From tragedy to weather to political rallies and car races, it was a busy year in Long Beach.
Here are the photos that best capture the drama and emotion of 2019.
*****
In May the Arts Council for Long Beach debuted its official takeover of an art walk that had seen many ups and downs since its inception more than two decades ago.
A big part of that new energy in the East Village emanated from East Village Arts Park, where Long Beach native Senay Kenfe launched his Eddie’s Liquor Collective, an organization run by locals for locals whose mission is to provide equity to artists from Central, North and West Long Beach.
Officials with the Grand Prix of Long Beach—the city’s longest-running event—announced in February that Acura would take over as title sponsor of the 45th annual race through the streets of Downtown.
In December police in Signal Hill called in a SWAT unit to help apprehend a man with several arrest warrants who had holed up in a detached garage in the back of a house in the 1800 block of Dawson Avenue.
Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and a dog to help bring the man out and take him into custody.
Seven days after a gunman opened fire on a Halloween-themed birthday party in late October, killing three men and wounding nine other people, monks came to perform a ceremony at the scene of the crime.
The Buddhist ceremony was meant to cleanse the home and help the souls of the men who died move on. As one monk, Sireysakayamuny, sprinkled water on the spots where the three men died, the backyard, inside the home and on the people in attendance, another monk chanted.
In March the Post featured the story of Jerry Pryor, 73, a homeless man who cleans up as he pushes his cart along a small stretch in Lakewood Village.
Several businesses and residents in the area started a GoFundMe account to raise money for Pryor, a Wilson High graduate.
Long Beach—and most of California—had a great rain year in 2019, with several storms that dropped enough precipitation to lift much of the state out of drought.
By early February Long Beach was at about 180% of normal rainfall for the year.
Three men were killed and nine people injured following a mass shooting during a Halloween party at a home in the Rose Park area on Oct. 29.
The shooter appeared to fire indiscriminately from an alley behind the home at Seventh Street and Temple Avenue, where 25 to 30 people had gathered for the party, police said. The following day police and coroners officials worked to find the shooter and inform family and friends of those at the party.
Family and friends mourned the loss of three killed and those injured at a party on Oct. 29 in the Rose Park area. A large vigil was organized the evening after the shooting.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, among the leading candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, held a huge rally at Long Beach City College in August.
In May, a 63-year-old woman was beaten to death in North Long Beach by an assailant wielding an electric scooter. The Post spent several months investigating the crime—which made international headlines—looking into the background of the accused killer, and the victim, Rosa Hernandez.
In this photo, Rosa’s husband Manuel holds a picture of his wife in the home they shared. The two grew up in a Mexican village called Campanillas before immigrating to the United States, where they met and married.
A man with a fake gun sparked a standoff with police when he refused to come out of a stolen car parked at a North Long Beach gas station on the afternoon of Sept. 24, 2019.
The man was later arrested and taken to a mental health facility for evaluation.
