Thanks for sharing your knowledge with our diverse audience, Linda Gunn, Diana Thompson, Mike Demo, Anastassia Zukova, Evan Volgas, Roy Sivan, Justice Anderson, Chris Reynolds, Christina Hills, Joe. A. Simpson Jr., Ramuel Gall, and Sabrina Zeidan. You helped us broaden and deepen our knowledge base, weigh our options, and choose thoughtful paths forward. You knocked it out of the port.
They’re all up. Choose your favorite way to watch:
Thanks for helping us break new ground, Jonathan Wold, Andrea Middleton, Brett Dunst, Steve Zehngut, Natalie MacLees, and Gabriel Mays. We were deeply inspired and challenged by your talks. You knocked it out of the port.
They’re all up. Choose your favorite way to watch:
Here are some of our favorite photos from the first-ever WordCamp Long Beach. Thanks for exploring WordPress: the Port to the Wider Internet with us!
Photographers:
Thanks for being a part of the first-ever
WordCamp Long Beach.
Want to plug into a local WordPress community? Check your WordPress Dashboard for local events coming up, like these:
See you soon!
Wondering where to grab dinner on Saturday before heading over to the After Party? Worry not, WordCampers, we’ve got you covered. Check out our stack of nine great eateries within a 15-minute drive. All of them feature family-friendly dining experiences and offer vegetarian options.
Google Star rating: 4.7/5
Claim to fame: Purple Potato Taquitos
Gluten-free options: Yes
“Since 2010, Seabirds has been on a mission to push the boundaries of vegan cuisine. As we’ve grown from a food truck into our current restaurants, our artisan approach has remained true… We are constantly experimenting with new ingredients and techniques to create dishes that elevate plant-based food beyond the standard.“
Google Star Rating: 4.3/5
Claim to fame: Vegetarian Bacon Cheese Burger
Gluten-free options: Yes
Raw options: Yes
“How about burgers, fries, salads, shakes, and other tasty treats made entirely without the use of animal products, GMO’s or artificial ingredients and served to you in 100% biodegradable materials? …We warmly invite you to come on by and enjoy a delicious meal or snack that’s kind to our animal friends, easy on the planet and good for the body you live in.“
Google Star rating: 4.8/5
Claim to fame: Market Grain Bowl (GF)
Gluten-free options: Yes
Vegan options: Yes
“One barista and one chef, passionate about seasonality and sustainability, living the dream each and every day. We currently rotate between Heart, Ritual, Tectonic, Augie’s and a variety of… coffee roasters with sustainable practices and direct trade relationships. We use 100% eco cleaning products and dish soap.”
Google Star Rating: 4.5/5
Claim to fame: C’est La Vie
Gluten-free options: Yes
Vegan options: Yes
Creme De La Crepe is a crowded, delightful indoor-outdoor restaurant known for its expansive menu of sweet and savory crepes, build-your-own customizable crepes and delicious fondue. They use gluten-free crepe batter in their dinner crepes and their desserts are served with handmade whipped creme.
Google Star rating: 4.5/5
Claim to fame: The BW
“Broadway Pizza and Grill has become a neighborhood institution, specializing in classic Italian fare straight from old family recipes, as well as a wide variety of American standards– most notably, the locally famous sandwiches. The restaurant offers a warm dining experience, perfect for relaxing with a craft beer, or fine wine.”
Google Star Rating: 4.5/5
Claim to fame: Delicious Red Curry
“Naree Thai restaurant is the premier Thai restaurant in Long Beach. Specializing in exotic Thai curry, fried rice, noodles, and specialty fish dishes, you will find a rich depth of flavors infused into every bite… Naree features dishes created with tofu, vegetable, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, scallop, fish, seafood, and even vegetarian duck.”
Google Star Rating: 4.4/5
Claim to fame: Rosarito Tacos
“Holé Molé restaurants serve Mexican-inspired favorites, what we consider to be ‘Southern California Comfort Food.’ …(Holé Molé) blends our secret Ensenada batter and crema; marinates our asada, chicken, and al pastor; slow cooks our enchilada sauce, mole sauce, and salsas, and makes fresh guacamole, fried ice cream, flanquitos.”
Google Star Rating: 4.3/5
Claim to fame: Kumiai Oyster
“On the frontier of Japanese fusion restaurants… We promise you the freshest seafood, meat and produce. The fun & friendly atmosphere of the sushi bar and the beautiful presentation of each dish with their remarkable and distinctive flavors have made us an experience that inspires our guests to return again and again.”
Google Star Rating: 4.3/5
Claim to fame: Fish & Chips
EJ Malloy’s is a favorite local sports bar grill and Happy Hour pub. Diners gather ’round for Monday Night Football and Dodgers games. Their menu is stacked with the 3 B’s – buffalo wings, burgers, and beer – and they’re open every day. The kitchen closes at 10 pm on Saturday and 9 pm on Sunday.
We’ve upgraded our existing Micro-Sponsor and tiered Sponsor benefits – and added some brand new Special Sponsorship packages, too.
You asked for more branding opportunities, and we heard you. Introducing: Special Sponsorships! Bring attention to your company in unique and memorable ways. Show off your swag. And befriend total strangers.
WordCamp Long Beach’s Speaker application deadline is Friday, August 23 – just 11 days away. And we want to hear from YOU!
Sunday’s full-day “Future of WordPress” track has never been done before and has caught the attention of wptavern and Morten Rand-Hendriksen, Senior Staff Instructor at LinkedIn Learning. You can learn more about our special Sunday track by watching last Friday’s WPwatercooler show.
