
Long Beach is a very large port city with (you guessed it) a long coastline. It is situated at the very South-East edge of Los Angeles County, abutting Orange County.
You may hear different people say both wonderful and horrible things about the city. This is because the city is so large that it encompasses everything ranging from a large industrial area to extremely exclusive communities.
Long Beach is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United States, with immigrants from all regions of the world calling it home. It tends to have a more east-coast, blue collar feel than the rest of coastal California.
Long Beach isn't typically the primary target of someone's tourist visit, but it is centrally located to just about everything else that you'd want to see in Southern California. That said, Long Beach does have some nice people-gathering areas as well as genuine tourist attractions such as the Queen Mary floating museum and a world-class aquarium.
The area code for Long Beach is 562. For emergency services, dial 911 from any phone.
Long Beach Airport (LGB) 4100 Donald Douglas Dr., Long Beach, +1 562 570-2678, Fax: +1 562 570-2603, [3]. Alaska Airlines (Seattle), US Airways Express (Phoenix), Delta (SkyWest) (Salt Lake City) and JetBlue Airways serve Long Beach Airport. Jet Blue has their Southern California hub at LGB with nonstop flights to Oakland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, NYC/JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Boston, DC/Dulles and Ft. Lauderdale. Rental cars are available for hire at the airport (Avis, Budget, Hertz, Enterprise, National). Long Beach Yellow Cab + 1 -562 435-6111 serves the airport, approximate fares to downtown hotels $19 OW. Long Beach Transit Route 111 connects the airport to downtown Long Beach, fare 90 cents, and to the Blue Line at the downtown Transit Mall. [4].
Orange County/John Wayne Airport SNA [5]
Los Angeles International airport LAX [6] is about 25 miles away. It is fairly easy to take the Metro Rail from LAX to Long Beach, although you may require a short taxi ride or transfer to another bus to reach your final destination. Look for the LAX Shuttle & Airline Connections sign on the Lower/Arrival Level islands in front of each terminal, and board the free "G" Shuttle which terminates at the Aviation Green Line Metro Rail Station. Purchase a two-segment ticket from the automated kiosk ($2.50). You will take the Metro Green Line, exit at the Imperial/Wilmington/Rosa Parks Station, change levels, and transfer to the Blue Line southbound to Long Beach. Overall travel time from LAX is about one hour. It is not recommended to take this line late at night. The Long Beach Transit Mall in downtown Long Beach is the southern terminus of the Blue line.
Two shared van services (Supershuttle or PrimeTime Shuttle) provide door to door service from LAX. Advise the representatives that you need a ride to Long Beach, and they will flag the appropriate van. Fare is approximately $28 one way, taking about one hour. This is most convenient if you have heavy bags, are arriving at night, or your final location is not near a Blue Line station.
Long Beach is linked via the Metro Blue Line/Red Line light rail service to downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood.
Amtrak and Metrolink service Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. To reach Long Beach from Union Station, take the Metro Red Line to the 7th St./Metro Center station then transfer to the Blue Line into Long Beach. Note: the Blue Line goes through some inner city locations (Watts and Compton) and there are not dedicated security guards on the trains. It may be discomforting to take this line late at night.
From the west (LAX, Santa Monica) or from Orange County, take the San Diego (405) freeway. Connect to the southbound Long Beach freeway (710) if your destination is dowtown Long Beach. From the north, the Long Beach freeway (710) runs along the western city boundary, and the San Gabriel Freeway (605) along the eastern boundary. From the coastal areas of Orange County, a scenic and convenient route is Pacific Coast Highway (Rte 1).
There are several easy ways to get to Long Beach from Orange County if you don't have a car. The most direct way is to take Orange County Transit Authority's Route 50 bus servicing Katella Avenue, which passes between Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center. The western terminus of this route is Cal State U-Long Beach. If you are in the Beach Cities, take Route 1 servicing the Pacific Coast Highway and also terminating at CSULB. Alternatively, you can also take Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner or Metrolink's Orange County Line to LA Union Station and transfer to Metro Rail as already described.
A car is the most convenient way to get around Long Beach. Most areas of Long Beach have free parking but be aware that much of Downtown Long Beach has pay parking lots.
There are several transit agencies with bus routes in Long Beach.
Belmont Shore pedestrian district, Second Street in Belmont Shore. Bars, restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and national store outlets such as the Gap and Peet's Coffee and Tea.
Downtown Long Beach - Acres of Books, 240 Long Beach Blvd, ☎ ''+1-562'' 437-6980 (jackie@acresofbooks.com), [38]. M-F 10 AM-6PM, Sa 10AM-9PM, Su 10 AM-5PM. "The best bookstore in California" according to Ray Bradbury. One million used books in stock, a destination for book lovers from around the world. edit
Los Altos Shopping Center. Bellflower and Stearns, Los Altos neighborhood. Stores include Target, Trader Joe's, Big Lots, Rite Aid, Golden Spoon Yogurt, Sears, Bristol Farms gourmet food store +1-562-430-4134 (7AM-10PM, includes cafe, Thursday wine tastings 5:30-7:30, $23), Border's Books and Music, Baja Fresh Mexican Food, See's Candy [39](across Bellflower). On the Passport bus route to Cal State and downtown Long Beach.
Formerly known as "Iowa by the Sea", but now populated by a diverse community, Long Beach has a full range of dining options.