Long Beach CA Info for kimamom
 

Looks like the website munched your original post-- I responded to it and the whole thing disappeared!! Here's a quick rundown....

-- Best hotels in Long Beach are in downtown. The Hyatt, the Renaissance and the Westin are all centrally-located to downtown LB attractions: the Pike entertainment complex, Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Village, Pine Avenue restaurants. Shopping downtown is not great, frankly, so nothing to recommend in that department. The Queen Mary is dry-docked near downtown, and is also worth a visit. The LB terminal for Catalina Express is next to the QM. Don't bother snorkeling or boogie-boarding in LB's breakwater-crippled waters; if you can stand the cold Pacific, do it in Catalina or even Huntington Beach (BRING WETSUITS).

-- The swim meet will probably be at the Belmont Pool complex in Belmont Shore-- about three or four miles due east of downtown LB. No good hotels in that neighborhood, but there are acceptable hotels/motor inns by Long Beach Airport (Marriott, Holiday Inn) and on PCH (Best Western, Guesthouse). Lots of great restaurants in Belmont Shore on Second Street, with some fun shopping and a locals-only vibe. LB doesn't get tourists as a general rule; in Belmont Shore on a Saturday night you'll be mingling with citizens from LB, Cal State LB students and people driving up from the OC lured by the great eateries.

Make sure you have a car. Quick jaunts down the coast into OC can be fun (Laguna Beach is a treasure). If you want to see Rodeo Drive indoors, check out South Coast Plaza (if you've been to Miami Beach, think Bal Harbour Shops completely enclosed in two large buildings). Disneyland is 20 minutes away, as is Knott's Berry Farm. Then there's LA....

Thanks! How far is Laguna Beach or Newport from Long Beach? I wish there were some nice hotels in the area. Any Four Seasons or Fairmonts? Any specific great places to eat in Long Beach? Thanks, Kim Isn't there a place to stay on the Queen Mary?

Oh, and something else I mentioned: Long Beach is decidedly NOT super-glitzy and high-class and trendy. It's pretty middle-class. Those of us who live in LB enjoy a lower cost of living than in LA or San Diego, a true town spirit and a diverse citizenry. There are some well-publicized and persistent problems with crime and gangs in the poorer north parts of LB (adjacent to south-central LA or Compton), but a lot of very subtle money as well. It's not a tourist mecca like Santa Monica, and most of us are just fine with that....

Closest Fairmont I know of would be the Miramar up in Santa Monica (a block from where I work)-- a wonderful property. But you're looking at a 30-mile commute to LB-- 40 minutes with no traffic, at least an hour with.

The closest Four Seasons is in Newport Beach, about 30 minutes away in Newport Center. A very nice property, however.

The Queen Mary has been turned into a hotel, that's right. A recent review by the "LA Times" noted it was nostalgic and nice, but it's showing its age (restrooms could use some light refurbishing). Two great restaurants on the QM: Sir Winston's (old-school-- jackets for men) and Chelsea's.

Other great places to eat in LB:

Downtown: Alegría (Spanish), L'Opera (very pricey Italian), the Madison (very pricey steaks), 555 East (pricey steaks), Pine Avenue Fish House (guess what!), Parker Lighthouse (good seafood, great views), Tequila Jack's (pretty yummy Mexican). Also Islands (burger chain), P.F. Chang (Asian cuisine chain).

Belmont Heights/Belmont Shore: Christy's (superb Italian-- run by Sonny Bono's oldest daughter Christy), Nico's (Continental, run by Christy Bono's ex-husband-- they're good friends), Lucille's (Memphis-style BBQ-- awesome local chain), Malvasia (Mediterranean), Shenandoah Café (American-- wonderful food), Lasher's (American food, served in a converted Craftsman bungalow-- excellent). Also Rubio's Baja Grill (fast-food Mexican, but excellent-- fish tacos!!), Baja Fresh (fast-food Mexican-- also great), SuperMex (LB chainlet, huge portions of Mexican grub, very wonderful).

RJW: Shhh.

Thanks! It sounds like we won't go hungry, anyway! We will bring our wetsuits for the ocean swimming. ***kim***:)

I didn't answer your question about driving time, kimamom, so here goes....

