Fireworks!

Tonight @ 9 p.m. @ the Beach

(photo by me - Long Beach fireworks 2008)

text message regarding tonight's fireworks

A few months ago signed up for that Swift911 service that the city provides and I finally got my first text message alert!


FRM:City of Long Beach
SUBJ:Fireworks Shuttle Information
MSG:City of Long Beach fireworks display on July 10. Due to heavy traffic free shuttle bus service will be available. Call 431-1000 Ext 7105 btwn 9-4 for info or visit www.longbeachny.com

The official Long Beach flower

Did you know that the hydrangea is the official Long Beach flower? Neither did I, but according to longbeachhistory.org it is! That's good news to me; my house is surrounded by them. Represent!

Here is a hydrangea tip: The flower colors are largely dependent on the ph balance of your soil. Do you want blue flowers? Add aluminum sulphate to the soil. Pine needles work too! They make the soil more acidic.

(photo by me)

The Farmers Market is now open on Saturdays as well!

The City of Long Beach official website is reporting that the The Kennedy Plaza Farmers Market will also be open on Saturdays due to high demand! This is great news. I can never make it on time after work on Wednesdays.

Wednesdays 11am to 7pm
Saturdays 9am to 1pm

Woody Allen's Crimes And Misdemeanors

Heshy, a fellow local, just filled me in on another movie that was filmed in Long Beach which IMDB.com must of missed:

Woody Allen's "Crimes And Misdemeanors"

Heshy adds: "which has a scene where Martin Landau and Anjelica Huston are walking on a beach that could only be LB's."

Add that to the list in my previous post.

contractmagazine.com article on the Allegria Hotel & Spa

"We decided to create a beach that has a hotel, not a hotel that has a beach"

-Tonny Sadha Interior Design


Read the full article @ contractmagazine.com - Sadha-designed Allegria Hotel & Spa to Open in Long Island, N.Y., this Month

Movies & TV Shows that were filmed in Long Beach

This is according to the Internet Movie database (IMDB.com):

Titles with locations including
Long Beach, Long Island, New York, USA Here are the 10 matching titles:

• "Royal Pains" (2009) TV Series 8.1/10 (833 votes)

• Anatomy of a Fight (2003) 6.7/10 (32 votes)

• Beach Tennis USA: 2007 National Championship (2007) (TV)

• Explanation (1985)

• Face 2 Face (2005)

• Killing Time (1995/I)

• Me and the Moilsies (2001)

• Strange Things Happen at Sundown (2003) (V) 3.9/10 (179 votes)

• The Godfather (1972) 9.1/10 (356524 votes)...aka Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1972) (USA: complete title)
  

• The Wheelchair (1977) 5.4/10 (5 votes)

City By The Sea (2002) , which takes place in Long Beach, wasn't even filmed here. Good, because that movie stunk and it portrayed Long Beach as a crime-ridden disaster area.

So that's it: ten movies that were filmed in Long Beach, but most likely not a complete list. The Godfather, which is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time, definitely tilts the scale of quality up compared to the other films which range from mediocre to crap.

When people talk about The Godfather being filmed in Long Beach, it's usually just about the wedding & the tollbooth scenes. Well, I recently watched the first two Godfather movies recently and it appears to me that more scenes were filmed here than what is documented.

There is a scene that was shot in front of a typical Long Beach house with street lined sycamore tress out front. Plus, there is a scene that was shot from an apartment where you can see the boardwalk and beach outside the window. I plan on doing some research to find out exactly where these scenes were shot. Not to mention, The Corleone family phone number was Longbeach-4-5620. So look for my complete Godfather / Long Beach guide in a later post. It might take me a while, so don't hold your breath.

Long Beach on a sneaker?

Well, sort of. Nike made sneakers inspired by Jones Beach. All of Long Island (Yes, Brooklyn & Queens too) is represented. These sneakers are extremely limited to only 516 (Nassau County area code) pairs. They only come in a sandy tan color with an ocean blue sole. They're available today exclusively at Street Gear in Hempstead for $120 a pair.

Read - New Nike Sneaker Inspired By Jones Beach

The new signs at The Walks are going up!

The new signs at The Walks are going up. I like them! They are very cute and I love the blue. They aren't tacky or over done. Bravo! Click on the photo for a larger image.

Thanks to 'walks assoc' for the heads up and also for working on saving the old 'walk' signs. Thanks to Glyn for the suggestion in the first place!

Read - One Person's Garbage...Another Person's Treasure

Side note: I've been noticing that this site has been getting hits from folks who aren't from Long Beach. So for those who don't know what we mean by "The Walks," this is according to Wikipedia: There is a neighborhood known as "The Walks," consisting of extremely narrow sidewalks between houses. Each "Walk" is named after a month.

I've mentioned before that the only other community in New York where I've seen something similar to The Walks was in Sunnyside Gardens, Queens. If anybody knows of another area, please let me know.

(Photo by me - today at around 9am)

Is the Allegria open?

Eating some seabythecity.com birthday cake reminded me that today is indeed July 2nd, which means the Allegria Hotel should be open for business. So, is it? The last time I checked the Allergria website it said it would open July 1st.

Before that it said June 16th.
Before that it said Spring 2009.
Before that it said Early 2009.
Before that it said Fall 2008.

The website now says "opening July 2009."

I am not trying to knock the Allegria. Rainy weather and hard economic times have really taken a toll on getting any type of development finished - especially fancy beach hotel & spas. This is just a blog on Long Beach and It's my duty to report on such things.

So now the site says July 2009, but that doesn't mean it's not open. I haven't been down that end of the boardwalk about a week so I really have no clue.

Ok, back to some birthday cake.