The Vintage LBC comes off as a cheese shop—and indeed, it is. But it is much, much more than that. Owner Vanessa Harmon—along with her chef-slash-general manager Allison Porzner—have crafted a stellar bistro. wine bar, and cheese shop that’s a great place to get down on wines’n’cheese. A definitive space for salads’n’sweets. And, of course, a great place to buy cheeses, tinned fish, bread, crackers, accoutrements, and other market goods.
And while it may have become a Bixby Knolls staple, The Vintage LBC is ready to become, well, a Long Beach star. (Not just because it includes “LBC” is in its name either; that stands for “Libations, Bites, & Cheese.”)
The serendipitous birth of The Vintage LBC
Like many small business owners, Vanessa is a busy woman juggling responsibilities while wearing multiple hats. She still has a day job (as a paralegal). She is a single mom (whose daughter’s first year of middle school just started). And, of course, she is the owner of The Vintage LBC. But before she took on that last job and responsibility, she was just dreaming of a cheese shop.
“I have a background in fine dining and I am simply a lover of food—especially cheese,” Vanessa said. “I told my friend once, as I was stepping out out of Cheese Addiction in Bixby Knolls: ‘I would love to own a cheese shop like this.’ And kid you not, no more than a month later, that same friend called me to tell me the space was up for sale.”
The retail part was something Vanessa could incorporate but for her, the dream was far more of a wine bar. A place where people would sit. A space where cheese is served just as much as it is purchased for home. And a place to exercise her culinary and hospitality leanings. And the bones of Cheese Addiction proved just right.
Many lamented the end of Cheese Addiction, which closed both its Belmont Shore and Bixby Knolls locations in 2022. However, it did open a new door for cheese in Long Beach. Oh La Vache used the gap to open on Retro Row, where it keeps strictly market-and-sandwich-shop. And then there’s The Vintage LBC, which is its own unique brand of beer’n’wine bar, bistro, cheese counter, market, and hang-out space.
The Vintage LBC wraps the best of 1970s aesthetics with neighborhood charm’n’community
“I call it party in the front, retail in the back.”
Even with the oddities left behind by Cheese Addiction—its large, brown walk-in fridge being right in the front part of its main space being obvious—The Vintage is distinctly and refreshingly different. Gone are the minimalist, if not outright sterile feels of the space and in are a pseudo-maximalism love of 1970s oranges, greens, and browns.
Much of the decor—from glass grapes and her grandmother’s painting in the bathroom to the colored plates used for serving cheeses and glassware—are parts of Vanessa’s collection. Some pieces are directly from her home. Some have been collected through vintage shops, flea markets and estate sales. Others have been the result of friends taking pictures and asking Vanessa if they should get them for her from the local thrift shops.
There’s a deep, welcoming personality that clings to The Vintage LBC, one that is hard not to fall for immediately. Quirky bits that eschew excessively interior-designed spaces are met with a vibe that makes it all work. Even the awkward lay of that walk-in created what I would assume are patrons’ favorite space: a little nook which uses recycled pews from St. Barnabas’ Chuch and low hanging, green glass lanterns above a table using cheese labels as a collage-for-tabletop decor.
The Vintage LBC is a stellar bistro and hang-out space
“The build-out of this little booth was such a great thing that fell into my lap,” Vanessa said. “At first, it felt like another thing to tackle, this weird space next to a strangely large walk-in, but it has worked its way out—like a lot in the shop. That isn’t to say I haven’t had my battles. I want to write a manual for new business owners about things no one talks about regarding costs… But the space feels like mine. And I am proud of that.”
Vanessa’s charming words are paired with what really has been an endeavor of love and—in a kind of irony—a need to desperately escape the idea that The Vintage LBC is just a re-branded Cheese Addiction.
The Vintage LBC’s cheese-focused sandwiches, salads and, of course cheese plates, make it a hidden gem for those outside of Bixby Knolls. After all, as with many of the neighborhood’s gems, the immediate locals know. And the rest? They need to head up above the 405 to experience some stellar offerings.
“The menu really is a shared effort with Allison,” Vanessa said. “We’re constantly trying to bounce ideas off of each other, always with a cheese-focus.”
What are some things to order at The Vintage LBC?
The absurdly creamy, dreamy “Cheesy Beak”? A creation of Vanessa’s that melds D.O.C. fontina and aged gouda with Burnin’ Beak habanero jelly between two slices of Nonna Mercato’s sourdough. This masterful grilled cheese is a savory-meets-sweet concoction made for cheese lovers.
The perfectly French “Ham & Cheese” sandwich? A creation of Allison’s where layers of Rosemary ham meet thick cuts of gruyere. A toasted Nonna Mercato baguette is slathered with Dijon mustard, and French butter, the ham, cheese, arugula, cornichons and mewonderful slices of French radishes are then layered on and finished with a house-made lemon vinaigrette.
And don’t get me started on the wedge salad, one of the city’s best salads. Using Rogue Creamery’s stellar Smokey Blue Cheese—a cheese, mind you, cold smoked over burning hazelnut shells—as a base for the house-made buttermilk dressing, it is a BLT lover’s dream of a wedge.
With a steadfast dedication to adapting, this Bixby Knolls shopped has continually evolved
One of the most beautiful aspects to watching The Vintage LBC’s evolution across the past two years has been its dedication to expanding its presence. It can be through events. It can be via decoration, like the mural outside with seating included on the patio. There could be collaborations, like an upcoming clay-and-sip event at the shop with Clay on First at the shop on Sept. 8.
“Usually once a month, I’ll do a private cheese tasting that’s a ticketed event,” Vanessa said. “We’ll focus on regions: Spain, France… And we have a sommelier come in and pair wines with those cheeses. It’s a big, family-style table where we sit down… Everybody just drinks and eats. We’ve done cheeses of the United States. I did cheeses of Britain with beer pairings.”
And the future looks good: She’s hoping to explore Croatian, Greek, and Italian wines with cheeses from the Mediterranean for the next event. Catch her next year on the Long Beach Food Scene Week offerings with maybe a seasonal cheese plate or special sandwich. See The Vintage LBC do more collabs.
Either way, make The Vintage LBC your next hang out. Promise it will not disappoint.
The Vintage LBC is located at 4236 Atlantic Ave.