No matter who you are or how long you’ve been using WordPress, there’s a place for you in our Long Beach community. We want you!
Peter Rashkin: If you’re attending WordCamp Long Beach from out of town, we hope you’ll have the opportunity to get to know our city’s many charms. Chris and I decided to explore a few of them that you, too, might enjoy.
Christiana Mohr: In June, Peter and I went on a three-hour walking tour of Downtown Long Beach’s historic architecture. This month, we revisited some of our favorite buildings, saw some new sites and ate lunch at an awesome venue. Enjoy!
Peter: This month, we went for a long walk through downtown and along the coast. We met at the intersection of Long Beach and Broadway in downtown LB, in front of the Psychic Temple of the Holy Kiss. Built in 1905, this Romanesque Revival structure is the city’s second-oldest commercial building. We were here last month on a walking tour of downtown architecture.
Chris: The Psychic Temple of the Holy Kiss sits across from our old Meetup location. It was used by Baptist minister Rev. Price about a century ago as a meditation center. Rev. Price’s habit of selling bogus stock bloomed into a financial scandal that got him kicked out of his own charity.
After he left, the building was bought by a parishioner, who turned it into a hotel. It was also used as a WWII honky tonk. It’s now owned by a tech company and is being carefully restored.
Chris: Like many of the buildings downtown, the Psychic Temple combines different architectural styles. Here are more gorgeous buildings you can visit:
Peter: We wandered a bit in LB’s original commercial district. I particularly like Middoughs’ Men’s Shop.
Chris: The Middough building sits next to the Edison Theatre. It used to have a Boy’s and Men’s Shop, small claims court, and a gym. Now, it’s condominiums.
Chris: Middough’s is a traditional three-part Beaux Arts skyscraper with typical Greek Revival motifs – flattened reductions of Neoclassical columns and realistic depictions of animals, plants, and people. But it also showcases some traditional Art Deco details like egg-and-dart, dentile teeth and stylized honeysuckles (often mistaken for shells). A mismatched Art Deco lobby was inserted on the ground floor in the 1930s.
Chris: Another Greek Revival building to check out is The Federal Bank. It’s now a restaurant. You’re welcome to admire the building’s filigree and its magnificent ceiling. The hostesses are used to site-seers.
Chris: My favorite downtown building is definitely Shannon’s. Shannon’s is Long Beach’s finest example of Art Deco. The colors and abstract motifs helped inspire this year’s WordCamp Long Beach theme. And the facade, wood interior, metal banisters, and tile are all original.
Chris: We finished last month’s architecture tour at The Willmore, an early twentieth century luxury condo high-rise with original art and furnishings boasting a panoramic view of the city from its rooftop garden.
The building was named after William Erwin Willmore, Long Beach’s first real estate developer. It was originally designed to be a three-part building like many of the other downtown skyscrapers built in the Beaux Arts style. The builders stopped after they’d built just two wings, but it’s still stunning.
Peter: Next we wandered down the Promenade to the Long Beach Performing Arts Center and among the fountains. Got some pix of the whale mural at the Pacific Ballroom.
Peter: Then over to Bluff Park. The park runs more than a mile along the bluff, overlooking the beach and the Harbor. From the Long Beach Museum of Art at one end, it leads almost to Belmont Pier.
Peter: We find a parking spot and walk to the edge of the bluff to admire the view: the heavy port equipment far off… the Queen Mary and a visiting liner… the most beautiful “oil island”. You need to see it at night with its many-colored lights and illuminated waterfall. The city wouldn’t let them drill unless they made their oil platforms “pretty”.
“The THUMS Islands were built in 1965 to tap into the East Wilmington Oil Field. The landscaping and sound walls were designed to camouflage the operation and reduce noise, and they are the only decorated oil islands in the United States.”
Wikipedia
Peter: We walked west a short stretch to the Long Beach Museum of Art.
Peter: The LBMA was opened in 1950 in the historic 1911 Elizabeth Milbank Anderson House. Since then it has expanded. In addition to the interesting permanent collection, the museum mounts a variety of exhibits, often cutting-edge and modern.
On this visit I was particularly struck by Plastic Seal, from the series Big Trash Animals by Spanish artist Bordalo II.
“The idea is to depict nature itself… out of materials that are responsible for its destruction.”
Bordalo II
Peter: We ended our exploration with lunch at SteelCraft, a new Long Beach hot spot built out of shipping containers.
Chris: Besides being adorably designed, SteelCraft offers many gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and custom hand-made options across a variety of flavor profiles. We shared vegetarian broccoli pizza and vegetarian gyoza – and I got locally-made ice cream. The cones are free! It was delicious.
Peter: Our next exploration, on Saturday, July 27, will be at the El Dorado Nature Center, one of Long Beach’s hidden gems. Come with us!
Chris: See you soon!
Our two-day WordPress conference will be held at The Pointe Conference Center at Walter Pyramid (CSULB) on October 5 and 6, 2019. Our local community invites you to celebrate WordPress: the port of transportation to the wider internet.
Long Beach is a vibrant, eclectic city known for its Art Deco landmarks, international port and breezy coast. Our event will be as diverse and as colorful as we are! We’re stacking our schedule with
We’ll be keeping you posted on all the details over the coming months, including speaker submissions, ticket sales and more. To stay up-to-date, subscribe to our newsletter at https://2019.longbeach.wordcamp.org.
We look forward to seeing you at WordCamp Long Beach 2019. Happy WordPressing!