I fell in love with the Mary when I was a kid. We used to sneak around and go all over the ship. When we got caught we would just say we were lost. Not recommend nowadays. But we were kids.
Anyone who watches your videos can tell that you have a passion for ocean liners. The Queen Mary is a beautiful ship and I am so grateful for you and your passion for learning. You, along with many others in the ocean liner community have helped me to broaden my knowledge in the last two years and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without you. Thank you so much for your passion and teaching. I hope to one day be involved with the education and preservation of this beautiful ship and others like her. Again thank you for your example. You have changed my life in ways you could never imagine!
I just found you via the update video. I used to live a few miles from the Queen Mary as a kid and would visit often, but having moved to Oregon when I was 12 I dont get to go, but still try to keep up with her happenings, it was such a big part of my childhood. I think everyone just in general should watch this video and really listen to the words you are saying. There are so many people on social media that think they know it all and aren’t afraid to type out what they think of you in a comment box assuming they know who your are and what you are trying to do. I really like what you had to say and wish more people would see this and really take your words to heart!
@@AlextheHistorian You’re welcome… I fixed it, but I meant I used to “live” not leave a few miles from QM. I’ve been up just south of Portland since my mom moved us up here in 1980!
Yeah I figured you meant live. Yeah I moved up here just south of Portland back in May 2020. Aside from Queen Mary, I dont really miss California. I love it up here.
Your recent passion for the Queen Mary (even though you had already visited her) is perfectly explained. While researching the Titanic, you discovered the historical, technical and human context associated with it. By revisiting the Queen Mary, your mind made the connection with the era of the great liners and made you see everything in a new light. Interest in an object becomes a passion if that object opens up a whole universe to you. Personally, it is after buying the magnificent Titanic from Lego that I got back into the swing of things. This huge model has a very strong evocative power. Moreover, a reference book on the subject was published in France at the same time. As a result, I gradually broadened my interest to the Olympic class, then to all the transatlantic liners since the end of the 19th century, up to the time of the Queen Mary and the Normandie (with a preference for the period 1905-1925). The history of the great shipping companies is also fascinating. On this occasion, I was fascinated by a truly unique ship: the Great Eastern. It really marked its time by its size and its technology. And what an incredible look: sail + steam, paddle wheels + propellers! Of course, with your channel, my interest in the Queen Mary has increased a lot. In short, your enthusiasm is quite legitimate... and communicative.
It's amazing how the Titanic started us all on the path to falling in love with ocean liners. For me, it was reading Robert Ballard's book on her as a 9-year-old in 1988. It fascinated me endlessly. But it took until pretty recently when I really got into other liners with the help of RU-vid channels like Oceanliner Designs, Big Old Boats and this one. I'm really, really excited to see my favorite liner, the Queen Mary, for the first time next year when I go to L.A.
I keep posting on the queen mary accounts since the shutdowns, just open your online shops! They had so much inventory on the ship, including holiday stuff. They could sell everything gathering dust and i still would pay for it
I have never considered myself to be a historian, and I have never thought that. However, when I think of the RMS Queen Mary, I think of beauty, and importance and a storytelling attraction that tells and reminds us of the golden age of transatlantic crossings. She really sets the scene for anyone new to the world of ocean liners, and is considered as a representation of Jewish safety and pride. Thank you for your storytelling!
Growing up in the 70s, my Mother's boss at her job rode the Queen Mary to and from Europe during WWII. He was in the military, going to fight in the war, and then came home on the QM. I remember him saying that he could never set foot on that ship. He was a boating enthusiast and on occasion, take us on his boat around Long Beach and we would pass the Queen Mary and the sub.
@@AlextheHistorian his experience on the Queen Mary was far different than ours. He also said he would never eat SPAM. All war time experiences. He did love Europe though.
@@romaarm yeah I figured I just like hearing stories of war voyages on the ship and thought he might have mentioned the ship rolling or smelling like vomit or not having a place to sleep.
