Coronavirus: Aquarium of the Pacific cheers news of imminent inside opening
The Aquarium of the Pacific could soon reopen its inside galleries, perhaps within days — welcome news for the regional tourist attraction that has taken such a financial hit since closing indoor operations a year ago that the City Council recently approved a $5 million loan to help it.
Mayor Robert Garcia announced Thursday that the aquarium, as well museums, will be among the businesses allowed to open inside spaces as soon as the county reaches the secondmost restrictive red tier of the state’s coronavirus re
opening schedule, which could happen “in the next couple of days.” The aquarium and museums would be capped at 25% capacity, but even a limited number of customers would help.
“It means we can start bringing back some staff who have suffered through reduced hours or who were furloughed so they can do the job they love to and want to do,” aquarium CEO Peter Kareiva said in a statement. “It means we can start to recoup the huge economic losses of the last year; it means everything to us.”
The aquarium — with its ambitious $53 million Pacific Visions wing, which opened in 2019 — closed its doors in mid-March 2020, along with much of the rest of the country. It was allowed to reopen outdoor exhibits at a reduced admission price in the summer but shut that down again when coronavirus cases surged ahead of the winter holidays. Outdoor exhibits reopened in January. The financial impact was severe, with the aquarium needing to do a fundraising push to help pay the bills.
It costs $750,000 a month to feed all the fish, seals, sharks and other animals at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It costs $1.8 million a month to cover all the expenses, but since the pandemic began, the aquarium’s revenue hasn’t approached that figure.
“Do you realize we were only fully open for 91 days this year?” Kareiva said in a December interview. “That’s a quarter of a year. You know we will come back when we can open again. Pacific Visions alone has many new things no one has seen.”
No reopening details were available Thursday afternoon. Rather, aquarium spokeswoman Marilyn Padilla said the facility’s officials were waiting for the opening date. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the county’s move to the red tier as soon as Thursday evening, Garcia said.
Kareiva said he was happy and relieved.
“Being able to be fully open means the Aquarium can be the aquarium that the Long Beach community has grown to love,” he said via email. “It means we can continue to provide the community the special education programs and cultural festivals for which we are known.”
The Long Beach Museum of Art will also be allowed to open. Its officials tried to open the LBMA Downtown annex in the last week of February but had to cancel when Long Beach officials said it was a museum, not a gallery. Now, LBMA Executive Director Ron Nelson said, the opening there and at the main museum on Ocean Boulevard will be the real thing.
“The future looks a little brighter today,” Nelson said Thursday, after the mayor’s news conference. “We’ll open downtown first, with the main museum a couple weeks later.”
Claire’s, the restaurant on the museum grounds, will open March 25, he added.
Nelson said he will recall a few employees and hire a few more. But, he added, the galleries and other areas are essentially ready to open.
“We have two important exhibitions up now,” Nelson said. “It will be great to have a month more for the public to see them.”
The current exhibitions are “Decade by Decade: Women Artists of California”
and “CA Designed 1955.”
At the Museum of Latin American Art, the city’s other large art museum, the staff is moving cautiously.
“MoLAA is reviewing possible dates to reopen safely,” Solimar Salas, vice president of museum content and programming, said in an email. “We want to ensure the safety of our staff, docents and volunteers as well as our visitors.”
Salas said MoLAA will continue offering online content after the museum, 628 Alamitos Ave., opens to visitors.
— Peter Kareiva, aquarium CEO