Queen Mary Waterfront

The Queen Mary Waterfront is the ground at the bow of the retired ocean liner in Long Beach, and it works as a festival site rather than a room. A stage and bar go up on the flat area beside the ship, the hull and its funnels stand behind the crowd, and the harbor sits on the other side. At night the ship is lit from below, which is most of the reason promoters keep booking the space.

The booking that matters most here is Dreamstate SoCal, Insomniac's trance festival, which takes over the waterfront for two nights each November with gates in the afternoon and music running past midnight. Smaller one-off events use the same footprint during the year. Because the site is outdoors, the promoter sets the layout, the sightlines and the sound limits, and the ship publishes nothing that resembles a standing capacity for the grounds. Its own venue page lists capacities for the salons aboard, the largest being the 700-person Grand Salon, so do not read those numbers as applying to the waterfront.

Parking takes planning. The Queen Mary lots charge $25 for visitors on a normal day, and the rate changes per event when something is on the waterfront. On those dates the ship sometimes sends its hotel guests to the Southshore Launch Ramps on Queensway Drive and day visitors to the Pike garage at 65 Cedar Avenue, with a free shuttle running between. For a cheaper trip, Long Beach Transit's free Passport Route C connects downtown, the Aquarium and the ship. The address is 1126 Queens Highway, at the end of the 710.