In the early morning on Monday, Feb. 2, the younger sister of Long Beach’s Queen Mary came for a short visit.
Harbor Breeze Cruises carried 170 cruise ship fans along for a “Royal Rendezvous” — as the iconic vessels exchanged blasts and well-wishers aboard both cheered.
Belmont Shore residents Greg and Anna-Karin Kight brought their newly redone Seaway with off-duty Port of Long Beach pilot Bob Blair and his wife, Karen, on board. The Kight’s boarded the QM2 on Tuesday, joining the ship’s world cruise.
Also on hand was the Long Beach Fireboat, which provided a water salute, as well as the Long Beach Police Boat and the Lifeguard Boat, with LBFD Battalion Chief Scott Dixson, of the Marine Safety Division, on board.
John Herbert Davies’s granddaugher, Rebecca Winston, holds the original concept drawing of what was then called the Marine Stadium Bridge. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
The Queen Mary 2 visited Long Beach and its older sister, the original Queen Mary, earlier this week. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
The Queen Mary 2 visited Long Beach and its older sister, the original Queen Mary, earlier this week. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
Port of Long Beach pilot Bob Blair and his wife, Karen, traveled on their Seaway to visit the Queen Mary 2. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
The artwork in the veranda on board QM2 is a wink to the artwork on Queen Mary’s Veranda Grille. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
The pub on Queen Mary 2 favors a British palate. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
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John Herbert Davies’s granddaugher, Rebecca Winston, holds the original concept drawing of what was then called the Marine Stadium Bridge. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG)
A group of us toured the QM2 on Monday and enjoyed tea in the veranda, which boasts artwork that is a wink to artist Doris Zinkeisen’s murals on the Queen Mary. Both share a circus vibe.
We talked about all the details that British naval architect Stephen Michael Payne included in QM2 design that are tributes to Long Beach’s Queen Mary.
“I have this philosophy that to get things right the first-time,” Payne was quoted as saying in 2004, “you need to have an appreciation for history — of what has been done before.”
Davies Bridge
Long Beach will host a community meeting via Zoom at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, to discuss the 2nd Street Bridge Deck Project. o register, visit lbcity.info/2ndstbridgemtg.
The bridge closure, according to city documents, will start in the fall and could extend as far as winter 2027. The changes include reducing the westbound bound lanes from three to two and making a bike-friendly protected lane.
There are two bridges that span across the water on two sections of Second Street in Naples and Belmont Shore. Most folks refer to them as the Naples Bridge or the Second Street Bridge.
They actually are named after two extraordinary men, John Herbert Davies and Lewis Drummond Reese.
The Davies Bridge, dedicated in 1955, spans across Alamitos Bay, from Marina Drive into Naples. Davies died in October 1953. He was working on the bridge’s initial design at the time and his plans refer to it as “Marine Stadium Bridge.”
The local news reported that the ribbon-cutting ceremony was delayed by 45 minutes when an unleashed dog went on a personal inspection the bridge. But there were more delays.
The land around Appian Way was in a property dispute at the time. For nearly 3.5 years, the bridge had been standing completed while city officials sought to acquire rights of way for the approaches.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony drew around 500 people, and then-Mayor Raymond C. Kealer described the bridge as “one more milestone in our progress.”
A Naples spokesperson, lan Schenck, said that Long Beach was one of the few cities that could afford a “million a half dollar hotel for seagulls” — making a joke about the long delay in the bridge’s opening.
Among the spectators was the widow of Davies, the consulting engineer for whom the bridge is named, and her daughter, according to a September 1959 article in the Long Beach Independent
This week, I spoke with Davies’ granddaughter, Rebecca Winston, and we reviewed some of his treasure trove of artifacts documenting some of the projects Davies led before his death at age 51.
The records indicate Davies came to Long Beach to work for the city as a structural engineer, charged with overseeing the design and construction work on the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium. The photographic collection includes the auditorium under construction.
After the earthquake in 1933, he was put in charge of all the emergency demolition work in the city. His work in creating an inspection approval system for re-occupancy is credited with no lives being lost in the many aftershocks.
Later that year, he formed his own company, which played a major role in rebuilding the many Long Beach schools that were lost in the earthquake.
The day of the Davies Bridge dedication in 1955, the Municipal Band played and Reese, a councilmember, led the singing of the national anthem and spoke about Davies. Little did he know who the second bridge would be named for.
In 1967, yhe bridge on Second Street between Naples and Belmont Shore was dedicated in honor of former Long Beach councilmember.
According to the Long Beach Independent, back in July 1963, during a Tuesday meeting of the City Council, Reese collapsed in council chambers.
The newspaper account goes on to explain that the Third District representative was passionately advocating support of a mayor’s and council’s committee on human relations at the time. Reese was rushed to the hospital and died three days later, at age 58.
He was a nine-year councilmember known for his work on behalf of the $15 million Long Beach Marina. Reese lived on the Peninsula, was a Realtor and served as president of the Belmont Shore Business Association. He was also a park commissioner, and was active in Alamitos Bay Community Association, Chamber of Commerce, Elks Lodge 888, Belmont Shore Lions, and Naples Improvement Association.
Both Davies’ and Reese’s passion for our community deserves to be honored each time you pass over or under one of these bridges.