Left to right: Joanna Alzipar, Brooke Davis, Mimi Masher, Kym Cloughesy, and Allison Kripp.
Even the mention of The Real Houswives of [Insert City Here] makes many—beside the guiltiest of guilty-pleasure watchers—cringe with a tinge of disturbance. But for a particular group of five Long Beach women who hope to turn their punk rock feminism into a reality web series, it portrays the exact opposite of what they would do if they were actually “Real Housewives.”
“I can’t get through a real episode of Housewives for more than five minutes at a time,” said Long Beach roller girl and self-described “mentor and professional burrito eater” Mimi Masher. “And that’s the problem: the crack that we’re drawn to as a society. You put something out there that’s positive and viewers supposedly don’t want to watch that—I think that’s ridiculous. And the women of Long Beach are the opposite: we support each other; we support our community and we are positive.”
Born on the night of the Daisy Avenue Parade, The Real Housewives of Long Beach became a reality when Masher realized that all five women—rolling historian Joanna Alzipar; animal rights activist, former Long Beach Police employee, and Mrs. SoCal Kym Cloughesy; hairstylist and self-described Long Beach socialite Brooke Davis; The Den Salon owner and child activist Allison Kripp; and Masher herself—were always at the same events around the city.
In addition to seeing each other around town, there was one other glaring similarity between the five women: they were are all, in one way or another, involved in and advertising for charity and philanthropy.
“I decided since we were a quirky bunch that we should be The Real Housewives of Long Beach and show the world how it should really be done,” Masher said.
Though there are many issues with the name—gotta love trademarks and copyrights—Masher is pushing forward with creating a webisode series where these anti-housewives will focus on female-led businesses, landmarks of Long Beach, and the overall “positive, punk rock side of the women of Long Beach.”
The series—following the club’s growing following on Facebook—now has an entire mini-support staff: it will be produced by Masher’s best from high school, Jessica Scharer, who also happens to do commercials in L.A. and will be written by Long Beach derby gal Auntie Social aka Lauren Kallio. Even better, both Scharer and Kallio will be volunteering their work.
“It really just started out as a joke,” Masher said, “but don’t underestimate the power of women, especially Long Beach women, when they put their mind to something.”