The Queen Mary

The National Register nomination lists the ship's address as Pier J, 1126 Queensway Highway, Long Beach, ZIP 90801 ^{1, 2}. That nomination records her as 1,012 feet long, with a moulded breadth of 118 feet and a gross tonnage of 81,237 ^{1, 2}. A 2018 cultural resources report gives the figures slightly differently: 1,012 feet long, 118 feet wide, 118 feet tall and 89,548 tons ⁴. Designers worked in the Moderne and Art Deco style, giving her three elliptical funnels, a raked stem and a cruiser stern ^{1, 2}.

She has 12 decks, named Sports, Sun, Promenade, Main and A through H, along with 27 public rooms and 21 lifts ^{1, 2}. As built she carried 24 lifeboats, each able to hold 144 passengers ^{1, 2}. The moored ship sits in 45 feet of water inside a porous rock dike, at a 33-acre addition to Pier G that was designated Pier H ^{1, 2, 4}. Her last intact propeller sits in a metal box welded to the hull, visible through an opening cut in the ship's side ^{1, 2}.

Preliminary design work began in 1926, when Cunard's planning committee took up the replacement of its aging express liners ^{1, 2}. Cunard gave the work to Messrs. John Brown & Co., Ltd. of Clydebank, Scotland, and through construction the ship was known only by its yard number, 534 ^{1, 2}. The keel was laid on December 1, 1930 ^{1, 2}.

All work stopped on December 12, 1931, when the Depression exhausted Cunard's funds, and the hull stood unfinished for 28 months ^{1, 2}. The British government agreed to advance £9.5 million to finish No. 534, on the condition that Cunard merge with the White Star Line ^{1, 2}. The merger took effect on January 1, 1934, and construction resumed on April 3 of that year ^{1, 2}. Her Majesty Queen Mary launched the ship on September 26, 1934 and gave the liner her own name, with King George V and the Prince of Wales in attendance ^{1, 2}.

The maiden voyage departed Southampton, England on May 27, 1936, according to the ship's official history page ³. The National Register nomination dates the maiden voyage to May 1936 and records passenger service until 1939 ^{1, 2}. From 1940 until 1947 the Queen Mary served as a troop ship, then returned to passenger service ^{1, 2}.

The 2018 cultural resources report, summarizing the nomination, states that she carried over 800,000 soldiers on 72 trips during World War II ⁴. The ship's official history puts the wartime figure at 810,000 military personnel and the peacetime figure at 2.2 million passengers ³. The same 2018 report describes her as the last extant large luxury liner of her period, having outlasted ships such as the Titanic, Lusitania and Majestic ⁴. She is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A with Criteria Consideration G, at the national level of significance for recreation, social history and military history ^{4, 1}.

Cunard sold the Queen Mary to the City of Long Beach in 1967, and she has remained there as a hotel and attraction ^{1, 2, 4}. The ship first arrived on the Long Beach shoreline in September 1967 and has since greeted over 50 million visitors, according to the City of Long Beach and the ship's official history ^{6, 3}. The original main entry doors were sealed in 1967, and new openings were cut for visitor and service entrances ^{4, 1}. Under a series of owners and lessees the ship has operated as a hotel, restaurant, museum and amusement attraction ⁴.

Ownership passed from the City to the Port of Long Beach in 1978, and in 1980 the Port granted Wrather Corp. a 60-year lease ^{4, 6}. Walt Disney Co. and Industry Equity (Pacific) Ltd. of Hong Kong bought the ship in 1987, and after a theme park proposal failed, ownership returned to the Port and then to the City ⁴. The Port held ownership until 1993, and the City last had day-to-day control in 1978 ⁶.

On June 4, 2021 the City of Long Beach regained full control of the Queen Mary for the first time in over 40 years ⁶. The handover followed lessee Urban Commons Queensway LLC surrendering its leases and moving to reject them in bankruptcy while in default, including a failure to maintain the ship ⁶. That June the City moved to authorize $500,000 in Tidelands Critical Infrastructure funds for testing and design of critical repairs, with immediate repairs estimated at a minimum of $5 million ⁶. A May 2020 economic impact study had found that the operating ship supported over 1,300 jobs, nearly $94 million in economic output and $3.3 million in annual tax revenue ⁶.

Twenty of the ship's 22 lifeboats came off in February 2022, with two left aboard for preservation ⁷. The removal took nearly 100 tons of weight off the ship, relieved stress on the side shell, and allowed further internal structural repairs ⁷. As of May 2022 the Queen Mary was still closed to the public for critical repairs, though it remained available for filming and special events ⁷.

The Queen Mary's official website describes the ship as rumored to be haunted and markets paranormal tours, investigations and theatrical seances aboard ⁵. The site says its Haunted Encounters tour covers some of the most famous stories of the paranormal residents said to inhabit the ship ⁵. In describing its onboard gift shop, the site names "Jackie," a giggling child spirit it associates with the First-Class Pool ⁵.

The operator describes its Haunted Tour as grounded in real events, including the ship's wartime service and deaths recorded aboard ⁸. The same description says the tour mixes verified history with crew accounts and reported paranormal encounters in cabins, corridors and stairwells ⁸.

The ship's official history repeats a legend that the English psychic Lady Mable Fortiscue-Harrison predicted at the 1934 launch that the liner would be most famous once she stopped sailing ³.

Visitors commonly describe children's voices and the sound of splashing around the drained first-class pool, and footsteps, knocking or doors moving in the long passenger corridors below the Promenade Deck. Guests on the engine room and boiler room routes report cold drafts and the feeling of being followed near the watertight doors, and hotel guests report knocking on cabin doors with no one outside. Others spend a night aboard and report nothing unusual at all.

General Admission runs daily from 10 AM to 6 PM and costs $45 for adults and $40 for children, including a 30 to 45 minute Embarkation tour and access to more than 23 exhibits ⁹. Most historic exhibits are open daily from 10 AM to 8 PM, and guided tours generally fall within that window, apart from night tours ¹⁰. Off-Hours Admission, from 6:30 to 10 AM and 6 to 10 PM daily, costs $15 for all ages and includes select exhibits, restaurants and bars ⁹. Every guest aboard must hold an admission ticket or room key, and restaurant guests pay a $15 entry that can be applied to the bill ¹⁰.

The Graveyard Tour runs Fridays and Saturdays with late-evening start times, costs $85, lasts about two hours and is for ages 16 and up ^{9, 8}. The Paranormal Ship Walk runs daily with evening start times, costs $75, lasts about two hours, and is not recommended for children under 13 ^{9, 5}. The VIP Tour is a three-hour guided tour with restricted-area access and lunch, costs $189 for ages 13 and up, and is not ADA accessible because of the ship's historic nature ^{8, 9}.

Hotel check-in begins at 4 PM at reception on A Deck, and check-out is 11 AM ¹⁰. Self-parking costs $15 for 11 to 59 minutes with a $25 daily maximum, overnight guests pay $39 per night, and restaurant patrons can validate for $15 ¹⁰. The ship is pet friendly, with a maximum of two dogs per room at up to 40 pounds each and a $125 pet fee for overnight stays ¹⁰. Guest phone lines are staffed from 7 AM to 9 PM Pacific time ¹⁰.