In this night-time aerial photograph of Los Angeles, San Pedro is in the center and right foreground, including part of the brightly lit Terminal Island. The dark peninsula to the left of San Pedro is Palos Verdes.
History
Before World War II
The island was originally called Isla Raza de Buena Gente[2] and later Rattlesnake Island.[3] It was renamed Terminal Island in 1891.[2]
In 1909, the newly reincorporated Southern California Edison Company decided to build a new steam station to provide reserve capacity and emergency power for the entire Edison system and to enable Edison to shut down some of its small, obsolete steam plants. The site chosen for the new plant was on a barren mudflat known as Rattlesnake Island, today's Terminal Island in the San Pedro Bay. Construction of Plant No. 1 began in 1910.
The land area of Terminal Island has been supplemented considerably from its original size. In 1909 the city of Los Angeles annexed the city of Wilmington. During this time the "Father of the Harbor" Phineas Banning,[4] held deed to roughly 18 acres of land on Rattlesnake Island.[5] Phineas Banning was instrumental in bringing innovative changes to San Pedro Bay[6] and made the first steps towards expansion. Once annexed with the city of Los Angeles the expansion was completed. In the late 1920s, Deadman's Island in the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles was dynamited and dredged away, and the resulting rubble was used to add 62 acres (0.097sqmi) to Terminal Island's southern tip.[7]:57
Terminal Island in the background, and Mormon Island in the foreground, sometime before 1942
In 1930, the Ford Motor Company built a facility called Long Beach Assembly, having moved earlier operations from Downtown Los Angeles. The factory remained until 1958 when manufacturing operations were moved inland to Pico Rivera.
In 1927, a civilian facility, Allen Field, was established on Terminal Island. The Naval Reserve established a training center at the field and later took complete control, designating the field Naval Air Base San Pedro (also called Reeves Field).[7]:60 In 1941, the Long Beach Naval Station was located adjacent to the airfield. In 1942, the Naval Reserve Training Facility was transferred, and a year later NAB San Pedro's status was downgraded to a Naval Air Station (NAS Terminal Island). Reeves Field as a Naval Air Station was disestablished in 1947, although the adjacent Long Beach Naval Station continued to use Reeves Field as an auxiliary airfield until the late 1990s.[8] A large industrial facility now covers the site of the former Naval Air Station.
Japanese American Fishing community
"Shinto Temple in Japanese Fishing Village Terminal Island" photographed late 1930s by the New DealFederal Writers' ProjectStreet scene on Terminal Island, the day after the Pearl Harbor Attack. The residents were "evacuated" to inland internment camps soon after and the village was demolished.
Starting in 1906, a thriving Japanese American fishing community became established on Terminal Island in an area known as East San Pedro or Fish Island.[9] Because of the island's relative geographical isolation, its inhabitants developed their own culture and even their own dialect. The dialect, known as "kii-shu ben" (or "Terminal Island lingo"), was a mix of English and the dialect of Kii Province, where many residents hailed from.[10] Prior to World War II, the island was home to about 3,500 first- and second-generation Japanese Americans.[11]
Like many Japanese immigrants, the initial settlers who came to America were Dekasegi, immigrants who intended to work short time in the U.S. and then return to Japan with their built-up coffers. Many of these immigrants first arrived in Santa Monica with the hopes of creating a community there, but after their town was burned to the ground in 1916, they found their home at Terminal Island.[12] Growing fishing interests in San Pedro's White Point and Terminal Island led many Japanese to become sought after due to their skill as fishermen, and connections to the canning industry. The first major sign of the community's forming came in the form of the Southern California Japanese Fishermen's Association (SCJFA), a political and social body. On January 26, 1918, their efforts were rewarded with a completed assembly hall for the community. The Hall's grand opening saw lots of local coverage, and even a sumo mound![12]
The community saw some major political activism at the time as well, particularly combatting anti-Japanese racism. One such example was the actions of Kihei Nasu (a bilingual intellectual) that was hired by the SCJFA to write a report refuting recent attempts by Senator James D. Phelan of California that the Japanese were driving out American fishermen.[12] According to Nasu, if the Japanese were cornering the market:
If the Japanese, who are only one-third of the fishermen, are driving out American fishermen, but do not only not drive out the other foreign fishermen but are actually outnumbered two to one by them? The statement of Senator Phelan seems so illogical that it should fall of its own weight.[12]
While the report was not delivered in person to Congress, it reveals the challenges the community faced and their persistence in fighting back.
