Re-discover The Long Beach Pike Through LEGOs And Story Time At Brickersville

Children ages ten and up are invited to attend a three-day Makerspace event this July where they can build LEGO robots, learn about the old Long Beach Pike amusement park and discover their favorite creative outlet.

In a small apartment space decorated with LEGO pieces galore, Patricia Tsoiasue, the president and founder of Makersville, has created a workshop for kids to gather around a table and build their robots. Tsoiasue said she wanted to engage kids in remembering the old amusement park, Long Beach Pike, through a creative outlet. 

“The idea is to create the opportunities for the story to come out,” Tsoiasue said.

The founder of Makersville said part of her objective for the program was to reminisce about old amusement parks, not just in Long Beach, but around the world. Tsoiasue said she had been emailing a girl overseas in England during the pandemic who wanted to revisit the historic Great Yarmouth, an old amusement zone in England. 

“We actually are trying to reach out a little bit more around the country and around the world,” Tsoiasue said. “Everybody loves amusement zones.”

The Makersville president had started creating a comic book since before the beginning of the pandemic, which would feature the old Long Beach Pike. In her research for the book, she came across Paul Miranda, a Long Beach native born in 1928 who grew up visiting the Pike before it closed in 1979.

Miranda was invited to speak at the Makerspace event where he will share his story of growing up in old Long Beach and his experience at the Pike. 

The Makerspace event begins July 12, and guests have the option to attend either one day of the workshop or all three days. Brickersville, the Makerspace community which will host the event, is located in the Long Beach Shoreline Village. 

Each event will take place from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., with tickets sold at $40 for a single session, or $75 for any three days.  

Tickets and ticket information can be accessed through eventbrite.com. 

Brickersville will simultaneously be hosting events for elementary students during Summer Sessions, ages 7 through 12. These events will be similar to the Makerspace workshops, where kids will build with LEGOS and learn about old amusement zones. 

Tickets to these sessions start at $10 and can be purchased through eventbrite.com.

There will also be Brickersville Family Studio Time, where families can visit the studio and build LEGOS together, with the purchase of a single base ticket good for two adults and two children. Tickets starting at $5 can be purchased through eventbrite.com.

By Hannah Shields

Photo courtesy of Makerspace