Let’s face it: any student or alumnus of Long Beach State is made to feel a little wanting in these parts. USC and UCLA tend to suck up all the air—not to mention TV time, newspaper print, and donor dollars—and that can leave a 49er feeling, well, like we don’t measure up, like we’re no one’s first choice. Still, there are times when we get it right—the Pyramid, the Carpenter Center, and the “BEACH” arch T-shirt, which I believe is the best college T-shirt in Southern California. You heard me. Yeah, I know ’SC and UCLA have their own arch tees, but there is something much more sublime about the “BEACH” tee (available in gray, gold, and black—get the black). It looks great—block letters rising and falling at the chest so that they look like a very sexy relief map. It also doesn’t offer everything up all at once, which is cool. For a school located in a city known for being far too enthusiastic to please outsiders, it’s wonderful to see this kind of restraint, a restraint that demands thee viewer of the tee be hip to the “BEACH.” Long Beach State bookstore clothing manager Kristin Bonetati says the shirt is the most popular item in her section of the store, but that popularity doesn’t translate nationally on the bookstore’s Website because a lot of people “don’t get it.” Ah, finally, we have something to “get.” Let the haughtiness begin! $14.95.

AT THE CSULB BOOKSTORE on the campus of Long Beach State or Online at csulb.edu/bookstore.