Alex The Historian and more importantly The Humanitarian. You pour a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears into your work Alex and I for one along with many others Appreciate what you do Immensely. 👍 ThankYou! God Bless Ya Brother ✌️
Yeah they need to top to bottom make it a floating historical museum. With MULTIPLE tours, yes the haunted one, but war tour, ship history tour, film tours. And make it a great place to hold weddings. and maybe a small portion is a hotel, but make it not the main focus for money.
RMS Queen Mary generally sailed at 28-32 knots but with safety systems disengaged it had a maximum recorded speed of 39 knots. It held the Blue Riband for a while! Nowadays speed is unimportant to passenger ships so the SS United States still holds it after 70 years.
@@isaiahrodriguez896 Now only ocean liner fans know about it and it doesn't mean much. I suppose that the big draw nowadays to cruise ships would be the activities they have and how big they are. A hundred years ago people were crossing the Atlantic for emigration purposes and ocean liners were not the most comfortable things, in third class especially, so speed was important. You could spend a month or more on a crossing on older sailing ships and there tended to be a lot of disease and such on them. People wanted to pay for the convenience of a more luxurious and swift journey and thus speed was what most companies cared about most (apart from money of course lol).
great story, it is great to stand in front of the entrence and looking down the side, feel the rivets and see how it was built and how big and thick those materials are. I think you are a super nice, geniue person but of course we have to disagree, Titanic's interiors, the big glass dome, the style and everything was something else to the darker, more boring Art Deco style. I did not particularly felt it was "beautiful" but I could appreciate the work and materials that went into this interior.
Hi Alex, Mike here. What a great backstory, some friends and myself went to the Queen Mary on a whim years back and as they say the rest is history. It is the last of the great Ocean Liners, maybe it could be made a "World Heritage Site." Just glad we live close to the ship, can't wait till it opens again. "First"
I have had a fascination with the Titanic story since I was a kid after watching the 1958 movie "A Night to Remember". I was very young and the had never "experienced" such a story, especially a true one. I thought about the story a lot and how those people felt and what it must have been like being on a ship like that, so as a young adult, I was very excited about the Queen Mary coming to Long Beach and waited impatiently for nearly four years to be able to actually go aboard and it was love at first site! I felt like I had gone back in time and was visiting an old friend of sorts. I truly get your love for the old girl!
That was a scary movie and still creeps me out, especially the scene from the bridge when the water comes up over the bow, just thinking about it weirds me out. Amazing movie though, I have it on dvd :)
I definitely hear what you’re saying about the ship “talking” to you. I had a similar experience aboard USS New Jersey on my first visit in 2019, and that only reinforced itself during the 2020 craziness, worrying about how the museum will stay operating, looking at what I could afford to donate, etc. While I don’t feel quite confident enough yet in my knowledge to talk about museum ships publicly like you do, though I’d like to do that eventually, it did inspire me to start learning everything I could about New Jersey and the maritime curatorial field in general. Ships are very visceral sorts of things, particularly as artifacts. They are “places,” yes, but they’re also vehicles - they travel, they carry people, they come to see all corners of the world of which that they embody a microcosm, and they then start to create stories of their own, and all of that is incredibly valuable. The work that you are doing is going to show an awful lot more people why these ships and the stories they can tell us are still so important.
I've stayed on The Queen as a hotel and it was a thrilling experience. I wish history buffs would get out there and encourage everyone to visit her. Words just can't capture the scope and magnitude of the Golden Age of Sea Travel like this ship. This ship should be a historic shrine. Beautiful in so many ways, for so many reasons. When she's gone, a little piece of each of us will die with her.
