"Largest Port on the West Coas ..." a Long Beach Travel Page by atufft

The city retains it's own identity, has it's own highrise downtown, and there is actually quite a variety of things to do in Long Beach, and so the city deserves plenty of attention in its own right, unlike many of the minor suburban and forgotten cities landlocked into the urban gridwork that surrounds the mega city of LA. The city is located on the waterfront, and has actually, a number of neighborhoods which are as distinct from each other as they are from those of LA, which borders Long Beach on the north and east. Besides being the second largest port in the USA, Long Beach has an ongoing history as an oil city, and so slow moving oil extraction pumpers mix into the landscape of homes, businesses and off shore islands created for the purpose near the port.