da Katstory

       Da Kat emigrated to England with da hubby and da kid from Belmont Shore, California; a seaside community within the city of Long Beach, which lies at the southern edge of Los Angeles county bordering Orange County (the 'OC').

       Long Beach has a rich naval history, beautiful art deco and mid-century architecture, and a vibrant and diverse community. It's the home of the Port of Los Angeles, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing Aircraft, and the Queen Mary, which is now a hotel. Many movies have been filmed in and around Long Beach including Lethal Weapon, Gone in 60 Seconds and Last Action Hero, and if you watch CSI Miami, or more recently Dexter, you've already seen much of Long Beach since that's where they're actually filmed. Of course they go to great lengths not to film any Long Beach landmarks.

       The thing da Kat loved about Long Beach is there's always plenty to do without needing much money. It's a very family oriented, community dedicated, place to live. Neighborhood pancake breakfasts, school carnivals, arts and craft fairs, the annual 2nd street car show, summertime fireworks off the Queen Mary, business sponsored Halloween trick-or-treat, entire neighborhoods that decorate communally for the various holidays, the Christmas boat parade and, of course, the beach itself with a concrete walkway winding its way north along the full length of the beach from Belmont Shore all the way to downtown, and all of it either free or priced low enough for everyone to participate.

       One thing that is VERY different in the States is shopping. Shopping in the States doesn't necessarily mean buying. Shopping is a social activity. It's a place to visit and something to do. The shopping centers are designed to be visitor friendly with public artwork, creative window displays and plenty of places to just sit and enjoy the atmosphere. All the stores decorate for each season and every holiday, and quite often there will be free entertainment provided to encourage visitors. After all, happy visitors are likely to return as buyers, a lesson designers of British shopping malls could learn.

       Da Kat has created a pictorial tour of Long Beach starting at the Queen Mary travelling south through downtown all the way to the canal front homes of Belmont Shore.

Start the Show!