It’s been a long 542 years, but North Long Beach’s 9th District is finally getting its first stand-alone coffee house.That is, if we can all agree that the first coffee house was opened in Constantinople/Istanbul in 1475.

The years have flown by like pages from a calendar in an old movie, with events like America being blundered upon and established by western Europeans, the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock and the Herbert Hoover Administration all taking place in the intervening years.

And, on Monday, the world finally achieved total coffee house saturation with the opening of a Starbucks at 3503 South St., right on the border between the 8th (which is loaded with coffee houses, like everywhere else) and the 9th districts.

The place has been quietly open for a couple of weeks, but its grand opening, with a ribbon cutting by the district’s councilman, Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, and other civic and corporate dignitaries, followed by an alcohol-free coffee toast to celebrate the occasion.

Long Beach Vice Mayor and 9th District Councilmember Rex Richardson hosts a community coffee hour today to celebrate the new Starbucks is located at 3503 South Street, North Long Beach’s first stand alone coffee shop. Long Beach Calif., Monday, October 16, 2017. ( Photo by Stephen Carr / Daily Breeze / SCNG )

Long Beach Vice Mayor and 9th District Councilmember Rex Richardson hosts a community coffee hour today to celebrate the new Starbucks is located at 3503 South Street, North Long Beach’s first stand alone coffee shop. Long Beach Calif., Monday, October 16, 2017. ( Photo by Stephen Carr / Daily Breeze / SCNG )

Long Beach Vice Mayor and 9th District Councilmember Rex Richardson hosts a community coffee hour today to celebrate the new Starbucks is located at 3503 South Street, North Long Beach’s first stand alone coffee shop. Long Beach Calif., Monday, October 16, 2017. ( Photo by Stephen Carr / Daily Breeze / SCNG )

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Long Beach Vice Mayor and 9th District Councilmember Rex Richardson hosts a community coffee hour today to celebrate the new Starbucks is located at 3503 South Street, North Long Beach’s first stand alone coffee shop. Long Beach Calif., Monday, October 16, 2017. ( Photo by Stephen Carr / Daily Breeze / SCNG )



It’s hard to believe that there’s an entire council district that’s been sitting there, bereft of a coffee house when you can throw a rock from one coffee house to another in downtown, Belmont Shore, Retro Row, the Broadway corridor and Bixby Knolls. In fact, most aficionados have become ultra-picky about their coffee beverages: It’s El Salvadoran Peaberry from Viento y Agua, or the Bulletproof from Bistro, the Butter Brew from Wide Eyes Open Palms, the Sea Salt Affogato from Recreational Coffee. We haven’t ordered “a cup of coffee” since it cost a quarter. That is, unless we order it at a fancy sit-down restaurant.

And that’s another thing District 9 doesn’t have.

“Three things,” said Richardson. “We haven’t had a stand-alone coffee house, a sit-down restaurant or a bank in our district.”

And bear in mind, this isn’t an outpost or a forgotten land in Borneo. The 9th, for instance, has a post office. It has running water and electricity. It’s just missing a few things that most SimCities have. Richardson will remind you that his district is, in essence, a bedroom community. “The neighborhoods are sturdy, the homes are nice. You can spend anywhere from $425,00 to $700,000. We have invested in the public areas, like the (MIchelle Obama) Library, but now we are going to be investing in the private areas. And the Starbucks is the opening volley.

“This is the first one, and we’re adding another next year. We’re getting close to getting a bank and there’s gonna be a flood of sit-down restaurants after development starts along the three areas we’re working on: South Street, and Artesia and Atlantic avenues.”

It’s not as if the 9th District has been decaffeinated all these years. In fact, the district does have a Starbucks already, but it’s a little kiosk inside the Target store on 68th Street.

“Coincidentally, that’s where I had my first meeting with (his 9th District predecessor) Steven Neal, when he asked me to be his chief of staff,” said Richardson.

“Now, we’re talking to a lot of businesses: breweries, banks and more retail, to open in the 9th, so our people won’t have to go to Compton and Lakewood to do their shopping,” he said.

“It starts with Starbucks.”