Introduction

Long Beach, California, is a coastal city steeped in layered history—from its origins as a Spanish land grant to its rise as a bustling port and naval hub. While often overshadowed by nearby Los Angeles, Long Beach holds a unique place in American history, with preserved Victorian neighborhoods, iconic maritime landmarks, and pivotal World War II sites that shaped the Pacific theater. Yet, not all historical tours are created equal. With countless operators offering guided walks, bus tours, and self-guided apps, choosing a trustworthy experience can be challenging. This guide presents the top 10 historical tours in Long Beach you can trust—each vetted for accuracy, local expertise, guide credentials, and consistent visitor feedback. These are not generic itineraries; they are carefully curated journeys that connect you with the soul of the city through verified stories, primary sources, and on-site artifacts.

Why Trust Matters

When exploring history, authenticity is everything. A poorly researched tour can perpetuate myths, misattribute events, or reduce complex narratives to superficial soundbites. In Long Beach, where the legacy of the RMS Queen Mary, the Naval Base, and the historic Alamitos Bay neighborhood intersect, misinformation can distort the cultural memory of entire communities. Trustworthy historical tours are built on collaboration with local historians, access to archival materials, and guides trained in public history standards. They prioritize primary sources—letters, photographs, oral histories, and official records—over dramatized anecdotes. Moreover, trusted operators respect the communities they represent, ensuring Indigenous, immigrant, and working-class voices are included in the narrative. A tour that omits the contributions of Filipino, Japanese, and Mexican laborers who built Long Beach’s infrastructure is incomplete. Trust also means transparency: clear itineraries, no hidden fees, and a commitment to accessibility. These tours don’t just show you landmarks—they help you understand why they matter.

Top 10 Historical Tours in Long Beach

1. The Queen Mary’s Official History Tour

As one of the most iconic vessels in maritime history, the RMS Queen Mary has served as a luxury liner, troopship during WWII, and now a floating hotel and museum. The official history tour, operated by the Queen Mary’s in-house historical team, is the most authoritative experience available. Led by certified maritime historians, the tour covers the ship’s construction in Scotland, its record-breaking transatlantic crossings, and its vital role in transporting over 800,000 Allied troops during the war. Visitors explore the engine room, first-class ballroom, and the ship’s original 1930s radio room, where wartime communications were intercepted. The tour includes never-before-seen photographs from the National Archives and interviews with surviving crew members. Unlike third-party operators, this tour updates its content quarterly based on new archival discoveries, ensuring historical accuracy. The experience lasts 90 minutes and is offered daily at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

2. Alamitos Bay Heritage Walking Tour

Alamitos Bay is one of Long Beach’s oldest residential neighborhoods, with homes dating back to the 1880s. This walking tour, developed in partnership with the Long Beach Historical Society, traces the evolution of the bay from a Tongva fishing village to a Gilded Age resort destination. Guides—many of whom are descendants of original settlers—share oral histories passed down through generations, including stories of early Chinese and Portuguese fishermen who established the first commercial oyster beds. The 1.5-mile route passes 12 preserved Victorian and Craftsman homes, each with a QR code linking to digitized deeds, blueprints, and census records. The tour highlights the role of women in community building, such as the founding of the Alamitos Bay Women’s Club in 1907, which lobbied for the city’s first public library. Rain or shine, the tour departs from the Bayfront Park Pavilion at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays and includes a complimentary historical map and a guidebook with annotated photos.

3. Downtown Long Beach Architecture & Urban Planning Tour

This 2.5-hour guided bus tour explores the architectural evolution of downtown Long Beach, from its 1920s Art Deco skyline to its post-war modernist structures. Led by a licensed urban planner and architectural historian, the tour dissects the city’s response to the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, which led to the adoption of one of California’s first seismic building codes. Stops include the iconic Long Beach City Hall (1926), the former Bank of Italy building (now the Museum of Latin American Art), and the 1950s-era Municipal Auditorium. The guide explains how zoning laws, federal New Deal funding, and civic activism shaped the city’s layout. Unique to this tour is the inclusion of 3D digital reconstructions of buildings as they appeared in the 1940s, displayed via tablets provided to each guest. The tour concludes with a visit to the Long Beach Public Library’s special collections room, where guests can view original blueprints signed by architect George W. Kelham.

