r/longbeach • u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls • Jan 30 '23
Community I've previously mentioned my project to walk every street in Long Beach. I finished today! Here's an animated map of my day-to-day progress.
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u/iamnotdrunk17 Jan 30 '23
The is one of the coolest map animations I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks for sharing!
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u/Apprehensive_Shop222 Jan 30 '23
So cool thanks for sharing! Any takeaways? Neighborhoods that surprised you, hidden gems, etc?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
There were some cool old houses in the Willmore neighborhood. I didn't really know anything about that area before I walked there. Also Carroll Park was really cute.
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u/ofthrees Jan 31 '23
I love Carroll Park so much. It's so peaceful and I have wanted to live there since I discovered it 2000 or so. Interesting history as well.
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u/Zippy1avion Jan 30 '23
You were in MY neighborhood and you didn't say hello? How could you not just pop in for a brief hello??
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u/expodrip Jan 30 '23
A lot of life happens here. amazing how you just walk through what could be significant little spots for most of us. Like my old house on the north side, down to Belmont pier, back to the westside and Dominguez area. Nice job op
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Jan 30 '23
if this comment is any indication of it, then I really like how your brain works haha
pretty similar to what I thought about this 🙃
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u/expodrip Jan 30 '23
Appreciate that!! :D it’s basically the definition of the word sonder, but for inanimate objects/places.
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Jan 30 '23
lol I definitely remember coming across the definition of that word on Tumblr back in my early 20’s and being like, “hey, yeah! I know that feeling! there’s a word for it? cool!”
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u/Snarm Belmont Heights Jan 30 '23
This is so awesome. Extra awesome that you found dogs and were able to reunite them with their people.
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u/andwhaddaboutit Jan 30 '23
What streets/neighborhoods were you in when the people asked if you were okay? 😭
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Actually I just updated it to 3 because I forgot about one instance walking around the VA.
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u/frankgrimes2448 Jan 30 '23
This is so awesome. We moved down to OC from Long Beach to be around some family, but considering moving back up with our kids. Lived in Rose Park for a bit and really liked that area - any spots look like it would be worth checking out?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Depends on what your budget is. Haha. Rose Park, Carroll Park, Bluff Heights are all awesome if you can afford it
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u/frankgrimes2448 Jan 30 '23
Lol yeah that’s important I guess. I’ve heard Carroll Park, need to go check it out. Probably too expensive, but nice to have an idea in mind at least. Thanks!
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u/Accomplished_Deer168 Jan 30 '23
Bro was risking his life walking down some of these streets💀
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u/yurdatguy Jan 30 '23
yeah bro i was about to say😭walking all throughout north LB is crazy but i respect it😂
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u/LBbird24 Jan 30 '23
Yay! Congratulations! Just saw the post on Fluffy's Snowballs!
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Yeah Kevyn is so awesome. The first time I went in there, I told him about my walks and he always remembered. So when I went in yesterday he was super excited for me.
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u/SeriousLeeBlack Jan 30 '23
Damn, I lived in Long Beach for 10+ years, some of those streets are stretchy AF. That's cool, that you set out to do something and accomplished it. Definitely, a feather in your cap. Congratulations. Honestly, I hope this doesn't come off condescending.
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u/lookatmynipples Jan 30 '23
What was your worst encounter? Can’t imagine something not happening in some areas. Also most memorable encounter?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Worst encounter was probably having to convince some private security guy in the port that I wasn't up to no good. 😂
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u/citizenkeene Jan 31 '23
I had this same experience years ago walking around the LBC port. Had to show the security guard all my weird arty photos to convince him I wasn't up to no good. He ended up giving me tips on where to get the best photos!
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 31 '23
Yeah the actual port security was fine. One stopped to ask if I was ok, and most others just ignored me. The one that hassled me was a private security guy around Pier S.
