{"id":76070,"date":"2023-08-03T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=76070"},"modified":"2023-08-02T14:58:55","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T21:58:55","slug":"6-tips-pride-long-beach-jewels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/arts-culture\/6-tips-pride-long-beach-jewels","title":{"rendered":"6 tips for attending Long Beach Pride this year, according to Jewels herself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name a more prominent Long Beach drag icon than Jewels. We\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n

Recently, we spoke to the queen herself about Long Beach Pride\u2019s 40-year history and the importance of supporting the queer community<\/a>\u2014now more than ever\u2014as a record wave of legislation stands to threaten the rights of LGBTQ+ people nationwide.<\/p>\n

Long Beach, though, has long been a safe sanctuary for queer folks\u2014the city’s LGBTQ Center has offered health services for 46 years, and more recently, its vibrant rainbow crosswalks have proudly displayed the city’s support for the LGBQT+ community for all to see.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Jewels landed here in 1998. She was in search of something she felt she lacked growing up in a religious family in \u201ca tiny town in the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after moving to Long Beach, Jewels attended her first Pride celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the first experience, you know, seeing a large group of people that I felt comfortable with and could be out and proud and celebrate my identity with,\u201d Jewels told the Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made Long Beach my home, and Pride was a huge part of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jewels\u2019 journey into drag began at the Art Theatre on Fourth Street, where she would join the \u201cshadow cast\u201d of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the group still exists, it\u2019s called Midnight Insanity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Before she turned 21, Jewels started working at Hamburger Mary\u2019s, where she started performing, since she wasn\u2019t old enough to be in a bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it took off from there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to performing weekly at the club, Jewels also now serves as the executive director of entertainment for Hamburger Mary\u2019s International\u2014the largest LGBTQ+ franchise corporation in the world. In that role, she\u2019s been a part of many festivals and parades across the country.<\/p>\n

Still, she says Long Beach Pride holds a special place in her heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely see Long Beach as a safe haven for being who you are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jewels is also the first queen to receive a key to the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OK, dry your eyes. It\u2019s time for six very practical, very necessary Pride tips from Jewels.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cWear sunscreen, all right? Wear sunscreen. Even if you don\u2019t think it\u2019s sunny. A lot of times, Prides start out overcast and become sunny\u2014because<\/i> we\u2019re by the beach. So wear sunscreen everywhere <\/i>and then put on your costume and your fabulous decorations.”<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cPut your phone on airplane mode until you need to use it. There will be thousands of people on the parade and festival grounds and your phone will run out of battery looking for a signal.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. “Wear comfortable shoes\u2014lots of walking. We encourage everyone to take public transportation, our beautiful trains and buses and Ubers if you need to, but there is always lots of walking involved.”<\/li>\n
  4. “Pride is in August\u2014so, cool clothing and maybe your favorite parasol to protect from the sun.”<\/li>\n
  5. “Hydration! Lots of water before you leave the house, lots of water throughout your day.”<\/li>\n
  6. “If you\u2019re going with a group, you need a designated meeting spot [in case] someone\u2019s phone is not charged, if you get split up, you need a designated meeting spot that you agree to before you go.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you want to catch Jewels in Long Beach, you can watch her perform at Hamburger Marys every Wednesday night, Friday night as well as Saturday and Sunday brunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The only drag queen to hold a key to the city, who has been deeply enmeshed in Long Beach\u2019s LGBTQ+ community since 1998, would like to offer you some very necessary tips on how to survive the 40th annual Long Beach Pride. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":76072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[5322],"tags":[19155,466],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[9454],"class_list":["post-76070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-jewels","tag-long-beach-pride","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070","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\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76070"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76088,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76070\/revisions\/76088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76070"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=76070"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=76070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}