It's been years since I've attended a ho'olaulea. A spur of the moment visit and well worth the…read moredrive. It brought back so many fond memories of attending with my family and friends every year. As time passes it's hard to get everyone together. Hubby and I went for a peaceful day at the park. We attended the second day of the festival. Lots of merch vendors plenty to see, touch, feel. The hard part was deciding on which color lol. A smaller stage with covered seating area located in the back. Food vendors lined along the pathway. Malasadas! Chocolate filled?! Yes please! We tried all the flavors and chocolate was the favorite. Hot and fresh so good. I did have to dust a little sugar off like a beignet because I wanted that oozing chocolate.. divine! Manapua was aight.. I know they could do better. Everyone is friendly and welcoming. No attitudes at these festivals only kind and caring. You can bring your own water which is so nice especially during the summer. Get there early for a shady spot to set up your chairs, blankets or og bamboo mats. Parking was $10 in the parking structure. Lots of handicap parking spots reserved in the front. It was nice to see these accommodations. The structure is the length of the park so there's lots of space. If you get there early enough you can also park on the sidewalk or at the other end of the park with a little further walk to avoid fees. Mobile bathrooms with outdoor wash station. All of the performances were so beautiful. Listening to the island music and watching the performers brought the ohana vibes with the island spirit of aloha. Live musicians and MC were the cherry on top. Keeping that peaceful harmony flowing throughout the whole day.

ohana, community, entertainment, relaxation, amazing food, e lawe mai i kau kala, me kou no ho a me…read moreka pakeke me ka malu paha... e hele mai i ke kakahiaka nui ono mea'ai... e'al kakou!!! hui hou

First timer here and I was really looking forward to this fun run. The concept was cool... seemed…read morelike this could be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it was the complete opposite in my experience. PROS: - cool concept - decent DJs playing good music - music sound quality was great - venue was ideal (just not used to its full potential) CONS: - very poorly executed course - not enough resources to direct and guide foot traffic - course had had some narrow trails making it hard for actual runners to get by walkers (walkers to the right!!) - not enough blacklight on the course to give it that feeling of a neon night run - not enough music during the run, music only near the tents - parking was far from the start and finish line (i think this aided in the confusion of where to go) - swag bags included temporary tattoos, glow-in-the-dark necklace/bracelet, glow-in-the-dark paint - one water station during course and it was room temperature. eww. read on for more details... Event Parking -- Just about the only thing that went smoothly. One issue I had was $10 parking fee. on top of registration, we still have to pay for parking? if you're going to rent a venue out to host an event, consider including parking fees into the registration cost. Entrance -- very poorly organized. from the parking area, we walked in the same direction as the crowd only to find out most of the crowd had walked to the packet pick-up booths. no one was on site to direct people to the starting line, if they were there, they did not speak up and it was hard to tell at night who was staff vs a participant. i didn't see any signs either. we opted to walk into the stub hub center and started following another crowd of people who were luckily walking toward the starting line which was on the completely opposite side of the parking area. Starting Line -- waves of participants went every few minutes. the first 10th of a mile was a narrow bottleneck which made it difficult to even trot Course -- most of the course was well lit. cool, they're being safe, but in all honesty i was expecting more darkened areas with blacklights... it is a neon run, right? the spray tents were a claustrophobic nightmare. many people stayed until they were drenched in glow in the dark water then taking pictures by the blacklights causing a traffic jam. on the last leg of the course, they had us go from one end of a parking lot to the the other end, then back again... i felt like a lab rat in a maze... it was at this point that we lost complete direction of the course and made our own way to the packet pick up location. from here, we were trying to figure out where the finish line was... once again, ZERO help in navigating participants in where to go. i overheard people say the finish line was inside the arena, so we went. i mapped my run using the Nike Running app and came up 1 mile short... walking from the lab rat maze that was the parking lot to packet pick-up definitely was not a mile... taking a look at the course map on their website, i suspect there's an entire section everyone failed to run through (i don't recall running through there) b'coz there was most likely no one there to direct traffic or it wasn't clearly marked. Conclusion: with the lack of organization and staff... i shouldn't have paid for this event and just showed up... maybe i woulda had more fun that way.

