spaces that sell. 

RYAN PROUTY 

Simplified Video Production 

for your business or organization. 

Specializing in productions 

promoting products, brands 

and ideas. 

Based in Long Beach. 

Find us on Facebook & Twitter. 

identityhome.com 

323.203.0800 

ryanprouty.com 

THE YELLOW LOFT... 

is a sunny graphic design 

studio in Long Beach. We are 

a modest studio with a healthy 

appetite for creative. 

Our Clients Include: 

Warner Bros. Consumer 

Products, Sephora, FX Network, 

Long Beach Magazine, 

and Aardvark Tactical. 

The Yellow Loft 

562.433.9414 

Personal Trainers 

On The Go 

· Lose weight, tone up, and 

gain muscle! 

· We come to you! 

· Workout in the privacy of 

your home or office! 

· We bring all the equipment! 

Tanya Neustice 

562.650.1444 

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JEFF FARSAI PHOTOGRAPHY 

L&M Design and Company 

We provide personal design 

through your inspiration and 

our creativity. 

Design Consultants 

Liz Cardona 562.458.7376 

Mary Jo Mais 562.761.9795 

LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 

Innovation 

& Business 

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INNOVATIVE MINDS 

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LONG BEACH MAGAZINE 

12 Issues - $18 

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Subscribe by phone or online. 

562.366.2617 x200 

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H&H Nursery 

Established in 1976. 

We offer over 5 acres of plants 

for all your gardening needs. 

6220 Lakewood Blvd. 

Lakewood, CA 90712 

562.804.2513 

hhnursery.com 

LONG BEACH MARKETPLACE

FACES & PLACES : SOCIETY 

WHIP IT! 

The Long Beach Roller Derby took over the Spruce Goose Dome on April 9 in their first 

ever bout “Total Dome-ination!” In their season opener, the Terminal Island Tootsies went up 

against the 4th St. Retro Rollers. The sold-out event featured real roller derby action played 

out on an oval track with two all-female teams on quads, or traditional four-wheel skates. n 

01 02 

03 

04 

01 Diesel 66 strategizes with her team 

02 High speed action! 

03 Terminal Island Tootsies 

04 Referees Sloppy, Solar Baby, Schlong Beach and Death Rocker 

05 The Jennifer Keith Quartet provided live music 


05 

78 


RACING FOR CHARITY 

The Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach hosted IZOD Indy Car Series and 

Firestone Indy Lights drivers at an evening gala to benefit area children’s charities 

on April 16 at The Westin Long Beach. The event featured a live and silent auction, 

dinner and live band music performed by The Elm Street Band. n 

01 

02 

03 04 

01 Guests danced to the music of Elm Street Band 

02 Sophia Alvares, Ashely Labady and Jo Murray 

03 Raj L. Champaneri, Rick Duree, Randy Gordon and Nancy Becker 

04 Jim & Andrea Saca and Erika & Robert Kraak 

05 Linda Parrick, Rick Duree and Brenda Duran 

05 



calendar 

MAY 2010 

SPECIAL 

EVENTS 

MAY 14 

Pink Party 

Dress in pink and come 

celebrate the kick-off of 

Pride Weekend. 

7 p.m. $10. 

Promenade Square 

562.434.4455 

downtownlongbeach.org 

MAY 2 

Garden Tea And Lecture 

A slide-illustrated journey 

by Eric Haskell, author of 

The Gardens of Brécy: 

A Lasting Landscape. 

1 – 4 p.m. 

Rancho Los Alamitos 

562.431.3541 

rancholosalamitos.com 

MAY 7 – 9 

Long Beach Bike Festival 

2nd annual event 

presented by Wokcano 

Restaurant. Races, bike 

safety lessons and a 

whole lot of fun. 

MAY 31 

Memorial Day 

Long Beach Magazine honors 

our fallen Service members 

who have made the ultimate 

sacrifice. 

562.436.4259 

longbeachbikefest.org 

MAY 7 – 11 

Wings Of Freedom 

Tour 2010 

The ultimate living history 

experience. Explore the 

majestic bombers, inside 

and out. 