The nicest way to get from Long Beach to the shoreline communities of Orange County is down Pacific Coast Highway. It's also the no-hurry way to go. Some very, very nice views along the way (especially just north of Laguna Beach) make it worth the extra time:

LB to Huntington Beach: 20 minutes
LB to Newport Beach: 25-30 minutes
LB to Laguna Beach: 40-50 minutes

You can shave minutes off the trip by hopping I-405, but you then have to schlepp south to get to PCH to get anywhere nice, so you really don't save a lot of time.

I plumb forgot about the In-'n'-Out at Second Street and PCH in Long Beach! If you need that Double Double fix while you're in town, that's the closest to the pool. A little farther away (Los Coyotes Diagonal at Ximeno) we have another. Just another reason to stay in LB: *2* In-'n'-Out's close to my condo!! ;) *burp*

rjw, slightly off topic, but which is the restaurant in Long Beach (I think steaks) in the old bank building? I recall loving the space, but don't recall the name. Thanks!

Iregeo: That's the Madison, in the old Security Pacific building. L'Opera, in the Bank of America building across the street, and Alegría (up Pine a few doors) are owned by the same people as the Madison. That *is* a gorgeous room, isn't it? And when the cooks are really clicking, the food matches the décor!!

Thanks, rjw, that's it. If/when you get to L.A., try, if you haven't already, Cicada (downtown). Great food, beautiful presentation, in a gorgeous, converted, old, haberdashery building.

Sorry for the digression. Back to the original topic!

rjw-can you go PCH all the way from Hermosa Beach to Huntington Beach, and if so, are you saying this is the best way to go?I wasn't sure if PCH was easy to navigate in the Palos Verdes/San Pedro area.Thanks.

jd: You can technically drive PCH all the way from Hermosa into OC (until Torrance it's considered Sepulveda Blvd). The issue is the ickiness of the areas you have to drive through south of Palos Verdes: Carson, Wilmington, Lomita, West Long Beach. These are grim parts of southern CA, industrial and rough. You drive through with windows up, as quickly as possible.

PCH south of the OC line quickly gets prettier as it wanders closer to the shore. BTW, Seal Beach is just over the Orange Curtain and has a sweet seaside area on its Main Street (and one of my favorite restaurants in OC, the always-packed Walt's Wharf). Might be worth a visit.

rjw-I don't think I want to drive through the areas you described-I better stick with 405. I think we will get off and try to find that restaurant in Seal Beach for a late lunch on the way down. Thanks.

jd: Hmmmm.... Let me try to get you there. The route I'm going to recommend is the clearest (Yahoo! Maps just gave me bizarre directions).

You'll be taking I-405 southbound; take the Seal Beach Blvd exit. Follow Seal Beach all the way to Pacific Coast Highway, then take a right on PCH, heading north; follow this until Main, where you'll turn left. Walt's Wharf is at 201 Main (at Central). Try the caramelized salmon. Yum!!

Thanks rjw-sounds like just what we need after a long flight from the East coast-and it seems like it is on the way to our hotel. Can't wait to get there.

jd: Yep, it is. You're heading down to Huntington-- from the restaurant, just turn right on PCH and follow down another 10-15 minutes. You'll drive through quirky Sunset Beach (shotgun beach houses) and some semi-industrial parts (including some military areas), then right into Huntington Beach. Hopefully the surf will be good so you can watch the surfers!

Thanks for all the info! The Four Seasons in Newport sounds like it may work as a home base for us. Any great places you could recommend to eat in Newport Beach?

My son spent many summers there with a friend and his family, but they rented a home on the beach, so they did most of the cooking at the house. Thanks!! ***kim*** :)

Hmmm.... I don't know much at all about Newport Beach eateries (I've always passed through on the way to Laguna). The restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton is supposed to be pretty good, but other than that, I'm clueless. Anyone else...?

What's good in Huntington Beach as far as lodging, restaurants, etc.? Would you recommend HB over Newport?

Our youth pastor moved to HB a couple of years ago and loves it there! Thanks! ***kim*** Which place has the best beaches?

Kim-we are staying in Huntington Beach at the Hyatt H.B. We only chose here because we want to be as close to LA (relatives there)as possible and be in the HB/Newport/Laguna area. The Hyatt seems nice, but from what I've read,the Laguna area is more desirable.

Huntington Beach v. Newport Beach v. Laguna is comparing apples and oranges, or, in the case of Orange County, navels and Valencias. In My Opinion:

Huntington Beach is mainly a largish undistinguished suburb with a few blocks-square of attractive (and relatively recent for the most part) beach-resort commerce, including a couple of newish mega-hotel complexes including the Hyatt. The beaches at HB are the best - long, wide, great surf, and its pier the best of the three. But in terms of non-beach things attractive to tourists HB doesn't have the range that the others will have.

