By snoadmin
The peppy and young-at-heart took over Atlantic Avenue last Friday to celebrate the 108 birthday of Dr. Seuss during Long Beach’s monthly First Fridays.
Participating stores enticed the citizens of Long Beach to enter their stores and discover a different taste of Long Beach.
As Dr. Seuss said, “From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.”
A large crowd gathered outside Aura Thai because the Long Beach Ukulele Club was playing. There were no drums, amplifiers or microphones. There were just simple folding chairs, a flurry of music sheets and people playing the ukulele. Some listeners who gathered around them tapped their feet and lip-synced along to a few of the recognizable melodies.
Outside Edward Jones Investments, DJ Tom played some tracks that literally stopped some adults in their tracks and began dancing instead.
“Stop making a scene,” a woman jokingly yelled to her friend. “You’re embarrassing me!”
The other woman’s dancing was not child-appropriate, so after she was done, they both walked away with their arms linked together, giggling like school girls.
Next door at Porky’s Pizza, kids who could not stop their parents from dancing in the middle of sidewalk grabbed a bite to eat and laughed at their parents’ funny-looking moves. It was like watching Chandler from the sitcom “Friends” do his victory dance on the table.
More kids gathered outside Pixie Toys, impatiently waiting to get their faces painted for the night. They were enthusiastically yanking on their parents’ arms and whined about which animal, fairy or superhero they wanted to be for the night.
Car enthusiasts enjoyed going to Melinda McCoy’s Flowers to see the vintage car show, presented by the Sultans Car Club of Long Beach. As the patrons browsed around the cars, they were accompanied with music by The Rock Club.
At Georgie’s Place, the Greek restaurant, diners were treated to the soothing jazz sounds of Hot Club du Bop. The combination of the hypnotic blares from the trumpet, the metronome-like taps from the drums, the deep thumping of the bass guitar and the whining strums of the lead guitar put people at ease as they slowly ate their dinner.
Some of the scattered electrical boxes along the street were dressed in red and white-striped wrapping paper, to be “gifts” for the famous children’s book writer.
In lieu of celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday, some stores opted to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day instead. For example, EJ Malloys served apple martinis and festive beers to celebrate the day of green.
Sam-I-Am of “Green Eggs and Ham” would have certainly enjoyed the variety of things that this month’s festivities had to offer.
For more information about upcoming First Fridays, visit firstfridayslongbeach.com.
