The name \u201cKubo\u201d comes from the term \u201cbahay kubo,\u201d which is a traditional Filipino house made out of indigenous materials. \u201cBahay\u201d means house, and \u201ckubo\u201d is the material the house is made out of, explained Belfer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was great about those homes is they\u2019re on stilts, and in the Philippines, there’s a lot of flooding and typhoons, so you could literally pick up your house and move it,\u201d Belfer said. \u201cIt’s just a way of talking about our heritage and celebrating the great things that our community can bring to the larger Long Beach community.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is Bel Canto Books\u2019 second location; after beginning as a monthly pop-up book club in 2018, the business moved into a brick-and-mortar space in The Hangout on Fourth Street the following year.<\/p>\n
The bookstore celebrates historically marginalized authors and artists, and Belfer plans to host author events in-store, with the first event on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n
The event will feature two Filipina authors: Tracy Badua, author of, \u201cThis is Not a Personal Statement,\u201d and Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, author of, \u201cMy Heart Underwater.”<\/p>\n \u201cI’ve been hearing from everybody who’s been coming in that they’re so excited to have a bookstore in the neighborhood again,\u201d said Belfer. \u201cI think people are just hungry to find spaces to celebrate books, to read great stories, and meet neighbors and be inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n Particularly since the pandemic, many people are returning to things that brought them joy, from cooking, to gardening, to reading, Belfer said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that’s been a huge plus for indie bookstores,\u201d Belfer said. \u201cWe’ve been seeing a renaissance now of a lot of independent brand new bookstores opening up, especially by small business owners who are BIPOC or LGBTQ, because we’re just trying to find creative ways to open new stores and be in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Belfer is excited to join the numerous other businesses on Atlantic Avenue, a neighborhood that is primed for a space like Bel Canto Books, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s great to have another opportunity to bring something new to the community,\u201d Belfer said.<\/p>\n Follow <\/i>Bel Canto Books<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>KUBO<\/i><\/a> on Instagram to stay up-to-date on the grand opening and upcoming events.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KUBO, located at 3976 Atlantic Ave., is expected to officially open in early March, and it’s meant to provide a collaborative environment for small businesses to grow, while also providing a space for the community to gather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":72257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[32079,32078],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[31860,31828],"class_list":["post-32985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-bel-canto-books","tag-kubo-lb","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32985"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32985"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/02103136\/IMG_5502-scaled.jpg\")