The Brief

The Queen Mary in Long Beach is many things — a popular tourist attraction, a music festival backdrop, and a source of haunted tales.

But before it permanently docked on Southern California’s shores, the Queen Mary was a symbol of British luxury and prowess. Nearly 100 years ago, the record-setting ship made its mark as a feat of engineering, commanding attention and awe on the ocean.

The ship’s origins

The Queen Mary sprang from a desire to bring something new to the waters.

The company Cunard Line wanted a set of fancy new ocean liners to replace the ships on its North Atlantic route.

In 1930, construction started on what was known as Hull No. 534 in a Scotland shipyard renowned for its building skills. This shipyard was the only one in Great Britain set up for design experiments. With the aim of being superfast and nimble on the water, crews ran over 7,000 performance tests with wax models.

But the ship almost didn’t materialize, as Cunard was hit hard by the Great Depression. The company was strapped financially, and the ship was estimated to cost about 4 million pounds, about $100 million in today's money. So, the British government stepped in with a loan to cover the cost to complete construction. The company was forced to merge with a rival in 1934 as part of the funding agreement.

Over 300,000 people were involved in the ship’s creation. It had an art deco interior with bright colors, geometric shapes, and different textures like wood and glass and velvet. Some mocked the ship for this kind of old money, conservative take on luxury sea travel, but the designers were trying to appeal to the world.

According to the Scotland design museum, V&A Dundee, a promotional brochure described it as pairing a cosmopolitan sense of culture “with the comfort of a country home.” It was also the first British liner to have a small synagogue onboard, largely in response to rising antisemitism in Germany.

As an upper-class British passenger ship, the royal family was quite involved. This was during the time of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary. Family members would visit the ship to check on progress.

Hull No. 534 was originally going to be named in honor of the King’s grandmother, Queen Victoria, according to Washington Post editor Felix Morley in an autobiography. He alleged a Cunard executive told him why the name changed — swearing him to secrecy until his death.

Cunard’s custom was to give ships names ending with “ia.” But when the King was informed of the goal to name it after Victoria, considered “Britain’s most illustrious Queen,” he smiled and replied: “Mary will be pleased.”

The Queen Mary’s maiden voyage was a 470-mile round trip in May 1936, from one part of England to another. And those thousands of tests paid off. The ship was incredibly quick, at its best taking just four days to cross the Atlantic.

It set a record for fastest transatlantic crossing within its first year, cutting an hour and 25 minutes from the four-day journey.

The Gray Ghost

The ship would ferry thousands of wealthy passengers and millions in goods until World War II. Wartime stripped the Queen Mary of its opulence and beauty — but it would earn a historic spot in the war.

The ship was converted to carry not civilians but large numbers of troops. To make enough space, one of the dining rooms was converted to a large mess hall, and even the drawing room was turned into a sick bay for soldiers. Its sleek black, red, and white exterior was repainted gray, which eventually got it the nickname “Gray Ghost” for its speed and agility.

The Queen Mary arrives in New York City with thousands of U.S. troops on board on June 20, 1945.

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Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command

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As the war continued, the Queen Mary was modified multiple times to carry more troops, P.O.W'.s and crew. In 1942, the expanded capacity made it the first ship with over 10,000 people on board — and it likely still holds the record for most people on a ship at one time (16,683).

In total, the Queen Mary transported 810,000 troops, contributing hugely to the war effort.

The ship’s speed also drew Hitler’s ire. It outran German boats so many times that the dictator put a $250,000 reward out to anyone who could sink it. The danger was so high that passengers were told to carry a life preserver, water canteen and rations on them at all times, according to a nurse’s personal account.

One time the ship encountered a rogue wave so fierce that it almost destroyed the ship. Fifteen thousand American troops were on board when a wall of water dozens of feet tall struck the side of the ship, almost capsizing it and flooding the decks. Some reports say it was up to 90 feet high. Crews were able to steady the Queen Mary and no passengers were lost.

The ship’s last wartime voyage was in 1946 to Southampton, England. It stayed there for months as crews restored it back to passenger service, painting it again with that iconic black, white and red. Pieces of its traditional interior had to be recovered from ports around the world.

Retiring to Long Beach

The Queen Mary continued passenger service for the next 20 years — but the ship was on borrowed time.

