When movie trucks started rolling into Long Beach’s Belmont Shore last week, no one thought much of it.
This oceanfront residential complex has been a frequent location for movie shoots — Jeep commercials, “Dragon”, the Netflix miniseries “Griselda” — and when crews arrived, locals mostly shrugged and then carefully directed the curious Dogs are kept away from the catering tent.
But last week, the trucks kept coming in numbers never seen before. As dozens, then hundreds, of workers buzzed around Rosie’s dog beach, an almost comical secrecy hung in the air.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” a crew member armed with a clipboard and walkie-talkie said when asked what they were filming. Meanwhile, behind her, a replica of one of the city’s iconic lifeguard stations is being assembled — except this replica is much cleaner and more vividly blue than the real station about 20 yards away.
“I think this is a commercial,” another worker said as a huge crane with stadium-style lighting was maneuvered into place. He claimed not to know what kind of ad it was.
By Saturday morning, as the entire beach was wrapped in a privacy tent, word spread that they were filming part of the Olympics closing ceremony — the portion where the torch passes from the current host city to the next.
Finneas and Billie Eilish perform in Long Beach for Olympic transition celebrations.
(Emma McIntyre/Getty Images LA28)
When the giant “LA28” sculpture arrives, the mystery is solved.
Soon, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Billie Eilish will take to the makeshift stage – The fake palm trees on stage were short enough to be captured in the frame – performing their act in front of a small, lovely audience.
Parking and traffic issues aside, locals seem to be taking it all in stride. That is, until some media outlets mistakenly identified the location as the better-known Venice Beach.
Filming action at Rosie’s dog beach, which was transformed for the Olympics, can be seen from a distance.
(Jack Dolan/Los Angeles Times)
“Scandal!” shouts @brandonwenerd on X.
“This is Long Beach erasure,” _alyssayung_ lamented on TikTok. Footage on her television screen clearly showed offshore oil wells in the background – disguised as islands with palm trees.
Any Southern California native, certainly anyone from Long Beach, will recognize these immediately.
