Long Beach, CA: An iPhone™ Photo Gallery.

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time in Long Beach, which is a city located Los Angeles County, but with a personality all its own. I fully believe if Long Beach weren’t so close to LA, it would be a major American city. After decades of sketchiness, LB’s city leaders are following through on a major revamp, and the key is in the details. By the way, yes I'm in a mad love affair with Los Angeles, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have feelings for another town. LA is my wife; Long Beach is my girlfriend.

Part of the plan for the city is to give it a Miami feel, and it’s working. Check out this row of high-rises along the water – very Florida-esque, minus the meth labs.

Last month, the annual Long Beach Grand Prix took place, on a racecourse narrowly squeezed into the downtown. As a New York Jew I wasn’t exactly raised in the epicenter of motorsports, but I certainly dig the rubber still left on the road from the race’s wicked hairpin turn.

A big environmental effort is underway to make the city bicycle friendly, and there are lots of custom bike racks around town, including this coffee and cupcake-shaped pair in front of a bakery. By the way, cupcakes and a bicycle with a basket on it – not exactly the Long Beach Sublime was singing about.

Also for the cyclists: bike lanes complete with bicycle-themed traffic lights. I love this, albeit ironically, seeing as I also love my SUV with third-row seating.

Permanently docked in the LB port and now in use as a hotel is the Queen Mary. It’s got a trippy Titanic feel to it, and it’s supposedly haunted, if you're into that jive. Speaking of crazy, the dome next to the ship used to house Howard Hughes’ massive Spruce Goose plane.

The Long Beach Arena features the world’s largest mural –  --> “The Whaling Walls” – created by some hippie painter with one name. He must have been on serious peyote three years ago when he added a mural of the earth to the roof.

I snapped this pic of a Long Beach city bus driver while he was stretching his legs. I really dig the bus-themed Hawaiian shirts they have them wear, though I think this guy went rogue with the jorts.