Newport is sprawling and schizo in comparison. Big institutional land users (shopping malls, Hoag Hospital - on its way to being the size of a city on its own), upland ranchburger houses, bayside commerce for the yachty set (ship dealers, Ferrari dealers, raquet clubs for raqueteers), Joe's Crab Shack (urp), trafficky strip commerce; and also cozy little waterfront residential enclaves for zillionaires - Lido Isle (where John Wayne used to garden his wee plot and greet drivers-by) and &quot;little Bal&quot; - Balboa Island, accessible by ferry or by a rather hard-to-find bridge, and loaded with gorgeous flowery little cottages. Like the Naples neighborhood adjacent to Belmont Shore in Long Beach (see above) Little Bal proves there are incredibly desirable, high-density, aesthetically wonderful neighborhoods in SoCal - <i>if</i> you can win a lottery or two. Newport has some beach but not as extensive as Huntington's, more shopping, restaurant, and strolling possibilities, but also lots more cars and more need of one.

Laguna got the rep of &quot;artsy&quot; back when being Bohemian was unusual rather than a whole culture. It's physically got the most attractive setting of the group, with hills sweeping down to the bay, and Laguna Canyon, when it isn't (a) a traffic jam or (b) on fire, is a lovely glimpse of the &quot;original&quot; California landscape.

There are gorgeous residential areas, a small and rather overcrowded (up to insanely overcrowded) beach area, and one helluva lot of cars day-tripping their way ever-so-slowly down PCH looking for the quaint. Off the highway and there are quiet streets; on the highway there are shops and shoppes, hotels and spa-wannabes, and plenty of places to exchange money for stuff. Laguna is by far the most tourist-oriented of the three. The arts pageant is now a big business, spawning pageant spawn. It used to be a locally big deal, then it got promoted into a regionally big deal, now it's THE deal. Enjoy yourselves at it. Bring money and patience.

Enjoy all three places, but try as best you can to get off PCH and into the back streets.

I missed the original question here, it seems, so I'm not sure what you are looking to do in the LB area. I lived there for four years, so I can give you my take on it, but again, depends upon what you want to do. I'm assuming you have teens (?)

Laguna Beach is very scenic with a nice little beachside park complete with basketball courts and the like. It has nice tide pools among the rocks where you can climb around and explore tide pool life. Nice outdoor eateries on the cliffs that overlook the ocean.

Huntington and Seal Beach are the places to play in the sand and surf. Huntington has little shack shops where you can rent bikes, skates, boogie boards, etc. There's a paved path alongside the beach and actual palm trees, lol. Seal Beach is a funky little beach town with a decent pier and lots of cute shops. Only drawback IMO are the oil rigs in view offshore, but get used to seeing those in SoCal.

Bolsa Chica Beach has cement fire pits on the beach, so if you ever thought of a night time fire and/or BBQ at the beach, this is the place.

Long Beach is, as others have said, decidedly more blue collar than the OC beaches, but Shoreline Village is nice and a walk through the Marina is pretty. A trip to Catalina is always fun, and you can even take a gondola ride through Naples Island.

Have a good trip, I almost feel nostalgic for SoCal now. ;)

Gardyloo and questionmotives have painted good pictures of the contrasts between Huntington, Newport and Laguna Beaches. question, kimamom is going to a swim meet in Long Beach (probably at the Belmont Pool, also known as the Long Beach Swim Complex) and had questions about where to stay/what to do, etc. Since I live in the gritty ol' LBC (and love it), I started this thread after I tried to reply to her original post and it got lost in cyberspace. And FYI, the last couple of years have seen a bit of a renaissance in downtown Long Beach. Hopefully the brunt of the development around Pine Avenue and Shoreline Village (that is, the Pike) will be done by the time of the Grand Prix (early April). Should be. We're even getting a comedy club downtown! Wow-- we're coming up in the world....

I lived in the grit too, lol, I was a starving college student back then.

