Page 1 Date: Tuesday, December 15th Time: 6:00 p.m.—

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We can’t wait for the Build-Your-Own gingerbread
house activity at Winter in Willmore. Not sure how
you would like yours to look? Check out the amazing Gingerbread Village at MADE in Long Beach on
Pine Ave., right next to Starbucks. WCHA Board
Member, Isaac Salgado, with the assistance of Terry
Beebe and Hulean Tyler installed it the week before
Thanksgiving. Not made from a kit, the houses are
baked from scratch and painstakingly assembled
and decorated by Isaac. Each house takes about 10
Ready continued on page 2
Thank these two for 2016’s Amphitheater culture and fun ! James
S. and John L. Knight. photo courtesy of knightfoundation.org
Date:
Time:
Place:
Tuesday, December 15th
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
1255 N Loma Vista Dr
Ernie and Cesar are hosting in their beautifully restored Victorian home, so join us once
again for food and frivolity as we celebrate the
holidays with friends and neighbors. Instead
of our General Meeting, it will be a potluck, so
bring a favorite dish to share—or just a cheery
smile! We’ll have live music and adult beverages too. We look forward to seeing you all!
Date:
Time:
Place:
Tuesday, January 19th
6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.
Drake Park
We are Downtown — and Adam Carillo,
Economic Development Manager for DLBA will
be telling us just how we will be enjoying being
a part of it over the next few years.
Quite frankly, we’re a little overwhelmed with the
generosity and support from so many entities. This
month we are in awe over two new fantastic grants
we were awarded towards the activation of the Amphitheater at Cesar Chavez Park project.
We are thrilled and thankful! The John S. and
James L. Knight Foundation through the Long
Beach Community Foundation, have awarded a
$50,000 Long Beach Civic Innovation Grant from
the Knight Foundation Donor Advised Fund to the
Willmore City Heritage Association. The grant was
written with the intention of providing a wide variety
of free spring to summer programming at The Amphitheater at Cesar Chavez Park , from Shakespeare
to musical theater, to traditional Khmer dance, to
cooking lessons for kids.
As if this were not enough cause for celebration,
our great friends at Walmart are giving us an additional $10,000 towards those Amphitheater improvements and free programming. They have donated to every single one of our projects: The Willmore Heritage Garden, The Children’s Gateway Garden, Winter in Willmore, and now the Amphitheater.
We are so excited about the possibilities of this
Downtown neighborhood venue becoming a space
for our children and their families to enjoy, and
Thank you continued on page 3
Ready continued from page 1
hours to do, and a total of 250 pounds of powdered
sugar and 75 pounds of flour were used. This year,
in addition, Isaac created oh-so-cute miniature
signs for our supporters and donors.
We hope that you will go by and enjoy this amazing
creation. The sweet, spicy fragrance of the gingerbread is reason enough. Thanks to Isaac, Hulean
and Terry, for their hard work, and thanks to our
neighbors who donated much of the candy for decorating. See you at Winter in Willmore on December
19th at Drake Park!
Anyone who went to an event or meeting in Downtown Long Beach over the last few years knew Elvin
Greenhagen. A Boardmember of the then-West End
Condominium Association, he had a list of businesses that he wanted to see come Downtown. He
didn’t just wish though. He called. And called.
And called. As Joe Ganem says, “if we ever get a
Trader Joe’s in Downtown, it will be due to Elvin” wearing them down with his persistence!
Elvin came to every WCHA event and ribbon cutting—one of them even a day early! He was a downto-earth supporter, and had no problem speaking
his mind. Despite that, he was never rude— he just
had no time for tom foolery.
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Elvin’s niece, Sharon was kind enough to share
the following information with us. “Elvin was my
uncle. He grew up in Petaluma, California and my
brother still owns the property that has been in the
family for three generations, starting out as a chicken ranch. Elvin was the youngest and last of his
generation of Greenhagen's (one sister died as an
infant, one sister died a few years ago, and his
brother (my father) died in 1996). We are having a
family-only memorial for Elvin in Sacramento in December. Thank you for contacting me and letting us
know that your life was enriched by our uncle. Colorful is the perfect word for him and he will be
missed by many.”
Downtown will miss you too Elvin, we hope you’re
still making those calls on our behalf!
Thank you continued from page 1
learn about, the arts, theater, and music. Most
would not have the opportunity, or the funds, to experience such a wide variety of events. There is a
reason that the Congressional Caucus on STEAM
was recently able to add an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that
would integrate the Arts into STEM education. A
well-rounded education, exposure to unfamiliar
sights and sounds, as well as an expanded view of
job possibilities, can only serve to help our community, enabling children and families to have more
tools to succeed.
The WCHA is honored that these two organizations
saw the value of our vision and our hopes and
dreams for this community. We can’t wait to publish a schedule of events for 2016, and look forward
to many of the performers becoming a regular sight
on the Amphitheater stage.
Photo credit: Alexiperplexy
WCHA, along with many other organizations, have
finished their yearly holiday decorating of the historic Bembridge House. Each room is uniquely decorated by a different group.
You can experience an old fashioned Christmas in
this beautifully adorned home. Long Beach Heritage will be giving tours on Tuesdays and Saturdays
in December if you missed their Victorian Christmas event. For info: http://www.lbheritage.org/
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10% off $20 worth of dry-cleaning!
Thanks to Veronica Maxwell for creating such a beautiful altar, and
to her helpers, Ernie Villa, Jenny Sersion, and Terry Beebe.
