First of all, welcome to sunny Southern California, specifically Lakewood/Hawaiian Gardens/Long Beach (aka "The LBC")! Second, there are plenty of places of interest and fun activities here. Joe and I recommend the following places:

1. Downtown Long Beach: The Pike Shopping Outlet and Historic Pine Avenue with its restaurants/bars and shops. The Aquarium of the Pacific is a great place to see sea animals like jellyfish, penguins and otters. You also get to feed the lorikeet parrots!

2. Shoreline Village: There are restaurants/bars, shops and a carousel. Parker's Lighthouse has delicious seafood.

3. Alamitos Bay Marina: This is another place that has restaurants/bars and a few shops. We highly recommend Boathouse on the Bay, which has fresh oysters and delicious shrimp pasta.

4. Take the Long Beach Transit Aqualink! It's $5 one way from the Downtown Long Beach dock to Alamitos Bay Marina and another $5 for the return trip. The historic Queen Mary ocean liner is a stop between the two sites.

5. Visit The Queen Mary, a 1930s ocean liner that carried passengers along the Atlantic Ocean from Great Britain to the United States of America. If you love Art Deco, you must visit this place! You can stroll along the deck and enjoy a view of the Long Beach Harbor and have a drink at the beautiful Observation Bar.

6. Walk along the Long Beach Harbor boardwalk near the Aquarium of the Pacific and walk up to the Lions Lighthouse. This is another place to get a great view of the Long Beach harbor.

7. Visit Belmont Shore on 2nd Street, which has a row of restaurants/bars and shops.

Notable Mention: The statue of Our Blessed Mother Mary on Ocean Avenue and Redondo Avenue in Long Beach. This place is special to us because this is where we said our "Yes" to begin our spiritual courtship and where we got engaged. The photo above was taken on the day we began our spiritual courtship on January 20, 2020. We love to come to this place to pray together, offer flowers and enjoy the beautiful ocean view.