Heard that Belmont Shore has undergone complete changes and that lots of old favorite hangouts are gone. Never ate at the upscale eateries while I was there, (couldn't afford to) but did visit the old haunts like Bonna Donna's Shore House, Midnight Espresso, Woody's, DiPiazza, Murphy's Patio Pub, Panama Joes, Hamburger Henry's, Rainbow Ice Cream, Egyptian Pharmacy, Belmont Brewing Co., and of course, Yankee Doodle's for some darts and no-rules air hockey, lmao. Any of those places still around? Kinda doubt it, sounds like Belmont Shore is no longer an affordable CSULB student hangout. :)

question: Oh, I played this game last year too! Let's see:

Shore House: Kitchen burned, relocated. Moved back to original location.

Midnight Expresso: Gone, replaced by a Coffee Bean &amp; Tea Leaf.

Woody's: Not sure what/where that was. Probably gone. Is it related to Taco Surf...?

DiPiazza: That's on PCH at Anaheim currently. Still open.

Murphy's: Still open.

Panama Joe's: Still open, live bands, drunk groupies and all.

Hamburger Henry's: Gone. Replaced by a Z Pizzeria and a Fingerprints used CD store.

Rainbow Ice Cream: Gone. There IS a Cold Stone Creamery, if that helps.

Egyptian Pharmacy: Gone, replaced by a Rite-Aid. I'm mad-- the Egyptian was the best place in LB to buy your Hallowe'en costume!!

Belmont Brewing Company: Still open, going well, a bit upscale recently. Good food and oh, the microbrewed beers!

Yankee Doodle's: Still open, still kinda sleazy. Always hearing about brawling and drugs over there.

Belmont Shore may be a bit upscale now, but you still see the CSULB students running around, so there's still a college neighborhood vibe to the ol' town. And it's still my favorite place to chill. If I ever win the Lotto or get a cool million to drop on a place, I'm moving back to the Shore in a New York minute!! ;)

Thanks everyone! Now, any info on Catalina Island? How long does it take to go over there? Any nice places to eat, special beaches for snorkeling, great places to shop!! Thanks all!!! ***kim*** :)

We will be spending a night in Long Beach just before and just after a Royal Caribbean cruise which leaves from San Pedro. We were looking at Days Inn on E. Pacific Coast Hwy or Best Western on Long Beach Blvd. The prices of these hotels are very reasonable, but could someone from the Long Beach area please tell me if these areas are OK? If you have any other suggestions for reasonably priced accomodations, they are most welcome. Thanks.

P M: NEITHER (very dodgy areas). If you're leaving from San Pedro, I'd first look at lodging there (there are some good choices there). If your heart is set on Long Beach, I'd stay at one of the hotels on Ocean Blvd. in downtown LB-- especially the Renaissance, the Hyatt or the Westin. Good luck to you!

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed to know. I knew there had to be a reason for such low prices on hotels, but being unfamiliar with Long Beach, it's good to have some confirmation. I'll take a look at San Pedro. If you have any suggestions for sights to see there, I would appreciate it.

rjw, I have booked the Sheraton in San Pedro. My husband and I are much more excited about that hotel than we were about the others I mentioned, as it looks really nice on the web page. It's very near the cruise terminal and it's surprisingly affordable. Thanks again for your help!!

kimamon, about catalina
It takes about 1 hour on the catalina express. Think it's abou $42 buck round trip or there about.
Catalina has a few blocks of tourisy shops that are fun to drop into (a few with some really neat stuff to). There is a place near casino point that you could snorkle. Mostly scuba divers there but at least there isn't any boat traffic in that area.
Also, lots of places to eat and to fit every budget. The best burgers at the place near the Metropole. Great day ol spegghitt at the italian place across the street. Blue Parrot has a great view but just ok food (IMHO).
Just walk around until you find something you like.
hope this helps.

An update on swimming-related events in Long Beach-- a huge temporary natatorium is being constructed next to the LB Sports Arena (world's largest mural on its wall) for the Aquatic Festival 2004 (June 10 through July 18!). Associated events will include the official Olympic swimming and diving trials. Anyone planning to attend the Festival should look into downtown LB lodging NOW. All the 411 can be found at:

www.longbeach2004.com

Thanks so much for that info! That's great! My daughter opted out of her swim competitions in LB and stayed home with me. We took her to Monterey for a little R&amp;R.

She's now training for Championships after another week off to visit the Oregon Coast. ***kim***

Gardyloo: Have lived in Newport Beach for most of my life.....so know quite a bit about it. For openers..John Wayne never lived on Lido.. and your message is full of many errors. Do I detect a case of envy??