It mirrors the beginning of what many expect will be a very dark 2026. And it is a sad reflection of Black-owned restaurant spaces dwindling even further into the shadows. Sally Bevans, the owner of the beloved Sal’s Gumbo Shack, has decided to close her Bixby Knolls location. Her flagship North Long Beach shop, however, will remain open.
“Well, 2026 is here, and we gave it a good run,” Sally said. “Unfortunately, due to the high cost of food, low participation from the community, and a lack of a good [property] management team, we are forced not to renew our lease. However, Sal’s Gumbo Shack will continue to service our customers at our North Long Beach location.”
Actual closing date to be announced.
“Yeah, I’m sad,” Sally said. “Visit us before we leave our beautiful space in Bixby Knolls. But when one door closes, another one opens. And there’s little more to be said about it: It’s just so damn expensive to be over here.”
The story behind Sal’s Gumbo Shack…
Sal’s Gumbo Shack has never just been a restaurant. From the moment Sally Bevans first started selling gumbo out of her home in North Long Beach, it became a statement—about self-determination, about Black ownership, and about what it means for Long Beach actually to support the cultures it so often claims to celebrate.
For more than a decade, Sal’s has quietly but firmly anchored the city’s relationship to Creole and Louisiana cooking, offering one of the most honest bowls of gumbo you’ll find anywhere in Southern California. It wasn’t trend-driven, it wasn’t polished for Instagram—it was rooted, personal, and uncompromising, much like Sally herself.
When Sal’s expanded into Bixby Knolls at the tail end of 2021, it felt symbolic in the best way: a Black-owned business crossing neighborhood lines in a city that still struggles with economic and racial silos. That mattered. It mattered that a business born in North Long Beach—too often treated as an afterthought in food conversations—staked a claim in a corridor that brands itself as one of the city’s most “support local” districts. Sal’s presence in Bixby Knolls wasn’t just about gumbo; it was about visibility, about normalizing Black excellence across all of Long Beach, not just where it’s deemed convenient or expected.
The closure feels like a double whammy: on one side, to the food community of Bixby Knolls and, on the other, toward Black entrepreneurship.
Which is why the closure of the Bixby Knolls location hurts in a way that goes beyond the loss of a dining option.
It’s the familiar, frustrating reminder that praise does not always translate into patronage. And that vocal support doesn’t always show up consistently enough to sustain a business—especially one operating without generational wealth or safety nets. Sally did what so many ask of Black entrepreneurs: she took the risk. She expanded. Invested in a walkable neighborhood. Built a space that reflected pride and culture. And still, it wasn’t enough. The sadness here isn’t failure; it’s exhaustion. And it’s a mixture of grief over what could have been if Long Beach truly backed its rhetoric with action—from every angle: from a landlord angle. From a patronage angle. From a support system angle.
Sal’s Gumbo Shack remains essential, not just for its food but for what it represents: a Black woman turning $30,000 and pure talent into a cornerstone of the city’s culinary identity. The loss of the Bixby Knolls location should sit uncomfortably with us. And that’s because it forces questions that need to be asked: Why is running a business so expensive? And how can patronage be maintained when the novelty wears thin?
Sal’s Gumbo Shack has two locations: One in North Long Beach at 6148 Long Beach Blvd. and one in Bixby Knolls at 4470 California Pl.
