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LONG BEACH |
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Thanks to a billion-dollar clean-up, downtown Long Beach is not the
seedy stomping grounds of off-duty sailors that it was twenty-odd years
ago. Pine Avenue is an enjoyable stretch of restored architecture and
bargain antique stores, but the only reason most tourists cross to the
far side of LA's massive harbor is to see the Queen Mary (daily
10am-6pm; $19 guided tours, kids $15). The Cunard flagship from the
1930s until the 1960s, the Queen Mary is now a luxury 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 and moved to Oregon in 1992, but this
tourist loss has been more than remedied by the opening of the Aquarium
of the Pacific (daily 10am-6pm; $17; ), along shoreline Drive, a
terrific exploration of aquatic flora and fauna in three distinct
geographic and climatic zones from around the world. As you drive along
the coast of Long Beach, don't be fooled by the sight of the bright
pastel islands just off shore; far from natural, they're actually oil-drilling
platforms in disguise.
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Vacation Rentals in Long Beach |
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from $72.00
USD