In 1967, Long Beach bought the retired Queen Mary to keep her from the scrapyard; the ocean liner became a hotel and still anchors the waterfront

The Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, California, on December 9, 1967, after the city agreed to pay $3.45 million for the retired ocean liner. Cunard had put the ship up for sale as the era of long-distance passenger travel by ocean liner was coming to an end, with people starting to move towards commercial air travel. Long Beach won the bid and gave the 1,000-foot ship a permanent home on its waterfront.The ship's last voyageThe Queen Mary had entered service in 1936 and carried passengers between Europe and North America. The ship was converted into a troop transport during World War II, returned to passenger service and continued making Atlantic crossings into the 1960s after the war. Cunard announced in 1966 that the Queen Mary was for sale, and Long Beach representatives began discussions with the company that year. On July 27, 1967, the city's $3.45 million bid was accepted.The ship made its final eastbound transatlantic crossing in September 1967, and then left Southampton on October 31 for its final voyage to California. The journey came to an end in Long Beach on December 9, and two days later, the Queen Mary was removed from the British registry and officially turned over to the City of Long Beach. The city of Long Beach prepared it for use as a permanent attraction, with its original interiors, passenger spaces and other sections still retained for visitors. The vessel was no longer intended to operate as a passenger liner, but its cabins, dining rooms, lounges and other areas remained part of the planned attraction. The ship was moved to its permanent berth at Long Beach, where work continued to prepare the former ocean liner for visitors and hotel operations.From ocean liner to hotelThe conversion took several years, and the Queen Mary was moved to Pier J in February 1971. Weekend tours began that May, and a section of the Museum of the Sea opened later that year. The ship's hotel followed in 1974 and the first 150 hotel rooms opened on March 1, which gave visitors the option of staying aboard the former ocean liner rather than just touring it.Dining rooms, lounges, cabins and other passenger areas were retained and adapted for hotel, restaurant and event use. The Queen Mary's official history says the vessel carried about 2.2 million passengers during peacetime service and 810,000 military personnel during World War II, while in Long Beach, the ship has received an estimated 50 million visitors.A permanent place on the waterfrontThe Queen Mary's ownership and management changed several times after its conversion, and Long Beach's city government eventually gained control of the ship once again in 2021 after decades of private management. At that point, the city said it was preparing further preservation work and a new operating arrangement for the hotel and visitor facilities.The city described the Queen Mary as a major part of the Long Beach waterfront and said that an economic impact study had attributed more than 1,300 jobs and nearly $94 million in annual economic output to the ship when it was operating. Repairs continued after the city resumed control, and the ship later returned to visitor operations, with hotel rooms, tours, dining and events among the facilities that were available aboard the vessel. The Queen Mary is still permanently docked in Long Beach in 2026; the ship that made its final passenger-service journey in 1967 now operates as a hotel and tourist attraction, without making another ocean crossing.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.