Brian Addison

What do we love? The finest lesbians of Long Beach gathering for the annual @dykesoflongbeach March at Bixby Park and reminding us that queer and trans women have always been at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ movement. From the frontline activism of the 1969 Stonewall Riots—hey there Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera—to the grassroots organizing that sustained queer communities through the AIDS crisis, lesbians and trans women have long served as essential architects of the LGBTQ+ liberation movement. Figures like Audre Lorde and Barbara Gittings have been essential cogs in queer intellectual and political reach, linking queer liberation to broader struggles for racial justice, feminism, healthcare access, and human dignity. Ladies: we salute you! Want to know everything going on for Pride weekend? Visit the @visitlb website for a complete guide. HAPPY PRIDE, LONG BEACH! 🌈🦄🏳️‍🌈 ✍️ & 📸: @BrianAddisonLB

Come out and support all the great events happening this weekend for Pride in Long Beach! The Long Beach Pride Parade will be on Sunday at 10 AM, plus there are drag brunches, balls, parties, and much more all weekend long. Visit the link in our bio for all the details. 📸 @lucasgordonphotography #visitlb #longbeach #longbeachcalifornia #pride #longbeachca

In a blow to the heart of Long Beach’s queer community, the City of Long Beach has announced it will not permit the Long Beach Pride festival to move forward this weekend. It marks the first time the festival will not happen in decades. But, if there is a silver lining, the city-funded parade—taken from the local Pride organization after they could no longer fund it—will be moving forward as planned on Sunday. The City of Long Beach says the cancellation of the festival component came down to one central issue: safety. The city could not permit an event expected to draw thousands of attendees without critical engineering, logistics, and emergency planning documents in place. According to the city, “sufficient information to safely permit the event has not been made available by the event organizers” despite “continued collaboration and multiple deadline notices… Out of responsibility to the safety of attendees, staff and the broader community, the City cannot issue the permit and has directed the event organizers to not continue their event.” Officials stressed that the city’s concerns were not ideological nor directed at the LGBTQ+ community itself, noting that the city remains “proud to have an amazing Pride weekend,” with the parade and surrounding community celebrations still happening. Ultimately, questions remain about how this precisely happened—from both a city and organizational standpoint. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @lbpride / @visitlb

Big food news for @belmontshorelb : @southofnickson2nd , the upscale Mexican offshoot of the much-loved @nicksrestaurants , is finally set to make its Long Beach debut. Six years after securing the space and four years since formally announcing their renovation of the historic building at 5354 E. 2nd St. in Belmont Shore, South of Nick’s will open on June 22, according to Chief Operating Officer Haley Cox. Its first week of operation will focus on dinner service, opening daily at 4PM. The following week, on June 29, the space will open for lunch and dinner. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @BrianAddisonLB / Yelp! / @nicksrestaurants

Let’s be honest: there’s long been a disconnect amongst the queer community and events post-pandemic. For the @hellolongbeach events team, their quiet but clear push to uplift and outright alter the way the Gayborhood parties have been a mission of love and evolution. It is a chapter that is less reliant on traditional nightlife formulas and more focused on public space, culture, creativity, and community connection. That philosophy has become the backbone of Playa Larga’s growing roster of events: the Big Gay Beach Takeover, Be Proud! Fest, Big Gay Happy Hour, the Big Gay Flotilla, and perhaps most notably, the rapidly expanding Big Gay Picnic held at Bluff Park. And now, in a partnership with @theharelb , they want to throw a Pride party like no other. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @hellolongbeach / @BrianAddisonLB

New feature in @longbeachize . Thank you @brianaddisonlb of @longbeachfoodscene ⁠ ⁠ "Chef Michael Flores, the man heading the kitchen at the Naples gem that is Marlena in Long Beach, isn’t chasing seasonality as a trend so much as he is using spring as a culinary lens. A handful of new dishes dot the menu’s staples and, with them, reflect what all the great restaurants of Long Beach are doing in the springtime. Bright produce. Restrained richness. Sharp, hefty handfuls of herbs. Preserved and freshly squeezed acidity." - Brian Addison⁠ ⁠

