Arts, food, LGBTQ+ representation and the stories shaping our communities
A lot can happen in seven days. Some stories dominate our feeds for a few hours and disappear. Others quietly reveal where our communities are heading, who is being heard and what may be changing around us.
That is the idea behind this new weekly Playalarga roundup. Every Thursday, we’ll pull together seven stories from Long Beach, Los Angeles and the communities around us. Expect local updates, arts and culture, food, LGBTQ+ stories, Latino perspectives and the things people are actually talking about.
This week brought another warning about LGBTQ+ representation in Hollywood, a fight over immigration detention in California, concerns about the future of an important coastal research program and an update from a homegrown Long Beach coffee business preparing to open its first permanent shop.
The city is also reconsidering how Downtown parking works, while a waterfront park hidden behind a private neighborhood is finally becoming easier for the public to access.
Here are seven stories worth catching up on.
Laguna Beach’s summer arts season is officially underway
Summer arts season has returned to Laguna Beach with the opening of the Festival of Arts on July 7. Running through September 3, the juried exhibition brings together the work of more than 100 Orange County artists across painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and other mediums.
The festival is also home to the Pageant of the Masters, Laguna’s wonderfully dramatic tradition of recreating famous works of art with live performers, theatrical sets and lighting. It is part art exhibition, part performance and part Southern California summer ritual.
Long Beach has its own growing creative ecosystem, but it is worth looking beyond our city limits at the larger network of artists, galleries and cultural institutions shaping the region. For anyone who works in art, design or event production, Laguna’s summer season is also a reminder of what sustained investment in the arts can become over time.
Explore the Festival of Arts, Pageant of the Masters and participating artists.
LGBTQ+ characters are disappearing from major movies
A new GLAAD report found that LGBTQ+ inclusion in major films has fallen to a three-year low. Of the 225 movies examined from 2025, only 46—about 20%—included an LGBTQ+ character.
The numbers become even more troubling when you look at who is missing. The study found no transgender characters across the films reviewed, while queer characters of color also lost ground.
This matters in Southern California because Hollywood is part of our regional economy, culture and identity. The decisions made inside studios reach far beyond entertainment. They help determine which lives audiences see as complicated, joyful, ordinary and worthy of being placed at the center of a story.
Queer audiences are still here. Queer filmmakers, writers, performers and crews are still creating. When representation falls, it reflects decisions being made by an industry that increasingly appears willing to treat our stories as optional.
Read the report coverage from The Guardian and explore GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index.
Downtown Long Beach may have a parking problem—but not the one we keep hearing about
Ask almost anyone why they avoid Downtown Long Beach and parking will eventually enter the conversation. The city, however, says the issue may not be a shortage of spaces.
Two city-owned parking garages reportedly sit well below capacity, even while drivers circle blocks looking for street parking or decide to skip Downtown altogether. That suggests the larger problem may involve pricing, visibility, convenience and whether people know where the available garages are.
For Downtown businesses, this distinction matters. Telling people that parking exists will not change behavior if the experience feels confusing or expensive. The city will have to make its garages easier to find, easier to use and competitive with the street spaces drivers already prefer.
Downtown’s recovery depends on more than adding restaurants, apartments and events. People need to feel that getting there—and leaving—is worth the effort.
Read John Donegan’s complete reporting in the Long Beach Post.
A waterfront park hidden behind a private neighborhood is becoming public again
Jack Nichol Park sits near Alamitos Bay, but for years, access to the coastal park was restricted by the neighboring Bay Harbour community. That is now changing following an agreement intended to restore public access and direct money toward improvements everyone can use.
The story raises a larger question about who gets to enjoy California’s coastline. Waterfront neighborhoods may feel private because of their gates, walls and design, but coastal access and public recreational spaces belong to the broader community.
The agreement avoids a longer legal fight and keeps the focus on opening the park and improving its amenities. That is a better outcome than allowing a public space to remain effectively hidden from the people who help support it.
Long Beach’s waterfront is one of our greatest shared resources. Public access should be obvious, welcoming and protected.
Read Jacob Sisneros’ complete report in the Long Beach Post.
The CSULB Shark Lab is facing another uncertain future
Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab has built an international reputation for studying shark behavior while helping coastal communities understand how people and marine life can safely share the water.
Now, funding concerns are threatening the California Beach Safety Program developed by the lab. The Shark Lab itself would not disappear entirely, according to Director Chris Lowe, but the program’s research, education and public-safety work could.
That loss would stretch far beyond the university. The lab tracks sharks along the Southern California coast and turns its research into practical information for lifeguards, beach communities and the public. As changing ocean temperatures affect marine behavior, that work is becoming more important.
We sometimes treat university research as something happening quietly inside a campus. The Shark Lab shows how directly that research can affect the places where we swim, surf and spend our summers.
Read the original reporting from the Press-Telegram and learn more directly from the CSULB Shark Lab.
California immigration advocates packed a meeting over one of the state’s largest detention centers
Immigrant-rights advocates traveled from across California to challenge approvals connected to the California City Immigration Processing Center in Kern County. The CoreCivic-operated facility is considered one of the largest immigration detention centers in the state.
According to L.A. TACO, advocates raised concerns about the facility’s zoning, water use, medical care and alleged inhumane conditions. Community members also questioned whether the public had been given a meaningful opportunity to comment before the facility began operating as an immigration detention center.
The Planning Commission ultimately denied an appeal challenging the site-plan approval after hours of public testimony.
For Latino and immigrant communities across Southern California, this is not a distant issue simply because the facility sits in the Mojave Desert. Families, legal advocates and community organizations throughout the state are connected to the people held inside these centers.
The meeting also showed why independent Latino journalism matters. Without reporters following the public records, hearings and people directly affected, stories like this can easily remain out of sight.
Read the complete investigation from L.A. TACO.
Our Spot Coffee is preparing to open its first permanent Long Beach home
After three years of pop-ups and residencies around Long Beach, Our Spot Coffee & Goods is preparing to open its first permanent café later this month.
Owners Chris and Ali McColl are moving into the former Starbucks at 2221 Palo Verde Avenue. There is something particularly satisfying about watching an independent Long Beach business take over a space previously occupied by one of the largest coffee chains in the world.
Our Spot has built its following without a permanent storefront, moving between local businesses while experimenting with coffee, matcha and seasonal drinks that feel more like thoughtfully constructed cocktails than another flavored latte. Those residencies gave the owners time to develop their menu and build a customer base that followed them from one location to the next.
The permanent shop gives Our Spot consistency, but it also represents something larger for Long Beach’s small-business community: a locally created concept moving from temporary spaces into a home of its own.
The café is currently expected to open in late July. Until then, Our Spot continues operating its existing residency.
Follow Our Spot Coffee & Goods for opening updates and view the latest opening announcement.
Long Beach will always remain at the center of what we cover, but our lives do not stop at the city limits. We eat across LA, visit galleries in Orange County, follow decisions made throughout California and feel the effects of national stories inside our own neighborhoods.
That is what this weekly roundup will follow: the stories shaping Long Beach, the communities around us and the culture we share.
Now that you’re caught up, it is time to decide what to do with the weekend. Check out The Five for our curated picks and explore the full Playalarga calendar—because if it’s happening, it’s here.
Written and researched by Salvador Flores; enhanced for grammar by AI.
