When the film trucks started rolling into Long Beach’s Belmont Shore last week, nobody thought much about it.
The residential oceanfront neighborhood is such a frequent film set — Jeep commercials, “Dexter,” Netflix miniseries “Griselda” — locals mostly shrug when the crews arrive, then carefully steer their curious dogs away from the catering tents.
But last week, the trucks just kept coming, in numbers nobody had seen before. And there was an almost comical air of secrecy as dozens, and then hundreds, of workers buzzed around Rosie’s dog beach.
“I honestly have no idea,” a worker with a clipboard and a walkie-talkie said when asked what they were shooting. Meanwhile, a replica of one of the city’s iconic lifeguard stands was being assembled behind her — only this one was a lot cleaner and a much more vivid shade of blue than the real one about 20 yards away.
“I think it’s a commercial,” another worker said as enormous cranes with stadium-style lighting rigs were maneuvered into place. He claimed not to know what kind of commercial.
By Saturday morning, when that whole section of the beach was being wrapped in a privacy tent, word had gotten out that they were filming part of the Olympics closing ceremony — the bit where the torch is passed from the current host city to the next.
Finneas and Billie Eilish perform in Long Beach for the handover celebration of the Olympic Games.
(Emma McIntyre / Getty Images for LA28)
When the giant “LA28” sculpture arrived, the mystery was solved.
Soon, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Billie Eilish would be up on the makeshift stage — set beside fake palm trees short enough to be caught in frame — doing their thing in front of a small but adoring crowd of extras.
Aside from the parking and traffic headaches, locals seemed to take the whole thing in stride. That is, until some media outlets incorrectly identified the location as the much better-known Venice Beach.
Filming activity is seen from a distance at Rosie’s dog beach, which was transformed for Olympics purposes.
(Jack Dolan / Los Angeles Times)
“Scandal!” shouted @brandonwenerd on X.
“This is Long Beach erasure,” lamented _alyssayung_ on TikTok. The shot on her TV screen clearly showed the offshore oil wells — disguised as islands with palm trees — in the background.
Any SoCal local, certainly anybody from Long Beach, would recognize those instantly.