About Us
LBC Vibe is Long Beach’s original independent local community platform — launched by locals who were tired of getting their city filtered through a tourist lens.
At LBC Vibe, we eat tacos like it’s our job (because, kind of, it is), sip lattes in hidden cafes, dance at dive bars, and keep tabs on every local band, food crawl, and secret speakeasy popping up around town. If it’s happening in Long Beach, we’re probably already there — camera in one hand, margarita in the other.
We’re part blog, part event calendar, part cultural compass. Think of us as your cooler, slightly sarcastic friend who always knows what’s going on this weekend — and never gatekeeps the good stuff.
From spotlighting small businesses and local musicians playing the venues nobody else is covering, to curating lists of where to eat, sip, shop, and stay, we’re here to help you experience Long Beach like a local. Because we are locals.
We don’t answer to city hall. We don’t answer to hotel sponsors. We answer to this community — and only this community.
Whether you’re new in town or just tired of Googling “best bars in Long Beach” for the 47th time, we got you.
This is the Long Beach vibe.
Things to Do in Long Beach: Not the sanitized tourist version — the real list. The events worth leaving the house for, the pop-ups you’ll be mad you missed, and the weekends that remind you why you live here.
Long Beach Small Business Spotlights: The pizza spot that’s been there forever, the boutique you didn’t know existed, the local maker showing something extraordinary at a farmer’s market. We find them, we tell their story, and we send the community their way.
Long Beach Food and Drink: Where to eat, where to sip, where the happy hour is actually worth it, and which dinner spot everyone’s hyping that you should probably skip. Honest, local, and slightly opinionated. You’re welcome.
Local Music and Live Entertainment: The small venues, the Thursday night sets, the local bands playing at your favorite dive bars. We cover the Long Beach music scene that nobody else is bothering to show up for.
Long Beach Neighborhood Guides: Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls, Retro Row, the East Side, the West Side, and everything in between — every corner of this city has a story and a reason to visit.
Hidden Gems and Local Secrets The spots that don’t have a Yelp page, an Instagram presence, or a PR team. Just good stuff that locals know about and visitors wish they did. Consider this your insider access.
Daniel TimTim
I had two choices when I graduated high school: art school or the Air Force. I chose the Air Force. Thirteen years.
Everyone thought I was crazy when I left. Maybe. But I knew there was something else I needed to build — and somewhere along the way I picked up a camera and everything clicked.
Turns out I’m a storyteller. Always have been. I just needed the right tool.
I see Long Beach the way a skater sees a city — not the obvious stuff, but the details. The texture. The hidden corners with the best lines that nobody else bothered to notice. I cruise these streets ground level, neighborhood by neighborhood, and I’ll talk to anyone — the taco stand owner who’s been at the same corner for twenty years, the artist who makes beautiful things and has no idea how to tell the world about them. I show up, I listen, I roll camera, and somehow I always end up feeling like we’ve been friends for years.
Because that’s what I’m really after. Not just the shot. The reason behind it. The person behind the business. The story behind the story. The moment someone’s eyes light up talking about the thing they built with their own hands — that’s what I’m there to capture.
When I’m not behind the lens or on my board I’m playing ukulele or handpan, teaching music lessons, or making crystal jewelry.
New things don’t scare me. People energize me. And every new skill just gives me another way to connect with someone I haven’t met yet.
Kari Jenkins
I’ve always been obsessed with this city. The weird parts, the beautiful parts, the parts that don’t make it into the brochures. The dive bar with the best jukebox you’ve never heard of. The taco spot with no Instagram presence and a line out the door at 11pm. The local band playing a Thursday night set to 40 people who don’t realize they’re witnessing something special.
That’s the Long Beach I live in. That’s the Long Beach I talk about.
I cut my teeth as a cocktail waitress at Crow’s in the 90s — back when it was the most gloriously unhinged dive bar in Long Beach — so I come by my love of this city’s bar scene honestly. I also come by my sailor mouth honestly (thanks Dick Lineberger!), but at least the F bomb will never be matched with a dangling preposition.
By day I run Hot Kofe, a marketing agency for small businesses, which means I’ve spent years helping local businesses tell their stories. Somewhere along the way I realized Long Beach itself needed someone to tell its story — the real one, not the tourist version.
So here we are.
I’m a Wilson High School alum, a confirmed word nerd, a latte fanatic, and a recovering corporate advertising executive who escaped the cubicle and never looked back. I have strong opinions about Oxford commas, overrated brunch spots, and the correct way to make a Bloody Mary.
Welcome to LBC Vibe. I’ve been saving you a seat.
Megan Traver
I have impossibly high standards. Twenty years as a Long Beach educator, principal, leadership coach, author, and speaker will do that to you. So will growing up in the LBC and knowing exactly what this city is capable of when it’s operating at its best.
I’m also a Wilson High School alum — yes, Kari and I go way back — and I never really left Long Beach, because why would you? This city has everything, as long as you know where to look. And I know where to look.
I’m your most enthusiastic dining companion in Long Beach. I’m the friend who has already researched every menu, made the reservation at the right table, and somehow knows the chef.
I’m also the friend who will look you dead in the eye and tell you that overpriced brunch spot everyone’s raving about is not worth the wait — and then take you somewhere ten times better that you’ve never heard of.
And honestly the best feeling for me is when a local business I spotlight blows up because the community showed up for them. When a tiny neighborhood restaurant suddenly has a line out the door. When a small shop owner texts me because they had their best week ever. When Long Beach rallies around one of their own just because someone finally told their story.
That’s the whole point. That’s why I do this. Long Beach has always taken care of its own.
LBC Vibe is just here to make the introductions.