By Chris Colucci<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Rockville Centre native Drew Guarini, that creative outlet has evolved into a social media success story, blending his professional\u00a0expertise\u00a0with a deep appreciation for his adopted hometown of Long Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The result is the Instagram account\u00a0LongBeachNYMemes, which has attracted more than 20,000 followers since 2020. The page,\u00a0operated\u00a0by the West End resident, continues to offer relatable memes about life in the\u00a0City\u00a0by the Sea while supporting small businesses and encouraging residents to explore local music,\u00a0arts\u00a0and restaurants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Guarini, 37, graduated from South Side High School in 2007, where he was voted “Most likely to be online.” After developing a penchant for creating rudimentary\u00a0websites, distributing music\u00a0files\u00a0and organizing online photo albums for friends, he graduated from NYU in 2011 with a degree in cinema arts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was a writer and editor and worked in social media management, eventually completing attention-grabbing social media projects for brands including Budweiser,\u00a0McDonald’s\u00a0and Netflix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After he moved to Long Beach in 2013, Guarini’s constantly running mind and his newfound love of the town’s lifestyle merged into the now-popular memes page.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about\u00a0the vast majority of\u00a0towns 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,\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0going 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\u00a0<\/p>\n
The site, longbeachnymemes.com \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\u00a0City\u00a0by 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\u00a0time\u00a0and posting several times a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Topics include anything the average Long Beach resident could recognize or relate to, from the boardwalk to longing for beach days in the middle of winter,\u00a0nearly always\u00a0with an optimistic spin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d like to think of my page as sort of a palate-cleansing sorbet between 20 courses of mud as you’re scrolling through social media,\u201d Guarini said. \u201cThere is so much negativity. There’s so much\u00a0bad news.\u00a0It’s\u00a0sort of suffocating, all-encompassing\u00a0and unavoidable. And\u00a0I’d\u00a0like to think that the vast majority of what I post is\u00a0kind of a\u00a0reprieve and a refresher from that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Highlights section of his page is a collection of stories\u00a0showcasing\u00a0everything from \u201cThis week in LB\u201d \u2014 a rotating collection of musical performances and activities around the city \u2014 to Long Beach-focused \u201chistory\u201d and current food and drink specials offered at local bars and restaurants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of free promotion and impressions that I’ve given to businesses, that most influencers or pages of my size would charge people for \u2014 I’ve probably\u00a0given away\u00a0hundreds of thousands of dollars in free promotion,\u201d Guarini estimates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also offers city-centric merchandise linking to shirts,\u00a0towels\u00a0and 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I check my DMs and somebody says, ‘Hey, thank you for sharing this \u2014 somebody came in and\u00a0purchased\u00a0something,\u201d Guarini said, \u201cthat is,\u00a0far and away, the most rewarding thing for me. Just giving back to our community and helping people out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His next big venture is a step away from the screen,\u00a0going\u00a0IRL, or In Real Life. Spurred in part by the shuttering of Long Beach Cinemas in 2023, Guarini began\u00a0looking into developing a physical venue \u2014 an arts center \u2014 for the city’s prominent arts community to\u00a0showcase\u00a0its work year-round and foster the creative talents of potential artists.\u00a0<\/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’s 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\u00a0<\/p>\n
Guarini acknowledges that his plan is still in its infancy, but\u00a0he’s\u00a0moving ahead with a strategy and has biweekly meetings with a dedicated team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s 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 these smaller things before going into developing a 501c3 and scouting out art spaces.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reflecting on\u00a0what’s\u00a0at the core of Long Beach that captured his attention and his heart, Guarini said it all comes back to the community spirit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody really cares about Long Beach, but they all really care about each other,\u201d he explained. \u201cYou can see this when the O.G. Sorrento’s went on fire,\u201d he said, referring to the 2021 fire on West Park Avenue that displaced the longtime Italian eatery, \u201cor [when] somebody gets sick and has medical bills. Within a week or two,\u00a0there’s\u00a0a bar hosting an event for\u00a0them\u00a0and the bar is packed out. The fundraiser is over its fundraising goal. People just really come together for each other here, and\u00a0it’s\u00a0a beautiful thing to see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Chris Colucci Internet memes are part artistic expression, part social commentary and part cultural snapshot. The images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[155448,131,170276,170278,170274,133,170273,170275,132,129809,170277,170271,170272],"class_list":["post-427601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-drew-guarini","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-arts","tag-long-beach-arts-center","tag-long-beach-community","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-instagram","tag-long-beach-local-businesses","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-ny","tag-long-beach-social-media","tag-longbeachnymemes","tag-rockville-centre-native"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}