Wrigley Neighborhood
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Wrigley is a district in Long Beach, California, U.S., which derives its name from William Wrigley, the owner and founder of the famed Wrigley Spearmint Gum Empire in Chicago. It was one of the first communities established in Long Beach. The original subdivision pattern was established in 1905. The area is developed throughout on a gridiron street pattern.
The district is bounded on the north by Interstate 405, on the south by Pacific Coast Highway (SR 1), and on the east by Long Beach Boulevard. Pacific Avenue also goes through the area with commercial strip land uses. The Los Angeles River and the Interstate 710 make up the western boundary.
The neighborhood has a community park, Veteran's Park, convenient access to local freeways, Blue Linelight rail transportation and the new Wrigley Marketplace shopping district - an innovative joint venture between Long Beach and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The center combines neighborhood-serving retail with a modern park and ride facility for light rail commuters.
Special events
Each December, the Wrigley Neighborhood plays host to the Daisy Avenue Christmas Parade, which has been an annual tradition since 1953. The parade goes down Daisy Avenue, starting at Pacific Coast Highway and going to Burnett in the same area as the Daisy Avenue Greenbelt.
In 2006, the mature fir trees that lined the Daisy Avenue Center median, extending from Pacific Coast Highway four blocks north to Hill Street, were not lighted for the Christmas season. The electrical system had deteriorated. The Wrigley Association Daisy Avenue Christmas Tree Lane organization intends to raise enough money this year to put in a new electrical system and purchase energy-efficient LED lights for the trees.
Holiday displays are set up on the median beneath the trees. All of the displays are being spruced up for the 2007 event by a team of volunteers who having been working on them almost every Saturday since February of this year. Residents of Daisy Avenue often participate by decorating their own homes.
Locals call the area "Daisy Avenue Christmas Tree Lane". Motorists line up for the traditional holiday drive around the avenue's median. Local residents walk with their children. Sometimes, Santa is there to hand out candy canes on weekends.
On entertainment nights, children rock-out with the Blue Steel band which is made up of Long Beach police officers, dance in the streets with traditional cloggers and ballet folkloric dance groups and sing along with the International Children's Choir.
The Wrigley Association is a neighborhood association dedicated to improving the lives in the Wrigley area of Long Beach.
The general meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 P.M. at the Veteran’s Park Social Hall, 101 East 28th Street. (If the first Monday is a holiday, meeting will be held on the second Monday of the month). Child Care and parking are free.
Community Website
www.neighborhoodlink.com/longbch/wrigley/
