The best of Long Beach businesses will be unveiled in a night of entertainment, food, socializing, and most importantly, small businesses at the Absolute Best of Long Beach ceremony. The ceremony will be held at the Museum of Latin American Art starting at 5:30 p.m. on April 5.
Absolute Best of Long Beach, hosted by LB Living, aims to highlight local restaurants, retail shops, bars and more through the voting and award process. A boost in sales, traffic and recognition is what Sal Flores, founder of LB Living, hopes to give to Long Beach’s small businesses.
As Absolute Best of Long Beach has evolved to include more categories, the number of votes has increased. According to Flores, this year there were over 195,000 votes counted.
“We obviously as a community, we all have our favorites. And so it’s just good to let the businesses know that people appreciate them,” Flores said. “It’s very rewarding and businesses really appreciate it. We have heard from various businesses over the years that their sales improved during the process and post-award.”
The actions of big businesses are easy to spot, so Flores wanted to aim the spotlight to the small businesses that are community-driven. Many Long Beach small businesses host classes of various subjects, host fundraisers for families or schools and provide a safe space for minorities and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Small businesses are doing big things too you know,” Flores said. “What makes up neighborhoods and communities are those small businesses. I think the biggest impact is just the recognition that they matter and that they are the driving engine of our community.”
Thus the Absolute Best of Long Beach began, and this year’s award ceremony is set up to be bigger than the last. Businesses voted on by the Long Beach community will be awarded certificates from the city of Long Beach, the California State Senate, and sometimes Congress. Along with certificates, awarded businesses will be featured in the LB Livings guide to the Absolute Best of Long Beach.
The award ceremony will be burlesque-themed with the local Drag Queen Jewels taking on the role of MC. Attendees are encouraged to dress up to match the theme but are not required to. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the ceremony starting at 7 p.m. The time before the ceremony is meant for attendees to socialize and explore the businesses that will be featured at the event.
In previous years only seven businesses were featured at the event and they were all restaurants. However, this year the number of featured businesses has expanded to ten and will include retail businesses. During the ceremony, there will be various performers showcasing their talents and skills.
“We are connected to multiple organizations like Burning Man, we bring art from Burning Man we bring entertainment,” Flores said. “We’ve had anything from fire-spitting dragons to aerial artists, to circus acts to freak shows; all kinds of stuff to make the event much more engaging.”
Recently, businesses in Long Beach like Harvelle’s, The Bamboo Club and Secret Island Tiki Restaurant and Lounge have had burlesque shows and are gaining popularity. This spike of interest in burlesque is what inspired the theme for this year’s award ceremony and accompanying performances.
Burlesque performers include Kasey Kupcake, Nadia Lotte, Tula Casati and Luna LoveLee. Other performers include Coco Lamarr a cabaret singer, Warumono a fire performer, Paloma Pearl a stage kitten, a DJ and a magician. However, due to the theme of this year’s award ceremony and the performances, attendees must be at least 18 years old to be able to attend.
While this is the first year this age restriction is in place, Flores believes it is best and hopes that adults can still attend, enjoy the ceremony and celebrate small businesses. Tickets are on sale now at bestoflb.com, so be sure to act quickly before they sell out!
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