Long Beach Waterfront on a Los Angeles Layover
Part of the full Los Angeles Layover: Downtown Walk From LAX
Downtown Long Beach sits at the southern end of the Los Angeles rail network, with the 1936 Cunard liner Queen Mary moored across the channel, the Aquarium of the Pacific on Rainbow Harbor and a flat, paved shoreline path linking the two.
The Queen Mary has been moored at Long Beach since 1967
The Queen Mary is the black-hulled liner with three red funnels on the south side of the Long Beach channel, and she has not moved since 9 December 1967. Cunard launched her on 26 September 1934, she made her maiden Atlantic crossing in May 1936, and she spent the war as a troopship painted navy grey, which is where the nickname the Grey Ghost came from. She runs 1,019 feet from bow to stern, which is easier to grasp standing on the opposite bank than reading.
Going aboard is ticketed: an entry ticket booked ahead covers a self-guided walk through the first-class public rooms, the art deco panelling, the engine spaces and the historical displays. She is also still a working hotel, so a proportion of her is guest cabins rather than museum. If a ticket does not appeal, the view of her from the park on the north bank is free and is the picture most people came for.
The Aquarium of the Pacific opened on Rainbow Harbor in 1998
The Aquarium of the Pacific occupies the wave-shaped blue building at 100 Aquarium Way, on the north side of the harbour, and it opened on 20 June 1998. It holds more than 12,000 animals from over 500 species, arranged into three galleries covering the tropical Pacific, the northern Pacific and the waters off Southern California and Baja, which means sea otters and puffins in one hall and reef fish in the next.
It is the one indoor stop on this stretch of waterfront and it takes about two hours to do properly, so it is worth holding a ticket before you arrive rather than joining the queue at the door on a weekend.
This waterfront takes cruise passengers off the terminal across the channel and rail arrivals from the city in roughly equal numbers, which means the shoreline path carries a steady mix of people towing a week’s luggage and people carrying nothing at all.
Shoreline Village’s painted boardwalk sits on Rainbow Harbor
Shoreline Village is the row of brightly coloured clapboard buildings on the harbour edge east of the aquarium, all steep gables and turquoise and pink weatherboard, fronted by a white-railed boardwalk over the water. What is in them is small: ice cream counters, a fudge shop, souvenir and kite stores, a few restaurants with tables on the deck.
The reason to walk it is the water rather than the shops. The boardwalk looks straight across at the liner and the pleasure boats moored in the harbour, the pelicans work the pilings, and the whole thing is level and paved. Small water taxis cross the harbour from here in summer, which is a five-minute ride and a different angle on the ship.
The Lions Lighthouse stands on a grass mound in Shoreline Aquatic Park
The Lions Lighthouse is the slim white tower with the red lantern room on the headland of Shoreline Aquatic Park, between the marina and the channel. It was first lit in 2000 and it has never guided anything: the Downtown Long Beach Lions Clubs paid for it as a marker for their work on preventable blindness, and it is decorative rather than navigational.
What it gives you is the best free viewpoint on the harbour. From the top of its lawn the liner is directly across the channel, the downtown towers are behind you, and the breakwater and open water are ahead, all from a paved path that climbs the mound gently. It costs nothing and takes ten minutes, which makes it the sensible last stop before starting back.
One change at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks station, and 55 minutes of riding
The A Line runs north from Downtown Long Beach station to Willowbrook/Rosa Parks, where the C Line goes west to the LAX/Metro Transit Center, and a free shuttle from Bus Bays 1 and 2 covers the last leg into the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport. Trains go every fifteen minutes through the day and the whole thing costs $1.75, with transfers free for two hours.
Add the shuttle, check-in and security and this is a three-hour commitment from the harbour, which is why Long Beach only makes sense with five hours or more on the ground. Under that, the downtown walk from the Broadway market up Bunker Hill is on the same line and much closer in, and the Chinatown and station route sits at its northern end.
Frequently asked questions
Can you go aboard the Queen Mary?
Yes. A ticket gets you a self-guided run through the public decks, the art deco first-class rooms, the engine spaces and the corridors given over to the ship's own history, and the vessel doubles as a hotel, so parts of it are working guest accommodation rather than exhibit. Looking at her from the Shoreline Aquatic Park side of the channel costs nothing and is the shot most people are after anyway.
How long does the train from central Los Angeles to Long Beach take?
Around an hour of riding on the light rail, plus whatever the wait is, which makes this the longest single leg of any trip in this guide. It runs frequently through the day, so the journey time rather than the timetable is what decides whether the trip fits, and anything under about five hours on the ground is better spent closer in.
Is the Long Beach waterfront easy going with elderly parents?
About as easy as this city gets. The shoreline path from the aquarium round Rainbow Harbor to the lighthouse is flat, paved and step-free the whole way, benches are frequent, and the grass mound the lighthouse stands on has a paved path curling up it rather than steps. The aquarium's galleries are on the level as well. The Queen Mary is the exception: it is a 1930s ship, and moving between decks means lifts where they exist and stairs where they do not.
What is the last train back from Long Beach towards the airport?
Late, but check it before you commit to a sunset. The last A Line departure from Downtown Long Beach that connects through to the LAX/Metro Transit Center leaves around 11:47pm and gets in shortly before 1am, and services run every fifteen minutes through the day before that. The connecting shuttle into the terminals runs around the clock, but the trains are the constraint at that hour.