The cover of a first class menu aboard a 1950 Queen Mary voyage.

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Megan Garvey

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LAist

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The first class luncheon offerings on June 27, 1950.

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Megan Garvey

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LAist

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At the turn of the 1950s, sea travel popularity dipped because of the jet age. The Queen Mary was aging and losing money. Its era as the top ocean liner on the Atlantic was at an end, so Cunard was ready to sell the ship.

This was Long Beach’s opportunity. The city was itching for a major attraction — so why not a famous ocean liner? There were 18 bids in total for the ship, including an offer from New York to turn it into a floating Brooklyn high school, but Long Beach won. In 1967, the city paid $3.5 million for the Queen Mary to become its historic maritime museum and hotel.

The ocean liner 'RMS Queen Mary' at Southampton Docks, UK, October 1967. Shortly after she sailed to a permanent mooring at Long Beach in California.

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Evening Standard/Getty Images

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Hulton Archive

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The ship’s “last great cruise” left England for California on October 31 that year. The ship was packed with famous people for the 39 day trip, which crossed the Canary Islands, the eastern coast of Brazil, down to Cape Horn and around to the U.S.’s west coast. The ship faced some trouble in the hotter weather. It got so hot on board that a chef died from heat exhaustion and was buried at sea.

Still, it was a celebratory journey. Crews threw hundreds of bottles stuffed with notes overboard, according to former Long Beach councilmember Renee Simon. The notes asked would-be readers to reach out with their location in exchange for a Queen Mary memento.

Chief deck steward Joe Allen also was among the crew. He wrote a poem called “The Mary”. Line by line, he affectionately recounted its accolades in war and peace:

To injured seamen broken in fall
She dashed to their rescue at the S.O.S call
The time has come for this Old Beauty
To retire from Atlantic duty
Setting sail for Long Beach in atmosphere terse
She will "finish with engines", her grand crew disperse
The toast is ‘The Queen,’ the end of an era
Here’s to the ‘Mary,’ the greatest ship ever

It was supposed to stay private, but “The Mary” ended up being printed in the ship’s farewell booklet and read aloud by the captain. Allen’s words made people cry.

Thousands of spectators welcomed the Queen Mary when it arrived in Long Beach on December 9, 1967. It’s been a peaceful, if not quiet retirement — millions more have gotten to know the ship on land than were ever able to visit at sea.

On Friday, Southern California Edison filed lawsuits against Los Angeles County and several other agencies over their alleged roles in the Eaton Fire.

Two lawsuits were filed.

In one suit, the utility company alleges Southern California Gas delayed shutting off gas in the burn area for several days after the fire, making the blaze worse.

“SoCalGas’ design and actions caused gas leaks, gas fires, reignition of fires, gas explosions and secondary ignitions during the critical early stages of the Eaton Fire,” according to the suit.

The claim goes on to say this contributed to the spread of the fire and made firefighting and evacuation efforts more difficult.

In the second suit, the utility company alleges the Eaton Fire was made worse by the local government response, “including due to the failures of LASD, LACoFD, OEM and GENASYS in issuing timely evacuation alerts and notifications,” the claim reads.

The same filing says L.A. County was to blame for vegetation and overgrown brush in the Eaton Canyon area that fueled the blaze.

It also named the city of Pasadena and its utility system, Pasadena Water and Power, the city of Sierra Madre, Kinneloa Irrigation District, Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association, Las Flores Water Company and Lincoln Avenue Water Company as parties responsible for water systems running dry in Altadena as the fire broke out.

Edison says hydrants running dry compounded the extent of the disaster.

Those claims will be heard in the L.A. County Superior Court, which is also handling L.A. County’s lawsuit against SoCal Edison.

Edison itself is the subject of hundreds of lawsuits from survivors of the Eaton Fire, which could cost the company billions of dollars in settlements.

Edison has said its equipment likely sparked the Eaton Fire and filed these suits, in part, because it believes these various entities should share some of the blame for the disaster, which resulted in the destruction of thousands of buildings and the deaths of 19 people.

A compensation program Edison established for fire survivors who forgo suing the company has made settlement offers to more than 80 of those who applied.

A new organization is taking over production of the MLK Day Parade, almost 40 years after the first parade was held in South L.A. to commemorate the civil rights leader.

