Thanks to a billion-dollar clean-up, downtown Long Beach is not the seedy stamping ground of off-duty sailors that it was twenty years ago. Head to Long Beach for a harbor cruise from Shoreline Village, a waterfront shopping area.
Stroll down Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach for smart shops, stylish dining, and lively entertainment. Pine Avenue is an enjoyable stretch of restored architecture and bargain antique stores, but the only reason you’re likely to consider crossing to the far side of LA’s massive harbor is to see the Queen Mary (daily 10am–6pm; $12). Attention shop-aholics! Don't miss the impressive Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, offering more than 350 stores and restaurants.
Step into the glamour of yesteryear with a stroll on the decks of the Queen Mary. Once a most luxurious way to cross the ocean, the regal oceanliner now houses shops, restaurants, and a hotel. The Cunard flagship from the 1930s until the 1960s, the Queen Mary is now a luxury hotel (see Queen Mary Hotel), and guided tours present a sentimentalized version of its days of elegance and refinement.
The huge geodesic dome nearby housed Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose airplane until it was sold in 1992, but this tourist loss has been more than remedied by the recent opening of the Aquarium of the Pacific (daily 10am–6pm; $14), along shoreline Drive, a terrific exploration of aquatic flora and fauna in three distinct geographic and climatic zones from around the world.
For Hotel Accommodation in Long Beach, go to: