The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is a non-profit maritime museum, located at Sixth Street at Harbor Boulevard in the community of San Pedro, in Los Angeles, California. [1]
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is housed in the former Municipal Ferry Terminal building, located on the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor. It was designed in the Streamline Moderne style by architect Derwood Lydell Irvin of the Los Angeles Harbor Department. [2] It was built in 1941 at Berth 84, by the Works Project Administration (WPA). [3] [4]
The ferry between San Pedro and Terminal Island ceased after the Vincent Thomas Bridge was opened to traffic in 1963. The building was then used for offices of the LA Harbor Department. The San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building is now a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum opened in 1979 as a result of widespread community efforts to save the historic building. It is the largest maritime museum on the West Coast. [3] [5] The museum's interior renovation was designed by Modernist architect James Pulliam. The museum is operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 AM to 5 PM. [1]
Exhibits include a history of commercial diving in Los Angeles Harbor and a Navy Hall that features large ship models such as the U.S. Navy cruiser Los Angeles and the SS Poseidon model from the 1972 disaster film The Poseidon Adventure .
The museum also has an exhibit that chronicles the once thriving San Pedro fishing industry. The commercial fishing exhibit focuses on the history of Los Angeles Harbor-based purse (net) seining, the San Pedro Fishermen's Fiesta, and the Terminal Island tuna canneries.
Upstairs are models of merchant ships such as the Silverpalm, square riggers, sail boats, and also a fully operational ham radio station.
The museum operates the tugboat Angels Gate, built in 1944 for the Army Transportation Service. Angels Gate was originally known as ST-695, and was among the fleet of tugboats designed for the World War II European theater.[ citation needed ] The fireboat Ralph J. Scott , a U.S. National Historic Landmark, is docked nearby.
San Pedro is a neighborhood located within the South Bay and Harbor region of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located within San Pedro. The district has grown from being dominated by the fishing industry, to a working-class community within the city of Los Angeles, to an increasingly dense and diverse community.
Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering 9.14 square miles (23.7 km2).
The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) of land and water with 43 miles (69 km) of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", the port is located in San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro and Wilmington neighborhoods of Los Angeles, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of downtown.
Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long Beach. Terminal Island is roughly split between the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. Land use on the island is entirely industrial and port-related except for Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island.
Northwest Seaport Maritime Heritage Center is a nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Puget Sound and Northwest Coast maritime heritage, expressed through educational programs and experiences available to the public aboard its ships. The organization owns three large historic vessels docked at the Historic Ships' Wharf in Seattle's Lake Union Park; the tugboat Arthur Foss (1889), Lightship 83 Swiftsure (1904), and the halibut fishing schooner Tordenskjold (1911). These vessels are used as platforms for a variety of public programs, ranging from tours and festivals to restoration workshops and vocational training.
San Pedro Bay is an inlet on the Pacific Ocean coast of southern California, United States. It is the site of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which together form the fifth-busiest port facility in the world and the busiest in the Americas. The Los Angeles community of San Pedro borders a small portion of the western side of the bay. The city of Long Beach borders the port on the eastern side of the bay. The northern part of the bay, which is the largest part of the port, is bordered by the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington.
The Port of San Francisco is a semi-independent organization that oversees the port facilities at San Francisco, California, United States. It is run by a five-member commission, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Board of Supervisors. The Port is responsible for managing the larger waterfront area that extends from the anchorage of the Golden Gate Bridge, along the Marina district, all the way around the north and east shores of the city of San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf and the Embarcadero, and southward to the city line just beyond Candlestick Point. In 1968, the State of California, via the California State Lands Commission for the State-operated San Francisco Port Authority, transferred its responsibilities for the Harbor of San Francisco waterfront to the City and County of San Francisco / San Francisco Harbor Commission through the Burton Act AB2649. All eligible State port authority employees had the option to become employees of the City and County of San Francisco to maintain consistent operation of the Port of San Francisco.
Fort MacArthur is a former United States Army installation in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. A small section remains in military use by the United States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex of Los Angeles Air Force Base. The fort is named after Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur. His son, Douglas MacArthur, would later command American forces in the Pacific during World War II.
California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including Haskell-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship.
Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants and the first to win a patent from the United States. The Spanish Crown granted the 75,000 acres (300 km2) of land to soldier Juan José Domínguez in 1784, with his descendants validating their legal claim with the Mexican government at 48,000 acres (190 km2) in 1828, and later maintaining their legal claim through a United States patent validating 43,119 acres (174.50 km2) in 1858. The original Spanish land grant included what today consists of the Pacific coast cities of Los Angeles harbor, San Pedro, the Palos Verdes peninsula, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach, and east to the Los Angeles River, including the cities of Lomita, Gardena, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson, Compton, and western portions of Long Beach and Paramount.
Ralph J. Scott, also formerly known as Fireboat #2, is a 100-foot (30 m) fireboat that was attached to the Los Angeles Fire Department serving the Port of Los Angeles. She was retired in 2003 after 78 years and replaced by Warner L. Lawrence. Ralph J. Scott is undergoing restoration near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro. On 30 June 1989, she was listed as a National Historic Landmark. She is currently located at the Los Angeles Fire Department, Fire Station 112, at 444 South Harbor Blvd, Berth 86, San Pedro, California.
