While Long Beach is trying to reinvent its economic future, Mayor Rex Richardson on Friday said his city is “seeing incredible growth” as it shifts its image from an oil town to one with burgeoning tourist appeal.
Before a luncheon audience of 500 business, political and community leaders, Richardson pressed his principal aim in the coming year: that Long Beach finds its new identity.
“It’s time for Long Beach to no longer be the best-kept secret,” Richardson said, quoting city manager Tom Modica. “I think it’s an economic imperative that we do that over the next few years.”
Richardson led a discussion at the second annual “State of Business” that featured a panel of speakers who each play a role in the city’s budding entertainment industry — one of the sectors that’s taken on new importance as Long Beach’s oil revenue disappears, blowing holes in future budgets.
Speakers Friday included Dan Hoffend with venue management company ASM Global, entertainment mogul Corey Smyth and Michael Montri, the vice president of Penske Entertainment, which recently purchased the Long Beach Grand Prix. Zach Alpern and Maureen Valker of Insomniac Events, which operates music festivals in Long Beach, also sat in on the discussion.
Topics were a far cry from last year’s luncheon, held jointly by Richardson and Long Beach Chamber of Commerce President Jeremy Harris, who spoke on the city’s budding aerospace industry.
The city in that time has introduced new aerospace startups like Ampaire and seen expansions by existing companies, like JetZero and Rocket Lab’s proposed mission to Mars. And six months after their announcement, Richardson said the Ford Motor Company is a month or two away from launching its electric vehicle development center, which brings 500 jobs.
Similar hopes are wagered on entertainment, as the sector looks to expand in size, ambition and geography in Long Beach.
Valker, the senior vice president for Insomniac Events, spoke about the much-anticipated return of the Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach for its 30th anniversary. The event sold more than 62,000 tickets in the first four hours they were available, Richardson said.
“I actually think Warped Tour in Long Beach is going to be the biggest rock festival in America,” Valker said.
Insomniac events generate a combined $90 million for Long Beach’s economy.
Montri spoke on Penske Entertainment’s purchase of the Long Beach Grand Prix last month, as the 1.9-mile race celebrates its 50th anniversary in April. With a new broadcasting deal with Fox Network, the race will be televised in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. “The eyeballs of the world, and particularly in the U.S., will be on Long Beach,” he said.
Yet as it stands, Long Beach is not taking a large enough slice of the county’s $20 billion entertainment market, Richardson said. There are 14 million people within driving distance to Long Beach “who want to go to events here. … We should take advantage of that.”
Hoffend said the city should prioritize experiences as opposed to traditional shopping, saying that’s the direction Gen-Z consumers are headed.
“I was always, ‘Work to buy a house, work to buy a car,’” Hoffend said. “They’re like, ‘Experiences are what life’s all about.’ In the end, it’s only your experiences that you have that really count. Everything else is left behind. We attack that.”
Smyth, who helped produce the Netflix Series “The Vince Staples Show,” said it was critical to better understand and lean into youth culture. “Give the kids an opportunity,” Corey said as someone’s phone began to ring. “They’re calling.”
In his closing remarks, Richardson promised that updates on the 2028 Olympics will come “very soon” while hinting that “exciting” developments will be shared around the city’s planned amphitheater at the Queen Mary at his State of the City address on Jan. 14.
The amphitheater is expected to attract 12,000 to 13,000 people 40 to 60 nights per year. The Long Beach Convention Center, by comparison, attracts 3,000 to 4,000 people per event, on average, according to Richardson.
With the L.A. Olympics less than four years away — Long Beach is set to have at least eight events — Richardson stressed that when the eyes of the world fall on Long Beach, the city better give a good first impression.
“We need to be very crystal clear on who we are,” Richardson said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct a quote by Maureen Valker that previously omitted the word “rock.”