LATIMES.COM S SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2020 A17 BUSINESS New waterfront is finally taking shape Projects at San Pedro’s Ports O’ Call and nearby pier move ahead despite the pandemic

By Roger Vincent

On the main channel of Harbor where the city’s shipping industry was born more than a cen- tury ago, a kitschy imitation of a New England fishing vil- lage called Ports O’ Call opened in 1962. It was a major regional attraction where thousands came every year to stroll among quaint shops, take boat rides and dine by the water. For a period in the 1970s, the mast-like Skytower lifted visitors 30 stories high to show them gi- ant tankers, cruise ships and fishing trawlers navigating the port. But in the late 1980s, Ports O’ Call Village faded and grew shabby, a victim of changing tastes in enter- tainment and dwindling in- vestment in its upkeep and improvement. Despite a last-minute, nostalgia-fu- eled community outcry and lawsuits from merchants and restaurants, all but the San Pedro Fish Market was demolished in 2018 to make way for dramatic redevelop- ment, first proposed by the Harbor Commission five years before. Now the waterfront’s long-awaited makeover is fi- Francine Orr Los Angeles Times nally taking shape. JAKE BONNEY sweeps at the AltaSea site in San Pedro, which hopes to draw eco-friendly start-ups. Behind him is the ship Nautilus. One project will trans- form the former tourist mag- After a competition “Bob Ballard is some- net into a new seaside at- among developers, port body who attracts other traction with shops, restau- leaders selected Jerico De- businesses,” McOsker said. rants and bars in shipping velopment and Ratkovich “We all want to be close containers. In another, the Co. to build the replacement to Bob because of his credi- city’s nearby original pier to Ports O’ Call and signed bility.” dating to the early 1900s is them to a 66-year lease on That includes leaders of being converted to a sprawl- the property. 23 institutions and universi- ing center for new eco- Ratkovich Co. President ties, including USC and friendly businesses building Wayne Ratkovich said he UCLA, that are part of the the ocean’s “blue economy.” hopes West Harbor will be a Southern Marine Among the new devel- boon for San Pedro, “a city Institute, which trains stu- opments coming to the port within a city that has often dents in ocean studies and is an amphitheater the size been overlooked” as a neigh- entrepreneurship in the of L.A.’s Greek Theatre, borhood of Los Angeles. “We emerging blue economy. where concerts will be heard saw an opportunity to re-en- The institute plans to a stone’s throw from a World ergize a unique downtown.” move in 2023 from a small fa- War II-era battleship. Visi- cility on to tors will stroll a waterfront AltaSea larger quarters in the same promenade designed by the In the early 20th century, former warehouse Ballard architects of the High Line, Los Angeles merchants and occupies. Manhattan’s instant land- James Corner Field Operations city leaders set out to cap- AltaSea is planning a mark park made out of a for- AN ARTIST’S rendering of West Harbor, an entertainment and shopping com- ture a share of the increased 180,000-square-foot array of mer elevated rail spur. plex that will replace Ports O’ Call as the key visitor attraction at the Port of L.A. global shipping trade ex- solar panels on the roof of The multiple projects are pected to pass through the one warehouse to provide part of a two-decade process Panama Canal, a link be- power to the businesses in- to clean up the air and water tween the Atlantic and Pa- side. A more symbolic solar- at the port and turn unused cific oceans that opened in powered “lighthouse” will be docks, wharves and ware- 1914. They created a munici- built as part of a new engage- houses into a place where pal wharf with a long stretch ment center for visitors at more people will want to of warehouses where ships the north edge of the water. work or visit for fun, port offi- were loaded and unloaded “We wanted to create a cials said. into trains, carts and trucks beacon for the port so that “Bringing people to our by burly longshoremen. everyone could recognize waterfront has been a hall- The growth of container- where AltaSea is from a long mark of the Port of Los An- ized shipping after World distance away, “ said Andy geles for decades,” Execu- War II gradually rendered Cohen, co-chief executive of tive Director Gene Seroka City Dock No. 1 obsolete for Gensler, the architecture said, “and we believe that moving goods but left be- firm overseeing the design of the investment in this par- hind a choice 35-acre site for the 35-acre campus. ticular project will really a complex of pioneering tech The exterior of the 14- bring us to the next level.” companies focused on sus- story tower will light up with To smooth the path of tainable uses of the world’s energy drawn from the sun, new development catering oceans. and visitors who climb stairs to visitors, the Port of Los AltaSea is in its early to the top can take in the in- Angeles is investing about stages but so far rents space dustrial theater of the mod- $1 billion in infrastructure James Corner Field Operations to eco-friendly start-ups, in- ern port and the renovated improvements over 10 years, WEST HARBOR, projected to open in 2022, will evoke the industrial nature of cluding one that raises ed- historical City Dock No. 1. he said. Private developers the port with warehouse-style buildings filled with restaurants, bars and shops. ible mussels far out at sea, “We are going to mesh old building West Harbor, creating a sustainable food industrial buildings, where AltaSea and other projects shopping and entertain- loted them off a 30-foot-high when crowds were constant. source. A company spun off horses and buggies picked will invest an estimated ment complex that will re- deck into the local harbor. “It was locals on week- from Caltech and the Jet up arrivals, with a modern $500 million, said Michael place Ports O’ Call. The proj- Sangmeister broke three days and locals and tourists Propulsion Laboratory in La science campus,” Cohen Galvin, director of the port’s ect recently got a name ribs attempting to fly his on the weekends,” said John- Cañada Flintridge can lo- said. real estate operations. change, from San Pedro own entry, but said he is son, who was partial to the cate objects deep underwa- “This