WAY SMOOTH

Did somebody order fish and ships?

The harbor area of southwest Los Angeles County -- the closest thing we have to a blue-collar coast -- is where cruise ships call, where global cargo is loaded and unloaded, where ton upon ton of maritime machinery hums and looms. It’s where the Queen Mary passes its awkward retirement. Just north, the Pacific pounds the bluffs and pebbles of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and 22 miles off the mainland, the island of Santa Catalina primps and sparkles for weekend admirers.

This territory “to me, is like a secret,” says Anthony Geich, who works the desk at Hostelling International’s L.A./South Bay hostel in San Pedro. “You’re in L.A., but you’re away from all the bull.”

We offer the sixth installment of our yearlong series of Southern California Close-ups -- 11 beach, peninsula and island micro-itineraries that cover Long Beach, San Pedro, the Palos Verdes area -- which is tonier but undeniably adjacent -- and Catalina. (You can find our five earlier Los Angeles County and Orange County destination itineraries at latimes.com/socalcloseups.) They’ll work for you or for your out-of-town guests or really anyone who wants to get under the surface, as it were.

A bottle of vino, a little boat and thou

Just before Los Angeles County runs out and Orange County begins, a southbound traveler comes across the watery Long Beach neighborhood known as Naples. It’s a cluster of three upscale residential islands, with waterways between. They’re a fine place to float, perhaps in a kayak from Kayaks on the Water (5411 E. Ocean Blvd.) or maybe in a Venetian gondola. For $85 a couple, Gondola Getaway (5437 E. Ocean Blvd.) offers 50-minute floating adventures just about every day, complete with gondolieri in striped shirts and straw hats. Bring a refreshment (no corkage fee). Or a crowd: The 10-vessel gondola fleet offers various options for larger groups (including a “pizza cruise” for six to 10 people at $35 a person). Some of the guys sing -- a nice effect under the echoing bridges -- and many play mood music. Especially around sunset, it’s a memorable float as you drift past snazzy homes under the darkening sky. Ignacio Villanueva, a veteran gondolier, says he’s seen many a marriage proposal and only one turn-down. Excellent odds, gentlemen. And if your proposal doesn’t pan out, well, you can jump ship and swim for Tantalum restaurant (6272 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite J), which overlooks one of the marinas on Alamitos Bay and gets some serious happy-hour traffic.

This way to the bat ray

You’ve gone as far south as the 710 goes, to the damp heart of Long Beach. You’ve stepped into the Aquarium of the Pacific, a big and bright attraction that opened in 1998 near the city’s convention center. Now find the Touch Pool. Reach into the shallows. And tickle the gray skin of the first flat, triangular creature that slithers by. That’s a bat ray, its spine clipped (painlessly) to prevent venomous stings. Its skin, you’ll agree, is surprisingly soft. And Long Beach, for all its heavy-metal maritime machinery and antiseptic waterfront redevelopment, can be downright cuddly here and there. This aquarium includes about 11,000 sea creatures and a see-through tunnel that surrounds you with sea life. Along the Rainbow Harbor waterfront outside, whale-watching boats, harbor cruises and dinner-cruise vessels will compete for your attention, as will Bubba Gump, P.F. Chang and a bevy of the usual national-brand restaurant characters. If it’s a weekday, you might grab a drink and a happy-hour snack at the three-story, red-roofed Parkers’ Lighthouse in Shoreline Village, before the higher dinner prices kick in. But for more serious meat (and less view), you’ll head about a mile east to 555 East, an old-school steakhouse on Ocean Boulevard. The walls are wood-paneled, and the meatloaf will brighten your day. As for the rest of your night, of course, Hilton, Hyatt and Westin are all huddled near the convention hall, but why not some place on a smaller scale? Stay at the 138-room Avia Hotel, which opened in 2009, a few blocks from the aquarium, and has a pool on the roof. Or, out on Queensway Drive by the Queen Mary, check out the Hotel Maya, a DoubleTree by Hilton that in 2009 was jazzed up with modern Mexican design. Bold colors, nice ocean views.

