Departures: Draining Los Angeles: Part 2

On Saturday, I had a plan:

I mention this plan, because it reminds me of the importance of adaptation to circumstances.

My travel guide had pointed out the happening street in Long Beach, and I walked along it on Saturday morning, looking for a place to order a happening breakfast. But all the places were closed, so I ended up eating at Denny's. Usually when I think, "Let's eat at Denny's because it's the only place open at this time," it's after 10pm. But in that part of Long Beach, you might say that if it's before 11am. Bleah.

[Photo: view of Terminal Island from San Pedro, featuring a big green bridge]

On the bus ride to San Pedro, the bus went through the harbor area. Along the way, the road went across Terminal Island. Terminal Island forms a breakwater to L.A. Harbor, and also provides more shoreline to which they've attached docks. However, there didn't seem to be pedestrian access through the island. I nixed the idea of walking back from San Pedro.

The Maritime Museum was pretty good, if you're into that sort of thing. There was a model of a crane named "Herman the German," which had graced L.A. Harbor, part of Germany's war reparations for WWII. If the model was any indicator, Herman the German was big enough to lift the Spruce Goose, another rhyming L.A. Colossus of the day.

There was a mechanical range calculator. There was a model of the Wasa. There was a map suggesting that Terminal Island was once called Rattlesnake Island. (Maybe I was glad there was no pedestrian access.)

There was something about the Ning Po, a Chinese ship "shrouded in legend," though there were no specifics as to the legends involved. (A web search turned up snippets about piracy and rebellion back in China; and about burning up in Catalina Harbor (whoops).)

In the museum, I'd heard a couple of curators talking about the railroad line outside--it sounded like some company had recently laid rail, put up some stations, and then gone out of business before they ever started running trains. I walked along those tracks to get to the SS Lane Victory.

In San Francisco, I'd clambered around the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, a Liberty ship. Apparently the Victory line was a toughened-up version of the Liberty line. Visiting the USS Lane Victory was a lot like visiting the USS Jeremiah O'Brien, except that the Victory was pretty casual about letting visitors explore lots of nooks and crannies in the engine area. So if you only get a chance to visit one merchant marine ship on the West Coast, I recommend the USS Lane Victory. Also, there was some information about Isaac Lane, the ship's namesake and founder of Lane College, so I felt culturally enriched. When I was aboard, ladies were setting up for some kind of lunch. Maybe a bunch of merchant marine veterans get together for lunch periodically in the ship's hold. Or maybe it was a secret meeting of Cthulhoid cultists. I didn't stick around, instead catching a bus back to Long Beach.

In Long Beach, I lunched at Aladdin's Bar and Grill. If it had been Friday or Saturday night, there would have been belly dancers. But there weren't, and nobody was using the water pipes, so it was a pleasant atmosphere in which to eat some yummy lentil soup and an unexciting falafel wrap.

Wandering down to the water, I saw signs pointing the way to the Californian. I recognized the name from its web page: it was a tall ship. I hastened over for a look, but the Californian was not at home. The American Pride, a three-masted schooner was tied up nearby, though. I was in a little mini-harbor of big touristy boats. I wandered around, snapping pictures (which didn't turn out), listening to an announcing loudspeaker telling me that a harbor tour was leaving soon. I snapped pictures. The loudspeaker told me that the world's largest container vessel was in port. I switched film in my camera. The loudspeaker told me that the tour was leaving soon. I looked at the sun. I figured out how much daylight I had left in which to explore the Queen Mary: not much. The loudspeaker was pretty obnoxious, but it worked: I bought a harbor tour ticket and boarded.

[Photo: An oil "island" off Long Beach]

On the tour, I learned that the pretty Chinese Junk I'd seen in the touristy harbor was a B&B. I learned that Maersk had bought Sealand Shipping the year before. I learned that the Chastine Maersk was the world's largest container vessel, and I saw it close up as a crane operator extracted containers from it. (Later note: I'm not so sure that Chastine Maersk was the world's largest container vessel. I later read an interview with a Maersk exec who called it "One of the largest". I think either the tour guide was wrong or else I misunderstood him.) I saw a breakwater which had been under construction from 1880 to 1945. I learned that since September 11, 2001, ships had to anchor outside the breakwater for inspection before entering the harbor. I learned that THUMS, an alliance of oil companies, owned the oil islands in the harbor. The "islands" were artificial: oil platforms that had been prettied up with fake buildings and real palm trees so as to not be such eyesores.

I'd been hoping to see more of the harbor; then again, a longer tour would have kept us out on the water after dark.

For dinner, I ate at Gill's. Gill's was an Indian restaurant inside the Hotel Stillwell. It was the reason I'd chosen the Stillwell: wow, Indian food without leaving the hotel! But Gill's had earned a "B" from the health department, making me skittish, and the food wasn't very flavorful, so I don't think I'll go back.

LACMA, lactose [>>]

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