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Story Rope

The following paragraphs are the stories within the Harbor Boulevard Parkway "Story Rope". Many thanks to the organizations that helped pull these stories together: San Pedro Bay Historical Society, LA Fire Department Historical Society, Maritime Museum, Harry Bridges Institute, and the Angels Walk LA.

Bay of Smokes Becomes San Pedro

Welcome to the San Pedro Bay, home of the Port of Los Angeles, first discovered by European explorers in October 1542. At least six Indian Villages flourished near the shore when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain, named these waters Bahia de los Fumos, "Bay of Smokes." Juan Cabrillo spotted smoke rising a short distance inland from fires started by the Indians to drive small game into the open. On November 26, 1602, a Spanish exploration party under Sebastian Vizcaino renamed the bay Ensenada de San Andreas, in honor of the feast day of that saint. It was a custom to name a discovery for the saint's day of the Catholic calendar on which it occurred; however, Vizcaino's knowledge of the Catholic calendar left something to be desired. Nov. 26 was not the feast day of San Andreas. The misnomer remained until 1734, when Cabrera Bueno named the bay San Pedro, after the martyred Archbishop of Alexandria.

Railroad Connects San Pedro

The Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad was initially built between Upper San Pedro Bay (Wilmington) and the intersection of Alameda and Commercial Streets in Los Angeles. It was the culmination of a long, untiring effort by pioneer businessman, Phineas Banning. On October 26, 1869 amid an appropriate ceremony and a festive celebration, the railroad was opened to service, replacing horse drawn freight wagons and stagecoaches and reducing travel time to one hour between the terminals. The railroad's independence was short-lived and on April 23, 1873, the Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad became a part of the transcontinental system, connecting with all of North America. Finally, in 1882, the railroad was extended into San Pedro to serve the ever-growing maritime commerce. In 1927, the City of Los Angeles formed the Harbor Belt Line Railroad to provide equal service to all port tracks.

Mexican Hollywood

The Southern Pacific railroad obtained a State Surveyor General Permit and in 1882 proceeded to build 2.5 miles of wharfs from 1st Street to 10th Street in San Pedro. The Los Angeles and San Pedro railroad was also extended to incorporate future commercial cargo handling. In 1884, the Celia, a steam schooner laden with lumber, sailed into the port, marking the beginning of the end for merchant sailing vessels. In the early 1900s, a community arose from an assortment of workers who settled off the shoreline in homes provided by the Southern Pacific railroad. The legendary Mexican Hollywood emerged as a community, while the grants of commerce allowed for the planning and building of future port expansion. These timber wharfs remained until the early 1920s when the decaying decks and pilings collapsed. By the late 1930s all that remained of Mexican Hollywood was a sandy beachfront 75 yards long. Thus was born the "Best American Beach" of Mexican Hollywood.

San Pedro Annexed by Los Angeles

Competition for a deep-water port began in the 1880s as Los Angeles was experiencing phenomenal growth. The City founders made sure that the port would be a part of Los Angeles. In December 1907, the Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance to create the Board of Harbor Commissioners, marking the official founding of the Port of Los Angeles. The development of the port had already started through dredging the main channel, building new wharfs, and constructing the breakwater.

The final step, which would consolidate San Pedro and Wilmington with the City of Los Angeles, met with some opposition from harbor residents. However, the package offered by the city to provide for services such as fire stations, schools, a library, a fish market, and a municipally owned ferry was so beneficial that they approved the plan. On August 28, 1909, San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island were annexed to the City of Los Angeles.

Fishing Industry & Canneries

The first tuna cannery in the harbor was the California Fish Company. A World War I demand for canned food created a market for canned fish. Experimentation in fish canning and processing by men such as H. Halfhill and Martin Bogdanovich helped to establish a thriving cannery center on Terminal Island. Meanwhile, local fishermen caught record numbers of tuna, sardines, mackerel, and squid, making the San Pedro harbor the nation's most successful fishing center during the 1920s. Boats included the jig, lampara, purse seiner, and high seas tuna clipper. Labels such as Van Camp, Chicken of the Sea, and Star-Kist were headquartered locally and internationally recognized. Fishermen and cannery workers represented multiple generations of Portuguese, Dalmatians, Scandinavians, Filipinos, Italians, Japanese, and Mexicans. In the late twentieth-century, offshore competition and a decline in the quantity of fish led to the eventual closing of most of the canneries and a reduced fishing fleet.

