Convention in Long Beach
 

We will be attending a convention in Long Beach in August. Any ideas for day tripping in area during our off times?

I don't know if you will have any evenings free to dine on your own but is so there is a restaurant downtown called L'Opera or The Opera. Very well know. It is in a beautiful building that was once a bank. Fantastic food and enviroment with good service.

Tourist always enjoy seeing the Queen Mary. Do you have a day to yourself? If so you could take the boat for a day trip to Catalina Island.

To clarify: You don't take the Queen Mary (drydocked) to Catalina-- Catalina Express' terminal is next door to the Big Boat.

I love L'Opera too. It's not the absolutely best Italian in Long Beach (for me, that Christy's in Belmont Heights), but the room is gorgeous.

As far as day trips, there are way too many possibilities. Within 60 miles you've got Malibu, LA, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, etc., etc., etc. What are your interests?

If you want to stay in gritty Long Beach (my hometown and I LOVE it!!), a very nice day of leisurely shopping in Belmont Shore is a great day trip. Not glamorous, just a pleasant slice of real beach life. The best day trip getting out of Long Beach? Probably the Getty Center. Unique and VERY glamorous.

No, LOL, of course you do not take the Queen Mary to Catalina Island. Whoops,sorry if my post read that way.
Guess since the Queen Mary is a ship I didn't relate to how my statement read.

I went to a conference in Long Beach last summer. We enjoyed touring the Queen Mary - it was very interesting. You should allot several hours to have time to see it all (I like to read all of the informational placards, which takes time - there's also a movie to watch). We went back another day to have lunch in one of the restaurants, which was nice.

We actually went to Long Beach a couple of days early so we would have time to spend an entire day on Catalina Island, and I'm so glad that we did. We took the early morning boat over, and the last evening boat back. We did three tours - we bought our tour tickets as soon as we got off the boat, and a good thing, too, as they were starting to sell out already. We did the tour of Avalon, which was nice because they take you up the hill high above the town so you get a great view, the casino tour (highly recommended!), and an underwater submersible tour, which was a lot of fun. This gave us just enough extra time to eat lunch and dinner at a couple of restaurants, poke around in some of the cute shops, and sit on the beach for a very short while and enjoy the scenery. We really liked Catalina; we decided we'd like to go back and stay on the island for a couple of days sometime.

Shoreline Village is an attractive development of shops and restaurants in Long Beach right on the waterfront, just about a block from the convention center. We enjoyed eating at some of the restaurants and strolling around there to take a break from the conference proceedings.

There's an aqaurium a few blocks away that we were told was very good, although we never made it there.

How much free time will you actually have? As conferences go, if limited to only half days then yes, tour the queen mary. But if you have full days free, definitely skip it and venture beyond! This is JMHO but we were totally underwhelmed by it. Especially when you consider the wealth of other options in the area, as RJW has said. (And btw, he is one of the resident experts of OC and LA.)

It depends on your interests. Your choices are endless - from a day at the beach (laguna and newport ROCK), a hollywood tour or studio tour (warner and paramount are the best IMO, nbc not bad), many attractions in san diego / la jolla, visit a presidential library and museum (nixon and reagan), go to disneyland and california adventure!

There are just waaaay too many options to list, let us know your interests.

There is also an art museum in Long Beach. It is small, but may have an interesting exhibit.

Just wanted to give a second recommendation for dinner at Christy's. My husband and I went this past Saturday (partly because of the recommendation here) and it was fantastic! We definitely will go again.

We shared everything starting with the tomato and goat cheese salad. We then had the Ossobuco. It came with soup or salad so we ordered the soup which was a creamy green chard soup with vegetables. It was delicious. We had a bottle of wine (Tori Mori - or something like that) which was very good. Then had their chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Everything was marvelous. The bread is great too and comes with an olive spread and some other garlic-type spread. Both were great, but I especially liked the olive one.

Be sure to make reservations as they seem very busy. Also, they only serve the Ossobuco on Saturday's.

