{"id":1719,"date":"2024-02-14T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T13:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/?p=1719"},"modified":"2024-02-14T17:45:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T01:45:51","slug":"vince-staples-show-long-beach-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/opinion\/vince-staples-show-long-beach-review","title":{"rendered":"Column: Long Beach takes center stage in Vince Staples\u2019 new show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I spent Monday evening in Los Angeles, watching Long Beach take center stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was at the premiere of Vince Staples\u2019 new show, “The Vince Staples Show,” which is set to debut its first season on Netflix Thursday, Feb 15<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show is hilarious, and a perfect vehicle to showcase Staples\u2019 deadpan, sardonic humor. He\u2019s long been a highly sought-after interview guest on podcasts and television shows because of his comedic delivery and his ability to make even the darkest topics into jokes, often with dead serious commentary underneath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It certainly wasn\u2019t a surprise to me then that in the first two episodes of the show, Staples and the show\u2019s writing staff got big laughs from a trip to jail and a bank robbery. It also wasn\u2019t a surprise that Staples himself was so good as an actor \u2014 he drew a lot of positive reviews after his multi-episode appearance on the hit ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary” last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Vince Staples Show” is both high-concept and actually funny, a tough balance to pull off. It walks a similar path to Donald Glover\u2019s “Atlanta,” but is distinctly different as well \u2014 in part because of the presence of Staples\u2019 hometown, Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show is one of the few times I\u2019ve truly seen Long Beach get to step to center stage as the star of a TV show or movie. We\u2019ve all seen our city as a backdrop hundreds of times, one meant to stand in for Hawaii, Miami, New York, Los Angeles, or some other nondescript urban or suburban locale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not the case on Staples\u2019 new show, which is firmly set in the city. The first episode opens with a scene shot at Sunrise Donuts on Seventh Street. The show\u2019s police officers are part of the \u201cBeach Police Department,\u201d whose logo and car decals look a lot like Long Beach\u2019s. There are also funny nods to the city\u2019s street culture, and locals will recognize some of the iconic Bluff Park houses used in the first episode as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Promo photo courtesy Netflix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After two episodes, I couldn\u2019t be more excited for the show. I can\u2019t wait to binge it Thursday to find out what other local Easter eggs Staples\u2019 has stuffed into this national release, and I have a feeling that local fans of the rapper (and of funny television) will love it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long Beach Bites<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of my favorite local stores in Long Beach is Pulp Fiction<\/strong>, a comics and collectibles shop on Anaheim. They do a lot in the community (donating kids\u2019 comics to literacy groups) and are one of two major comics shops in Long Beach, alongside the longstanding institution Amazing Comics & Cards<\/strong>, which I grew up going to. Pulp Fiction first opened its doors near LBCC, then moved to Clark and Atherton before settling in on Anaheim and Termino. If you\u2019re looking to get into comics or shopping for a unique gift it\u2019s a great local spot to check out. I\u2019m there every Wednesday getting my weekly dose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you get your comics fill at Pulp Fiction, you can fill your stomach across the street at Casa Sanchez<\/strong>. A lot of my friends wouldn\u2019t have made it through college without the affordable fixins at \u201cCasa Sanch\u201d as we called it back then, and every time I pass by I get a craving for their enchiladas. If you\u2019re looking for a great hole-in-the-wall local spot, it\u2019s always a great choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Vince Staples<\/strong>\u2019 show, one way that Long Beach has always looked like a \u201cstereotypical city\u201d from a movie or TV show is Signal Hill, and the breathtaking views of the city that it provides. Parking rules have changed over the years to make it harder to park up there on a Valentine\u2019s Day<\/strong> evening with a date to take in a sunset \u2014 but not impossible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The show is one of the few times I\u2019ve truly seen Long Beach get to step to center stage as the star of a TV show or movie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":1722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,4],"tags":[191,200],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[135],"class_list":["post-1719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-hi-lo","tag-mike-guardabascio","tag-vince-staples","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1719"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1726,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1719\/revisions\/1726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}