Claiming he is “always looking for ways to bring up the streetscape elements of Downtown Long Beach,” community organizer and urbanerd Eric Gray–with the help of local artist Doug Kurtz and the Long Beach Fire Department–has done a simple thing to help beautify Long Beach Boulevard.
He painted the fire hydrants an impressively shiny, metallic gold.
“I knew that Pine Avenue would be getting a streetscape improvement project later on this year, so I decided to focus my efforts on Long Beach Boulevard,” Gray said. “I’ve been to other cities where they’ll paint their fire hydrants different enhancing colors.”
Long Beach Boulevard, at least for Gray, is important not only because it is our namesake street but it acts as the major corridor connecting Downtown with the Promenade, the East Village, and the Performing Arts Center.
For a thrift store-worthy price tag of $1560–with which Gray, instead of bothering with the City, approached the Convention and Visitors Bureau and DLBA to split the cost–Long Beach Boulevard is now graced with hydrants that are sure to be the new best friends of puppies throughout Downtown.