As long as we're recommending Long Beach eateries, I can wholeheartedly give a rave for Lasher's, just down Broadway from Christy's. It's a California-cuisine specialist in a restored Craftsman bungalow. I had Valentine's Day prix fixe on their outside patio last night (hey, it's going to rain for at least a week, I'll take the dry weather while I can get it!), and it was superb. True fine dining, upscale but not stuffy, and it was a typical Belmont Heights/Belmont Shore crowd: every ethnicity, every age, every orientation just together having a good time.

I imagine you will want to do some power shopping while you're in the area. Cerritos Mall is pretty close and has a good mix of typical shops, but you save a half-percent sales tax and move up several notches in chic-ness by heading farther south: South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, or Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Both major tourist destinations. South Coast is basically an enclosed Rodeo Drive (think Bal Harbour Shops in Miami Beach); Fashion Island is free-air and very chi-chi (there's a Neiman Marcus and a Bloomingdale's there). Go another hour south and you will find some very upscale outlet stores in Carlsbad. And if you like to look at cheap Swedish furniture, there are two IKEAs within 20 minutes of Long Beach (Carson and Costa Mesa).

I lived in Belmont Shore for 18 months and boy, did I hate to move.

For a fun night on a Friday or Saturday, hit Panama Joe's on 2nd St. to see the band. The drinks and food are good and the energy is fantastic.

Hit Sweet Jills (also on 2nd St) to have the best cinnamon roll of your life.

Go to the 405 south and get off at Seal Beach Blvd and head north, immediately on the left hand side is Spaghattini's. Good Italian food, good bands in the lounge and a killer Toasted Almond Martini.

For breakfast, follow 2nd Street south/west, take a right on PCH and about 1/2 a mile down you'll see the marina. Have breakfast at the Rusty Pelican while you watch the boats.

You can also rent kayaks in bewteen Belmont Shore and Naples Island. A very cool afternoon.

Oh, I've so been enjoying this thread, rjw you give excellent advice! :)

It's that time of year again, my daughter has swim meets in Long Beach scheduled for April. Last year we opted out of this for some R&R in Monterey. This year, we'll probably go! I have been to the Queen Mary and Catalina Island but it's been quite awhile.

rjw, we have a parent meeting this Sat. to go over the details of the trip, but I'm sure to be asking your for your expert advice soon on this area. I would love to see Newport and Huntington Beach and I have yet to see Laguna Beach. We'll see what we can fit in as far as "down" time in between the meets! :)

Here's hoping for some dry, sunny weather in April, huh? ***kim*** ((#))

Hi Kim! No problemo. Downtown LB is developing its entertainment options quite nicely, although I've heard grumblings of punk teenagers running roughshod at the GameWorks facility currently open at The Pike (the new entertainment complex by the Aquarium and Convention Center). Note that April is also the month of the LB Grand Prix. I would hope they didn't schedule the meet on the same weekend, as it may be tough to get rooms in good hotels.

If you need to know about acceptable lodging, please let me know. This is a VERY important issue; Long Beach is frankly rather spotty in this department. That is, there are some GREAT hotels in LB itself, but you need to know which ones, since there are also some true dumps. If the meets are at the Belmont Pool, for example, there isn't anything nearby I'd recommend. If the meets are at Cal State Long Beach, however, there are a few more options. If you don't mind driving from downtown or maybe as far as Huntington Beach (a cool half-hour drive up PCH), that opens up the field.

The schedule shows the meets lasting for five days! That's a lot of competition! Can't wait to learn more about it. How far away is Seal Beach? Would that be a nice place for us to stay? Where is the complex where they trained for the Olympics? It may be at that pool. ***kim*** ((#))

Seal Beach is right next door to Long Beach, just over the Orange County line. There are some hotels here and there (I put my mom and niece up in the Pacific Inn, just off PCH and a short walk to Main Street in SB, a few years ago when it was a Radisson), and the coastal part of SB is quite charming.

And the Olympic Trial facility was a temporary natatorium. It's been dismantled and shipped off to new owners for months now. That's why I'm thinking this meet might be at the Belmont Aquatic Center or Cal State Long Beach....

