N°3: Inside the Queen Mary’s new prohibition-style bar
The speakeasy-themed watering hole seeks to draw locals back to the historic ocean liner.
Up an elevator, across a gangway, down a long hallway, down a flight of stairs and around a corner sits a door marked N°3. Behind the door is Long Beach’s latest boozy entertainment destination, sitting near the bow of the historic Queen Mary.
N°3 is a prohibition-style bar that is playfully being marketed as a “members-only” speakeasy, but don’t let that discourage you. Simply follow the bar on Instagram (@n.o3qm) for not-so-subtle hints on how to get in, go with a friend already in the know or just wander the the front end of the ship until you stumble upon the door.
However you end up there, once inside, be sure to ask the host for a member pin.
“We just want to have fun and have a good time,” said Jon Sullivan, the ship’s Prime Minister of Fun — seriously, it’s on his business card. “We definitely did it a little bit differently than most people, but it’s trying to capture that cool kids club.”
Located in what was previously the crew quarters of the ocean liner, the bar has a prohibition aesthetic, complete with whiskey barrels, empty bottles and dim lighting. Most of the furniture in the space is circa the late 1960s and early '70s, when the ship arrived in Long Beach, according to Kirt Finely, executive director of food and beverage. Two pieces — the host podium and an unassuming side table — are original from the 1930s, he said.
All cocktails are $15, but there is absolutely no use of any phrase related to alcohol when it comes to naming or describing them, lest the prohibition police catch on.
The space has two bars, along with lounge areas and a stage for live entertainment. The bar will feature a rotating lineup of bartenders, with each creating their own menu. Similarly, entertainment each night will be different — from various genres of music to magicians and maybe even comedians.
“Music obviously plays well in this type of environment and there will always be a musical component,” Finely said. “But anything you can imagine in the entertainment genre, you might see here. People remember experiences and that’s what we try to create.”
Hours of operations are not set, with sporadic days each week being announced via the bar’s Instagram account. As word spreads organically and crowds grow, Finely said operations will grow in tandem.
“The best part is the feedback we’re getting … to be able to give us the ideas,” Finely said. “What’s the next cool thing for us to do? We want to be part of the community to be able to … give them everything they may be wanting.”
“It’s for locals,” Sullivan added. “The Queen’s in a mode now where we want to give back to everybody who helped support it — that’s everybody.”
There is an overflow area that Sullivan said could eventually be used by local groups and organizations as event space. Finely noted that there is a million square feet of space on the ship but that only about 25% is currently being utilized.
The bar’s speakeasy atmosphere was inspired by none other than Sir Winston Churchill, who traversed the Atlantic aboard the ocean liner at least 10 times.
During a visit to the U.S. in 1931, the politician and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was hit by a car. Somehow, Churchill convinced his doctor to prescribe him booze for his recovery.
“This is to certify that the post-accident convalescence of the Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits especially at meal times,” reads a replica of the doctor's note, which hangs in the entryway of the new bar. “The quantity is naturally indefinite but the minimum requirements would be 250 cubic centimeters.”
That’s more than 3.5 shots — minimum.
Sullivan explained that, doctor’s note or not, prohibition police would enter the ship each time it called in the U.S. and smash or dump all the alcohol. So the crew had to get creative, just like everyone else at the time.
Today, the ship still has the Churchill suite as well as a fine-dining restaurant named after the British politician.
Sullivan, who has worked aboard the ship for just over three months, acknowledged the vessel's sordid past — fraught with mismanagement, neglect and poor business decisions.
“I can’t apologize for what’s come before us, but I can say that going forward we’re truly in this for the people,” he said. “It’s almost like a recapture of the Queen that we can introduce to a whole generation that maybe didn’t have a connection to it — walking through the ship, finding these hidden gems.
“We’re just trying to create some love here and do something special that hasn’t been done on a ship that is truly, truly special.”
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