Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Long Beach, California

Last Monday I went to Long Beach to see an old office buddy who is worried that he might be let go earlier than he planned to leave because of the state of the nation's economy. Over lunch, I told him about the benefits of retiring early and I cited myself as an example. I don't think I really convinced him LOL. The guy is a natural born workaholic, what can I say.

On my way back home, I decided to take a few pictures at Shoreline Village and its vicinity since one of my two regular blog visitors indicated an interest in the area LOL.

I took this picture of Pine Street an hour or so past noon on what is a working day and you can hardly see cars and pedestrians populating the street. Beyond the building in the background, on both sides of Pine, are fine restaurants; except for a few, most of them are empty of diners. I cannot really figure out why this upscale section of Long Beach is not drawing as much visitors as comparable places in other cities in the US.

This is a section of the beach along Ocean Blvd. If you double click to enlarge the pic, you can clearly see a band of concrete pathway parallel to the beach. That's a strip along the sand for cyclists, joggers and walkers that extend all the way to Belmont Shore from, as far back as, the Los Angeles River bicycle lane.
Shown offshore is one of four man-made islands of Thums Oil. These islands were created to serve as drilling platforms and homes to oil wells whose bottom locations are mostly miles inland.
A section of the Long Beach marina
Shoreline Village as viewed from the lighthouse.
A floating resto with the lighthouse in the background
The non-functioning lighthouse
The whale watch boat having a really slow day - the boat was set to sail in half an hour and there was no one on board yet!


The Queen Mary from a distance

10 comments:

docgelo said...

wow, i think i've been here years ago, this part of long beach really looks familiar. and that queen mary from a far...

i only wish manila bay looks the same as this. now that's suntok sa buwan 'ata.

bertN said...

You probably were here because if you were visiting Long Beach and you missed this area, you missed what is now the city's showcase. Unfortunately, it is still little known tourist-wise.

I share your "suntok sa buwan" wish but we cannot give up on Manila Bay...the sunset alone is worth it.

Reena said...

i like the 3rd to the last photo. are those planks on the ground real wood?

so can i make a request for your next stop over? hehehe... i want to see disneyland! i love that place. i really feel like a kid again when i was there. :)

queen mary. i think nga that's where we went but it was at night.

bertN said...

Reena, no they are not real wood. It's more like concrete or pre-cut stones.

I took some pics in Disneyland late last year when I took a visiting cousin from Pinas there. I'll dig them up or maybe I'll wait when I get to visit the place again.

Joy said...

Such beautiful snaps. I wouldn't mind visiting there.

Re Keukenhof, they're only open 8 weeks of the year from mid-March to mid-May.

Thanks for visiting Norwich Daily Photo and leaving your comment. Come back tomorrow for the penultimate photo in the Keukenhof series!


joy
A Pinay In EnglandYour Love CoachI, Woman

bertN said...

Joy, it is such a short window of time to enjoy Keukenhof. I'll have to keep that in mind when I schedule a trip there.

Sidney said...

It is beautiful but deserted... I wouldn't mind to see some beach babes in bikini on those pictures ! ;-)

dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...

I agree with Sidney. Beach babe in bikinis would have completed the scene :D

Nice photos, really! The place looks clean. I'd love to have that bicycle lane here. That's what's lacking here in the Philippines...

Off-topic:
As for your question whether I used flash photography in my Cubao photoshoot, I used flash in some photos but most of it were taken only using higher ISO setting and long exposure shots...

Sardonyx said...

Thanks for featuring Long Beach, I miss this place! And I've been in Shore Line Village so many times and brought my Dad there to see Queen Mary and also I brought my best friend too :-), ako ba yun regular visitor mo? hahaha wait, ako rin pala si Missy ha I think I was signed in as sardonyx so sino pa yun isang regular visitor mo? We're planning to take a vacation in Long Beach this summer but I'm not sure yet.....next time Redondo Beach naman hahaha where my ex-office mates and I used to spend our lunch time there LOL

bertN said...

Sidney and dodong flores, next time I will go visit the beaches on a weekend where I will endure the hazards of bikini clad beauties distracting me from the pursuit of capturing the beauty of nature at its best LOL.

dodong, thanks for the info - I'm still learning the "ins and outs" of photography and I am not doing a good job at it.

Sardonyx, ikaw nga at si Missy...akala ko dalawa, iisa lang pala...hikbi LOL.

Redondo Beach? I used to hang-out there and Hermosa Beach when we lived in Gardena. I'll revisit the place, maybe Sta. Monica, too one of these days.