Long Beach’s vinyl community is thriving. We have @goodluckvinylclub . We have vinyl-centric events like the ones @salacoffeeandwine . And, thanks to Lauren Snook’s pop-up, @collectngdust.vintage , we have a vinyl swap @alexsbarlbc in @zaferia_lb that returns on Saturday, May 16, from 1PM to 6PM. This is not just a way to possibly fill holes your dream record library but also support Long Beach small businesses. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @collectngdust.vintage

Did you say a @suralbc and @sonoratownla collab? Way back in the day, Sura used to do a Taco Tuesday every week where bulgogi and vegan shrimp were the norm. After recently and rightfully earning their legacy status with the city, Sura wants to celebrate with a return to their tacos. For one day only—Tuesday, May 19–they’ll be collaborating with none other than Sonoratown for a Taco Tuesday unlike any other. And if we are being honest? Probably the best fusion taco we’ve had in SoCal yet. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️ & 📸: @BrianAddisonLB

Chef @mikeflores1386 , the man heading the kitchen at the @nianaplesisland gem that is @marlena_longbeach in Long Beach, isn’t chasing seasonality as a trend so much as he is using spring as a culinary lens. A handful of new dishes dot the menu’s staples and, with them, reflect what all the great restaurants of Long Beach are doing in the springtime. Bright produce. Restrained richness. Sharp, hefty handfuls of herbs. Preserved and freshly squeezed acidity. And, perhaps most noticeably, the sort of produce-forward cooking that feels unmistakably Californian. Surely, Marlena opened as a Mediterranean-centric space, leaning heavily into Spanish and Italian influences; in a sense, it still does. But Marlena is one-hundred percent Californian in both its flair and love affair with the dichotomy of light and decadence. From a spectacular asparagus pizza and snap pea salad to scallop crudo and Pachamama pork chops, this spring menu is all about contrast. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @BrianAddisonLB / @sterlingreed.us / @chef_carlosjurado / @mikeflores1386

Oh yes: @khansmongolianbbq has officially opened after it was announced in the summer of last year. Khan’s Mongolian BBQ took over the space formerly occupied by Mitake Poke & Sushi at 3547 Atlantic Ave. in @bixbyknolls and offers various serve-yourself dishes that are paid for by the pound. Here’s how Long Beach Food Scene member Erika Portillo put: “Tried the new Khan’s Mongolian BBQ and was seriously impressed. You can pile up as much as you want, and I believe it’s only $6.49 a pound. My lunch was under $7, and I still had enough leftovers for dinner. Where else can you do that these days? The food was hot, fresh, and flavorful.” This and more in my latest Food Intel update. Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: Erika Portillo / Yelp!

An absolutely stacked lineup. Live fire. A historic whole-steer smoke out. @boroc.doveshack bringing some G-funk vibes. @longbeachbbqfest is its biggest iteration yet. It returns with a brand new location—Rainbow Lagoon in DTLB—come Memorial Day Weekend. And yes, co-founder Qiana Mafnas heard your concerns from last year. “Last year was a big learning experience for us,” Qiana said. “And we really took that to heart. This year, we’ve moved into a new park with a better footprint. We expanded the entrance. Added more vendors, so there are even more food options. And brought on more staff to support the flow. Overall, it’s going to be a much smoother and more elevated experience from the moment you walk in.” Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️: @BrianAddisonLB 📸: @longbeachbbqfest / @titus_smokers

It’s called a Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchen Operation, or MEHKO. And they just became legal in Long Beach, allowing people to do a ton of food-focused business right out of their homes. Lunch or dinners for pickup. Offer pre-ordered meals. Run small pop-ups from home. Build a catering-style business. Test restaurant concepts before opening a brick-and-mortar space. I got your look at one of Long Beach’s first showing of what a MEHKO restaurant can look like after the permitting program launches this summer. It’s called @steakfreakslbc , a home collaboration between Chef Brad Thomas of @loverboy_provisions and @way.clood of @clayonfirst Even more, I try to have an attempt at a balanced discussion surrounding the support and criticism behind such operations. Because it’s a conversation the community is going to need to have. Wanna know more? Link in bio. ✍️ & 📸: @BrianAddisonLB