Sponsor Cancels New Year’s Celebration in Long Beach

Last year, New Year’s Eve on Pine Avenue in Long Beach drew almost 10,000 revelers. This year, the event attracted such scant interest it was canceled.

Call it Y2K backlash.

“There’s been so much talk in the media about Y2K failures and terrorist threats that people were scared off,” said John Morris, owner of Mum’s restaurant, who created the event nine years ago.

“With all these warnings, people just weren’t comfortable being in a street scene, in a large, outdoor area with thousands of people.”

The annual event always attracted massive crowds. This year’s festivity was to be the most elaborate yet, with live music on two stages, 30 food vendors, 12 cocktail bars, dozens of carnival-style game booths, street performers and a ball drop at midnight. Morris planned to charge $50 for admission and $35 for advance sales.

A few days ago, however, it was clear to Morris that this year’s event was shaping up to be a bust.

“During past years, the day after Christmas, the phone began ringing off the hook,” he said. “The phone lines were tied up for five days straight and thousands of people called in for tickets. This year, the phone just didn’t ring much.”

After extensive advertising and paying numerous deposits, Morris says, he will lose about $100,000.

“I could have gambled and tried to see if people changed their minds by New Year’s Eve and started buying tickets,” he said. “But the risk was too high. . . . I decided to cut my losses.”

Morris hopes to recoup part of his investment by attracting customers to his VIP party inside his restaurant. He has hired two of the musical acts that he had canceled for the street party.

But he has had to reduce the price from $200 a person to $300 a couple.

“I’m not the only business owner taking a hit on this,” he said. “A few other Pine Avenue restaurants were charging $300 a person. Now the tickets are going for $250. . . . I never in a million years--or should I say a thousand years--would have guessed this is how it would have turned out.”