Long Beach Airport 

562.562.9182 

cfdn.org 

MAY 15 – 16 

One Heart, One World, 

One Pride 

27th annual Long Beach 

Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade 

and Festival. Come celebrate 

our diversity. 

562.987.9191 

longbeachpride.org 

ARTS 

JUNE 15 

Juneteenth Concert 

Salif Keita, “The Golden 

Voice of Africa” with 

The MusicUNTOLD Chorale. 

7:30 p.m. 

Terrace Theater 

562.436.3661 

ticketmaster.com 

MAY 9 

Happy Mother’s Day! 

From the staff at 

Long Beach Magazine. 

MAY 26 – 28 

CSULB 2010 

Commencement 

Celebrating student 

achievement, one diploma 

at a time. Visit website for 

complete schedule of 

ceremonies and live webcast. 

csulb.edu 

fundraisers 

80 


MAY 1 

Journey To Japan 

55th annual gala benefits 

Boys & Girls Clubs of 

Long Beach. Dinner, live 

and silent auctions and 

entertainment. 5 p.m. 

Toyota Airflite Hangar 

3250 Airflite Way 

bgclublb.org 

MAY 6 

Putt-Putt On Pine 

Leadership Long Beach 

presents its 15th annual 

mini-golf tournament. Putt 

your way up and down Pine 

Avenue and the East Village. 

5 – 9 p.m. 

562.997.9194 

leadershiplb.org 

MAY 15 

What Is Stroke? 

May is National Stroke 

Month! Lecture presented 

by Long Beach Memorial. 

1:30 – 3:30 p.m. 

Long Beach Petroleum Club 

562.922.0520 RSVP 

memorialcare.org/stroke 

MAY 1 

Women Who Make 

A Difference 

29th annual awards and 

luncheon. Soroptimist 

International honors women 

who use their influence to 

improve lives. 11 a.m. 

4101 E. Willow St. 

562.713.8981 

si-longbeach.org 

MAY 16 

Steel Magnolias 

Style Home Tour 

Explore the interiors of five of 

Long Beach’s finest homes 

and a 92-foot yacht! 

Benefits Stramski Children’s 

Development Center. 

11 a.m. – 3 p.m. 

562.331.8007 

thesteelmagnolias.org 

MAY 3 

Miller Children’s Hospital 

Annual Golf Classic 

A fun day of golf and 

philanthropy concluding with 

dinner and a live auction. 

8 a.m. 

Virginia Country Club 

562.933.4483 

lbmmcf.org 

MAY 8 

Tour Of Long Beach 

Long Beach Bike Festival 

benefits Miller Children’s 

Hospital Long Beach. 33.1 

mile-tour and 3.4 mile family 

ride. 8 a.m. 

Shoreline Dr. at Linden Ave. 

millerchildrenshospitallb.org 

family/ 

living 

ONGOING 

Weekly Classes at 

Willow Wellness Center 

Dancing Your Way to 

Better Health – 

Thursdays, 2 – 3 p.m. 

Caregiver Support Group – 

Fridays, 10 a.m. 

Memorial HealthCare, IPA 

562.506.0409 

MAY 8 

A Bid Of Excitement 

Dinner, entertainment, 

silent and live auction 

benefiting Special Olympics 

Southern California. 

To list July events, 

submit information by 

May 15 to: 

events@ 

longbeachmagazine.com 

Hyatt Regency Long Beach 

562.354.2606 

sosc.org/bid 

Long Beach Magazine does 

not guarantee publication of 

submitted events. 


FACES & PLACES : LAST VIEW 


82 


Nora Sanchez 

Westside resident and mother of four 

For the health of my family, 

the Port made the air cleaner. 

Now if they could just get my 

kids to eat their veggies. 

The Port is my neighbor, so I’m glad they’re 

delivering on their promise to improve air quality. 

In just over a year, they’ve reduced truck-related 

pollution by nearly 80%—which means we can all 

breathe easier. That’s why I support the Port of 

Long Beach Clean Trucks Program. 

Find out more at www.POLB.com/CleanTrucks 

Our Clean Trucks Program means cleaner air 

©2010 The Port of Long Beach

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