We arrived very late back in Los Angeles - after midnight - and we were hungry. Fortunately the City of Angels doesn't close down after dark like many of the places we'd visited since San Francisco, and we were able to get a fine "breakfast" at 12:30am not far from where we stayed. 

The next morning, bleary-eyed but not hungry, we raced to Long Beach to catch the ferry to Catalina Island, our last major West Coast destination. After an hour of comparatively smooth sailing, we entered another world.

Catalina Island is like no place else that we've ever been, and Avalon, the biggest town on the island is unique and beautiful.

The closest comparison in New England would be Martha's Vineyard: it's a major tourist destination and the ferries are full, the population depends upon the tourist trade, and the scenery is worth the visit. There are plenty of wealthy homes not far from the throng of tourists on the beaches and boat tours.  

But Catalina is warm all year round so it is not subject to the frantic summer seasonality of the Vineyard. It is more laid back. Catalina lacks the history of the Vineyard; it feels as if it has always been a playground. It's smaller, too, and I don't think it has ever supported enough of a population to develop its own foodways.

There is plenty of fishing from Catalina, but the most important of it isn't commercial fishing for food. Avalon is home to the Tuna Club (not to be confused with the sandwich), founded in 1898 and credited as the first sport-fishing club in the world to promote hook-and-line fishing of tuna and marlin.

But there is fresh seafood to be had, and I did get to try some locally smoked tuna. The only place in New England I have had smoked tuna was in Galilee, RI, down near Point Judith. It's delicious and I hope it becomes more popular here.

But that was the only locavore food I found all day. Several restaurants offered "Fresh Maine Lobster!" but we decided we could get that particular delicacy fresher at home.  I couldn't even find any of the California gins! 

We did visit the spectacular Catalina Casino, a theater and ballroom (no gambling) built in 1929 by chewing gum magnate and Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley. It's an Art Deco masterpiece in great condition. From the link above you can see a virtual tour of this glamorous edifice.

We also took a tour in a glass-bottom boat, but did not have time for the cross-island bus tour. By the time we headed back to Long Beach, we felt we had seen Avalon and did not need to hurry back when we can visit Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Monhegan, and other New England Islands with their own beauty.

Coming back to Long Beach we got a good view of one of the busiest container ship ports in the world. A forest of derricks lifts containers from the big ships that cross the Pacific and deposit the containers on trains and truck to bring Chinese and other goods across America. 

The container port is a modern marvel, but my attention was seized by a marvel three-quarters of a century older: Long Beach is also home to the RMS Queen Mary, a transatlantic ocean liner launched in 1936.

The Queen Mary no longer sails. It's a tourist attraction, but it never got on my radar until I remembered hearing of a restaurant on board. We were hungry and knew of no other dining in Long Beach, so we went in search of the grand old vessel.

It's enormous. The ship is over a thousand feet long and a hundred feet wide, 181 feet to the top of the highest mast and 39 feet draft.

It's also lovingly restored, with several restaurants, a hotel, boutiques, events, and one of the most spectacular bars I have ever seen. The Observation Bar is an Art Deco masterpiece way up front near where the ship's bridge would have been. The woodwork, the glass, the lighting, everything looks like 1936. Some of the restaurants are pretty ritzy, but they no longer serve Pheasant Under Glass, but you can see exhibits of how it used to be done like with this silver table-side carving station.

We ate in the Promenade Café. It's not ritzy, but we still enjoyed the view of nightfall over Long Beach after a day on Catalina and the unexpected discoveries of the grand old ship.

The visit to the Queen Mary was an unexpected treat. It was never on our itinerary. We were looking for dinner and found a time machine!