The lands of Fish Harbor were owned by the City of Los Angeles, and leased out to the respective canning companies, who in turn, built workers housing. The workers’ houses were often small wooden abodes of the same make & model, that were very cramped/close-quartered.[12] The main thoroughfare was Tuna Street, which was where many local businesses were housed. The businesses themselves were so communally driven that they would look out for the interests of the community before seeking profit/competition. As noted above, fishing was integral to local ways of life, with the men being absent from family life for weeks or even months at a time. Women and young children often worked in the canneries, which was often grueling work, needing to be done as soon as the fishermen arrived with their catch.[12] For the children, schooling was the most important aspect of life, with the Kibei Nisei (roughly translating to returning Nisei)—who were sent away for education in Japan, returned with the most opportunities. Cultural infusions were becoming very popular, with the Skippers (the local baseball team) and Kendo (a martial art) being the most popular aspects of life for the youth.[12] Finally, interethnic relationships were quite strong among the Japanese and other ethnicities, particularly local white cannery owners. One such person, Wilbur F. Wood, was very often seen as very kind towards the Japanese Americans, especially realizing their strength as fishermen.[12] Tensions did brew however between local unions, but this was nothing new in American history.
On December 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii was attacked in a surprise air raid by the Japanese Navy, which affected the United States’ relationships with Japan and its citizens. As U.S.-Japanese relations frayed further in the late 1930s and early 1940s, nativist organizations raised new questions about the loyalty of Japanese Americans living in the country.[13] On February 19, 1942, two months after the attack, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. The order authorized the removal of all people deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to one of the ten relocation camps across the nation. Immediately after Executive Order 9066 was authorized, Japanese Americans of Terminal Island were among the first groups to be forcibly removed from their homes.[14] Japanese men were the first taken into custody. They were put on trains and could not see where they were being taken, because the blinds were drawn.[12] Residents were only given 48 hours to evacuate their homes and forced to leave everything they owned behind and relocate to the detention centers. Everyone was ordered to leave Terminal Island, even if they were not Japanese, because the United States military took control of the land.[14] Terminal Island was a fishing village, located next to a United States Navy facility, which ultimately resulted in the Japanese Americans becoming fishermen. As a result of their occupation and location, they were accused of being spies for the Japanese army through the use of depth meters and fishing equipment, prior to the attack. The Justice Department and the Office of Naval Intelligence claimed that the fishermen had the ability to contact enemy vessels with their boats, radios, and equipment.[15] The FBI raided the homes of the Japanese Americans and searched for contraband which included, radios, flashlights, cameras, and morse code telegraph machines.[12] Out of the ten relocation camps, Manzanar in the Owens Valley was where most Terminal Island residents were incarcerated.
In 1945, many of the Japanese Americans who were interned began getting released. They thought that they were going back to the homes and the community they had built, however, they were completely destroyed. It was the only community where the built environment had vanished almost completely. They were given $25 and a ticket home, but they returned to nothing and were forced to relocate.[16] The Navy was responsible for razing the homes and structures of the Japanese Americans of Terminal Island.
In 1971, twenty-three Japanese Americans who were former residents of Terminal Island established a new group called the Terminal Islanders.[12] It was established in an effort to preserve the essence of their beloved community. In 2002, a memorial was established on Terminal Island by surviving second generation citizens to honor their Issei parents and preserve the memory of their Furusato, which means hometown.[14] Terminal Island is now protected under a perseveration plan established by the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, so the struggle and history are not forgotten.
Bronze statues of Japanese fishermen, within the Terminal Island Memorial Monument
World War II and beyond
During World War II, Terminal Island was an important center for defense industries, especially shipbuilding; the first California Shipbuilding Corporationshipyard was established there in 1941.[18] It was also, therefore, one of the first places where African Americans tried to effect their integration into defense-related work on the West Coast.[19]
Also in the Port of Los Angeles (but not on the Island) was the Wilmington yard of Consolidated Steel.