Bakewell Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper (a partner of The LA Local), was granted the permit in September to organize the parade for the first time by the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Formerly called the Kingdom Day Parade, the parade has been rebranded as the Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade. The parade was previously produced and organized by Adrian Dove and the L.A. chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality California (CORE-CA).

With less than a week before the parade kicks off, LA Local reporter LaMonica Peters sat down with Danny Bakewell Jr., president and executive editor of the LA Sentinel, to discuss the details and what attendees should expect.

This Jan. 12 interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Why did you decide to produce the MLK Day Parade this year?

Bakewell: It all started because Adrian Dove, who was the previous promoter, had announced that he was retiring. When he announced he was retiring, LAPD, city council offices and other people said, “Hey, we still want to do the MLK Day parade. Would you guys be interested? You have the infrastructure to put it together.” And we said yes.

What’s different about this year’s production?

We’re going to start the parade with a singer performing “Lift Every Voice.” We’re going to play the message from Bernice King at the start of the show. Obviously, we have Cedric the Entertainer as our grand marshal to add the entertainment value, but the community has always been and will continue to be a major part of this parade.

Is ABC 7 covering the parade this year? 

It’s still going to be televised by ABC. We’re working diligently on how the show is going to be, but ABC has been a great partner.

What was the preparation for this parade?

Thanks to our corporate sponsors, we have a number of bands. The truth is, particularly in LAUSD at this time, and other school districts, they don’t have the funding to just get a bus and get here. I can’t say enough about Airbnb to Bank of America, all of our corporate sponsors, who are supporting all of the youth organizations.

Were there any unexpected challenges while preparing for this parade? 

This [The LA Sentinel office on Crenshaw Blvd.] is usually our command center during The Taste of Soul. It dawned on me last week that we’re going to be a mile away [from the parade route]. So, we made the decision to bring in a trailer to be our office at the corner of King and Crenshaw boulevards.

Any special guests this year besides the grand marshal?

I’m working on a surprise guest to be the singer for the national anthem. No matter what, we will give tribute to the Black national anthem “Lift Every Voice” as loud as we can next Monday.

What’s the long-term vision for this parade, if Bakewell Media continues to produce it?

We see the MLK Day Parade, and we want the world to see and expect to see this parade, the same way they see the Macy’s Parade, the Hollywood Parade or the Rose Parade. BET has come in this year as a partner. So there’s an opportunity to possibly do a national broadcast on BET. Not that we would lose our local television, but we see this as a major parade in this community and in the national African American community, celebrating the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So, we are very excited.

Bits of conversation drift out of Aladdin Used Books as people lined up at the register with stacks of books.

The bustle of activity is bittersweet as the Koreatown bookstore will close its doors at the end of January after 13 years in the neighborhood.

Jina Lee, store manager, said declining sales at the Koreatown branch led to the decision to close the store. In recent years, staffing at the 5,000-square-foot store on the third floor of Madang Mall dropped from six to two, Lee said.

“This was a happy place for everyone,” she said, “but we were struggling.”

On a recent January afternoon, the shop looked lively as customers took advantage of the clearance sale on Korean and English books, CDs, DVDs and other media.

Koreatown resident Jin Lee wishes he visited the bookstore more often.

“It would have been great if it had been this crowded all the time,” Lee said. “But nowadays, people don’t read paper books and prefer devices, so it’s hard for all bookstores.”

Some customers traveled from as far as Orange County and the Inland Empire to visit one last time.

Minjung Kim, who moved from Koreatown to Fullerton five years ago, still made trips to the bookstore after she moved away.

“It’s the only place that sells this many new and used Korean books,” she said.

Each visit to the bookstore was important to David Artiga of Pomona, because it gave him a chance to connect with friends over literature.

“I feel like this is really negative for the community,” he said. “The importance of having a well-versed society, keeping in touch with literature and art is so important. And now this place is just going to be gone.”

South Korea-based Aladdin Used Books opened its first U.S. brick-and-mortar store in Los Angeles in 2013. The store carries around 50,000 new and used books, with a majority in Korean.

Customers will still be able to order books through Aladdin’s website after the store closes.

Ken Derick, a Koreatown resident, walked around the store aisles with a stack of books.

