Queen Mary Is Pushed Closer to Shutting Down

In what could be the first step toward closing the historic Queen Mary ocean liner, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners voted Monday to provide funding to keep the tourist attraction open only through the end of the year.

The commissioners extended a lifeline, however, by agreeing to ask the Walt Disney Co. to continue managing the ship for three months after its contract expires in September. That will give officials the chance to find a new operator, although many are skeptical that another manager can be found that quickly.

Harbor officials said that if Disney does not agree to extend its lease, the ship will be closed Sept 30. Disney officials refused to comment.

“The port will not operate the ship. That’s not our business,” said Harbor Commission President Joel Friedland.

Regardless of what Disney decides, the commission voted to close the hotel aboard the ship in September unless another operator can be found by then.

“We feel this is a death knell for the ship,” said David R. Rubin, vice president of the Queen Mary Foundation, a nonprofit group set up for the ship’s preservation. “When you shut a major part of the ship down, then everything else begins to shut down. If you close the hotel, then fewer people come to the restaurants. Then the restaurants close down. Eventually, nobody comes.”

Long Beach Councilman Warren Harwood said: “It has the likely effect of dooming the ship. What they’re doing is mindless.”

The Long Beach City Council had urged the commission to keep the ship open at least until they decide what kind of tourist attraction can take its place. The fate of the nearby Spruce Goose, the giant wooden plane built by Howard Hughes, also remains unclear.

In asking Disney to stay on for an extra three months, the Port of Long Beach agreed to pay $1.6 million to keep open what supporters, in impassioned pleas Monday, compared to the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower.

But harbor commissioners emphasized that the port cannot continue to pour money into the attractions indefinitely. In the 4 1/2 years that Disney has managed the liner and its related facilities, officials have estimated the company’s losses at $7 million to $8 million annually.

To many, the commission’s vote signals the end for the majestic luxury liner, on which the world’s elite once walked across its wooden decks in peacetime and Allied troops sailed to battle during wartime.

The potential loss of the Queen Mary and 1,100 jobs is another blow to the beleaguered city, which is reeling from the loss of thousands of aerospace industry positions, pending legislation in Congress that would reduce work at its local shipyards. The city is also embroiled in a dispute over a proposal to shut down its Police Department and contract the work out to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Disney officials had looked into building an oceanfront theme park in the city, but those plans were scuttled last year after opposition from environmentalists and a better offer from the city of Anaheim.

Harwood and other Queen Mary supporters said the city cannot afford to lose another asset--especially such a symbolic one.

“When you go to San Francisco, you go to see the Golden Gate Bridge. When you come to Long Beach, you look for the Queen Mary,” Harwood said.

Harbor commissioners said they have little choice. Disney had offered to stay on through the end of the year, but only if the port picked up all the losses. That would have cost the Port of Long Beach $2.7 million for three months, according to city-paid consultants. The losses dropped to $1.6 million if the hotel is closed.

In addition, Disney demanded that the port pay for any workers’ compensation claims, which harbor authorities estimated could run between $3.8 million and $9.2 million. In a letter delivered to port authorities late Friday, Disney dropped that demand, harbor commissioners said.

Once that was settled, commissioners said they were willing to provide $1.6 million to keep the ship open through the end of the year.

Commissioners Friedland, Alex Bellehumeur, David L. Hauser and Roy Hearrean agreed to ask Disney to stay on through the end of the year if the theme park operator agreed to certain conditions, including that it pay $4.9 million for deferred maintenance projects. Commissioner Carmen Perez was in Sacramento and not at the meeting.

Some commissioners said they are optimistic that Disney would continue to operate the Queen Mary through December and a new operator could be found for the long run.

Speaking before about 50 Queen Mary workers and supporters Monday, Bellehumeur said that harbor commissioners “do not want to pull anchor or torpedo the ship.”

Disney began operating the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose in 1988 after it purchased the Wrather Corp., which had managed the attractions.

During World War II, the Queen Mary moved 800,000 Allied troops. In 1967, no longer profitable, the vessel was sold to Long Beach for $3.45 million. Four years later, after spending $66 million to refurbish it, the city opened it as a hotel. The ship has been a financial burden ever since.

Long Beach is awaiting several consultant reports that will review options for the oceanfront site, including a cruise terminal, a theme park, an aquarium and an international marketplace.

For the past 25 years, the decks of the ship have offered the most romantic view of Long Beach. For many, it is also a living museum.

Dianne Rush, an Orange County resident whose father traveled on the ship from New York to Scotland as a serviceman, was one of those who reminded the commission of the ship’s history and its value to the city.

“The familiar profile of the Queen Mary’s three funnels on the Long Beach skyline is no less inspiring than the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty,” she said.

BACKGROUND

In 1967 the city of Long Beach bought the Queen Mary for $3.45 million. A couple of operators managed it through the years but failed to make it a success. With losses in the millions, the city in the late 1970s sold the ship to the Port of Long Beach. The port leased the attraction to the Wrather Corp. until 1988, when the Walt Disney Co. bought Wrather and assumed management of the Queen Mary.