Lemonade Day 24 - Pan Jive in Concert, and a chat with Councilwoman Schipske

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100-day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan.  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity, the art and the locations that inspire art.

I call it .

Today was Day 24 of Making Lemonade.  I met up with some Trini cousins at Heartwell Park to hear Pan Jive.

This week has been all about Trinidad, steel drums, initiated by an email that there would be a steel drum concert at Heartwell Park, initiated by 5th District City Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske's office.

The concert went for a full two hours, with members of the community dancing, doing the limbo, enjoying free pizza, and checking out the booths from the Port of Long Beach and the Long Beach Vial of L.I.F.E. program.

For me, it turned into a surprise family gathering, as I found some Long Beach cousins had gathered for the concert with their children.  I should have known that they wouldn't miss a free steel drum concert!  The free music came with free pizza  and free dancing and limbo.  My child confusedly asked... "The pizza is free?  How do they make any money?"  Thanks, Port of Long Beach.

Ms. Schipske was herself there for the duration of the concert, serving pizza, meeting members of the community. 

A Chat with Councilwoman Schipske

I was glad to catch up with Councilwoman Schipske, as I'd found out about her books of historic Long Beach from her Facebook page.

Arcadia Publishing, which works with community members in cities around the country to create local history books, carries several books on Long Beach, thanks in part to Ms. Schipske and J. Christopher Launi (and his co-authors).  I am including more about Arcadia in the Tidbits section, but back to Ms. Schipske.

Ms. Schipske has authored three of those books.  The style of Arcadia Publishing is heavily bent towards narrated photo-references on topics with local historic significance.

Long Beach and Aviation

Although they are all interesting, some might find the "Early Aviation in Long Beach" extremely fun.  Here's why. 

The Long Beach airport has been around for a long time.  When air travel was just becoming popular, there were several rallies for aviation enthusiasts held in Long Beach. In fact, I was able to participate in a tour of the Long Beach airport with scout Pack 007 as part of the .  The area's fascinating history is brought to light on the tour.

A really cool piece of history that those outside of Long Beach might not know is that Long Beach was the final destination of Calbraith Perry Rogers.  In 1910 William Randolph Hearst offered $50K to the first person to fly coast-to-cost in 30 days or less.  No one won, but the only person to make it coast-to-coast was Cal, flying in the Vin Fiz.  Fly, crash, fly, crash, multiple injuries, fly, crash... crash... crash... you get the idea.  One might say that he crashed his way coast-to-coast.  His final 'landing' was in the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach.  Ms. Schipske's office spearheaded the 100th anniversary celebrations locally in 2010.

Long Beach held an important role as a manufacturing city in World War I and World War II.

In the book, there's even a photo of a hot air balloon sitting above the Long Beach pier!

Long Beach airport tour for groups.

Solar Grand Prix

We chatted about other things, though.  The Solar Car race that is run in April under the city's Solar Task Force is hugely popular.  The race is promoted to middle schools and is free to teams.  It includes a kit with a solar panel & other parts.  For scout families, think of it as a solar version of a .  The car is run solely on solar energy with no energy being stored.  The competition is only 3 years old now, but the participation is at the competition's maximum!  Ms. Schipske works to raise funds for the competition kits which are provided free to teams.  The ability to accommodate teams is dependent upon this fundraising effort.

The timing of the Solar Car race is great, because it is held in close proximity to the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Tidbits, Things, Trails

• Arcadia Publishing has nine books on Long Beach:  Baseball in Long Beach, Cambodians in Long Beach, Early Aviation in Long Beach, Early Long Beach, Long Beach Art Deco, Long Beach Fire Department, Long Beach in Vintage Postcards, Rosie the Riveter in Long Beach, The Port of Long Beach.
• Arcadia Publishing is a US Based publisher and its books are printed in the United States.
• The Port of Long Beach is adding a monthly Thursday Night sunset boat tour to its free boat tour offerings.  The free boat tours are open to all, not just Long Beach residents.  BUT... they are booked shortly before becoming available.  The next set of tours will open for booking on the first Monday, August 6th at 8:00 am.  To book, go to the Port Tour Reservation Site.  Tours run through October.
• The POLB representative, Mario Gonzalez, has been personally working with the Arts Council for Long Beach to implement a port mosaic at Layafette Elementary school.  The mosaic is based upon artwork done by 500 children on a visit to the port.  I got a glimpse of the works in progress.  Very interesting!
• The Long Beach Vial of L.I.F.E. is a system that makes information available to emergency respondents to your home.
• I came away with pizza-fed kids and a Vial of L.I.F.E.
• Those wishing to follow Ms. Schipske may find her on Facebook and her blog.
• Pan Jive will again perform August 5th (Sunday) at Pan American park.
• Want to know what to do in the summer?  100 days of summer.

Next up? 

Long Beach Steel Drum School.  I'm having so much fun and meeting so many people, it is not easy for me to compress each day into a single post.  Day 25 will be dedicated to the Long Beach Steel Drum School, which I visited on Tuesday after .

Want more lemonade? 

Need to contact me?  info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.