Our annual search for the best Long Beach has to offer (everything from Micronesian huts and sleep-inducing subs to beer cams and Zeppelin rides) will hit the streets and your hands soon, but it’s never too early to start planning for our Best of Long Beach Bash at the Madison this Thursday. Food, drinks, music [...]

The New Rome Quartet’s intergalactic porno jazz odyssey

When mutton-chopped bassist Derek Smalls attempted to usher in Spinal Tap Mach II as a realization of his lifelong musical dream “Jazz Odyssey,” it should be remembered that the phase was introduced and immediately abandoned before a theme-park crowd assembled to watch a performance by puppets. The New [...]

College drinking, bear bar, martinis, a cellar and more

PHOTO by CHERYL GROFF

BEST WATERING HOLES FOR WASTING TUITION LOANS: ANY BAR ON SECOND STREET First stop: Legends (5236 E. Second St., Long Beach 90803. 562.433.5743). Hands down the rowdiest sports bar during a game—and the largest bar on Second—Legends is good for big groups (just leave [...]

Gimlet

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
To some, the Gimlet is bound to seem pedestrian: Usually just a mix of gin and sweetened lime juice—and sometimes soda water and a lime wedge—the cocktail can lack a certain entertainment factor found in other, -ini-ier drinks. But the Gimlet is still a sexy swirl of flavors—and I say this not [...]