Big ships

In a slightly different universe, the Long Beach waterfront would still be dominated by the Long Beach Pike, a massive amusement park that went up in the early 20th century, a cousin to similar setups in San Diego, Santa Monica and Santa Cruz. But the Pike did not age well, and city leaders were scrambling for a new way to lure tourists. Enter the Queen Mary, a British ocean liner built in the 1930s, retired in 1967 and recast here as a floating hotel. The ship cuts a striking figure seen from land or sea, especially if you’re about to board a contemporary cruise ship from the embarkation center next door, where many Carnival Mexican cruises begin. And ghost-hunters love the place. But up close, the Queen Mary is tired. Red ink and management changes have been frequent. Many of its historical features have been removed or remodeled. Think hard before you hand over $24.95 to tour the ship (or $139 to stay overnight). But if you really love old ships and you’re going to the Aquarium of the Pacific anyway, buy the combo ticket. That way, instead of paying $24.95 adult admission for the aquarium alone, you get the Queen Mary, too, for $36. By the way, that pass won’t get you aboard the remarkably small old Russian submarine that’s moored next to the Queen Mary, but the gift shop is free and entertaining (need a vodka flask?), and you can replicate the $10.95 self-guided tour by imagining yourself wedged inside a vacuum cleaner with torpedo tubes.

Going retro

Just when you think you’re beginning to figure out Long Beach, up pops bohemian Retro Row, a medley of funky vintage and design shops on 4th Street, to show you how little you know. More than two dozen shops are concentrated between Cherry and Junipero avenues. Near St. Louis Avenue, check out the dinette sets and Dean Martin albums in Elan Collection (408 St. Louis Ave.), the lanais and lamps at J-2 Design (402 St. Louis Ave.), the hipster hats at Imonni (2106 E. 4th St.), the wines at 4th Street Vine shop (2142 E. 4th St.), the written words of Open books (2226 E. 4th St.). Or settle in at Vintage Collective (2122 E. 4th St.) with its art prints and View-Master reels of Mexico City in 1957 and Anchorage in 1973. When hunger rises up, stroll over to Lola’s Mexican restaurant, (2030 E. 4th St.; don’t miss the patio in back). Or sink into the calm, white corridor that is noodle house Number Nine (2118 E. 4th St.). Or duck into Portfolio (2300 E. 4th St.) for coffee. If there’s time, top off your day’s artsy excursion with a visit to the nearby Museum of Latin American Art (628 Alamitos Ave.), which is housed in a boldly colored Mexican modern building, or the Long Beach Museum of Art (2300 E. Ocean Blvd.), which has grown from a 1912 brick-and-timber home to include a later expansion.

Eat, drink, shop, stroll

The commercial spine of Long Beach’s Belmont Shore area is a 15-block stretch of 2nd Street, three blocks from the beach. Tuck into a mound of Lebanese kebabs at one of Open Sesame’s two busy locations (5201 and 5215 E. 2nd St.), and rest assured that next time you could try crepes, pasta, cupcakes, tacos, Thai, whatever. Require a pint? Choose among Murphy’s, Quinn’s and Shannon’s pubs, or head to Legends, a sports bar with dozens of TVs. Then, to give your legs and elbow a little more exercise, hike half a mile to Belmont Brewing Co. (on 39th Place), which serves lunch, dinner and craft beer on a beach-view patio next to the Belmont Pier. Look north beyond the bike path and you’ll see a horizon full of maritime machinery. Look south on a windy day and you’ll see the billowing sails of windsurfers at play.

When Catalina calls

Between Dana Point to the south and Marina del Rey to the north, there are five places to catch a ferry for Catalina. But you probably want the shortest boat ride possible, and that means starting in Long Beach with the Catalina Express. It’s an hourlong voyage (usually about $70 per adult, round-trip) and it ends in sleepy Avalon Bay. Catalina, you’ll soon find, is a strange and charming land where golf carts far outnumber cars, where tourists often outnumber the island’s 3,700 or so residents, where buffalo (imported for a movie shoot in the 1920s) roam the back country. You need to know that pretty quickly you’ll run out of town to explore, you’ll see some steep prices on summer weekends and you may not want your kids splashing in the shallows around Avalon’s green pier. (That beach ranked among the state’s 10 most polluted beaches in a 2011 study by Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay.) But the island is fetching, from its distinctive tile work to its signature 1929 casino building (which houses a little museum and screens movies nightly), and there’s just enough here to fill a family weekend or a romantic one. The history is hard to resist, beginning in 1919, when chewing-gum mogul William Wrigley Jr. bought a controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Co. Western author and sportsman Zane Grey (whose old house is a hotel now) summered here in the ‘20s and ‘30s. Actress Natalie Wood drowned here while on a 1981 boat trip with husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken. And teen bride Norma Jean Dougherty lived here briefly in the 1940s before divorcing and renaming herself Marilyn Monroe.