“It’s like we’re kind of moving towards a new technology, like everything’s virtual and online,” he said.

Longtime customer Anthony Kim said he’s enjoyed looking for gems in the English-language shelves.

“My Korean ability is rather limited but I’ve always enjoyed browsing their English language sections,” he said. “And now that I have a niece and nephew, their children’s book section has always been a great place to pick up new books for them.”

Valerie Laguna perused the shop’s CD section, a bygone experience in the era of streaming.

“I really like their CD collection and their literature collection they have in English,” she said.

“I was so sad about it, I immediately texted my friend,” she said. “I’ve gotten so many of my favorite books and my favorite CDs from this place. I feel like losing a place like this is just so sad and makes a huge dent in the community and culture.”

Less than a mile away on Western Avenue, Happy Bookstore owner Jung Jae-seung said it has been difficult for bookstores for some time now. His Korean-language bookstore is also struggling in an era when so many people have abandoned print media.

“It’s really about how long printed books can survive,” Jung said. “From that point of view, it’s hard to be optimistic.”

South L.A. or South Central? More than 20 years ago, that question came with high emotions for some residents who were sick of the stereotypes they saw in media coverage of their neighborhoods.

So in 2003, the Los Angeles City Council renamed the collection of communities south of the 10 freeway in an attempt to cut ties with the connotations of poverty and crime that some believe came to represent South Central after the turbulence of the 1980s and ‘90s. Today, you see South L.A. on official documents, maps and even historical and cultural districts.

Even though city officials moved to wipe away the old name, some locals never stopped calling the area South Central — a name that for them represents history, resilience and Black and Latino culture.

“I think it will always be South Central for its residents and for the people that were born and raised here,” said Evelyn Alfaro-Macias, a social worker who was raised in Historic South Central and whose office is on Hoover Street. “It means home. It means culture. People should respect the name South Central.”

What and where is South LA, anyway?

By the early 2000s, television news and pop culture had given South Central a reputation for violence and chaos that some were eager to shake.

Helen Johnson, a resident of Vermont Square, helped lead the campaign to change the name.

“I think the media can make you or either break you,” 72-year-old Johnson told reporters in 2003 after the city council approved the name change, according to the L.A. Times. “This is what you’ve done to us. You’ve broke us.”

Supporters of the change included then-Councilmember Janice Hahn, who is now a county supervisor and said at the time that the South Central name had become “mostly derogatory.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who was working then as executive director of the nonprofit Community Coalition, said the area’s image problem wasn’t just about its name.

“If the media paid a little more attention to covering positive things in the community, that will also help,” Bass said, according to an L.A. Times report.

The LA Local has reached out Bass and Hahn’s offices, as well as L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

The exact borders of South Los Angeles, or the area formerly known as South Central, are fuzzy.

The South Central name originally only applied to the neighborhood around Central Avenue south of downtown Los Angeles, but it spread west as populations grew.

City planning documents today designate a strip of neighborhoods between Interstate 110 and Arlington Avenue as South Los Angeles and tag the Central Avenue neighborhood as Historic South Central. Others, including academics and the city tourism board, use a map of South Los Angeles that stretches to the border of Culver City.

This is what the community told us

Some businesses in the area adopted the South L.A. name, notably South LA Cafe, the coffee shop that has grown to five locations and become a local institution.

More recently, some groups have made a concerted effort to embrace South Central, like the South Central Run Club or South Central Clips, an Instagram-based group that sells skatewear-inspired “South Central” apparel. (Even South LA Cafe today sells some merch with the South Central name.)

Several locals told The LA Local the official designation never changed anything for them.

“It’s South Central for me. That’s where my roots are,” April Brown said. “When you go anywhere across the country, across the world and you say South Central, they know exactly what you’re talking about.”

To Emily Amador, the name change erases the history of South Central, including “the Black migration that occurred, redlining that created what we know today to be South Central and the demographics, which are here today, which is Black and brown and undocumented.”

Ulysses Alfaro, who was born and raised in the Historic South Central neighborhood, said he uses South L.A. with people from out of town but South Central with locals.

South L.A. is a geographic designator, he said, but he considers South Central to be an identity: “That’s where the grinders are, the hard-working people that work their butts off, their asses off. The ones that keep the city running.”