Shoreline Village

Ran some errands and decided to add a mile walk and some sketching. Forgot my moleskine but had purchased some legal envelopes. At least I had something to sketch on. Parker's Lighthouse takes it roofline from an old building that used to be in the nearby old Pike amusement park. It may have been for the merry-go-round which is reburbished and in Shoreline Village, another subject for future sketching. The city has relocated the original rooftop near the new Pike Place but it appears to be melting beyond salvation.


The first view faces south towards the ocean and Queen Mary. This faces north, towards the city, Ocean Blvd, Pine Ave and Signal Hill. The city has set up all the concrete barriers for the Grand Prix which begins next week. Hard to imagine race cars will zoom by less than a hundred feet away.

Shoreline Village is the frosting part of downtown Long Beach, the attractive fun zone built on the skeleton of the old amusement areas.

Sketchcrawl at Shoreline Village

Sandy and I did a sketchcrawl this afternoon at Shoreline Village, Long Beach, a shopping restaurant area with marina, views of the Queen Mary and the new Pike Place built on the grave of the wild and wooly old Pike amusement park. The rickety rides, ferris wheel and tatoo parlors began to disappear in the early 1980's. The new Pike opened a few years ago.

The cold winds made people hurry by. Could only manage a bare outline of a woman and man. Looking north towards Ocean Blvd, the new Pike and parked sail boats.

Parker's Lighthouse served a yummy appetizer of fresh nachos and warm spinach dip and kept us filled to overflowing (I was overfilled) with coffee and iced tea while we sketched and chatted. Refreshing day. We sat in their front glassed in patio, taking shelter from the cold winds but with beautiful blue sunny skies. Steve, Sandy's husband, joined us after taking their two doggie children for a brisk walk along the oceanside.

View north towards tall buildings along Ocean Blvd, hiding the ocean views we used to have along the street.

This is Margaret, a well behaved dog who looks to be part Shih Tzu. Next time I'll have to sketch her sibling. A few sketches always makes me feel productive. Watercolor added on site. Uniball waterproof pen.