Windows of Businesses With LGBTQ Flags Smashed in Long Beach

The LGBTQ community in Long Beach is on alert after three businesses with visible LGBTQ symbols had their windows smashed in.

The three locations – Wide Eyes Open Palms; Folklore Salon & Barber; and the Long Beach LGBTQ Center – all flew the Pride flag or have the Pride colors painted on the building.

Surveillance video captured a man smashing the door window at Wide Eyes Open Palms. Angie Evans, the coffee shop’s co-owner, said she thought it might be an isolated case until she heard that something similar happened at the LGBTQ center.

Andrea Arriola, a stylist at Folklore Salon & Barber, felt the same.

“It was definitely jarring once we put all the pieces together and realized it was more of a message than just a break-in,” she said. Arriola pointed out that all three locations have Pride flags visible from the street.

Long Beach police are looking into the cases to see if there is a connection.

Just two years ago, someone burned down the Pride-painted lifeguard tower just a few miles away from the businesses and no one was ever caught.

Evans said she hopes businesses that support the LGBTQ community aren’t being targeted, and she vowed to keep flying the Pride flag.

“I always knew that waving a flag would [make] us a potential target for those who are not for the LGBTQ community, but I’ll never take it down,” she said.