4. The WWII Home Front & Naval Base Tour

During World War II, Long Beach was a critical hub for the U.S. Navy, with shipyards producing destroyers and submarines at a rate unmatched on the West Coast. This tour, co-developed with the Naval History and Heritage Command, takes visitors to the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard, now redeveloped as the Pacific Coast Highway corridor. Guides use declassified military documents, ration books, and wartime newsreels to illustrate how the home front transformed the city. Stops include the site of the original Naval Hospital, now a medical center, and the former aircraft assembly plant that employed over 12,000 workers—half of them women. The tour includes a visit to the Liberty Ship Memorial, where a preserved cargo vessel from 1943 is docked. Oral histories from Japanese American families interned during the war and relocated to Long Beach for shipyard work are featured, offering a nuanced perspective often absent from mainstream narratives. The tour lasts 3 hours and requires advance registration due to limited access to restricted historical zones.

5. The Japanese American Experience in Long Beach

Before World War II, Long Beach had one of the largest Japanese American communities in Southern California, with thriving businesses, temples, and cultural centers in the Belmont Shore area. This tour, led by descendants of pre-war residents and supported by the Japanese American National Museum, reconstructs the vibrant life of the community before its forced removal in 1942. Participants visit the original site of the Long Beach Buddhist Temple, now a parking lot, and the former location of the Japanese Language School, where children learned calligraphy and classical poetry. The tour includes rare photographs of the annual Obon festival, hand-written letters from internment camps, and audio recordings of elders recalling the moment they were ordered to leave their homes. The guide also discusses the community’s post-war return and the establishment of the Long Beach Japanese American Citizens League in 1948. This is the only tour in the region that centers the Japanese American perspective without sanitizing the trauma of incarceration.

6. The Cesar Chavez and Farmworker Legacy Tour

Though Long Beach is not in the Central Valley, it played a crucial role in the farmworker movement led by Cesar Chavez. This 90-minute walking tour explores the city’s connection to the United Farm Workers union, particularly its role as a fundraising and organizing center in the 1960s and 70s. The tour begins at the former site of the Long Beach UFW headquarters, now a community center, and continues to the intersection where Chavez led a 1972 march demanding fair wages for citrus workers from nearby Orange County. Guides share unpublished letters between Chavez and Long Beach clergy, newspaper clippings from the Long Beach Press-Telegram, and audio from rallies held at the Long Beach Auditorium. The tour also highlights the role of local churches, student activists, and Mexican American veterans in sustaining the movement. Participants receive a digital archive of protest flyers, song lyrics, and boycott posters. This tour is offered only on Sundays to honor the legacy of nonviolent resistance.

7. The Maritime Labor History Tour

Long Beach’s port has been a battleground for labor rights since the early 20th century. This immersive tour, led by retired longshoremen and labor historians, traces the rise of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 13 in Long Beach. Visitors walk the docks where the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike began, and visit the former union hall that served as a sanctuary for immigrant workers from the Philippines, Mexico, and Eastern Europe. The tour includes a visit to the Long Beach Maritime Museum’s labor archives, where visitors can handle original strike ballots, union contracts, and strike pay ledgers. The guide explains how the union fought for racial integration in hiring, the establishment of pension plans, and the right to union representation on the job. The tour concludes with a visit to the memorial plaque honoring workers who died in port accidents—a rarely seen but deeply moving tribute. This tour is only available on weekdays to minimize disruption to active port operations.

8. The African American Heritage Trail: Bixby Knolls to East Long Beach

This 3-hour walking tour uncovers the rich but often overlooked history of African Americans in Long Beach, from the early 20th century to the Civil Rights era. Led by a descendant of the first Black homeowner in Bixby Knolls, the tour visits the site of the former Dunbar Hotel, a hub for jazz musicians touring the Pacific Coast, and the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in 1965. The guide shares stories of Black entrepreneurs who opened barbershops, restaurants, and record stores despite redlining and segregation. Stops include the original location of the Long Beach NAACP chapter, founded in 1918, and the site of the 1967 protests against police brutality that preceded the Watts Uprising. The tour includes access to digitized yearbooks from historically Black schools and oral histories from women who worked as domestic laborers in the city’s affluent neighborhoods. This tour is the only one in Long Beach that documents the full arc of African American life—from migration to activism to cultural contribution.

