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“Rules and Expectations,” mixed media by Evie Erickson See page 10
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and the City of Signal Hill
VOL. 37 NO. 7
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
July 17, 2015
As 45-year-old restaurant says goodbye to Bixby Knolls, business district prepares for major retail changes
File photo
Cory Bilicko/Signal Tribune
The eastern portion of the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center, which is called California Plaza, is currently undergoing façade improvements. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
As local residents mourn the closing of longtime Chinese restaurant Le Yen, where the Chan Family has served its own brand of Cantonese cuisine for nearly half a century, the Bixby Knolls area is experiencing numerous improvements, location changes and retail openings. “We’re celebrating our 45th year, and we thought it would be a good time,” said Le Yen’s dining-area supervisor Susan Woo, whose family has been running the restaurant since she was a child. “We’ve had a really good run.” Moving into the space Le Yen has occupied at 4140 Atlantic Ave. will be a second location of Lola’s Mexican Cuisine, of which there is currently a location at 2030 E. 4th St. Blair Cohn, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association, called Le Yen an “institution” but said having a Lola’s location in the business district is “extremely exciting” because it shows that people are interested in investing in the neighborhood. Cohn described Lola’s owner Luis
Navarro Jr. as a sophisticated restaurant operator who will bring a new “flavor” to Bixby Knolls. “I think it’s going to be family-friendly and fit right into this neighborhood,” Cohn said, adding that Lola’s is expected to open sometime in October. Another business that has already begun operating a second location in Bixby Knolls is Deep Blue Swim School. After operating in Belmont Shore for decades under different owners and various names, the SCUBA and swim center opened its new location at 3640 Atlantic Ave. in early June, and Cohn said it is already booked up with swim lessons. “Like Lola’s, they had so many clients coming from Bixby Knolls down to the Shore, they said, ‘Well, why don’t we open a Bixby location,’ and they have the pool in there, which is wonderful,” Cohn said. “And the owners now live in the Virginia neighborhood. So, that’s great– they work here and live here.” Cohn referred to the upcoming transitions in Bixby Knolls as a “chessboard,” considering all the changes and relocations that will be taking place.
Trader Joe’s will move to the shopping center that for years had housed Ralph’s market at 4250 Long Beach Blvd., joining Crunch Fitness and Pet Food Express there. Red Mountain Retail Group, an Orange County-based real-estate asset-management and development firm, closed escrow on that property earlier this year and is looking for two more tenants to fill the space. Cohn added that the former Ralph’s property, which will be renamed The Knolls, will also get a makeover. The Breakfast Club of Long Beach, 3900 Atlantic Ave., formerly Bixby Café, which is owned by Jack Skandalakis, will also be undergoing changes. After 25 years in Bixby Knolls, Skandalakis is selling his business, but he told the Signal Tribune that the new owners, who will take over mid August, plan to keep his current employees but will change the restaurant’s name to The Breakfast and Dinner Club. “They’re a really nice family with really good plans,” Skandalakis said. “They’re bringing the pizza back.”
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia this week celebrated his first year in office by inviting local media outlets to meet with him to discuss achievements made thus far and what his plans are in his four key areas of focus: education, economic development, civic innovation and sustainable living.
One year as mayor
Garcia discusses accomplishments, future plans Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
It was a year ago this week that Robert Garcia made local history by taking office as Long Beach’s first Latino mayor and the first openly gay person to assume the city’s top leadership position. To mark his first anniversary in office, Garcia met with editorial boards from local media outlets, including those of the Signal Tribune, who met with him Monday afternoon in a conference room outside his office on the 14th floor of City Hall, to discuss his primary areas of concentration within the city: education, economic development, civic innovation and sustainable living. Garcia highlighted what he viewed as accomplishments in the last year and described some of his plans for making further advancements in those four areas. Discussing economic development, Garcia first noted that all the national indicators, including the unemployment rate, are “in the right direction,” which, he said, was already the case when he entered office as mayor. “So, I think we’ve taken advantage of a few things,” he said. “Number one– as part of my first budget, I restarted Economic Development, which is now a fully staffed department in the city... Launched a bunch of development projects in the city, including the civic center project, which is complete, as far as the project we’re working with. The Queen Mary– we’re putting together a task force to develop that, as you guys probably know. And we put on the market the first six parcels, just a month ago, for redevelopment that we had to eliminate because of the State.”
see BUSINESS page 11
Weekly Weather Forecast
see GARCIA page 15 July 17 through July 21, 2015
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Low clouds then sunshine
Afternoon thunderstorms
Possible thunderstorm
Sunshine and humid
Mostly sunny and humid
Lo 67°
Lo 65°
Lo 65°
Lo 65°
Lo 65°
83°
84°
89°
84°
83°
This week’s weather forecast sponsored by:
Quilters by the Sea proudly presents it’s
2015 Quilt Show & Auctionf See page 2 for more information.
Saturday, August 1: 9am - 5pm Sunday, August 2: 9am - 4pm
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