Long Beach Ca

For sale: a mammoth four-engine plane that can haul 60-ton tanks, troops and medical gear across continents and still land on short, shoddy runways. Price: about $240 million; volume discounts are available. If interested, please contact Boeing Co. at your nearest air show. That's the sales pitch that Boeing officials have been making worldwide recently, in hopes of keeping its sprawling C-17 assembly line in Long Beach from closing in two years. The plant, adjacent to Long Beach Airport, employs about 5,000 people and is one of the last remaining aircraft plants in Southern California.

Riding her bike throughout Long Beach, Carol Hillis became a frequent sight for residents. She was a local teacher for 25 years, subbing the last six, and she was an avid runner and cyclist. She would cycle along the San Gabriel River, through her Long Beach neighborhood and at El Dorado East Regional Park. When she died of cancer this summer at 61, nearly 700 people came to El Dorado -- where Hillis had spent so much of her time -- to celebrate her life. The Hillises chose El Dorado park because it was central to their community and it was accommodating.

Those on the list know exactly what to do the day the invitation arrives. Unsung and unadvertised, the women's book festival in Long Beach typically sells out the next day. So local women frantically fill out the forms and rush to the post office, preferably the big one on Redondo Avenue, to make sure their registration gets hand-stamped and dispatched in that day's mail.

Five people were found shot to death early Sunday in a makeshift homeless encampment covered by thick brush near the 405 Freeway in Long Beach, police said. The crime upset neighbors and puzzled police, who had no suspects and struggled to comb the rugged terrain surrounding the crime scene near the freeway's intersection with the 710 Freeway. An anonymous caller tipped authorities Sunday morning about a slaying in an area near the 1500 block of West Wardlow Road.

A Santa Monica shopping center developer has bid $41 million to purchase the lease for the Queen Mary and surrounding grounds in Long Beach, with plans to refurbish the ship and develop the landing as a retail-entertainment complex. O&S Holdings' is the first bid received for taking over the property operated by Queen's Seaport Development Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in March 2005.

Smarting from disturbances caused by rowdy bar patrons, a fashionable enclave in eastern Long Beach has become engulfed in a squabble between homeowners and business leaders over how to control the summer onslaught of customers who represent an economic benefit to the community and the city. The Belmont Shore Residents Assn.

A dozen notables mounted bikes outside the entrance to Long Beach City Hall late last year for the unveiling of a metallic bicycle sculpture with a lofty proclamation: "Long Beach, the most bicycle friendly city in America," it reads in bold steel lettering under the likeness of an antique bicycle. It was a little premature, leaders admit. "But we're striving for that," said City Manager Pat West, a longtime cyclist. While other cities spin their wheels, Long Beach is joining the ranks of places such as Portland, Ore., San Francisco and New York City that have made safe passage for bikes a priority, even at the expense of traffic lanes.

Boats and the water are the stuff my dreams are made of, though distance and expense keep me on land most of the time. So imagine my delight upon hearing that I could spend a night on an authentic Chinese junk in Long Beach Harbor. My husband, Geoffrey, was as intrigued as I, so we made a reservation for July and planned a nautical-themed trip: a night on the Mei Wen Ti, a visit to the Long Beach aquarium and brunch on the Queen Mary.

After five years in Hollywood, working in and writing about the entertainment industry, I thought I'd been swimming with sharks long enough. But then I saw the real thing: a gorgeous 9-foot blue shark, skin glistening, fin stabbing the water's surface, as it circled a bucket of bloody mackerel dangling off the back of our boat. I snatched my mask and snorkel and dove into the shark cage for a closer look. The sleek fish swam away before I could see much of it.

Members of Long Beach's Cambodian community plan to denounce youth violence during a rally at City Hall today in honor of a 16-year-old boy who was killed in a drive-by shooting this month. Organizers said the demonstration will focus on the life of Simona Rin, a member of the Long Beach-based United Cambodian Community's Youth Scope advisory council. He was fatally shot Aug. 1 on his way to a basketball game.