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Signal Tribune
INSIDE: Long Beach honors four with Key to the City see page 7
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
www.signal-tribune.com
VOL. XLIII NO. 13
March 26, 2021
CRIME
LOCAL BUSINESS
Courtesy Long Beach Fire Department
The rainbow lifeguard tower, an LGBTQIA+ icon in Long Beach, was recently burned down. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the fire.
Community and leaders rally in solidarity with LGBTQ+ community after rainbow Pride lifeguard tower burns down Nick Eismann Special to the Signal Tribune
Kristen Farrah Naeem | Signal Tribune
Nora Tatum and Bruce Newman, owners of the newly opened In The Kitchen restaurant located in Long Beach. “My mom taught us how to cook early on as girls, and I just always had a passion and a love for cooking,” she said.
In The Kitchen brings soul food to Long Beach Boulevard Kristen Farrah Naeem
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Staff Writer
t’s as if the stars aligned once Nora Tatum decided to open In The Kitchen, Long Beach’s newest soul food restaurant located in the Saint Mary’s neighborhood. After leaving her career in dentistry behind during the pandemic to pursue a new chapter in her life as a chef, Tatum was soon selling meals made in her own home kitchen to a growing number of customers who would pre-order from her. “I realized that dentistry was probably not going to be the step for me to continue to take due to what’s going on,” Tatum said. “Then I did some pre-ordering from my house and it went really well.” Her business expanded exponentially in an extremely short time, evolving from a home-based cottage kitchen to an actual restaurant in only two weeks. Less than half a month after starting her growing business, Tatum spotted an empty restaurant location on Long Beach Boulevard and 9th Street. “After those pre-orders, I happened
Early Tuesday morning, a lifeguard tower that was painted in rainbow colors last June by LGBTQ+ lifeguards in honor of pride month, was burned down. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was quick to call it an “act of hate” In response to the fire, second district councilmember Cindy Allen hosted a rally in which she called for unity and for the community to stand together in these times. “I felt like I had to use my position and just make sure that we have the
time to come together as a community,” Allen said. “We need to make sure that we are all working together, we listen to our allies, connect with one another and find solace and love within the community.” While speaking at the rally, Garcia maintained his position that the fire that destroyed the tower was no accident but an act of hate. “There has not been a fire at a lifeguard station that has burned a station down in at least 70 years. So to say that the one station that burned completely in the last 70+ years was the one that see PRIDE page 5
SIGNAL HILL CITY COUNCIL
Signal Hill targets new development Anita W. Harris Senior Writer
Kristen Farrah Naeem | Signal Tribune
A dinner special by In The Kitchen, with Chik n Mac (left) and oxtails (right). to drive down the street and there was an available restaurant,” Tatum said. This space became the brick-andmortar location for In The Kitchen, which celebrated its grand opening on Feb. 12, 2021. Tatum runs the restaurant alongside her business partner and fiancée, Bruce Newman, who co-owns the business with her. “It’s kind of funny because it all happened as soon as I thought about it.
It happened within two weeks,” Tatum told the Signal Tribune. In The Kitchen serves soul food, exemplifying Tatum’s intimate and familial relationship to cooking that was handed down to her by her mother. Even though her business is new, she has years of experience cooking for her family and friends. “I’ve been cooking since I was a see IN THE KITCHEN page 2
The City of Signal Hill is taking steps to allow the remodel of a Target retail store at 950 E. 33rd St. and new commercial buildings on adjacent property at 3177 California Ave. The combined 13.63-acre site has been dubbed Gateway Center North. New buildings planned on the site – which is owned by Signal Hill Petroleum (SHP) – include a drive-thru restaurant, a three-story self-storage facility, additional retail buildings and a medical or dental office. Developer VenturePoint, Inc. of Newport Beach also redeveloped a Target retail center in Santa Ana, according to its website. The City refined conceptual plans for Gateway Center North and com-
Courtesy City of Signal Hill
Rendering of a remodeled Target store at 950 E. 33rd St. in Signal Hill.
pleted a soil analysis in 2020, Planning Intern Michelle Rivera told the City Council on March 23 in a land-use element update. Soil analysis is required since the site has been an oil field since at least 1924, according to Project Planner see TARGET page 2