It’s not easy to tell a story – let alone the story of Long Beach.

Even though one is so easily tempted to tell their own story in the way they see fit, it is always the multiple sides and different façades, the myriad angles and innumerable perspectives that always win out as more fascinating. The philosopher Slavoj Žižek once said that true love is not two lovers who stare deeply into each other’s eyes and never step away from one another; rather it is two people holding hands, staring out at their grand cause, and having the strength and willingness to walk away from each other if the cause beckons them to. This is the perfect metaphor for Long Beach and its citizens: we hold hands, always willing to break the hold if it means a better city.

And because of you, Long Beach continues to improve. As does the Long Beach Post. 

This issue inaugurates the first edition of our second year in print, an endeavor that has been all at once exhausting, delightfully rewarding, and overwhelmingly humbling. Print is dead, proclaim the pundits. It’s an understandable conclusion, especially considering that most Americans say they get most of their news online. (We ourselves started as an entirely digital platform.)  However, it is not dead – it’s not even dying, particularly given we went from 200 distribution points our first month to now approaching 500. Print has changed, yes; print has altered the shape of its power, yes; print has even altered the medium of itself through greener approaches, yes… But: print is not dead. And it never will be. 

Print communication and digital communication are two sides of the same coin – and even though people get most of their news online, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, an overwhelming 92% of people get their news from all three major sources: print, online, and radio. In the end, whether you read us online and in print, just in print, or just online, our dual-medium approach to news is a simple extension that allows us to further cater to the diversity of the Long Beach community, helping our city be more connected and less divisive, more engaged and less apathetic.

In order to achieve that – I assure you, such an idea is much more eloquent in language than in action – one must move forward, attempting to coincidentally leave nothing uncovered. In order to create community, we must revere in its history, even slightly coddle it (though not without a critical eye). If we don’t, we lose key pieces of not just the past but our current selves as well. 

We sat down with a young man from the north side — a part of our city that, sadly, is too often ignored — to discuss how we can cover Long Beach better. He spoke vibrantly of his neighborhood, a spark of pride building up as he told us of an abandoned theatre near Atlantic Avenue and South Street. He was, of course, referring to the famed Atlantic Theater, the filmhouse that was the vanguard in the creation of the vibrant cinema scene that helped make uptown Long Beach into one of the hippest spots to chill in the 1940s and ’50s. “Place used to be bangin’,” he said. “All the cats would go there.” He spoke of civic hopes to preserve the theatre by converting the interior space into a library, but the situation with Redevelopment is yet to be sorted out.

That is community. That is where history meets its future: it is not an ignorance of the past but a reimagining of where it can take you. It is within this vein that we at the Post take our own step forward from our past by reaching out to people like this young man and our community en tout – and it’s why many of you will notice not only our new website and print edition, but two entirely new sections and a series of special events throughout the upcoming year.

Undoubtedly, one of the country’s most vibrant and active lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer (LGBTQ) communities is right here in Long Beach. We have openly gay politicians paired with openly gay businesses and professionals. The annual Long Beach Pride celebration, which held its inaugural parade in 1984, attracts nearly 100,000 celebrators — gay, straight, and everything in between — while bringing in some $10 million to the city annually.  The Center Long Beach is one of the most recognized and well-regarded LGBTQ resources in Southern California, offering everything from legal counseling to lecture series to free HIV testing. 

This is why we have teamed up with GetOutLB, a locally-based publication dedicated to LGBTQ issues, and its founder Sal Flores. This new section not only brings forth the phenomenal commentary and articles that has made GetOutLB massively popular within the community, but also inaugurates the first major news source dedicated entirely to the Long Beach LGBTQ community.

We will also be webcasting live throughout the year each of the Center’s QSpeak lectures and presentations on queer studies, art, culture, social justice, and history. According to Administrative Director Porter Gilberg, the series intends to “open discussion to a broad and diverse audience […] to inspire, educate, challenge, and entertain its audience and aspire to re-energize the collective consciousness of the LGBTIQ community and their allies so that we may envision a future where there are spaces for everyone to exist and thrive.”

Elsewhere, there is undoubtedly a shift in the palate of Long Beach — and we mean in a particularly good way. Local eateries are giving chains a run for their money. Sweets like Shortnin’ Bread in the East Village or Frosted in Belmont Shore. Italian eateries like La Parollaccia on Broadway or Michael’s Pizzeria in Naples. Coffee hangouts like the GreenHouse or Berlin, both altering scenes in the East Village. Mexican cantinas like Los Compadres or and breakfast joints like the impeccable Coffee Cup Café. Long Beach is becoming a place for foodies, and our pairing with LB Food Review staff and its creator Chris Livingston is our dedication to all things gastronomical. 

Beyond these two new mergers, you’ll be seeing some new faces at the Post, such new columns and even a comics section. We’ll also be soliciting for even more local contributors to help us bring an ever wider variety of perspectives.

Lastly, in a way beyond usual news media that we are attempting to connect Long Beach, we are inaugurating our annual series “The Long Beach Post Presents.” Held in collaboration with Choura Events, these four distinct celebrations will honor and shed light on the rebels-with-a-cause who are creating a new tomorrow in Long Beach. Our inaugural event will be the “40 Under 40” celebration, a lineup of Long Beachers under age 40 chosen by readers as people with the courage to dream and create a better community. Whether through altering the definition of who and what Long Beach stands for or shaping our city towards a positive future, this event will bring recognition to those who have not had the chance to be recognized for such contributions. 

Following “40 Under 40” will be our “Hot 25,” a set of businesses that readers feel define and defy the convention of innovation; “30XX” will honor 30 women not only contributing positively to our city while exemplifying their own version of womanhood; and our “GIVE:LB” ceremony will honor the best of Long Beach’s charities, non-profits, and philanthropists.

I am not one for playing the nostalgia card, but if there is one thing that remains in me with regards to Shaun Lumachi’s passing, it is the question he asked no matter what you had just achieved: What’s next? This lingers deeply within me. So, while I am utterly proud of all the achievements the Long Beach Post has made, there is always a better dream that we — as both a publication and a city — can fulfill. There is always a rebel with a cause who should be recognized. There is always a way to look at things differently. There is always a step forward that we can make.

Here’s to the future. And here’s to the story of Long Beach; the story of Us.