Hey Alex, funny comment about Taco Bell LOL. I think I told you the story before, but I actually fell in love with the Queen Mary more than Titanic. I started watching your videos back in your Disney History days (still miss a lot of those videos 😊), but when you started talking about Queen Mary I could also relate to that love. I was just talking to my son as we watched this video together about the first evening we stayed at the Queen Mary. It was in Oct. of 2016, we drove down to Long Beach as we had tickets the next day for a tour on Catalina Island. They were having that Halloween event in the parking lot and it was really crowded. There was also something connected to the attractions at that event that sounded like a loud steamer horn, and, as we hustled our luggage through the crowds, I imagined that we were running up to Queen Mary to catch the boat before she left on her voyage! The minute I entered the ship, I felt like we were in an old Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie. We checked into our rooms (we had a family suite with one of those small "valet's rooms" connected). then we explored the ship. I was singing Gershwin and dancing along the promenade... when I saw the portrait of Fred Astaire!! I got a cool photo posing in front of his picture. I sure hope they open the ship up again for guests as I really want to stay in their hotel again and do some more exploring! 😃
That is such a beautiful model Titanic in your background, and I really enjoy watching your videos, especially on the Queen Mary. I enjoy learning so much about sea travel and your thoughts as well. Keep up the great work!
The way you described how you fell in love with the ship when you did your vlog visit was just so beautiful and so relatable (and brought back memories of being aboard). I remember seeing that you posted it and was so excited that you went to the Queen Mary! Who knew you would brand yourself and become so involved in the ship shortly after. Great to hear the progression of it all. I was excited to visit your café, too. Then COVID hit, Disneyland closed down and you moved. The pandemic really changed so much. But it's always darkest before the dawn and the Queen Mary has been through a lot of scrutiny, but also a lot has been revealed and out in the open and her future is looking positive, especially with young content creators like you spreading the message to the newer generations. There really is something so special about the ship beyond even the design and historical accolades. God has not giving up on the ship. I remember coming back from L.A. and decided to take a detour to see the ship a few months ago as the sun was going down and it was not the sad, depressing parking lot it was during 2020. She was vibrant and ready to set sail...ehhhh...so to speak. I could just feel the millions who gazed up at her throughout the decades and the hope and love it brought to Britain and everyone recovering from the war and the many who wished they could sail on her but never had the chance, able to at least board her in Long Beach. One, two, three generations later, we share in that same longing and enrichment. And hopefully generations ahead of us can experience the ship in even more immersive and back-to-her-maiden-voyage kind of ways because of our efforts to see and revitalize the ship the way Victor Hugo did to Notre-Dame, and the way many homeowners are doing to historic, need-of-TLC homes throughout the country and even the world (France in particular).
Very heartfelt video, Thank you for sharing your feelings about our great ship, I love her too. I understood completely about how you somehow heard her voice as you were walking away after your visit with her…she speaks volumes.
I've always loved ships and the sea, but it was your videos that made me look more closely at the Queen Mary and fall in love with it. I don't know how many people I've -forced to learn about- shared it with over the past couple years but it's a lot. Also, your Titanic model isn't all that inaccurate, especially to someone who doesn't obsess over Titanic details. Ask any random person what ship it is and they'll immediately recognize it as RMS Titanic. (Of course they'll also 'recognize' everything from the Olympic to QM2 as the Titanic lol)
Always enjoy your passion/knowledge of the QM. Nobody else that I know of is energetically covering all of the aspects of this ship's history and current status. I too have always been keenly interested in ocean liners. I was fortunate as a boy to have travelled with my family both east bound and west bound on several ocean liners. Travelled on the SS America, SS United States, SS France and the SS Rotterdam (1959). Then in 2009, I took my family on the QM 2 eastbound. Favorite ship was the Rotterdam. Incredible ship of the Holland America line. Now, just like the original Queen Mary, you can stay on the SS Rotterdam in Rotterdam if you'd like. Am looking forward to visiting the Queen Mary after it's renovation. Keep up the good work!
The 80+ thousand ton Cunarder Queen Mary is a record breaking war veteran, I can’t stand when people say she’s the most overrated liner, honestly titanic is the most overrated liner, rms queen Mary is the queen of the seas, 2,000+ HP quad screw steamer, she is arguably the best strongest made liner EVER MADE
I became a Queen Mary mega fan soli from watching your videos Alex. You reminded me I visited the ship as a kid I was one of the lucky people to get a free trip with my Disneyland pass.
