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While Long Beach's almost-500,000 population makes it thenation's 34th largest city—it's also the fifth largest city inCalifornia and home to one of the largest ports in the US—it hasall the he-said/she-said controversies and "Did ya hear?" flavor ofa cozy little Mayberry.

The Charter Communications cable show on which I occasionallyappear, "Mum's the Word," named after the Pine Avenue restaurantMum's credited with kickstarting the long, slow, and often painfulrevitalization of Downtown Long Beach, is sponsored by Mum'sfounder John Morris. Morris, who once successfully took on CityHall—he sued and triumphed with a six-figure payout alleging hisbusiness was impacted by city managers when they secretly directedemployees not to patronize his restaurant because he was anoutspoken city critic—has since renamed and re-branded hisestablishment Smooth's Sports Grille.

Robbins launched the show at the turn of the millennium with thehelp of cable show director/producer Ron Petke, who often dons adirector-style beret and a loud Hawaiian shirt when behind thecameras, and over the years the pair have built the show into apopular feature watched by gadflies and people generally interestedin the goings-on in their community.