A drunk driver crashed into Open Gallery in Long Beach on February 24, 2024, destroying the space and nearly killing a family. Owners Liz Garibaldi and Artos Saucedo spent a year renovating and recovering, reopening the gift shop in April 2025 and rescheduling programming. However, the building owner now plans to sell, threatening the gallery's future. The space, founded in 2019 as a live-work screen printing hub, has grown into a multi-unit gallery supporting musicians and visual artists. Its current exhibition, "Physical Memory," curated by Matthew “NORDY” Nordman, is the gallery's first photography show.
This story matters because it highlights the fragility of grassroots art spaces in gentrifying cities like Long Beach. Open Gallery is a self-funded, community-driven venue that provides crucial support for local artists and creatives. The double blow of a catastrophic accident followed by a potential eviction underscores the economic pressures facing small art enterprises, and the resilience required to sustain them. The gallery's fate could signal broader trends in the survival of artist-run collectives amid rising real estate costs.