If Titanic and Mary were reversed do you think people would be flocking to see Titanic? Here’s a piece of living history that you can see and touch and its being largely ignored. I visited Mary 2012 and have looked at my photos many times since. It was a 1 day visit to LA and it was a highlight of my USA trip. Don’t give up trying to save her Alex.
Thank you Alex, when I toured her compartments it broke my heart that Long Beach would have cut up the boilers & etc to me they should replace 2 or 5 or all 24 boilers then young ones wants to see how the Queen Mary was push across the North Atlantic Ocean . To see these huge water tight Compartments I couldn’t believe it why would they do this to our powerful Ocean Liner. They should be replaced but not to sail but for young ones interest. Thanks again Alex
My Mother came to America on the Queen Mary from Greece. It was very special to take her there four or five years ago. It was her first time seeing it since getting off it in New York harbor in January of 1964. The only bummer was she spent most her time below deck with the nurse because she was sea sick. The nurse brought her up top to see the Statue of Liberty.
I love the queen Mary videos keep them coming Imagine if the plans to make Olympic a museum ship like queen Mary went through do u think it’ll draw more tourists than queen mary
Great video!!!! For me I grew up knowing about titanic. We had family onboard the ship and died. But after so much research on titanic, I found the Olympic was a far better ship than titanic ever was. Of the three ships, I like Olympic,then Britannic, and then the titanic last. Titanic is so overrated!!!
I'd say Titanic is overrated because of how media uses her. Using Titanic's name for views and money, and the people who had died with the liner. Titanic is more than what everyone thinks, the sinking is not the only special part about the ship. Titanic being called overrated does get annoying, but in the end it kind of is true in some ways sadly, thanks to the internet.....
As someone fairly new to your channel, I have been so grateful for all your tidbits and news updates about Queen Mary. I was very similar to you... grew up loving Titanic, and still do, but have come to appreciate and care deeply about the Queen as well. Thanks for doing what you do!
Hey Alex, LOVE your vids. I work at the port of Long Beach, and could get you up and close to the ship if you'd like. :) My office is 1000' from the ship. I'm going to e-mail you my info!
Thanks for all you do for the QM Alex…your videos are awesome! I grew up visiting her since I was a kid too and so worried about her as Urban Commons let her deteriorate and the future looked grim. But your latest update and tour calmed my fears. Love how you show all those historic photos and video. Bravo!
With you since the Disneyland days, I wanna say at least 4-5 years. I've always loved the the depth of information that you explore and present with calm enthusiasm. When you pivoted to the Queen Mary, I happily went right along. She's a huge part of my family's story, as my dad's family emigrated with her in the 1960s. I'm thrilled that she's docked so close to home now. We've celebrated many milestones on board from our 50th anniversary in America to graduation lunches. I'm just as worried about losing her as you are. Don't let the naysayers get you down, friend!
Two of my favorite things: Disneyland and the Queen Mary. We've stayed on the ship a number of times and I fell in love with her from the beginning. The ship speaks to me in a way I can't describe. It's current state breaks my heart and I pray she'll get the TLC she needs so she can welcome us all back. As for my love of Disney, I've loved Disneyland for always. I so appreciate your history lessons. Alex - Your scripts and presentation skills are top notch!
Bravo, thank you so much for this video. I’ve always been relatively close to the RMS Queen Mary but I never fully appreciated the ship until recently. Back then all I really knew about it was the ghost stories. Your great interest in the ship has influenced me to learn more about the ship. 😊
I realize this is an older video and maybe I've commented before but this video is the perfect blend of Alex stories which I'm a huge fan of and some educational info! Thank you Alex you are a wonderful story teller.
Alex, I agree with everything you discussed in this video. QM is a treasure to LB and also world history. I, too, am concerned about its fate. I had heard that it may be reopening in Nov. Do you have any current information about when it will reopen? I am eager to visit her again especially after viewing your informative videos.
The city has not officially announced an opening date yet, but yes the City has expressed that they would like to have the ship open in time for the Christmas Season. The repair work is ongoing.
