LONG BEACH (AP) — Before Hurricane Katrina, this city of 18,000 was known as a bedroom community with friendly people and small businesses that provided personal service and good food.

There were no casinos or big-box stores, but that’s the way people wanted it. The atmosphere was small town, and the city was carving its own niche among the larger cities on the coast.

When the storm slammed into this beachfront town, it destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and took away most of the tax base.

Recovery has been slow, a snail’s pace it seems to some, but in the past few years more businesses have opened and residents have returned to “The Friendly City.”

Many people are rebuilding their homes or buying new ones, and there are apartments and condominiums available. Some of the businesses have returned downtown and throughout the city, and sales taxes have increased steadily in the last two years.

People also are renting boat slips at the harbor, and construction on the yacht club is moving right along.

But the slowdown in the national economy has taken its toll on Long Beach and other cities on the coast, and recovery here has reached a standstill.

“Things are slow nationally,” Mayor Billy Skellie said. “The mortgage business is on its heels, and that affects us. When you combine that with the cost of insurance, it’s slow for everybody.”

So far, Burger King, Kangaroo, McDonald’s and Waffle House have built back on the beach. Barnaby’s and Long Beach Lookout are two restaurants on U.S. 90 that are planning to come back, Skellie said.

The city also has several new restaurants in different areas, including the Rusty Pelican and Harbor View.

The owners of the Comfort Inn are expected to build another hotel on the beach, this time a Holiday Inn Express, Skellie said.

Many businesses have reopened, including Sonic, L’il Ray’s and L. Montella Salon and Bankhouse Coffee. Bacchus Wine and Liquor also has opened next to the railroad tracks.

The library is back in operation, and the board last week approved plans for a new City Hall building, which Skellie and the aldermen believe will spur more growth downtown.

Long Beach lost a large part of its tax base when Kmart and Sav-A-Center were destroyed. The property owners are in litigation, and Skellie said he doesn’t know when or if anything else will be built there.

It’s the same situation with Rite-Aid, which was on U.S. 90.

Several apartment complexes and condominiums are under construction on the beach, including Beau Clair, The Oaks, Beach Club Apartments and Arbor Station. Once they’re completed, the city will start getting more tax dollars.

In 2007, the city lost Oreck Manufacturing Co., which employed 400 people. The city is working with the Harrison County Development Commission to try and replace the employer.

“We’re pleased, certainly, with the progress, but we’re impatient too,” Skellie said. “But I feel like we still have a bright future. We look forward to some industry moving in here. The Harrison County Development Commission is working hard to help us do that.”

Larry Barnett, executive director of the commission, said he and other members are talking to the investor that purchased the Oreck plant, as well as others who have vacant buildings in the Long Beach Industrial Park.

He said people continue to show interest in Long Beach but that it is a slow time for development.

“The activity is slower than it has been,” he said. “That goes for other areas in Harrison County as well.”

Barnett said he and the rest of the commission are marketing South Mississippi as a good place to live and work.

“Regardless of the activity, we continue to communicate to those outside the area that this is a great place to live and do business,” he said.

The Long Beach Board of Aldermen will hold an economic development workshop later this month to talk about ways to spur growth in homes and businesses.

Alderman Richard Notter asked for the workshop and said he thinks there is more emphasis on the eastern side of Harrison County. He hopes the workshop will be a brainstorm session for city officials to come up with some strategic plans for economic development.

“My impression has always been that Long Beach should be attractive to business, and I think we need to market our town,” he said.

Skellie believes city officials, business owners and residents will just have to be patient and ride out these slow economic times.

“The thing is to hold the line and work and be open to development,” he said. “I don’t think the future is terrible. We just have to work through this. It’s still a beautiful place. Where else can you ride for 26 miles and look at the water?”