PLENARY Long Beach

CONVENE ON SITE

Too Short A Time in Long Beach

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S I GOT OFF OF MY JETBLUE FLIGHT IN Long Beach in late September, I had the feeling that I’d just landed at an

off-the-beaten path resort. The Long Beach Airport feels like a throwback to the past, with its 1940s-era terminal, open-air walk- ways, and outdoor baggage claim — you know, when travel was glamorous. But off the beaten path? Hardly. A 10-min- ute drive later, we arrived at my host hotel, the 374-room Renaissance Long Beach, in the midst of this thriving waterfront city. I had a little over an hour to settle in before

dinner. I spent much of it gazing out my room window across the other side of East Ocean Boulevard — at the beach, the Long Beach Con- vention & Entertainment Center, a fabulous Art Deco building, and all the people strolling and riding their bikes in the SoCal sunshine. Right around the corner on Pine Avenue, several grand 1930s banks are enjoying a second life as stylish restaurants. At L’Opera, I tucked into scrump- tious homemade pasta bunches filled with butternut squash and ricotta, and watched the lights start to twinkle on throughout the city. The next morning, over Chef Javier’s Spe-

cial Egg White Omelet at the Grill at the 469- room Westin Long Beach, I learned about the hotel’s $10-million renovation. We crossed Ocean Boulevard for a tour of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, which includes the Long Beach Arena and Long Beach Performing Arts Center. A round building covered by the world’s largest mural — “Planet Ocean,” by renowned envi- ronmental artist Wyland — the arena is often mistaken by visitors for the Aquarium of the Pacific. In 2009, Wyland painted a second mu- ral on top of the arena in celebration of Earth Day — the largest painting of the planet — in 24 hours. I got a bird’s-eye view of that roof mural, and a panoramic view of the city and

20 pcma convene November 2011 www.pcma.org 

OUT AND ABOUT IN LONG BEACH:

Clockwise from top — A rendering of Long Beach Airport, Renais- sance Long Beach, Westin Long Beach, Aquarium of the Pacific, and L’Opera.