San Pedro's Ports O' Call Was Torn Down

LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

On the main channel of Los Ange- les Harbor where the city’s shipping industry was born more than a century ago, a kitschy imitation of a New England fishing village 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 pe- riod in the 1970s, the mast-like Sky- tower lifted visitors 30 stories high to show them giant tankers, cruise ships and fishing trawlers navigating the port. James Corner Field Operations / Studio One Eleven But in the late 1980s, Ports O’ Call An artist’s rendering of West Harbor, an entertainment and shopping complex at the Port of Los Angeles in Village faded and grew shabby, a vic- San Pedro. It will evoke the industrial nature of the port with warehouse-style buildings filled with restaurants, tim of changing tastes in entertain- bars and shops. ment and dwindling investment in its upkeep and improvement. Despite a size of L.A.’s Greek Theatre, where last-minute, nostalgia-fueled commu- concerts will be heard a stone’s throw nity outcry and lawsuits from mer- from a World War II-era battleship. chants and restaurants, all but the San Visitors will stroll a waterfront prom- Pedro Fish Market was demolished in enade designed by the architects of 2018 to make way for dramatic rede- the High Line, Manhattan’s instant velopment, first proposed by the Har- landmark park made out of a former bor Commission five years before. elevated rail spur. Now the waterfront’s long-awaited The multiple projects are part of a makeover is finally taking shape. two-decade process to clean up the One project will transform the for- air and water at the port and turn un- mer tourist magnet into a new seaside used docks, wharves and warehouses attraction with shops, restaurants and into a place where more people will bars in shipping containers. In anoth- want to work or visit for fun, port of- er, the city’s nearby original pier dat- ficials said. ing to the early 1900s is being con- “Bringing people to our waterfront has been a hallmark of the Port of Los verted to a sprawling center for new Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times eco-friendly businesses building the Angeles for decades,” Executive Di- Jake Bonney, 23, sweeps between the Nautilus, a research vessel, and an ocean’s “blue economy.” rector Gene Seroka said, “and we early 20th century warehouse at the AltaSea site, which is still in its Among the new developments com- believe that the investment in this early stages. ing to the port is an amphitheater the particular project will really bring us

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Private devel- and urban designers behind the High oped in the years to follow and is ater, a 6,200-seat venue operated by opers building West Harbor, AltaSea Line and Tongva Park in Santa Mon- intended to include a hotel after the Los Angeles music promoter Neder- and other projects will invest an esti- ica. The central courtyard will be travel business recovers from the pan- lander Concerts. mated $500 million, said Michael flanked by repurposed shipping con- demic. One of the recreational pro- The region has several concert Galvin, director of the port’s real es- tainers turned into small restaurant posals being considered would bring halls, but there is room for another, tate operations. Chief Executive Alex Hodges said, at “This is a once-in-a-lifetime oppor- least in that unusual location for live tunity,” Galvin said, “to really change shows. these communities.” “We love the idea of being at the At the Ports O’ Call site, expect to waterfront,” he said. “It’s just a thrill find a seaside brewery and beer garden — the bridges are landmarks. They among the spread of stores and restau- speak to a big, exciting, mysterious rants in a 42-acre retail center called world” of international commerce. West Harbor that will have five times Hodges envisions people looking as much outdoor space as the Grove down on shows from the deck of the mall in Los Angeles. USS Iowa, a retired battleship Rising nearby will be a solar-pow- launched in 1942 that is berthed a mile ered “lighthouse” as tall as the Statue up the Main Channel where it serves of Liberty, towering over a cluster of as a naval museum. Plans call for mov- century-old warehouses containing ing the Iowa to a slip next to West new-economy businesses such as the Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Harbor, no small feat considering it is headquarters of undersea explorer Tim McOsker, AltaSea chief executive officer, stands between the Nau- a 45,000-ton vessel once known as Robert Ballard, who located the wreck tilus, a research vessel, and an early 20th century warehouse. Part of the “Big Stick.” of the Titanic and the German battle- AltaSea’s mission is to create jobs that didn’t previously exist, said “It’s going to be a challenge” to ship Bismarck. His research vessel the McOsker, who grew up in San Pedro. transport, Seroka said, a costly task Nautilus docks there, as does Boeing’s requiring extensive engineering work prototype unmanned research subma- kitchens, seating, fire pits and a stage a skate park, a wave machine for surf- and dredging of the channel. “But rine Echo Voyager. for live music and dancing. ing and an artificial ski slope. believe me, this community can do Before the pandemic, about 3 mil- There will be native plant gardens One proposed attraction that would it.” lion people came to the waterfront and family activities such as children’s combine alcohol with a sense of dan- After a competition among devel- each year for recreation, a tally port playgrounds and bocce ball courts. ger is what developer Eric Johnson opers, port leaders selected Jerico leaders hope to double after people For people arriving by water, there calls an “aerobar.” It would be a tall Development and Ratkovich Co. to begin to venture out again. will be courtesy slips for private boats open cylinder, reminiscent of the Sky- build the replacement to Ports O’ Call and water taxis. tower, where riders would sit in a and signed them to a 66-year lease on West Harbor One of the first restaurateurs to sign circle with their feet dangling and be the property. A 2020 groundbreaking was de- a lease was John Sangmeister, owner hoisted high enough to see to Catali- Ratkovich Co. President Wayne layed by the pandemic, but next year of Gladstone’s seafood restaurant in na Island while being served cocktails Ratkovich said he hopes West Harbor construction is set to begin on the Long Beach, a competitive sailor who by a bartender perched in the middle. will be a boon for San Pedro, “a city $150-million first phase of West Har- is also known for arranging public Johnson, whose San Pedro compa- within a city that has often been over- bor, the dining, shopping and enter- parties and stunts including a 2010 ny Jerico Development is building looked” as a neighborhood of Los tainment complex that will replace contest in which entrants made hu- West Harbor with Los Angeles devel- Angeles. “We saw an opportunity to Ports O’ Call. The project recently got man-powered flying machines and oper Ratkovich Co., rode his bicycle re-energize a unique downtown.” a name change, from San Pedro Pub- piloted them off a 30-foot-high deck to Ports O’ Call as a boy and hopes to lic Market, as it previously was known. into the local harbor. recapture the enthusiasm the attraction AltaSea Dispensing with the old center’s Sangmeister broke three ribs at- generated in its heyday, when crowds In the early 20th century, Los An- improbable mix of New England, tempting to fly his own entry, but said were constant. geles merchants and city leaders set Spanish Colonial and Asian themes, he is game for more antics in San Pe- “It was locals on weekdays and lo- out to capture a share of the increased West Harbor will evoke the industri- dro, where he plans another Glad- cals and tourists on the weekends,” global shipping trade expected to pass