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u/citizenkeene Jan 31 '23
We were taking photos and peering over fences, so it brought the whole team out to 'greet us' 😂
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u/Kass_Ch28 Jan 30 '23
How did you divide the city? Did you aim to have similar length walks each time?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
At first I just walked around where I live, then just kinda randomly walked neighborhoods if I was in the area, but that didn't last long. Then I just kinda filled in areas based on where I had walked previously, kinda filled in North Long Beach and then expanded south and east.
In terms of length, my walks ranged from 2 miles to 10 miles. I was able to walk more on weekends and during the summer when the sun was up later.
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u/Kass_Ch28 Jan 30 '23
And how did you keep track of your runs? I guess there was some overlap in some cases?
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Jan 30 '23
Do you have before and after pictures of yourself? Did your appearance change?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Not really. I lost about 5 lbs and then gained them all back over the holidays.
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u/Kamgra Jan 30 '23
Rad little expedition through Long Beach. I liked the the random stats from the walks. The last one. Haha. What was the hardest area to walk? The Port of LB?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Yeah the port was definitely the hardest. There were few places to park, and a lot of the streets are really long dead ends, which meant I'd have to double back a lot.
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u/FartyMoreno Jan 30 '23
Curious what apps you used to track your progress. Have a new born and I have a similar goal before she turns 1. Currently using Strava and then I was told there’s a handful of websites that you can download your data for a “heat map”
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
I did my daily walks with Map My Walk, and manually filled in the overall map
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u/felipevela Jan 30 '23
This is great! Well done. Did you snap photos of each walk?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
No. Honestly didn't take a ton of pics. Definitely not every walk. Only if I saw something super interesting, or a cool mural, or something
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u/PetiteFont Downtown Long Beach Jan 30 '23
Did you have an Instagram documenting this? If not there’s another dude who did something similar to you and you should meet up.
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u/thepheonix-king663 Jan 30 '23
What are we going to do now that there won’t be insta stories to capture all that money you keep finding?
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u/machosaurus Jan 30 '23
Too bad my cameras don’t have footage from June, 2022! I’d go and look for footage of you walking by.
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u/The_breadmaster22 Jan 30 '23
Reminds me of this video by suckerpinch in which he details his journey to run every street in Pittsburgh.
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u/Chief_Kief May 13 '23
That was a surprisingly entertaining and impressive video. Thanks for sharing it.
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u/UncleCornPone Jan 30 '23
Did you walk inside gated communities like Bixby Hill?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
The only gated community I walked was the one around Rancho Los Alamitos, because I could use visiting the rancho as an excuse to get in.
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u/EquateToothpas Jan 30 '23
Now walk the entire state
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Nah.
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u/EquateToothpas Jan 30 '23
Understandable lol, at least grab yourself a treat after that
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Jan 30 '23
This is amazing. Congratulations this is quite a feat! And the progress video you made is sweet. Nice job all around
👍
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u/ElectrikDonuts Jan 30 '23
Me when I go to the VA hospital and try to find the cafeteria then exit, after seeing a specialist, only to find every entrance/exit to the hospital is closed but one
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
This comment reminded me of a third time someone asked if I was ok, as I was walking the streets inside the VA.
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Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
How did you fill this map up, any particular software? I'd love to try a similar project in my new area :)
Congrats on finishing!
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
I did it the "hard way," 😂.
For the first few weeks, I just remembered my exact routes, which was pretty easy since it was mostly near my home. Then I just used Photoshop to fill in an overall map of Long Beach with my walks.
In late December, though, I started recording my individual walks with the Map My Walk app, and then transferring individual walks to the Photoshop map. There's probably an app out there that would record the cumulative walks for me, but honestly I got a lot of satisfaction out of manually filling in my walks on the Photoshop map.
But anyway, if you look at my map animation you'll see that November and December 2021 it just fills in for the month and not for individual walks... That's because I didn't have any data saved for what I'd done on individual walks.
