Two people were hospitalized last night after a pair of stabbings in a busy Belmont Shore entertainment district, Long Beach police said.

According to police, the first stabbing happened at about 2 a.m. in the 5100 block of Second Street, a block at the heart of Second Street that includes the popular bar Panama Joe’s.

Police said two men were in a “physical altercation” that ended with one of them being stabbed in the upper body. He was taken to the hospital in stable but critical condition, and the assailant fled, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

The second stabbing happened on the same block about an hour later.

In that case, police said, two women punched and then stabbed the victim as the result of a “dispute.” Police said the victim was hospitalized in stable condition.

Police said the two stabbings were unrelated. They did not say what triggered either altercation.

Officers were also investigating a stabbing that left two women wounded in Downtown Long Beach’s entertainment district.

At about 2:20 a.m., police said, a woman stabbed two other women during a fight in the 200 block of Pine Avenue. Both were taken to the hospital in stable condition, police said.

No arrests have been made in connection to any of the crimes. Police said they’re still gathering suspect descriptions and trying to determine motives.

Police said they plan to boost patrols and reach out to businesses and residents.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.