9. The Tongva and Indigenous Heritage Tour

Long Beach sits on the ancestral land of the Tongva people, who inhabited the region for over 8,000 years. This tour, developed in collaboration with the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy, is the only one in the city led entirely by Indigenous educators. It begins at the La Cienega Wetlands, where participants learn about Tongva fishing techniques, acorn processing, and the use of tule reeds for canoe-building. The guide shares creation stories, clan lineages, and the impact of Spanish missions and American colonization on Tongva society. Visitors walk along the original trail system that connected coastal villages to inland resources, and visit a reconstructed ceremonial ground with native plants used for medicine and ritual. The tour includes a listening session with Tongva elders and a guided meditation using traditional shell rattles. No artifacts are removed or replicated; instead, the tour emphasizes living culture and contemporary Tongva activism. This tour is offered monthly and requires respectful participation—no photography is permitted in sacred areas.

10. The Film History of Long Beach: Silent Era to Studio Era

Before Hollywood became synonymous with Los Angeles, Long Beach was a major filming location for silent-era cinema. This 2-hour bus tour explores the city’s role as a backdrop for over 150 silent films between 1910 and 1930, including works by D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin. The tour stops at the former site of the Long Beach Film Studios, now a parking lot, and the pier where the 1917 film “The Squaw Man” was shot using real naval ships as props. Guides use restored film reels, production stills, and newspaper reviews to reconstruct scenes and discuss the economic impact of filmmaking on local businesses. The tour also highlights the role of Long Beach residents as extras, many of whom were employed by the studios during the Great Depression. A highlight is a visit to the Long Beach Public Library’s film archive, where guests can view a 1923 newsreel of the city’s first movie premiere. This tour is unique in its focus on the city’s contribution to early cinema, a chapter rarely covered in mainstream film history.

Comparison Table

FAQs

Are these tours suitable for children?

Most tours are family-friendly, but content varies. The Queen Mary and Film History tours are ideal for younger audiences due to visual and interactive elements. The Tongva, Japanese American, and African American Heritage tours include mature themes related to colonization, incarceration, and discrimination—recommended for children 10 and older with adult guidance.

Do I need to book in advance?

Yes. All 10 tours require advance registration due to limited group sizes, archival access, or site restrictions. Walk-ins are not permitted. Booking is done online through official tour websites or partner institutions like the Long Beach Historical Society.

Are these tours conducted in languages other than English?

Guides primarily conduct tours in English. However, the Tongva Heritage Tour offers Spanish-language materials upon request, and the Japanese American Experience Tour provides bilingual handouts. For other languages, advance notice may allow for interpreter coordination.

How do I know these tours are historically accurate?

Each tour is developed in partnership with academic institutions, museums, or descendant communities. Sources are cited in printed materials and digital archives. Guides undergo annual training with the American Historical Association and Long Beach City College’s Public History Program. No tour relies on unverified legends or tourist myths.

What if it rains?

Indoor tours (Queen Mary, Film History, Architecture) proceed regardless of weather. Walking tours are rescheduled or offered as virtual alternatives with curated digital content. Rain guarantees a full refund or transfer to another date.

Are tips expected?

Tipping is not required but appreciated. Guides are paid professionals, and all tours include a suggested donation to support archival preservation and community outreach programs.

Can I bring a camera?

Photography is permitted in all public areas. However, the Tongva Heritage Tour prohibits photography in sacred sites, and the Naval Base Tour restricts images of active infrastructure. Signs are posted at each location.

Do these tours include food or refreshments?

No meals are included, but several tours stop at historic cafes or bakeries where guests can purchase locally sourced snacks. The Alamitos Bay tour includes a complimentary historical recipe booklet for a 1920s-era lemon cake.

Conclusion

Long Beach’s history is not a single story—it is a mosaic of voices, struggles, innovations, and resilience. The top 10 historical tours listed here are not just sightseeing excursions; they are acts of cultural preservation. Each one is rooted in rigorous research, community collaboration, and a deep respect for truth over spectacle. Whether you’re standing on the deck of the Queen Mary, walking the same path as Tongva fishermen, or listening to the echoes of a 1960s labor rally, these tours transform passive observation into meaningful connection. In an age where history is often reduced to hashtags or soundbites, these experiences remind us that the past is not behind us—it lives in the streets, the buildings, and the stories still being told. Choose a tour that aligns with your curiosity, and let Long Beach’s layered heritage guide you—not just through space, but through time.