EXTREMELY POORLY ORGANIZED EVENT!…read more Packet Pick-Up: Showed up to Sports Authority, walked in, didn't even know where to go. I almost thought I was at the wrong place. I was directed to the back, there was lot's of volunteers ready to assist so that was a good thing. I was picking up packets for my friends, they basically had to sign their life away and donate a kidney in order for me to pick it up (I'm exaggerating - all they had to do was write a letter giving me permission, send a photocopy of their ID, and sign their Hunger Games style waiver). I was given a glow stick necklace, the neon run bib, and a neon run tattoo. NO T-SHIRT. $49 for NO T-SHIRT. Thank God we bought the Groupon for this!!!! I asked for the t-shirt and I was told "T-shirts will be available for sale tomorrow at the event for $15". I was also informed that this is the first time that they do not include the t-shirt in the packet, they did previously. Super bummed. Later that not I realized we weren't given tubes of neon paint. My friend had gone an hour before me and she hadn't gotten the mini neon tube of paint either. Event day: It was relatively easy to get into the parking lot, nothing compare to the nightmare line we faced for the Color Run in OC months ago. Parking was $10 which we thought sucked, we didn't have to pay for parking for the Color Run. There weren't any signs directing us where to go so we just followed the crowds. When we got to the Stub Hub Center it was a mess. People everywhere, lines for late packet pick up, no signs directing us where the start line was. Again we just followed people who looked like they knew where they were going. We walked into the arena, and followed everyone. We get to an area, we see people dancing and a DJ is playing music...then we see a crowd forming at what appears to be (and is) the start line. We were released in short waves. We wove in and out, in and out of parking lots. The first two Neon Spash Zones were disappointing, paint seemed horribly watered down! We just got wet. The last two or three splash zones made up for it, there was someone with buckets of gooey paint and I stood in front of that person and turned around in circles until I was covered in neon paint. Music was really good, otherwise it would get one star. My friends made it fun. Majority of people walked (we did...I wanted to wog/jog but my skinny friends walked it and I was totally fine with that) and we had a good time. Finish line was disappointing, because there was NO indication that it was the Finish Line! no sign, no banner, no extra gooey paint. We just (again) assumed we were at the finish line based on the location and everyone taking photos. We basically made it back to where we started. There were three food trucks, two areas with black lights to take photos (props for having Neon Run volunteers taking pics of everyone with their cell phones) and a merchandise area that I didn't even have to walk over to because from where I stood I could see there was nothing on display to buy other than t-shirts. The t-shirts were really plain. The DJ was playing some kick-ass jams and a lot of people were dancing. If you want to keep reading, let me compare the Neon Run to the Color Run... When I arrived at the pick-up for the Color Run, it looked like a party. It was awesome. We got t-shirts, color packets of powder, tattoos, and directions to the Color Run. Although the Color Run was hellish to get in and out of, we didn't have to pay for parking and there were plenty of signs telling us how to get to the start line. There were half a dozen food trucks, free Victorias Secret drawstring sacks, free Kind bars, free samples of food, tons of porta potties and a very well marked start line and the finish line was like a huge victory celebration. I'm just grateful we got the Groupon hook up for $24 !!! On to the next fun 5K......

Family friendly festival complete w entertainment, Car show, and prizes…read more Lots of beautiful vehicles, & community love. Happy to see so many groups coming together to show love for the often neglected Harbor Area.

My brother and I came to this event excited because there hasn't been many things to do lately. The…read moremost fun we had was meeting Corday off stage she was warm and welcoming The event was well intended but not fun ! The music was so low it almost felt as if we were sneaking to hear it parking was a mess and there wasn't much a of a turn out for the crowd. I must say it was very disappointing.

UPDATE! Fast forward a couple years later and now LBFF is bigger and better. Yes the event is no…read morelonger free, but you can definitely see that your money is going to the right things! For a small $15 all day entry fee you have a bigger area, better stages, more organization (even fireworks!) and the best part - bigger beer gardens! And they hand out wrist bands so you can still come and go and wander between sides. Funk Fest takes place in the open areas by Beachwood BBQ and Congregation Ale House and extends all the way on the other side of Broadway past Wokano. There is still two stages, an area for djs, an area for dancers, the shops/vendors, capoeira circle, but everything just has better quality and organization to it. The grassy area back on the Wokano side has a nice shady area to rest too. There is much more community involvement and presence at LBFF. I love that the nearby shops get involved, especially good ol Congregation and Beachwood Bbq providing two great beer gardens on either side of the lots. This is definitely a Long Beach treasure! Keep the funk alive, its worth the nickle and dime!

