Photos by Trevor Roberson
1:00pm | Editor’s Note: This is an expansion on our print coverage of the Best of Long Beach. Given our limited print space, we wanted to further share our experience at these amazing businesses via the many photos we took. We feel it not only allows the reader to better understand why each place was chosen, but provides the chance to spotlight local businesses visually. We will do one business every day until all 30 winners have been covered. Enjoy.
She is the Godmother of the block that runs along Elm Street in between 3rd and 4th Street. Everyone knows her and everyone loves her – because she was the spark that started the transformation of the East Village Arts District when she began her business some four years ago.
Exuberant as she is downright loveable, Lisa Hernandez calls herself the founder, not the owner, of the Long Beach Depot for Creative ReUse – since the people are the owners. “All the things you see in here,” she proudly proclaims, “have been donated not only from teachers, artists, and businesses, but also individuals that just have these things—“ she gestures to buckets of beer caps, buttons, corks, and a plethora of other assorted conveniences that get lost in the back of one’s Everything Drawer – “and we help un-hoard these people!” She ends with a laugh. She always ends with a laugh, a characteristic that is incredibly infectious.
Being the only creative reuse store in Southern California doesn’t come magically; for Lisa, it came from the soul after feeling removed and like a cog in the corporate world. Inspired by Mr. Myrtle’s Large Heart, a story about an old man with a store filled with many things, and at the mentioning of her daughter, Yoshino, she opened the Long Beach Depot for Creative Reuse. Go in. Say hi. And learn an incredible story attached to everything in the store from an equally incredible woman who loves humanity.
The Long Beach Depot for Creative ReUse, 320 Elm Avenue. (562) 437-9999 | Website | Facebook
