Long Beach, California is more than a former navy town, the home of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and a pretty nice place to live. For the past 32 years, one of its major shopping and dining areas, Belmont Shore, has put on the Belmont Shore Car Show, usually held the Sunday following Labor Day each September.
The 33rd edition of the Belmont Shore Car Show, occupying the entire length of Second Street’s Belmont Shore 15-block business district, had classic road-going and race cars stacked nose to tail from one end to the other. While the show officially began at 9AM PT, cars started arriving at daybreak and the street (along with side streets) were filled with classic cars well before the start of this six-hour celebration of all things automotive.
In fact, it was so crowded by the dictated start time that it was impossible to get a photo showing the breadth of this show. You’ll have to take our word for it – the 33rd Belmont Shore Car Show was a highly successful endeavor, both for the car lovers strolling the streets where regular traffic would normally take two lanes each direction, and for the owners who delighted in telling histories of how they got their cars, how they restored them, why they left some as “rat rods”, why they made changes to stock cars and why they’re racing their hot rods in nostalgia drag racing events.
We were captivated by the sheer number of cars, the variety of offerings, the number of car clubs on hand to celebrate all things motorized, the fact that a school offering technician training gave welding exhibitions every hour to entice kids into trying for themselves, the fact that an artist offered pin striping lessons.
Added to the massive number of cars on display, there were plenty of shops and restaurants open along the corridor, food trucks, merchants selling auto-themed items, Gregg Young & The 2nd Street Band entertaining the crowds, an Army Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that had both kids and adults scrambling in and out (it also provided a bit of shade for the multitude of dogs on the street).
With 16 car clubs taking part and with both Lions Museum and Segerstrom Shelby Museum offering vehicles from their floors – including more than 20 custom Ford Shelby Cobras – it appeared the most populous vehicular attendees were from Volkswagen, with at least two dozen VW buses and an appropriate number of Beetles, and from Lincoln, with a great number of vintage Continentals. Local politicians and police were out in force and the Long Beach Police Department brought out its 1923 restored paddy wagon for all to see.
Local school-age kids wandered the street selling water to finance their activities and it was definitely needed. By 10am the temps were hovering close to 90F and shade was at a premium. The show ran from 9-3 throughout this 106-degree day, one of the hottest of the year in an area abutting the Pacific Ocean. Still, the excitement lingered long afterwards, as visitors made their way to air conditioned bars along Second Street to enjoy football games or, perhaps, to have a peaceful luncheon. The previous 32 editions of the Belmont Shore Car Show were excellent; this one topped them all!
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