The island, new and improved

To impress the adults in your traveling party, book a room at the renewed Pavilion Hotel, right on bayfront Crescent Avenue. Formerly known as the Pavilion Lodge, the place was redone and reopened in 2010 with lush landscaping in its courtyard, an inviting fire ring and hints of Midcentury Modernism here and there. (And go in spring or fall, preferably on a weekday, when you can often get in for less than $180 nightly. On summer weekends the same room can cost more than twice that.) For dinner, head to the sleek dining room of the Avalon Grille, which opened in 2010 a few doors away at 423 Crescent Ave. (Both places are run by the Santa Catalina Island Co., as are many other island businesses.) The next morning, browse or snack in tile-fronted CC Gallagher (523 Crescent Ave.), which sells sandwiches, coffee, landscape paintings, wine and sushi. That’s right: CC sells sushi down by the seashore.

Taking flight

If your Catalina trip is a family venture, look into renting a house or condo from Catalina Island Vacation Rentals so you can defray costs by doing some of your own cooking. Also, between bike rentals, glass-bottom boat rides and miniature golf tournaments at Golf Gardens, you’ll want to line up at Big Olaf’s ice cream shop (220 Crescent Ave.) along the waterfront, where $4.50 buys a single scoop of Dreyer’s ice cream with topping. Then -- if nobody’s afraid of heights -- walk north past the casino to the Descanso Beach Club, where the Catalina Zipline Eco Tour opened in 2010. It’s a series of five lines that take you slope to slope in Descanso Canyon, skittering along at up to 40 mph, up to 300 feet high, while the scrub and eucalyptus trees flash past below. (To ride alone, participants must be at least age 10 and weigh 80 to 245 pounds. Children 5-9 may ride in tandem with an adult.) With instruction beforehand and pauses between zips, it takes about two hours. You wind up back at the Descanso Beach Club, where there are many other sports on offer, along with a beachfront bar and restaurant where you can agree on how much to exaggerate how high and fast you went.

High ground and chain link

San Pedro is a sleeper. Wedged between the docks of Long Beach and the mansions of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, it has a throwback look (lots of 50-year-old signage) and a Croatian accent, because many local families came from Croatia to work seafaring or waterfront jobs. Along 6th Street and Pacific Avenue, you’ll notice businesses such as Slavko’s Harbor Poultry and Ante’s Restaurant. You begin by climbing to high ground: Angels Gate Park (3601 S. Gaffey St.), where a 17-ton Korean Bell of Friendship and pagoda shelter tower over the grass (and the neighboring L.A./South Bay Hostel), with wraparound views of the Pacific, Catalina Island and the occasional passing whale. In all L.A. County, there can’t be a better place to fly a kite. Well, except perhaps the lawn at nearby Point Fermin Park and Lighthouse (807 W. Paseo del Mar), where the ocean views are augmented by a lighthouse that dates to 1874. Once there, you may or may not be tempted to try a beer at Walker’s Cafe, a tiny, rumpled throwback bar and grill across the street that draws a close-knit crew of grizzled locals and bikers. But for a wider selection and a far kid-friendlier scene, head instead to the Corner Store (1118 W. 37th St.), which isn’t on a corner but welcomes families with pb&j; sandwiches ($2.75) and sells more kinds of sodas than you’ve ever imagined. Now, having bought your picnic lunch, take it down to sea level at Cabrillo Beach Park, where you’ll find picnic tables, tide pools facing the open ocean and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, a facility that dates to the 1930s and now plays David to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific’s Goliath. The Cabrillo building, startlingly wrapped in chain-link fencing and rugged metal accessories, was designed by architect Frank Gehry in the early 1980s, before his name became a global brand. Inside, there’s plenty to keep a family absorbed (sea stars, jellyfish, leopard sharks) and a homespun feel to the exhibits. Best of all, the recommended donation is $5 for adults, $1 for kids -- about a fifth of what the Long Beach aquarium costs. (But stay out of the shallows inside the breakwater. This beach, too, is on Heal the Bay’s most-polluted list.)

Of golf, God and redwoods

Venture north of San Pedro and boom -- you’re out of blue-collar territory and onto the genteel slopes of Rancho Palos Verdes, snaking along the not-at-all-smooth blacktop of Palos Verdes Drive. First, exit at Trump National Golf Club and park in the free lot on the left. Alongside this ritzy golf course and restaurant is a network of public trails. You can follow one down to the water’s edge, where wave action has smoothed the many-colored pebbles almost halfway to becoming glass. Of course, you could play golf here, too, if you don’t mind greens fees of $215-$275 for morning starts. Your second stop, farther north and west on Palos Verdes Drive, is the Wayfarers Chapel. This is a small but remarkable church, dedicated in 1951 -- almost all glass walls and skylights, with light filtering in through flanking redwoods. Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, designed it for followers of 18th century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, but all are welcome; donations are requested. From just about everywhere on the grounds, the views are stupendous, the tranquillity considerable.

