{"id":385133,"date":"2026-07-03T16:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385133\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:57:23","slug":"life-in-long-beach-goes-viral-herald-community-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/385133\/","title":{"rendered":"Life in Long Beach goes viral | Herald Community Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internet memes are part artistic expression, part social commentary and part cultural snapshot. The images or text they present are terse one-liners, driving home a point or evoking an emotion. One creative local mind has carved out a niche of its own, blending Long Beach<\/a> pride with more than a decade of professional expertise in social media management.<\/p>\n

The result is the Instagram account LongBeachNYMemes<\/a>, which has attracted more than 20,000 followers since 2020. The page, operated by West End resident Drew Guarini, continues to offer relatable memes about life in the City by the Sea while supporting small businesses and encouraging residents to explore local music, arts and restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about the vast majority of towns on Long Island. Is anybody going to wear a hoodie that says \u2018Massapequa Park\u2019 or \u2018Rockville Centre?\u2019 No,\u201d Guarini said. \u201cBut if you walk around Long Beach, you\u2019re going to see an endless parade of people rocking a Long Beach hat, Long Beach tank top, Long Beach shirt. People want to be here. They want to live here. They want to visit here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guarini, 37, graduated from Rockville Centre\u2019s South Side High School in 2007, having been voted \u201cMost likely to be online.\u201d After developing a penchant for creating rudimentary websites, distributing music files and organizing online photo albums for friends, he graduated from NYU in 2011 with a degree in cinema arts. He was a writer and editor and worked in social media management, eventually completing major social media projects for brands including Budweiser, McDonald\u2019s and Netflix.<\/p>\n

After he moved to Long Beach in 2013, Guarini\u2019s constantly running mind and his new-found love of the town\u2019s lifestyle merged into the now-popular memes page. The site, longbeachnymemes.com<\/a> \u2014 a standalone webpage separate from the social media page \u2014 explains his work as \u201can absurdist humor love letter, topical commentary, and news about the City by the Sea.\u201d Guarini estimates that he has spent thousands of hours creating hundreds of posts per year, typically distributing batches of 15 to 20 images at a time, posting several times a week.<\/p>\n

Topics include anything the average Long Beach resident could recognize or relate to, from the boardwalk<\/a> to longing for beach days in the middle of winter<\/a>, nearly always with an optimistic spin. \u201cI\u2019d like to think of my page as sort of a palate-cleansing sorbet between 20 courses of mud as you\u2019re scrolling through social media,\u201d Guarini said. \u201cThere is so much negativity. There\u2019s so much bad news. It\u2019s sort of suffocating, all-encompassing and unavoidable. And I\u2019d like to think that the vast majority of what I post is kind of a reprieve and a refresher from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Highlights section of his page is a collection of stories showcasing \u201cThis week in LB\u201d \u2014 a collection of musical performances and activities<\/a> around the city \u2014 Long Beach-focused history and current food and drink specials at local bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of free promotion that I\u2019ve given to businesses, that most influencers or pages of my size would charge people for \u2014 I\u2019ve probably given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in free promotion,\u201d Guarini estimates.<\/p>\n

He also offers city-centric merchandise linking to shirts, towels and hats through an Etsy store. The merch, like the website, was never meant to be a real source of income. He views the site as a break-even project, at best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I check my DMs and somebody says, \u2018Hey, thank you for sharing this \u2014 somebody came in and purchased something,\u201d Guarini said, \u201cthat is, far and away, the most rewarding thing for me. Just giving back to our community and helping people out.\u201d<\/p>\n

His next big venture is a step away from the screen, going IRL, or In Real Life. Spurred in part by the shuttering of Long Beach Cinemas in 2023, Guarini began looking into developing a physical venue \u2014 an arts center \u2014 for the city\u2019s prominent arts community<\/a> to showcase its work year-round and foster the creative talents of potential artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong Beach has no sort of dedicated space meant to fulfill the passions of adults who love art in the community or make arts,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no centralized location for adults who have an appetite for the arts or young people who want to develop a passion for the arts. And I think this could be a real value and resource to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guarini acknowledges that his plan is still in its infancy, but he\u2019s moving ahead with a strategy and has biweekly meetings with a dedicated team. \u201cThere\u2019s discussions going on about the trademarking of the name, developing a brand identity, trademarking the logo,\u201d he said of the behind-the-scenes work. \u201cTrying to make things happen in the background and taking care of smaller things before going into developing a 501(c)(3) and scouting out art spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on what\u2019s at the core of Long Beach that captured his attention and his heart, Guarini said it all comes back to the community spirit. \u201cEverybody really cares about Long Beach, but they all really care about each other,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can see this when the original Sorrento\u2019s went on fire,\u201d he said, referring to the 2021 fire on West Park Avenue<\/a> that displaced the longtime eatery, \u201cor [when] somebody gets sick and has medical bills. Within a week or two, there\u2019s a bar hosting an event for them and the bar is packed out. The fundraiser is over its goal. People really come together for each other here, and it\u2019s a beautiful thing to see.\u201d<\/p>\n