A demolition ceremony was held Monday for the Old English Village at the Queen Mary, where officials said the teardown would pave the way for a safer, more vibrant area near the historic vessel.
“We are here to honor our past, build our future, and here’s to new beginnings here at the Queen Mary,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said.
The Old English Village was built in 1972 but fell vacant for nearly five years before the city began demolishing the structures earlier this month, the Long Beach Post reported.
“This action eliminates unsafe infrastructure,” Richardson said. “It addresses safety concerns, and it opens up this critical space so that we can better serve the thousands of visitors to come here to Long Beach. Either for the Queen Mary, or festivals or Carnival Cruise Lines.”
The $1.4 million project is expected to be finished next month, which includes new asphalt paving on the quarter-acre site, the Post reported.
“It’s a really exciting time for not only the Queen Mary but probably more importantly, just for Long Beach in general,” Queen Mary Managing Director Steve Coloca said.
