Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Long Beach, California: Beauty Queens, Parkers' Lighthouse, Queen Mary, MOLAA


Quite a number of Filipinas have won international beauty queen titles, among them Gloria Diaz (Miss Universe 1969), Margarita Moran (Miss Universe 1973), Gemma Cruz (Miss International 1964); Aurora Pijuan (Miss International 1970), Melanie Marquez (Miss International 1979),Lara Quigaman (Miss International 2005),  Bea Santiago (Miss International 2013), Megan Young (Miss World 2013), and many more.





Many of the beauty pageants were held in Long Beach, and before coming to America, I had the idea that Long Beach was as glamorous as Hollywood. In fact, Long Beach is renowned as a shipping port; it is the second largest city after Los Angeles in the Greater Los Angeles area.


Through the years, Long Beach has acquired more touristy trappings. For instance, the historic Queen Mary, which first sailed in 1936 and retired in 1967, ended up in Long Beach as a tourist attraction. Long Beach has an Aquarium of the Pacific; and there are many boating excursions, including whale watching and trips to Catalina.

Yesterday, we went to Long Beach, which is only 22 miles from Los Angeles, to visit our friends, John and Elizabeth Allen. We had planned on seeing the Frida Kahlo photo exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art.  

It turned out the museum was closed and we went to the Parkers' Lighthouse for lunch instead.
It wasn't a bad alternative, folks. We sat outside with the sun overhead, the ocean a stone's throw away; and the iconic Queen Mary nearby. We had great fun talking about politics and news and remembrances of shared trips to Turkey, Egypt, and Kenya among others. 

In other words, it was a glorious afternoon.

We'll just have to catch the Frida Kahlo Exhibit some other time. Fortunately, we had seen Frida's Casa Azul and the home of Frida and Diego Rivera (Museo Casa Estudio), in Mexico several years ago.

I'm sharing some pictures:
Top picture l-r: Lauren, me, Elizabeth, John
Two pictures of Molaa
And some pictures of the Parkers' Lighthouse and surroundings.



(Ths is an aside: The sunny weather is nice, but I should add that the drought in Southern California is severe and we are warned to watch our water consumption.)

Read also
What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas!
California: Night Tour of Santa Monica Pier
The Pinata District of Los Angeles, California - Ole!

tags: California, Southern California, Long Beach, beauty pageants, Miss Philippines, Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International

This is all for now,
Cecilia


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