As a child I remember seeing the sign in front of St. Lucy’s Church on Santa Fe Avenue offering services in English, Spanish, and in Tagalog. Though I no longer know if this is still the case, it was always an indicator that my Long Beach neighborhood was diverse.
School potlucks at Garfield Elementary consisted of a panoply of snacks and cuisines: Mexican, Soul food, Filipino, Samoan, Salvadoran...
One of the last vestiges of a once thriving Japanese population on the west side existed right in front of Cabrillo High: Nagahamas, a quick-bite eatery that catered to students and staff alike before the entire building was demolished many years ago to make way for an extension of Admiral Kidd Park.
The neighborhood is bordered by Anaheim Street, the 405 Freeway, and the L.A. River, up until the Terminal Island Freeway (the 103) on its western end, which is shadowed by the ever-present refineries slightly beyond Long Beach city limits. Pacific Coast Highway separates the west side’s industrial zone and residential area, a symbol of the west side’s blue collar history and identity.
Although the west side is considered to be one of the poorest neighborhoods in Long Beach, it houses some of the most unique places to eat in the city. One of its claims to gastronomic fame is that it houses the oldest operating Taco Bell in the world (Taco Bell #2), where a plaque once commemorated that fact, before its last major remodeling.