About Beautify Pine

In 2014, Long Beach’s Pine Avenue Revitalization Project created 12 planter beds along Pine Avenue. Unfortunately, these planters were not been maintained on a regular basis after the project’s conclusion. In addition, the trees along North Pine were not watered on a regular basis. This neglect has contributed to a lack of pride in our Historic Pine Avenue.

In 2021, some North Pine residents took it upon themselves to begin rehabilitating the planters and watering the trees each week. This initial ad-hoc effort has developed into a formal grassroots organization - Beautify Pine. These community members respond each week and work together under the direction of a core group of regulars who supervise our newer volunteers in both the day’s activities and safe practices. Our core group is guided by gardening experts like Long Beach Composting, and Root & Branch Garden Design.

To organize and solicit volunteers, we produce a weekly newsletter, promote our activities on social media (both Instagram & Facebook), and have developed a website explaining our mission and composition. We have reached out to Council District 1 and to individual donors for seed money, in-kind donations, and horticultural and technical support.

We have reached out to and gained support from neighborhood organizations such as North Pine Neighborhood Alliance, Downtown Residential Council, Downtown Runners, Providence Gardens, and most importantly, virtually all of the business owners on Pine.

In addition to our Sunday activities, various members perform in-week preparations. Some borrow trucks and make trips to community compost and mulch piles for free materials. Others purchase soil additives, fencing, additional or replacement tools, and maintain and store support equipment. Community members buy or collect in-kind donations, including plants, hoses, carts, hand tools, bins, etc. Finally, in advance of each Sunday’s activity, we must plan and stage the tools, equipment, and plants that we will use on Sunday.

We have learned - and are still learning - that what we think may be successful does not actually survive field conditions. We continue to experiment with different fencing materials to adequately protect the plants while providing canine potty areas. Each planter is a separate micro-climate, and has different amendment issues. Subsequently, we have evolved different ways to fix irrigation problems and adapt to varying moisture needs. In addition, each planter must endure varying community impact. For instance, the planter in front of Rite-Aid has been severely impacted by both homelessness and neglect.