36 hours in Long Beach

The New York Times Travel section does Long Beach: "While the city’s maritime character remains, its rough edges have been smoothed in recent years — the downtown waterfront transformed by redevelopment, the busy port now welcoming both cargo vessels and cruise ships. Along with its sandy shore, a compact downtown of low-rising Art Deco towers, and unassuming neighborhoods where Craftsman bungalows are ringed by tropical gardens, Long Beach has excellent museums, ethnic enclaves and a tangle of Southern California subcultures. Layered, urban and unexpected, it is a city apart from the sprawl and strip malls that define the outer edges of Los Angeles."