Does that name ring a diving bell?

A little farther north on Palos Verdes Drive, you’ll reach a grand bluff-top chunk of land that longtime Angelenos will remember as the site of the Marineland theme park from 1954 to ’87. Since 2009, these 102 acres have been the site of Terranea, a luxury resort that opened just in time to get kicked in the teeth by the recession. It has 582 hotel rooms (each at least 450 square feet) and rates that begin around $360, with a nine-hole golf course, spa, three pools, multiple restaurants and views of the Point Vicente lighthouse (next to which is the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, a prime whale-watching spot). Terranea is not a beach hotel. It’s all about bluffs, rocks and pebbles. And if you’re splurging, it’s worth a thought. If you’re not splurging, come anyway and grab a free parking spot (first lot on the left as you enter). Make the rounds on the cliff-top public trails, and wind up around sunset at the casual resort restaurant that looks out toward the lighthouse. It’s called Nelson’s -- in honor of Mike Nelson, the heroic scuba diver portrayed by Lloyd Bridges on TV’s “Sea Hunt” from 1958 to ’61. The show was shot around Palos Verdes, in glorious black and white, and the restaurant walls are filled with posters (in jarring color) promoting ancient episodes. Give them a look. Then glance again at the sea, take a bite of seared ahi, and be glad. To be any more immersed in SoCal culture, you’d have to strap on air tanks and flip overboard backward.

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christopher.reynolds@latimes.com

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If you go

WHERE TO STAY

L.A./South Bay Hostel, Hostelling International, Angels Gate Park, 3601 S. Gaffey St., Building 613, San Pedro 90731; (310) 831-8109, www.hiusa.org. Five private rooms, sleeps 60. Open June 13-Sept. 11. All bathrooms shared. Rates $28-$60 a person.

Avia Hotel, 285 Bay St., Long Beach 90802; (562) 436-1047 or (866) 644-2842, www.aviahotels.com. Doubles begin at $159.

Hotel Maya, 700 Queensway Drive, Long Beach 90802; (562) 435-7676, www.hotelmayalongbeach.com. Doubles from $160.

Pavilion Hotel, 513 Crescent Ave., Avalon 90704; (310) 510-1788 or (800) 626-1496, www.visitcatalinaisland.com. A prime spot on Avalon’s waterfront main drag. Doubles typically $168-$280 (winter weekdays) to $400-$526 (summer weekends).

Snug Harbor Inn, 108 Sumner Ave., Avalon 90704; (310) 510-8400 or (888) 394-7684, www.snugharbor-inn.com. Doubles from $140-$385.

Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes 90275; (310) 265-2800 or (866) 484-5558 (reservations), www.terranea.com. Doubles from $360 (plus $25 daily resort fee).

WHERE TO EAT

555 East, 555 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach 90802; (562) 437-0626, www.555east.com. An old-fashioned steakhouse. Dinner main dishes $19.95-$49.95. Dinner nightly, lunch weekdays.

Tantalum, 6272 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach 90803; (562) 431-1414, www.tantalumrestaurant.com. Asian fusion menu. Main dishes $16-$34.

Belmont Brewing Co., 25 39th Place, Long Beach 90803; (562) 433-3891, www.belmontbrewing.com. Hand-crafted beers, good chowder and bread ($3.50-$5.25).

Open Sesame, 5201 and 5215 E. 2nd St., Long Beach 90803; (562) 621-1698, www.opensesamegrill.com. Lebanese cuisine. Main dishes $10.99-$24.99.

Lola’s Mexican Cuisine, 2030 E. 4th St., Long Beach 90814; (562) 343-5506, www.lolasmexicancuisine.com. Lunch and dinner. Dinner main dishes average $10.95.

Number Nine, 2118 E. 4th St., Long Beach 90814; (562) 434-2009, www.numberninenoodles.com. All dishes $10 or less.

Avalon Grille, 423 Crescent Ave., Avalon 90704; (310) 510-7494, www.visitcatalinaisland.com/avalon/dini_avalonGrille.php. Dinner main dishes $14-$35.

Nelson’s, 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes 90275; (310) 265-2836; www.terranea.com. Main dishes $11-$17.