Tonight & Tomorrow: Taste of Downtown Long Beach

​It's one of those things that just is: We cover Long Beach. So there. And as such, I am obligated to tell you about the Taste of Downtown at the Waterfront, which is a sort of food festival being held for the first time by a consortium of Long Beach's Pine Avenue restaurants, happening from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) at the band shell at Pine Avenue Circle, which is between PF Chang's and Gladstones.

Yes, those two will be among the participants. So will Outback and Bubba Gump. Scoff if you must at the presence of these ubiquitous chains; but let's face it, there's a lot of them on Pine Avenue and just about every Taste event anywhere will include a few, no matter where you go.

Each restaurant will sample their wares. There will be plenty of open seating with live music. Tickets will be $1 for 1 ticket, or $10 for $12. Buy two booklets and you get a free ticket to Aquarium of the Pacific, which is right there anyway.

And oh yeah, ninety minutes of free parking will be available at the Pike and Aquarium of the Pacific structures. Get your parking stub validated at the ticket tables though...or that free Aquarium ticket might as well be for naught.