"Keeweechic's Long Beach" a Long Beach Travel Page by keeweechic

Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County and is the fifth largest city in California. Long Beach is a major shipping, Industrial and commercial center and is one of the largest container ports in the country. and is known for its great climate, beautiful beaches and Southern California lifestyle. Long Beach is quickly becoming one of the leading regions for business, tourism and community in the west and is known for its great climate, beautiful beaches and Southern California lifestyle. Long Beach has also been known for being the home of the H.M.S. Queen Mary which sits proudly moored across the bay and until recently, the Spruce Goose housed in the large dome alongside the Queen Mary.

The area was originally laid out in 1882 as Willmore City after the English developer William Willmore. The city's name was changed to Long Beach in 1888 which was chosen to reflect the city's development as a beach community. Long Beach grew with the opening of the port in 1911 and the discovery nearby of oil in 1921. The earthquake of 1933 caused a great deal of damage, but the city rebuilt itself and expanded again with the establishment of aircraft industries in the early 1940s.

I went down to Long Beach while staying in Los Angeles. We had friends from Melbourne who had been travelling around the States and were in LA at the same time as us. They had a hire car so we journeyed down with them. It seems a shame that the Spruce Goose has been sold and now moved from Long Beach. I always associated Long Beach with the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose.