Long Beach is a major coastal city in Southern California, right on the south-eastern border of Los Angeles. Long Beach is known as one of the most diverse cities in the cultural sense of the United States. Here live Hispanics, African Americans, just Americans and Asians, and in general Long Beach is much more like the cities of the east coast or the Midwest than any other in California. And here there is a world-class aquarium and a floating museum / hotel "Queen Mary."

How to get to Long Beach

It's easy to get to the city: any of the five airports in Los Angeles County, from Los Angeles LAX and ending with a small own airport of Long Beach. From the center of Los Angeles to Long Beach, you can reach the blue branch line. In addition to the cruise terminal of Long Beach, ferryboats "Carnival Cruise" are assigned, which operate on the Bay of California and the Mexican Riviera.

Entertainment, excursions and attractions Long Beach

Pacific Aquarium - one of the largest in the country. Here live about 1000 inhabitants in 19 main aquariums and 32 specific expositions. Visitors can consistently admire the flora and fauna of the three regions of the Pacific Ocean: Southern California (Bayia), tropical and northern.

"Queen Mary" is a historical ocean liner that used to be a military transport during the Second World War. Today the ship is declared a national monument. Various tours were developed for the exploration of the ship, among them excursion "Ghosts and legends". On board are open including a hotel, several restaurants and a shopping promenade. You can purchase combined tickets for a visit to the liner and aquarium or the liner and submarine B-427.

The submarine B-427 of the Foxtrot class that is moored next door to Queen Mary is a Soviet-era combat submarine of the Cold War era. As a guide, a retired Russian submarine officer works here.

The Japanese garden of Earl Burns Miller is located on the campus of the University of California, Long Beach. It is a classically decorated garden with an area of ​​1, 3 acres with a traditional tea house and a pond in which koi carps are found. On the garden you can walk for yourself at a small entrance fee

Art Museum Long Beach is located on the boulevard of East Ocean and occupies the old mansion Elizabeth Milbank Anderson . This is a small museum with a collection of works by authors of the 20th century and objects of arts and crafts . The main place in the expositions is reserved for the Californian artists . A The Museum of Latin American Art that on Alamitos Avenue is the only one in the western states devoted exclusively to the contemporary art of Latin America . an even place in the recently constructed art district of the East Village . The University Art Museum has gained national fame for its innovative programs . And the newest museum of the city is the Museum of the Pacific Folk Art which was opened in 2010 .

The historic Los Cerritos ranch is on Virginia Road. This is a two-story mansion in the Monterey style, built in 1844. The ranch is listed as a national landmark along with an old garden and a scientific library. Every hour from 13:00 to 16:00, organized tours with the assistant professor take place in the building, and it's free (although donations are welcome.)

The island of Naples is a specific area in the southeastern part of Long Beach. It is pierced by a multitude of channels with pedestrian embankments and millions of mansions on them. On Christmas Eve, local residents decorate their homes, compete with each other in extravagance, so the streets are crowded with delighted spectators coming here specially to gaze at this splendor.

Long Beach is famous for its street art. The most famous of its objects is the mural "The Planet of the Ocean", which covers the entire surface of the covered city sports stadium. The picture is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest street painting in the world. Image area of ​​11 000 square meters. was created by the famous street artist of eco-directionality, Richard Wyland, in the series of works "Whale Walls", in which the author in full size depicts whales, dolphins and other inhabitants of the sea.

Events Long Beach

Annual events that take place in Long Beach are distinguished by a clear imprint of extravagance and glamor . This, for example, the April Grand Prix of Long Beach, the race of indicators along the central streets, which also includes various celebrities . In May, the city parade of sexual minorities "Pride" . In the weekend of Labor Day in the city hosts a Greek festival and one Contemporary blues festival in the open air at the university stadium . The largest one-day auto show of the west coast takes place in Long Beach in September . And throughout the summer, a series of events are held throughout the city within the framework of the Long Beach maritime festival (many of them are free to visit) . In addition, the city holds a parade "From the Dog" with a show of dog fashion, as well as a festival of chalk pictures on the sidewalk and poetry .

Surroundings of Long Beach

Catalina Island (officially - Santa Catalina) - a popular place to travel to day both among local and tourists. It is part of a group of islands and is located about 35 km from the mainland. This is a small closed world apart from the usual noise-din of Southern California. 88% of the island's territory belongs to the protected area. In addition to it, there are two "cities" - Avalon and Tou-Harbors.

Avalon was given the status of the city in 1913, and about 4 thousand people live there (in summer, of the population reaches 10 thousand). During the year, several regular events take place in the city, including film festivals, marathon races, golf tournaments, music festivals and art events. Because of the narrow streets and the usual overcrowding of the people, the most popular way to move around the city is a golf car.

In Avalon, there are a number of rather specific sights. In particular, this is the memorial and botanical garden of Wrigley, which is 2, 5 km from the city. The memorial is dedicated to William Wrigley, the founder of the famous gum manufacturing corporation and a serious benefactor who played a key role in preserving the nature of the Catalina island for future generations. And in the botanical garden, you can see plants characteristic of the California islands, including those endemic for Catalina.

In this exclusive place rested the elite of Los Angeles, and today it can be viewed with an excursion, not forgetting to glance at the museum of the island located here. The latter introduces tourists to the history of Catalina, from the time when it was inhabited by the Tongwa Indians, and until the middle of the 20th century, when the island became the site of the richest and most famous get-togethers.

Tou-Harbors is not at all like Avalon. The population of Tu-Harbor is no more than 300 inhabitants, and it is an excellent place for lovers of sailing, kayaking, diving, cycling, hiking and a quiet stay alone with nature.

You can sail to the island on the cruise ship "Carnival", high-speed catamaran , a special "Catalina Express", a charter yacht and even a helicopter. Traveling by boat takes you about an hour (and about 35 USD), by helicopter - about 15 minutes (and four times more money).