At this point I’ve lived in Long Beach for years and still haven’t visited the Queen Mary. Fortunately, Nene felt like re-visiting (she’s been a couple times).
The Queen Mary first started sailing in May of 1936. It was a Cunard Line ship, created to make weekly trips between England and New York. When it was 31 years old, the Queen Mary was sentenced to the scrap heap. But the city of Long Beach stepped in, purchasing the ship for $3.45 million in 1967. Since the ship was too large for the Panama Canal, it took 39 days for its last voyage from England to Southern California via Cape Horn. Once in Long Beach, the ship became a hotel/event center/tourist attraction.
Since its arrival in 1967, Long Beach has leased the ship to various hospitality operators, and they made managing the ship look difficult. (Even Walt Disney Company gave it a try.) The ship fell into disrepair. Since 1996, a consulting safety engineer had been sending the city monthly reports on the ship’s deterioration, and the reports were largely ignored. By 2016, the Queen Mary was in such bad shape that inspectors gave it 10 years before the internal structure collapsed. “Rotting from the inside,” one inspector said. It would cost $289 million to fix. The city of Long Beach was looking for someone, anyone, who could take over.
In their desperation, the city began talks with a company called Urban Commons who promised to take over the Queen Mary and pour an additional $250 million into developing the surrounding land, ensuring a profitable situation for everyone. The problem? Urban Commons was underqualified. Not only did they have no knowledge of how to operate the ship, they also had never tackled a development project of that size. It seems the city was aware that it sounded too good to be true, but moved forward anyway.

So in early 2016, Urban Commons took over the lease from the previous company, paying the $69 million fee, $41 million of which was borrowed from the previous company. When Urban Commons missed the deadline for repaying the $41 million loan, and when they realized the extent of the damage to the ship, they put in a last-minute request to the city of Long Beach for help. Everyone decided that the city would give Urban Commons $23 million. (Two women spoke out against the plan, and they were outvoted.)
The problems continued. The rust primer applied to the ship seemed to do nothing. Turns out the company that owns that particular primer is run by the father of an Urban Commons executive. The other repairs to the ship just weren’t getting done, supposedly because the money went to surprise repairs that weren’t on the city’s to-do list. In 2019, Urban Commons decided to consolidate into a real estate investment company called Eagle Hospitality Trust and go public, hoping to make a fortune in stock. But about that same time, the safety engineer published a report on the ship’s dire state. “The ship has never been in worse condition,” he said. “The ship will likely soon be unsalvageable.” Did the city continue to dismiss his reports? Yes, yes they did. But the media took notice. Soon the report was so widespread that it destroyed Eagle Hospitality Trust’s attempt to make money by going public. The stock took a nosedive.

Eagle Hospitality Trust declared bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy process it came to light that in addition to failing to repair the Queen Mary, they also owed Los Angeles County millions in property taxes. The city realized that Eagle Hospitality Trust had likely taken their money in bad faith, and the city joined the bankruptcy case in an attempt to get their $23 million back. They gave up and dropped out of the case in 2023. The city also fired their faithful once-a-month-reports safety engineer.

At least one of the men behind Eagle Hospitality Trust allegedly kept up his sketchy business dealings, this time in New York. Earlier this year he was indicted for $1.2 million in investor fraud after claiming to be with a company that scooped up hotels from bankruptcy portfolios. The bankruptcy portfolio he had in mind for his soon-to-be-duped New York investors? Eagle Hospitality Trust.
So the city of Long Beach is managing the Queen Mary now. After some talk about scrapping the ship (which would cost more than fixing it), they decided to bite the bullet and pour millions of dollars into the repairs ($45 million so far). Since they fired the man who was doing the inspection reports, they aren’t sure how much money they will need to complete all the repairs. (As of March of 2024, the ship hasn’t had a full inspection in four years.) But whether it’s the city’s management skills or the uptick in post-pandemic tourism, it seems to be working. In 2023, the ship was profitable–it made $3.5 million.

When Nene and I visited it was clear the ship was in so-so shape. The corrosion on the railings was noticeable, and the interiors were badly in need of restoration and/or updating. Many of the rooms were closed. Overall the ship felt dingy and grim, like you’d need to use your imagination to see it in its 1930s glory. But the exterior had a fresh coat of paint, the engine room was gleaming, and there were no signs of rust on the inside of the ship.
During World War II the Queen Mary was converted to a troopship. After 70 trips and 180,000 miles, the ship had carried 340,000 servicepeople to six continents. (One 1943 trip with 16,600 people on board holds the record for the most people on a vessel.) The most common route was the usual Atlantic crossing, and a few times Winston Churchill was on board. It was on the Queen Mary that he planned the Normandy invasion. Why conduct such important business with such important people on a civilian ship? Because it could outrun a German submarine. Throughout the war the Allies lost 120 ships to German U-boats, which could travel at 20 mph above water. The Queen Mary can do 35 mph.

These days a submarine is on display next to the Queen Mary. It’s neither German nor from WWII–it’s Soviet and was made in 1971. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that since the submarine’s arrival in Long Beach in 1998, it’s fallen into disrepair. You used to be able to go on board and take a tour. By 2012 it was flooded and leaning to one side. It was closed to the public in 2015–the pressure hull had ruptured and it was serving as a home to some racoons. (Maybe it still is.)
Probably my favorite thing on board was the model ships. This is the LEGO version of the Queen Mary. It’s the world’s longest LEGO brick model ship (25 feet, 11 inches), it weighs 604 pounds, and took 600 hours to build. Another display had a collection of Cunard/White Star ships displayed in (non-LEGO) cross-section so that you can see all the rooms inside. We also stumbled onto a glossy full-color catalog of Cunard’s current offerings. They’re still cruising all over the world in luxurious style, including the trip from England to New York on the Queen Mary 2.
The view of downtown Long Beach and the marina from the deck of the Queen Mary.
The engine room. We crossed paths with one of the ghost tours and got to hear snippets of the story of an engineer who in 1966 was crushed by mechanical door number 13 and who still makes appearances, checking the engines in his white coveralls. The ship tours (there are a few to choose from), in addition to community events like movie nights and a completely booked 1000-person disco party at the Queen Mary’s Observation Bar will hopefully keep the ship popular enough that it will stay profitable and eventually be fully repaired.
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