is about the future At the Ports O’ Call site, Public Market, as it previ- game for more antics in San joke shop, glassblower and ter such as lost vessels, and of the planet, and for genera- expect to find a seaside ously was known. Pedro, where he plans an- game arcade. map the depths of the ocean. tions to come.” brewery and beer garden Dispensing with the old other Gladstone’s. “We think One of the key attrac- Another fledgling business among the spread of stores center’s improbable mix of this project lends itself to tions for more modern creates high-tech coral More key projects and restaurants in a 42-acre New England, Spanish Co- bigger, funner events and tastes will be the amphi- farms and uses remotely op- West Harbor and Al- retail center called West lonial and Asian themes, we’re excited to be a part of theater, a 6,200-seat venue erated submarines to dis- taSea aren’t the only recre- Harbor that will have five West Harbor will evoke the that.” operated by Los Angeles tribute baby corals onto ational improvements com- times as much outdoor industrial nature of the port West Harbor is projected music promoter Nederlan- threatened reefs. ing to the port. space as the Grove mall in with warehouse-style build- to open in 2022 but will con- der Concerts. Part of AltaSea’s mission Port officials broke Los Angeles. ings filled with restaurants, tinue to be developed in the The region has several is to create jobs that didn’t ground in October on the Rising nearby will be a so- bars and shops. years to follow and is in- concert halls, but there is previously exist, said Chief $71-million Wilmington lar-powered “lighthouse” as The layout was conceived tended to include a hotel af- room for another, Chief Exe- Executive Tim McOsker, Waterfront Promenade. The tall as the Statue of Liberty, by James Corner Field Oper- ter the travel business recov- cutive Alex Hodges said, at who grew up in San Pedro nine-acre development will towering over a cluster of ations, the architects and ers from the pandemic. One least in that unusual loca- when work was plentiful on provide more direct public century-old warehouses urban designers behind the of the recreational proposals tion for live shows. the docks or for the fleet of access to Wilmington’s his- containing new-economy High Line and Tongva Park being considered would “We love the idea of being fishermen based there. toric waterfront and create businesses such as the head- in Santa Monica. The cen- bring a skate park, a wave at the waterfront,” he said. “We are looking at a fu- more open spaces and recre- quarters of undersea ex- tral courtyard will be machine for surfing and an “It’s just a thrill — the ture where, without some in- ational areas for the harbor plorer Robert Ballard, who flanked by repurposed ship- artificial ski slope. bridges are landmarks. They tervention, it may not be community’s residents. The located the wreck of the Ti- ping containers turned into One proposed attraction speak to a big, exciting, mys- possible to sustain the kind project will include a park tanic and the German small restaurant kitchens, that would combine alcohol terious world” of interna- of middle-class incomes that and a public pier and dock. battleship Bismarck. His re- seating, fire pits and a stage with a sense of danger is tional commerce. families had growing up Work is also underway on search vessel the Nautilus for live music and dancing. what developer Eric John- Hodges envisions people here” for generations, he the $33-million Town Square docks there, as does Boe- There will be native plant son calls an “aerobar.” It looking down on shows from said. “We have the opportu- and waterfront promenade ing’s prototype unmanned gardens and family activ- would be a tall, open cylin- the deck of the USS Iowa, a nity to expand the blue econ- project that will connect research submarine Echo ities such as children’s play- der, reminiscent of the Sky- retired battleship launched omy here in the harbor area West Harbor with a historic Voyager. grounds and bocce ball tower, where riders would sit in 1942 that is berthed a mile and create a future for our seaside landmark: the Before the pandemic, courts. For people arriving in a circle with their feet dan- up the Main Channel where kids.” Streamline Moderne-style about 3 million people came by water, there will be cour- gling and be hoisted high it serves as a naval museum. The figurative whale for San Pedro Municipal Ferry to the waterfront each year tesy slips for private boats enough to see to Catalina Is- Plans call for moving the AltaSea so far is Ballard, Building. for recreation, a tally port and water taxis. land while being served Iowa to a slip next to West who has captured public in- Built in 1941, it was the leaders hope to double after One of the first restaura- cocktails by a bartender Harbor, no small feat con- terest as a deep-sea explorer terminal for ferries that con- people begin to venture out teurs to sign a lease was perched in the middle. sidering it is a 45,000-ton ves- and scientific researcher. nected the mainland with again. John Sangmeister, owner of Johnson, whose San sel once known as the “Big His 211-foot research vessel is Terminal Island before the Gladstone’s seafood restau- Pedro company Jerico De- Stick.” based there and he plans to was West Harbor rant in Long Beach, a com- velopment is building West “It’s going to be a chal- build an educational visi- completed in 1963. A 2020 groundbreaking petitive sailor who is also Harbor with Los Angeles de- lenge” to transport, Seroka tors’ center called the Bob Now housing the Los An- was delayed by the pan- known for arranging public veloper Ratkovich Co., rode said, a costly task requiring Ballard Experience inside a geles Maritime Museum, the demic, but next year con- parties and stunts including his bicycle to Ports O’ Call as extensive engineering work 1920s industrial building square will serve as the pe- struction is set to begin on a 2010 contest in which en- a boy and hopes to recapture and dredging of the channel. that is also his headquarters destrian connecting point the $150-million first phase trants made human-pow- the enthusiasm the attrac- “But believe me, this com- and home to his research between downtown San of West Harbor, the dining, ered flying machines and pi- tion generated in its heyday, munity can do it.” and development. Pedro and West Harbor.