public interest as a deep-sea explorer and scientific researcher. His 211-foot research vessel is based there and he plans to build an educational visitors’ center called the Bob Ballard Expe- rience inside a 1920s industrial building that is also his headquarters and home to his research and development. “Bob Ballard is somebody who attracts other businesses,” McOsker said. “We all want to be close to Bob because of his credibility.” That includes leaders of 23 insti- Illustrations by Gensler tutions and universities, including An artist’s rendering of AltaSea, a marine science and business innovation campus being built on City Dock USC and UCLA, that are part of the No. 1 at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. Southern California Marine Institute, through the Panama Canal, a link which trains students in ocean stud- between the Atlantic and Pacific ies and entrepreneurship in the oceans that opened in 1914. They emerging blue economy. The institute created a municipal wharf with a long plans to move in 2023 from a small stretch of warehouses where ships facility on Terminal Island to larger were loaded and unloaded into trains, quarters in the same former ware- carts and trucks by burly longshore- house Ballard occupies. men. AltaSea is planning a 180,000-square- The growth of containerized ship- foot array of solar panels on the roof ping after World War II gradually of one warehouse to provide power rendered City Dock No. 1 obsolete to the businesses inside. A more sym- for moving goods but left behind a bolic solar-powered “lighthouse” will choice 35-acre site for a complex of be built as part of a new engagement pioneering tech companies focused center for visitors at the north edge An artist’s rendering of AltaSea, a marine science and business innova- on sustainable uses of the world’s of the water. tion campus being built on City Dock No. 1 at the Port of Los Angeles oceans. “We wanted to create a beacon for in San Pedro. It is planning a 180,000-square-foot array of solar panels AltaSea is in its early stages but so the port so that everyone could rec- on the roof of one warehouse to provide power to the businesses inside. far rents space to eco-friendly start- ognize where AltaSea is from a long ups, including one that raises edible distance away, “ said Andy Cohen, mussels far out at sea, creating a sus- co-chief executive of Gensler, the tainable food source. A company spun architecture firm overseeing the de- off from Caltech and the Jet Propul- sign of the 35-acre campus. sion Laboratory in La Cañada The exterior of the 14-story tower Flintridge can locate objects deep will light up with energy drawn from underwater such as lost vessels, and the sun, and visitors who climb stairs map the depths of the ocean. Anoth- to the top can take in the industrial er fledgling business creates high-tech theater of the modern port and the coral farms and uses remotely oper- renovated historical City Dock No. 1. ated submarines to distribute baby “We are going to mesh old indus- An artist’s rendering of AltaSea, a marine science and business innova- corals onto threatened reefs. trial buildings, where horses and tion campus being built on City Dock No. 1 at the Port of Los Angeles Part of AltaSea’s mission is to cre- buggies picked up arrivals, with a in San Pedro. ate jobs that didn’t previously exist, modern science campus,” Cohen said. without some intervention, it may not expand the blue economy here in the said Chief Executive Tim McOsker, “This is about the future of the plan- be possible to sustain the kind of harbor area and create a future for who grew up in San Pedro when work et, and for generations to come.” was plentiful on the docks or for the middle-class incomes that families our kids.” fleet of fishermen based there. had growing up here” for generations, The figurative whale for AltaSea “We are looking at a future where, he said. “We have the opportunity to so far is Ballard, who has captured

More key projects ic waterfront and create more open seaside landmark: the Streamline itime Museum, the square will serve West Harbor and AltaSea aren’t spaces and recreational areas for the Moderne-style San Pedro Municipal as the pedestrian connecting point the only recreational improvements harbor community’s residents. The Ferry Building. between downtown San Pedro and coming to the port. project will include a park and a pub- Built in 1941, it was the terminal West Harbor. Port officials broke ground in Oc- lic pier and dock. for ferries that connected the main- [email protected] tober on the $71-million Wilmington Work is also underway on the land with Terminal Island before the @rogervincent Waterfront Promenade. The nine-acre $33-million Town Square and water- Vincent Thomas Bridge was com- development will provide more direct front promenade project that will pleted in 1963. public access to Wilmington’s histor- connect West Harbor with a historic Now housing the Los Angeles Mar-