On November 20, the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach
recognized the International Transgender Day of Remembrance at Harvey Milk Promenade Park in Long
Beach, along with 100 cities around the globe.
The annual day of remembrance occurs every year
on November 20 and memorializes those who have
lost their lives as a result of anti-transgender violence in the last year. “Transgender people continue
to experience violence on an epidemic level in the
United States,” said The Center’s Executive Director
Porter Gilberg in a statement. “It is critical that our
communities understand that we have a lot more to
achieve in our efforts to secure social and legal
equality for transgender people.” Although
transgender representation has reached historic
highs, transgender people are more at-risk to experience violence, especially transgender women of
color. The First District co-sponsored the event for
the second year in a row, along with the Human
Rights Campaign.
What a fun event in our Downtown! Hosted by the
First Council District, the Day of the Dead event offered an insight into the Latino and Hispanic culture, while celebrating the lives of past family members and admired individuals.
The event included an altar contest, face painting
and cultural presentations, as well as live music by
Los Rakas, La Banda Skalavera, Very Be Careful,
Casi Son and DJ Ra. There was a beer garden hosted by Agaves Bar and Kress Market, as well as many
vendors. The agenda included live performances, in
addition to traditional folklorico dancers, there were
face painters, decorated altars, food, arts and crafts,
a kid zone and more.
We were fortunate to be able to represent WCHA
with an authentic altar created by Veronica Maxwell.
All her design and inspiration, it was colorful and
beautiful. She made the papier-mâché; figure, the
paper flowers and the sugar skulls which her son
and friends helped to paint.
By all accounts it was a rousing success, full of
music, laughter and fun—an appropriate way to celebrate the lives of those important to us.
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PLACE:
Rancho Los Cerritos
DATE:
December 13
TIME:
1:00 p.m.—7:00 p.m.
Music, storytellers, crafts and activities. The
Rancho will be lit by candles and oil lamps,
and costumed living history docents will
share their memories of Victorian-era holidays
at the Rancho. Light refreshments will be
served.
www.rancholoscerritos.org/calendar.
PLACE:
Historical Society of Long Beach
DATE:
December 4th—March 1
TIME:
various
The Belmont Heights Community Association
and the Historical Society of Long Beach celebrate Miner R. Smith’s work as a 1920’s artisan bungalow builder in Long Beach.
www.hslb.org
PLACE:
Queen Mary
DATE:
November 20-Jan 10
TIME:
various
A 14,000 sq foot walk-thru towering over 2.5
stories, using two million pounds of ice! In
addition to The Ice Kingdom, ice tubing, ice
skating, live music, carolers and more.
Christmas Festival
www.queenmary.com/events/chill
PLACE:
Drake Park
DATE:
December 19
TIME:
1 a.m.—5 p.m.
Forty tons of snow, bounce house, rock climbing wall, pictures with Santa, holiday gifts,
build-your-own Gingerbread House, Toy
Store, music, food and lots of fun!
www.willmorecity.org
PLACE:
Pine Ave. between 1st and 4th
DATE:
December 31
TIME:
8 p.m.—2 a.m.
The DLBA will once again host the largest
party in town, welcomingSoCal’s finest musicians: Sant Motel, ZZ Ward, Houndmouth and
Vintage Trouble, along with Funky Soul, OK
go’s Dan Konopka, Tim Nordwind’s project Xia
Xia Technique, FMLYBND, Miles Tackett &
The 3 Times, DF PAUL V and DJ Sovern-T
www.downtownlongbeach.org
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1st District Council Office
562-570-6919
Alley Cleaning
562-570-2876
Barking Dogs
562-570-PETS
Bike Trails (Glass or Other Debris) 562-869-1176
Bulky Item Pickup
562-570-2876
Code Enforcement
562-570-2633
Environmental Services
562-570-2876
Fire Dept Headquarters
562-570-2500
Graffiti
562-570-2773
Neighborhood Watch
562-570-7229
Police, Non-Emergency
562-435-6711
Police Headquarters Information
562-570-7260
Pot Holes
562-570-3259
Public Services
562-570-2700
Recycling
562-570-2876
Storm Drains
562-570-2440
Stray Shopping Carts
800-252-6131
Street Maintenance
562-570-3259
Trash Collection
562-570-2878
Get the Go Long Beach App for an easy and fast
way to report many of these problems!
Yearly membership/sponsorships due in JUNE.
Name_________________________________________________
Address______________________________________________
City____________________________State______Zip_______
Phone:_______________________
Email________________________________________________
Memberships: $25 per year
Business Sponsors: $75/year business card
$250/year 1/4 page
$400/year 1/2 page
Please email your info in jpg/png format to
[email protected]
Donations (any amount appreciated) $____________
YOU CAN NOW PAY YOUR MEMBERSHIP OR
DONATE ON OUR WEBSITE WITH PAYPAL!
Please make checks payable to:
WCHA
PO Box 688
Long Beach, CA 90801
Kathleen Irvine, President &
Newsletter Editor
[email protected]
Jenny Sersion, Vice President
[email protected]
Hulean Tyler, Treasurer
[email protected]
Patty Lund, Secretary
[email protected]
Jim Danno, Outreach
[email protected]
B Terhune Beebe (Terry)
[email protected]
Isaac Salgado
[email protected]
(818) 470-0005
(310) 710-8456
(562) 755-4640
(323) 243-5863
(818) 266 7110
(323) 605-3126
(562) 972-9778
Ph. (562) 659-9455
Visit us at our website and on Facebook:
www.willmorecity.org
www.facebook.com/pages/Willmore-City
-Heritage-Association
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