Rainbow Juices, serving the community for nearly 15 years and hosting its space in Downtown Long Beach for a decade, will be serving its last drop of juice on Jan. 30.
“Well, here we are in January 2025,” co-owner Dawna Bass wrote on Instagram. “Never could I have imagined what Chrissy [Cox] and I were getting ourselves into when we legitimized our operation and got our business license in November of 2011. It has been a journey unlike any other.”
Rainbow Juices was a queer-centric, health-forward space headed by two wonderful women.
Chrissy Cox and Dawna Bass met in a way that only two amazing lesbians could: a love of roller derby. Add onto this a common passion for healthy eating—both have heavily advertised a life defined by raw veganism—and you have not just the birth of a beautiful relationship but a well-oiled business machine.
With that, not only was Rainbow Juices born: First? Friends and competitors alike would ask for their liquid concoctions post-derby while neighbors began noticing their tiny-but-mighty juicing operation out of their home. Then came the former move into a brick-and-mortar in Downtown Long Beach. And it wasn’t just Rainbow Juices.
While it closed in 2023, the pair opened Under the Sun in 2015. What is worth noting is that Rainbow Juices and Under the Sun ushered in a few great things. It was part of a renaissance in Downtown during a time where businesses like the now gone Beachwood and Congregation were redefining the area. And when it came to the Long Beach food scene, the pair brought some proud dedication to raw vegan food—something largely relegated to the westside of L.A. more than Long Beach, with joints like Steamed and Ahimsa still using heat for their vegan food at the time.
A final goodbye, Long Beach as it sees a large portion of its vegan scene disappear.
“Thank you to all the people who believed in us over the years,” Dawna said. “To those who came in to get a juice, visited us at a pop-up, coffee shops that carried our juices, family that supported us, friends that understood why we weren’t around as often, all of the folks that worked here… That’s what made Rainbow Juices.”
This comes as another goodbye from vegan pioneers as the Long Beach vegan community sees the spaces dedicated to their diets slowly dwindle: V-Burger, the 4th Street staple, closed in March of 2024. Then Morning Nights—the vastly underrated vegan Asian-fusion joint inside The Hangar at the Long Beach Exchange complex—had its last day of food service in August of last year. It joined Seabirds, which saw its last of service on Sept. 8 of 2024, leaving 4th Street—after V-Burger—vegan-less in terms of spaces dedicated solely to vegan food. Then The Wild Chive faced an uphill battle while Sugar Taco closed both its Downtown Long Beach and flagship Melrose location.
And that is why the vegan community is stoked for Mangiafolie coming onto 4th Street—so there is hope. But go give Rainbow Juices one more visit.