I must say I wasn't a Queen Mary fan, but the more I learned about her, the more I started to appreciate and admire her. Your videos have had a great contribution to my appreciation of the Queen.
I fell in love with the QUEEN MARY while visiting my brother in the 80's. We were across from it to watch 4th of july fireworks..I think my eyes were on it more than the fireworks..then when i heard it was a hotel..OH YES.I of course got a model to put together (still have) then a yr or 2 later i had my 1st stay as a guest..P.S. It didnt interest me much as a kid either.
This vid made me realize how important QM is and I like even more now. My interest in ocean liners begun this year in febuary when I started watching videos about ocean liners. I always has been interested in ships in general but the ship that actually started it all is costa concordia. I watched more and more ocean liner vids and then I came accros one about RMS Queen Elizabeth... since then alongside with IJN Yamato my favorite ship. And I find it just sad that QE is no more and this is also the reason I like QM even more. Watching ocean liner vids was also the way I discovered yer channel. What I like about this community is that everyone has a different point of view yet no one is gonna hate each other for that. QM may not be in my top 10 favorite ocean liners (in fact it is 11th) but I am aware how important this ship is and since QM and QE are in the same class I'd like to support QM but I unfortunetly am not able to. Btw if I may ask have ye considered an ocean liner tier list?
@@AlextheHistorian There is an web site named "Tier Maker" where ye can create yer own tier list of something (for example ocean liners) and orther them into the tiers. Tiers can be named: S (ships ye like the most, QM, QE, Mauretania), A (ships ye like a lot but not as much as the "S" ones, Oceanic, Aquitania, France), B... all the way until "F" tier. Ye can also use add more than yer 10 favorite ocean liners. If ye orther them by how good they were or by how ye like them is just up to ye. It unfortunetley requires twitter account.
I noticed you were at the Southern California railway museum, my local preserved railroad and amazing place to learn about the railroad history in SoCal.
Please continue too make your videos I am watching from Spain amazing video I love the queen Mary please keep making these videos please amazing your are truly gifted this is your calling
Hi Alex, great video about the history of Queen Mary. I live in Clydebank where she was built. I could shoot some video of where she was built and how it looks now. The whole area has been redeveloped abut the dock and the Titan crane are still there. let me know.
I first visited the Mary back in early February of 2020, more or less about a month after your vlog. I had a good grasp of its history at that point, and was ecstatic the whole time. Spent most of the time rushing about trying to explore as much as I could since me and my family were only there for one night. I didn’t really take it all in as much as I could’ve, but I’m really thankful for that time. Fully agree with everything you said about its worth and personality. Your videos and overall channel have played a huge role in my further self-education on the ship, and I’m very thankful that you do what you do for that fantastic ship :) Loving your responses to “haters”, as well, and I look forward to them resulting to playground insults like *”wELL iF yOu LoVe iT sO mUcH, wHy dOn’T yOu mArRy iT!1!”* haha ;)
I always loved all types of history/engineering, especially mechanical masterpieces. My first time seeing the QM and the H4 I was forever hooked on historical marvels. Too bad people today want to erase/scrap history good or bad, ugly or beautiful...
This channel is absolutely perfect. You are easy to listen to and what you share has always got great content. I love watching videos on the Queen Mary, especially yours! but it's not something I talk about with others. I would absolutely love to walk on board but unfortunately I live in the UK. She is a massive part of history and still holds the record for most souls on board during her war effort. I think that's what impresses me the most about her. She could have quite easily have been lost during the war but, here she still is! More people should come and appreciate her in all her glory. Like you, I worry that she and parts of history like her will eventually be gone. I honestly don't know many people in this now super busy life we live in that are remotely interested in subjects like this, and that terrifies me!
well said Alex, its lovely to see how your passion for the queen Mary and ocean liners in general is burning up more and more, and its clearly evident in your videos. they are brilliant. this small queen Mary community you have made based around your channel is unique and I love being a part of it. my favourite cunard ship is the queen mary thanks to you 🙏
