People who’ve visited the historic Queen Mary ship and hotel in Long Beach know that it’s filled with designs from the Art Deco period, ranging from carvings in rare woods to banisters cast in the shapes of marine animals. Now, there’s a new attraction, and though it’s small, it’s well worth seeing.
The new art gallery on the Promenade Deck is filled with artworks that were spread around the ship and sometimes missed or ignored by visitors, until they were recently collected into a small gallery that shows them to their best advantage.
This 1936 painting entitled “The Mills Circus” depicts a circus troupe that the artist, Dame Laura Knight, toured with for a year. It originally hung in a private dining room, then was moved to a First Class midship bar before being relocated to the gallery.
One of the art pieces on display in the new art gallery on the Promenade Deck of the Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, May 2025. (Photo by Marla Jo Fisher/SCNG)
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This 1936 painting entitled “The Mills Circus” depicts a circus troupe that the artist, Dame Laura Knight, toured with for a year. It originally hung in a private dining room, then was moved to a First Class midship bar before being relocated to the gallery.
One of the art pieces on display in the new art gallery on the Promenade Deck of the Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, May 2025. (Photo by Marla Jo Fisher/SCNG)
The space was originally the First Class ladies’ drawing room, and was later turned into a gift shop. Now reopened as a gallery, it displays paintings, carvings and other treasures salvaged from the ship’s history. It also serves as a museum shop, selling small souvenir items such as cocktail glasses, magnets, shirts and the like.
The gallery is open to the public during the ship’s regular opening hours, which are typically 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also note that a new Archive Museum of interesting objects found around the ship has also just opened, but it’s only accessible to those taking a VIP tour.
About the ship: The Queen Mary was built in Clydebank, Scotland, by the Cunard shipping line, between 1930 and 1935, when most people traveled across the Atlantic by ship. It was considered the most luxurious of its kind and hosted all classes and ages, but today is best known for its celebrity passengers, its speed and the beauty of its Art Deco interiors. The ship sailed on its maiden voyage in May 1935, from Southampton, England to New York City in 5 days, 5 hours and 13 minutes. It was converted to a troop ship during World War II, and carried troops and military passengers until 1946. It was sold to the City of Long Beach as a tourist attraction in 1967, and has remained owned by the city and operated as an attraction and hotel since then.
Want to know what other restoration efforts are underway? Learn more here: queenmary.com/design–preservation.htm
If you go: Call 888-217-1153 or go to QueenMary.com. The Queen Mary is located at 1126 Queens Highway in Long Beach.
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