San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building is a former Los Angeles Harbor Department ferry terminal building located at Sixth Street at Harbor Boulevard in the community of San Pedro in Los Angeles, California.
Harbor View House, formerly the Army and Navy Y.M.C.A., is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument located in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles, California, near the Port of Los Angeles. It is a five-story Spanish Colonial Revival style structure located on a bluff overlooking the harbor.
Catalina Express is an American passenger ferry service that operates scheduled trips between Santa Catalina Island and mainland California. The company began service in 1981 with a single sixty-passenger vessel. As of 2016, the Catalina Express fleet includes eight high-speed vessels that can make the roughly 30-mile (48 km) crossing in about an hour.
Fellows & Stewart Inc. was a shipbuilding company in San Pedro, California on Terminal Island's Pier 206. To support the World War II demand for ships Fellows & Stewart built Crash rescue boats and submarine chasers. The Crash rescue boats were operated by both the US Navy and US Army during the war. Some crash rescue boat also served in the Korean War. Fellows & Stewart was founded as Joe Fellows Boat Shop in 1896. Joe Fellows was an English immigrant who learned boat building in Seattle and San Francisco. The company changed to Fellows & Stewart as the shipyard manager, Victor Stewart joined in as a partner. Many of the boats were designed by Joseph Pugh. From 1907 to 1917 called the Joe Fellows Yacht and Launch Company. In the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s the shipyard built many yachts and sailboats. The name changed to the Fellows & Stewart Inc. in 1917. In 1967 the shipyard was sold to Harbor Boatbuilding. The shipyard is sometimes listed as being in Wilmington. The records of Fellows & Stewart are housed at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. Notable boats and ships: HMAS Air View, USS SC-1012, Rudolph Valentino's 1926 yacht Charade (Phoenix) and the Ranger built in 1917 active at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.
Bethlehem Shipbuilding San Pedro was a major shipbuilding company on Terminal Island in San Pedro, California owned by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. To support the World War 2 demand for ships Bethlehem Shipbuilding San Pedro built: US Navy Destroyers and after the war tugboats. The yard became involved in World War II production in the early shipbuilding expansions initiated by the Two-Ocean Navy Act of July 1940. At its peak during the war about 6,000 worked at the yard, Bethlehem Shipbuilding San Pedro shipyard was opened in 1918 as Southwestern Shipbuilding by Western Pipe & Steel. Western Pipe & Steel sold the shipyard to Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in 1925. Shipbuilding ended after World War 2 in 1946. In 1983 the shipyard was sold to Southwest Marine. In 1997 Southwest Marine operated four shipyards, which they sold to The Carlyle Group. Carlyle Group renamed the shipyard US Marine Repair. In 2002 US Marine Repair sold all six of its yards to United Defense Industries. In 2005 it was sold to BAE Systems but the yard was not used and the yard is now part of the Port of Los Angeles. The shipyard was located at 1047 South Seaside Ave, San Pedro.
Al Larson Boat Shop or Al Larson Boat Building is a shipbuilding and dry dock repair company in San Pedro, California on Terminal Island. To support the World War 2 demand for ships Al Larson Boat Shop built: US Navy Sub chasers and Minesweepers. Al Larson Boat Shop was started in 1903 by Peter Adolph (Al) Larson, a Swedish immigrant. Larson started by building boats by hand from Pacific Northwest lumber. As the shop grew, he moved to its current location in Fish Harbor, in the Port of Los Angeles. Adolph Larson's son sold the boat shop in 1960 to Andy and Gloria Wall. The shop was small at this time with only five employees. The Wall family is still running the shipyard in the Port of Los Angeles. The shipyard is the only one in the Port of Los Angeles now operating and able to work on ships of all sizes with its 100 employees. The shipyard is at 1046 South Seaside Ave, Terminal Island, with 2.35 acres of land and 5.35 acres of waterways. The shipyard also runs a marina, Al Larson Marina.
Garbutt-Walsh Inc. was started in 1907 by Matt J. Walsh and Frank Garbutt (financier) as a boatyard in San Pedro, California on Terminal Island at Berth No. 221. Garbutt-Walsh Inc. built and repaired boats and yachts for pleasure and commercial. President of Garbutt-Walsh Inc. was Matt J. Walsh and Vice President was David J. Walsh. For World War 2 Garbutt-Walsh Inc built powered and non-powered covered and open barges, a Type B ship. The open badge, YGN-44, with a length of 65 feet and a beam of 20 feet, and 300 hp was lost in the war in 1944. The site is now YTI Terminal's Intermodal container port.
Naval Operating Base Terminal Island, was United States Navy base founded on 25 September 1941 to support the World War II efforts in the Pacific War. Naval Operating Base Terminal Island was founded by combining Naval Facilities in cities of San Pedro, Long Beach and Wilmington, California under one command. Much of the base was on the man-made Terminal Island, and harbor in San Pedro Bay. The harbor was made through the construction of a large breakwater system.