Long Beach highlights photographed in July 2010:
This large Southern California city is about 20 miles South of downtown Los Angeles and in the same county. Its population of almost 500,000 centers on an attractive downtown next to the Pacific Ocean and the massive ports of Long Beach and San Pedro that serve Los Angeles and much of its area.
Skyline:
Queen Mary:
Permanently docked in the port is this historic cruise ship that features a hotel and restaurants and a tour.
Shoreline Park:
This peninsula in the harbor features a lighthouse on a hill with views around the harbor and downtown.
Shoreline Village:
Also in the harbor is this dining and shopping promenade surrounded by pleasure boat docks.
Rainbow Harbor:
This small inlet is for commercial pleasure boat docks and features a beautiful palm-lined promenade and several plazas, as well as adjacent restaurants and the very fine Aquarium of the Pacific and its parking structure.
The Pike:
The former site of an old beachside amusement park is now occupied by an entertainment and dining center that has a ferris wheel and a rollercoaster-themed pedestrian bridge linking it to Rainbow Harbor. Although much of the layout and architecture is rather clumsy, it creates an active infill area connecting the harbor and downtown.
Recent Downtown Housing:
Many high-density housing areas have been built in a variety of styles.
International Elementary School:
Designed by Morphosis.
Downtown Late 20th Century:
A variety of commercial, hotel, convention center, and housing buildings date from this period.
Long Beach Civic Center:
The city hall, central library, and grounds are a textbook example of contemporary 1970's design.
Long Beach Performing Arts Center:
Long Beach Arena:
This mid-century monster is wrapped with a massive Wyland mural.
Midcentury Housing Group:
Downtown Art Deco:
There is a good representation of buildings from the 1920's to 1940's in a wide variety of styles from streamline moderne to various revival styles popular during the deco period.
Great job! That was a wonderful thread of my old stomping grounds. Long Beach has come a long way in improving the area around Ocean Blvd and Shoreline Dr.
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"The destructive effects of automobiles are much less a cause than a symptom of our incompetence at city building" - Jane Jacobs 1961ish
Yep this is my home, thanks for showing off much of what I see on a daily basis. Seeing it this way, makes me even appreciate living here even more so.
Funny you should say that; "CSI: Miami" is actually filmed in and around Long Beach. The real Miami was filmed for generic establishing shots and such, but many outdoor scenes are actually filmed in Long Beach.
__________________ "I guess the only time people think about injustice is when it happens to them."
~ Charles Bukowski
I think only a few vantage points remind anyone of Miami, for the most part it is not very similar, but I can imagine a wider variety of details that make for believable stand-ins.