Organized cleanups in Downtown and North Long Beach began Monday morning, with businesses hurting from the aftermath of Sunday’s largely peaceful protest that was followed by several groups breaking off to loot and vandalize shops and structures, Sunday night.

Throughout Monday, Downtown was busy with volunteer cleanup crews, brooms and dustpans in hand, in what seemed a constant search for things to pick up or clean. In fact, despite most crews acting completely on their own, they were so efficient in their efforts that by early afternoon, most were looking for things to do.

On Tuesday, others found their way of helping/cleaning up. Artist Whosvlad said painting murals on boarded-up businesses was his way of rebuilding. Several responded to his and other artists’ posts on social media and came out to continue to help, and add their own messages of community support.

Artist couple Anna and Kenny McBride, who began painting over vandalism on Monday, continued their pursuit to cover hateful messages or useless tags in an effort to give business owners a little help along the path toward reopening.

After night of chaos, Long Beach begins to clean up