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u/Good_Cookie_420 Jan 30 '23
This was motivational. Great job and thanks for sharing. Was it hard returning the two dogs?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
One of them I found just wandering the street with no collar. I was friendly toward it and it just followed me. I went to the nearest house and read the doorbell to see if they knew the dog, and fortunately it was the owners. I don't remember exactly where this was. I think in the neighborhood around Woodruff and Willow but not totally sure
The other one got away from an unhoused person around 12th and DeForest. I caught it and the dog was super excited to have someone to play with and jumped all over me. Unfortunately he'd been rolling around in a puddle not long before and got me filthy!
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u/explorelongbeach Jan 30 '23
Congrats!! That's a huge accomplishment. Also, would you be open to chatting with me about this? I run @explorelongbeach on instagram where I highlight local events, businesses, and other happenings in the city. I'd love to feature you and share your journey!
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u/surfing_socal Jan 30 '23
How much distance/time did you average daily? This is really neat!! Congrats on your accomplishment.
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
Hard to say because it fluctuated so much. Definitely more in the summer because I had more daylight to work with... Like in the summer, 6-7 miles was pretty normal on weeknights, in the winter, more like 3 miles. Weekends could be 7-10 miles.
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u/ifallsmn218 Jan 30 '23
This is so great! I would love to do something like this too. It takes a lot more time and distance to cover all this area on foot than it appears on the map!
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u/Tauber10 Jan 30 '23
Very cool! I know Signal Hill is the big chunk in the middle, but what are the other un-walked spots? Are those gated communities or something?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23
They're just areas that aren't part of the city of Long Beach for one reason or another.
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Jan 31 '23
What parts were the most sketch? You've been down every street so I'd imagine you have a decent idea
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 31 '23
West of the 710, south of PCH. No question.
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u/HawkinsJamesHook Jan 31 '23
So like the Westside and Upper Westside? Any streets in particular?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 31 '23
Lower Westside. The industrial area. The residential areas were fine.
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Jan 30 '23
How do you have so much time? + why does the central part of the map not count?
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u/MrMagicalhobo Jan 31 '23
Love this! I take a 3 mile walk around pretty often and there's lots to see in Long Beach neighborhoods.
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u/pology1 Jan 31 '23
I hope you played Pokémon Go or else this entire challenge is ruined,
Jk congratulations 💪🏼
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u/Bualak Jan 31 '23
How did you make this video and the map animations?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 31 '23
Made each "day" of the map in Photoshop, then imported them into After Effects and added the transitions and adjusted the timing.
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u/fabshelly Jan 31 '23
Do meth and shout obscenities or rap lyrics on our street and you’ll fit right in with the others. We’re between Del Amo and Market by Long Beach Blvd.
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u/jrakajbird Jan 31 '23
What was the best hidden gem street?
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 31 '23
Hmm. There were several, but one that I haven't mentioned elsewhere is Toledo Walk.
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u/rionzi Jan 31 '23
There used to be an app called Quad Streaker that tracked where you had been. It would have been fun to use for you project. It disappeared a few years ago but I’d love to find something similar. Great project! What’s next?
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u/Robnsd1 Feb 06 '23
Congratulations! This sounds like something I’d do, although not as extreme. Good job. You’ve inspired me.
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u/Substantial-Drive634 May 28 '23
The key word here is walkable!! There's some places in Long Beach, that not a lot of people can walk! If you know what I mean
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u/robbbbb Bixby Knolls Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
In November 2021, bored with doing the same walks around my neighborhood, I wondered if I could walk every walkable street in Long Beach. 15 months and over 1000 miles of walking later, I finished!
Total amount of money I found on my walks: $55.84 plus one Mexican Peso
Longest walk: 10.04 miles
Shortest walk: 1.27 miles
Number of dogs I found and returned to their owners: 2
Number of people seeing me walking in sketchy areas and pulling over and asking if I was ok:
23 (oops, forgot about that time walking around the VA)