I remember researching the Ayres Hotel in Seal Beach. Nice? Also, how far is Laguna from LB and which places would you recommend in Laguna Beach? Thanks so much for your very helpful info! ( I know I need to start my own thread. :) ) ***kim*** ((#))

The Ayres in Seal Beach seems to be a nice motor hotel. My caveats are that it's right off a major freeway (I-405), next to a senior care facility and a shopping center (don't get excited, it's a Target and a Bed Bath & Beyond or something like that). Still, there are fast food options nearby and it's brand-new and looks really clean.

Laguna is, on a good day, about 25 minutes south of Long Beach, doing the non-scenic route (I-405 to CA-133, Laguna Canyon Road). The scenic route down PCH is wonderful (wait till you see the view at Crystal Cove!!), but usually takes a good 45 minutes. As far as lodging options, if you have lots of money, the Montage or the Surf & Sand. For a more reasonably rate, the Laguna Riviera is old-school, but people seem to really like it.

Kim we have stayed at the Anaheim Ayres and really Loved it! Beautiful, clean and I was amazed, they cook to order your hot complimentary breakfast! A BIG plus was parking our Viper right at our window, as requested, so we could keep our eyes on it. I'm planning to check LB Ayres, as I think they have a shuttle from/to the airport. Would be great if I could stay and then they would shuttle me to Anaheim Ayres, so my kids can fetch me at good times, not JetBlue flight times.
I too, want to see Seal Beach.
Ps; I think I have Ayres Anaheim photos on my Webshots, I'll go look.

Kim,

As usual rjw_lgb_ca's info is spot on. I would only add that although, technically, The Ayres IS in Seal Beach it's in "newer" part of Seal Beach fairly far removed from the "original" Seal Beach--which is quite charming. The area in which The Ayres resides is not charming at all, IMHO. The only advantage for staying at The Ayres, as rjw_lgb_ca pointed out, is that you'd be right near several freeways and, therefore, a hop, skip and a jump to almost anywhere. If you're going to Laguna, though, I'd definitely take PCH all the way from Long Beach.

Also, there are some really good restaurants in Seal Beach proper that you might want to try out: The Blackboard (used to be my elementary school, Zoeter, and is great for breakfast/lunch) Walt's Wharf (great seafood--"Walt" used to be our family dentist before getting into the restaurant business--he also owns a winery, Babcock Vineyards) and a newer sushi restaurant (whose name temporarily escapes me). Anyway, Main Seal Beach is lovely and deserves a stopover.

AL ((d))

Al: Your advice is spot-on as well! The sushi place would be Koi, right? 600 PCH, not far from Main St.

I do agree: The Ayres' location is far from charming. But there are so few choices in Seal Beach, one is sorely challenged to recommend anything. I'm sure it's serving families visiting relatives at nearby Leisure World as well as at the senior care facility.

That Pacific Inn off of PCH-- when it was a Radisson, it was all right (not the Ritz), but now that it's an independent, who knows?!

All the chains are represented in the blocks around South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, so that's a lodging possibility (especially with the 405 taking you up to Long Beach in 20 minutes or less).

I lived in Long Beach and worked in Irvine, the 405 being a 20 minute ride would be a good day. Hit that stretch of road anywhere even close to commuter times and it's a nightmare. Used to take me an hour to an hour and fifteen to get to work and home.

There some good hotels in downtown Long Beach: Westin, Hyatt, Courtyard, Renaissance. My parents stayed at a Best Western on PCH many years ago and it passed Mom's muster. There's a quaint B&B in Dowtown, Lord Mayor's.

Bobbi: What you say is true. The 405 can be a nightmare between CM and LB, you're right (20 minutes would be on a weekend). I've never looked at surface street alternates other than PCH, but there have to be more direct routes.

Your list of downtown hotels is good. That Best Western on PCH is closer to the Belmont Pool and CSULB, so it's a good choice as well. The Seaport Inn, just down PCH, is NOT a good choice (it hasn't been remodeled since the 1980s, and looks it).

rjw_lgb_ca,

Yes! "Koi" is correct. You are also (obviously) correct that hotel/motel choices in "old" Seal Beach are few and far between. Better off staying in Long Beach (as long as you know where to stay) and visiting Seal Beach.

AL ((D))

Thanks, I've happily added KOI to my Must list!
Only found a couple Ayres Anaheim pics, sorry, thought I took more.

http://community.webshots.com/album/70525378hrCcfW