The Carnival of my youth! If you want homemade filipino, mexican, fair, and other foods, come here…read more There is unique entertainment, carnival games, a craft bazaar, vintage items, and rides! Best of all it benefits the parish of St. Anthony of Padua. After a year hiatus (because of safety concerns online, the fair is back and better for 2025. Check them out May 16, 17, 18, 2025

Love the time here at St. Anthony's. Great church, parishioners and community togetherness in all…read morethe volunteers! We are here every year!

[UPDATE 1: Review #32]…read more Went back to the Festival on Sunday to purchase another piece of Ms. Michiko Miyazaki's 3D artwork. She was so nice... gave my daughter a mini blue crane origami. H immediately headed for the Arts & Crafts booth to color a fish & fan. Then we wandered over to a display of plants, flowers, & bonsai trees. Our second to the last stop (we were planning to watch the Taiko Drums) was an origami table with a "grumpy, old man" (he wasn't, just looked like it). ;-) My l'il one wanted to make a flower that kinda looks like a tulip but the instructor was teaching everyone how to make a box. Needless to say... it was an interesting session with a 3 year old who skipped her nap & was somewhat cranky for having to wait. H kept chatting & mumbling through the instructions, then all of a sudden he shouts "HEY!" & shocks H to sit up straight & focus. LOL He also jokes in between the folds to "take our time but hurry up." What a contradictory man. =D Anyway, we got it done but it took awhile (see photo for finished product). We ended the afternoon with a couple of performances by the Taiko Center of L.A. (their most viewed YouTube performance was in the Princess of China music video). Cool! This Festival is definitely an enjoyable family-friendly event that supports the local community.

It's 40th Annual Bunka-Sai Japanese Cultural Festival in Torrance. Proceeds to benefit the Student…read moreCultural Exchange Program at the Miller Recreation Center on April 21(Sat) and 22(Sun) from 11am to 5pm. The admission and parking were free. The festival included all types of Japanese arts and crafts with performances and food. They featured Sumi-e paintings done by students from Kawai Sumi-e Club of Gardena. I was happy to see the tradition carries on with these type of clubs in our digital world. I just wish there were more choices on the food and snack to try and explore.

Just started coming here last year after years of hearing about it. One of the best flea markets in…read moreLA in my opinion since its not too busy and no crazy upcharge prices. Strolling through the small-town vibes of downtown torrance is a delight. Keep in mind it can get a little warm at times so I reccommend wearing a hat to keep cool. The market has so many amazing vendors to browse through: dishware, homedecor, plants, vintage clothing, Jewlery, collectibles, and random bits and bobs. I mainly come here for Jewlery! I score amazing pieces each time. Prices for Jewlery can range from $1 to $1k+ In regards to parking, it can be a bit tricky since its mainly residential parking available but I always manage to find parking near El Prado park.

We keep coming back here whenever we can. They have the usual veteran vendors here. I always go to…read morethe same sellers I'm used to buying from. They're always so friendly! I usually buy vintage toys, crafts, plants, and other collectible memorabilia. Tons of vendors to see! They sell everything from clothes, decor, antiques, collectibles, toys, jewelry, etc. It seems I always get something whenever I'm here. The same vendors changes it up sometimes, but there's also other new vendors once in a while. Definitely worth checking out. Entrance is free. Street parking and public parking are free. Just get there early!

I've gone many years, now missed many years. It's always been great, great food, great vendors,…read moregreat security great entertainment and dope environment. Location great and drug is worth the attendance.

The good: weather was beautiful, and seeing my Puerto Rican people with the flags awesome!…read moreThe Bad: I've been coming to this event for the past 10yrs. This is the first time I felt the music Bands was really off!! Too much CUMBIA music and Not Salsa! The stage performers kept asking g where's are all the Colombian?? and other South American. I said maybe at their event?! It's the Puerto Rican Festival. Instead of asking the people of Puerto Rico the cities of Puerto Rico! Where from? The music didn't go well for me!! I do have to say one woman on stage was PR and she was the only one that played real Salsa! Left earlier than any year that I been going. Hope next year Salsa music and Salsa bands!!!