Petroleum Industry

From its beginnings in 1909, the petroleum industry has consistently played a major role in the development of the port. In 1911, millions of barrels of oil were handled by Union Oil, Associated Petroleum, and Standard Oil. Massive deposits of oil had been discovered in the Los Angeles area, which needed to be exported. By 1918, the ships full of lumber moving in and petroleum moving out nearly overwhelmed the port's limited facilities and brought changes and improvements to the entire waterfront area. Wilmington was covered with a forest of oil derricks. Refineries, piping systems, storage tanks, and rail transportation sprung up to accommodate the new riches. By 1923, oil exports made Los Angeles the busiest harbor on the West Coast. As oil reserves were depleted, the harbor area refineries began processing petroleum brought in by tanker ships from many parts of the world. Oil continues to be the "Black Gold" of the port.

Shipbuilding & Shipyards

The first boat built in San Pedro was the schooner Guadalupe, launched in 1831 and built by Father Sanchez and Joseph Chapman from salvaged iron and timbers collected from a wrecked brig. Phineas Banning established the first boat-building yard in the harbor before the turn of the century. His yard built barges, tugs, and steamers to transport goods and people across the shallow waters to his Wilmington dock. The Port of Los Angeles was involved in World War II on a massive scale during the 1940s. Every shipbuilding company in the harbor assisted in the construction, conversion, and repair of vessels for the war effort. Shipbuilding became the port's prime economic activity with California Shipbuilding, Consolidated Steel, Todd Shipyards, and others employing more than 90,000 workers. These companies produced thousands of vessels at a world-record pace including Liberty ships, tankers, patrol boats, and landing craft.

Labor Unions in San Pedro

After the founding of the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) in 1905, an appeal was made to workers to learn about the principals of the labor movement. This included other maritime unions such as Sailor's Union of the Pacific. Meanwhile, in 1910, Joe Hill, an immigrant from Sweden, reached San Pedro just in time to help lead an unsuccessful strike against the Southern Pacific Railroad. Revered for his literary and organizational skills, Joe Hill became a legend for the I.W.W. A climactic surge to achieve higher wages, better working conditions, and the struggle to revoke the Criminal Syndicalism Law, resulted in the 1923 Maritime strike.

International attention was gained when Upton Sinclair was arrested, against his rights, for speaking at Liberty Hill. Today, a monument to the struggles of labor stands proudly on 5th Street just west of Harbor Blvd. Successor labor organizations on the waterfront were the ILA and ultimately the ILWU.

Longshore Lore

The evolution from crude and harsh working conditions dating back to the late 19th Century has traveled a historic path. Along the shore, hand mucking and belly packing a multitude of cargoes was the rule of the day. "Offensive and obnoxious" commodities such as bone meal, caustic soda, coal in sacks, cement, blood meal, fish meal, and guano were only a small fraction of the hand-handled cargo. Some of these commodities presented very hazardous health problems. There was a serious lack in safety conditions until organized labor unions demanded safe working conditions and protective clothing. During the late 1950s was the start of a great and monumental change, when Harry R. Bridges of the ILWU and Paul St. Sure of the PMA commenced a dialogue that forever moved the shore from the era of brutal manpower to machine power. The Modernization and Mechanization program accelerated profits and the innovations continue to this day.

Ferry Services

Only 1,200 feet of water separate San Pedro from Terminal Island, and there was a need for waterborne transportation. While Native Americans would row the distance, by the late 19th century there were privately operated boats making the runs. Captain Michael Duffy and the San Pedro Transportation Company provided regular service leaving from the vicinity of Fifth Street, San Pedro. It was not until 1941 that construction began on a municipal ferry system at Berths 84 in San Pedro and 234 in Terminal Island. The impetus for the project was the increasing number of defense industry workers in Terminal Island shipyards and naval bases. Two streamline modern terminals were completed the following year when the ferry Islander began her runs. With the completion of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in 1963, the ferry service discontinued, the terminal at Berth 234 was demolished, and the terminal at Berth 84 was converted into the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

Protectors of the Port

As the port grew, so did the hazards to shipping and storage facilities. Fire was an early threat and during the late 1800s, volunteer fire departments provided rescue services. In 1909, the Los Angeles Fire Department took over. The LAFD provides a multi-faceted response with state-of-the-art fireboats, and fire apparatus for fire fighting, rescue, and hazardous materials incidents. The Port Police also grew with the port population, deploying officers into the community for crime prevention and enforcement. Safe navigation into and out of the port was critical to shipping, so safety regulations came from the Coast Guard and the Port to ensure a high level of safety. The Port provides pilots to guide every large ship into and out of the port. Port security grew rapidly during World War II and terrorism threats after September 11, 2001 brought new regulations, inspections, and surveillance.