Currently, the art hanging at the Black Bird Cafe is a small representation of the 2017 LB Open Studio Tour. The LBOST is an annual event, sponsored by the Arts Council for Long Beach and is part of Long Beach’s celebration of “October is Arts Month.” This is a free event to the public and an opportunity to meet local artists in their working environments. This year, the tour will be on Saturday and Sunday, October 14th & 15th, from noon to 5 p.m. Please visit the website, www.LBopenstudiotour.com for a full artist list, samples of artists’ work, live music schedule, and tour map. Artists participating in the Blackbird LBOST show are: Lisa Wibroe, Studio #1 Tina Burnight, Studio #1 David Early, Studio #3 Tani Taylor, Studio #5 Nora Chen, Studio #7 Jaime Sabatte, Studio #10 Jamie Sandberg, Studio #12 Susan Erikson Hawkins, Studio #13…

With Springtime already upon us, here at Blackbird we’d like to take a moment to encourage all of our friends to focus their attention on wellness and community. There are plenty of important local groups that concentrate on getting/staying active, whether you’re walking, running, our even going on a scavenger hunt. Bixby Knolls Strollers bring Long Beach locals together to “explore every nook and cranny of the greater Bixby Knolls area.” Bixby Knolls Runners are a newer run club, typically running no more than 5 miles at a time. The Cal Heights Pavement Pounders, who take 3 mile walks around the parameter of Cal Heights, will have their first walk on April 6th at 6:30 AM meeting at Roxanne’s on Wardlow. Bixby Knolls Scavenger Hunt: Recreation Fitness is “bringing a family-friendly scavenger hunt to the Bixby Knolls community on April 3rd”. A race that will test…

Quick shout out to Vintage Emporium, Orange Salvage, The Barber Shop, Holé Molé, Steelhead Coffee, Eddie’s Liquor, Paul Marc Fine Jewelry and all our neighbors on the corner of Wardlow and Orange. All of us here at Blackbird Cafe are thankful to be located in such a unique and cultured area of Long Beach. Local businesses make the world go ‘round, so we decided to take a moment to share our thoughts on the importance of going local. Did you know that supporting small local businesses means supporting the environment? Local businesses generally exist in populated cities, as opposed to geographic borderlines, resulting in more local purchases, which require less transportation; this means a much smaller contribution to urban sprawl, habitat loss, and smog than larger corporations tend to offer. Did you know that small local businesses not only boast the highest national employment…