She might have been berthed at LB since 1968 but my adventure I know was in 1986 because that’s the only year I worked for the company who sponsored the booth at that show. (Maybe end of 1985/start of 1987) I 100% know it was the year the Challenger blew up.
However, it’s more than possible I misused the term “first”....brought to LB. I moved to LA in 1982. I actually have no idea when she was “first” brought there.
When I wandered thru, she was not what I would call “stripped”. There was upholstery on the seats in the bars. There were hinges on doors. All over the place were beautiful handrails with a wonderful nickel-steel patina. There was an eentsy smell of mold/mildew. It was neglected, peeling-paint style, but certainly not vandalized. Heh, today, left open in that condition for 2 weeks it would have 3000+ gang graffiti tags spray painted on every flat surface as well as having everything screwed in ripped out, every piece of glass smashed, and immense piles of trash piled up in every room where there was a place to sit and smoke crack.
“my adventure I know was in 1986 because that’s the only year I worked for the company who sponsored the booth at that show.”
Hmmmmmm interesting. I screwed up BTW. I realized after I’d gone back to bed that I’d posted berth 132 when in fact she was at berth “E”122 in 1968, which is at the South end of Terminal Island, and at the foot of the Gerald Desmond bridge, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. What matters now is finding out when, and how she was either moved for what purpose, or where she actually was in 1986 for your adventure.
My wife was doing the books for some of the Queen Mary Village vendors that are at the entry to the park prior to that time, and IIRC the Mary was already ensconsed in rock, so she wasn’t moved, therefore she must have been in her existing position at Pier “J” at the time.
I recall there was a time the Mary exhibit, and Hotel were shut down by the City when they took her back from management by the privately owned Talashay management company (phonetic spelling, don’t know how to spell his name actually), and that may have been the period you had the opportunity to get aboard.
I recall the City was actively seeking a buyer for the Mary at that time, and yes the Mary would have seemed intact to most folks, but she had much of her accessories pillaged back in the sixties, and what was left was a new coat of paint, stenciling, and embossments. Yes lots of original was still on board. At a point a few years prior to your adventure I had the job of restoring some of the glass in the stairwells, and cutting down and moving other glass, and mirror objects as well at the direction of the Queen Mary management. I remember I didn’t like working with those people at all.