Beach Streets Downtown 2023 – Open Thread

9:42 AM PDT on May 23, 2023

Skaters at Long Beach’s Beach Streets – photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog

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Last Saturday, Long Beach hosted another iteration of its popular Beach Streets open streets festival. Beach Streets Downtown opened more than five miles of city streets - primarily Broadway and Pine Avenue.

The event drew tens of thousands of people who biked/skated/ambled/ran/scootered in car-free streets. Car-free travel to the event was fairly easy via the Metro A Line train. Metro was an event sponsor, providing funding via the agency's Open Streets Grant Program.

Beach Streets was chock full full of activities: live music, drag performers, Long Beach Proud! Fest, kids zone, skating zone, outdoor dining, flea markets, drag queen story hours, art, a new walk/bike path opening, and lots more. Streetsblog didn't have enough time there to experience it all. Find plenty more photos and great commentary at LongBeachIze and lots of great photos and more commentary at the Long Beach Post.

What a fantastic day at @beachstreetslb!

Year after year, this event brings safe, recreational fun for all ages. It's a perfect way to promote traffic safety, sustainability, support our local businesses, and embrace active transportation.🚴‍♀️

Thanks to @MaryZendejasLB ,… pic.twitter.com/Ybn24wkgON
— Office of Mayor Rex Richardson (@LongBeachMayor) May 21, 2023

xxx — Rainbow LGBT+ pride crosswalks at Beach Streets

xxx — Downtown Long Beach's Pine Avenue at last weekend's Beach Streets

🚴🏽‍♀️ Thank you for joining us at @beachstreetslb. We want to extend our heartfelt appreciation to everyone who came out and made Beach Streets such a fantastic event! Special thanks to @LongBeachCity @LBPublicWorks @LBSpecialEvents @MaryZendejasLB @LongBeachMayor @LBPD pic.twitter.com/CSzXIRip8f
— Downtown Long Beach (@DLBA) May 21, 2023

xxx — Beach Streets along Broadway: there's suddenly lots of life outside Broadway's protected bike lane

#BeachStreets #LongBeach pic.twitter.com/V1Y8CJ5mrU
— (╯°□°）╯︵∀⊥ᴚƎ∩H ⋊ƆIᴚƎ (@ElRandomHero) May 22, 2023

xxxx — Beach Streets Downtown featured a spur along Long Beach's 4th Street Retro Row, which resembled an outdoor flea market

Readers - how was your experience at Beach Streets last Saturday?

Joe Linton

Joe Linton is an editor at Streetsblog Los Angeles

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