In 1946, Howard Hughes moved his monstrous Spruce Goose airplane from his plant in Culver City to Terminal Island in preparation for its test flight. In its first and only flight, it took off from the island on November 2, 1947.[20]
Brotherhood Raceway Park, a 1⁄4 mile drag racing strip, opened in 1974 on former US Navy land. It operated, with many interruptions, until finally closing in 1995 to be replaced by a coal-handling facility.[21]
Preservation of vacant buildings earned the island a spot on the top 11 sites on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2012 Most Endangered Historic Places List.[22] In mid-2013, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a preservation plan.[23] The trust cited the site as one of ten historic sites saved in 2013.[23]
The west half of the island is part of the San Pedro area of the city of Los Angeles, while the rest is part of the city of Long Beach. The island has a land area of 11.56km2 (4.46 sq mi), or 2,854 acres (11.55km2), and had a population of 1,467 at the 2000 census. [citation needed]
The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, decommissioned in 1997, occupied roughly half of the island. Sea Launch maintains docking facilities on the mole that was part of the naval station.
Aerospace company SpaceX is initially leasing 12.4 acres (5.0ha) from the Port of Los Angeles on the island at Berth 240. They will refurbish five buildings and raise a tent-like structure for research, design, and manufacturing. SpaceX has been building and testing its planned Starship crewed space transportation system intended for suborbital, orbital and interplanetary flight in Texas. The new SpaceX rocket, too large to be transported for long distances overland, will be shipped to the company's launch area in Florida or Texas by sea, via the Panama Canal. The 19 acres (7.7ha) site was used for shipbuilding from 1918, and was formerly operated by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and then the Southwest Marine Shipyard. The location has been disused since 2005.[24][25][26]
The South Bay is a region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in the southwest corner of Los Angeles County. The name stems from its geographic location stretching along the southern shore of Santa Monica Bay. The South Bay contains sixteen cities plus portions of the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated portions of the county. The area is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the south and west and generally by the City of Los Angeles on the north and east.
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.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco-based shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Limited.
The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot-long (460 m) suspension bridge, crossing Los Angeles Harbor in Los Angeles, California, linking San Pedro with Terminal Island. It is the only suspension bridge in the Greater Los Angeles area. The bridge is part of State Route 47, which is also known as the Seaside Freeway. The bridge opened in 1963 and is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro, who championed its construction. Its chief engineer was William (Jim) Jurkovich who was instrumental in bringing pre-stress concrete bridge design to California. It was the first welded suspension bridge in the United States and is now the fourth-longest suspension bridge in California and the 76th-longest span in the world. The clear height of the navigation channel is approximately 185 feet (56 m); it is the only suspension bridge in the world supported entirely on piles.
The Port of Long Beach, administered as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies 3,200 acres (13 km2) of land with 25 miles (40 km) of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California. The Port of Long Beach is located less than two miles (3 km) southwest of Downtown Long Beach and approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Downtown Los Angeles. The seaport generates approximately US$100 billion per year in trade and employs more than 316,000 people in Southern California. In 2022, the port, together with the adjoining Port of Los Angeles, were considered amongst the world's least efficient ports by the World Bank and IHS Markit citing union protectionism and a lack of automation.
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.
State Route 47 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting Terminal Island to the mainland in the Los Angeles area. From its south end at I-110 in San Pedro, it heads east across the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the island and the end of state maintenance. The state highway begins again at the junction with I-710 on Terminal Island, crossing the Schuyler Heim Bridge north to the mainland and the second terminus, where SR 103 begins. Signage continues along a locally maintained route, mainly Alameda Street, to the Gardena Freeway in Compton, and an unconstructed alignment follows the same corridor to the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10) near downtown Los Angeles.
The Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge was a vertical-lift bridge in the Port of Los Angeles. Dedicated on January 10, 1948, the bridge allowed State Route 47 to cross over the Cerritos Channel. Named after Schuyler F. Heim, who was in command of the Naval Air Station on Terminal Island in 1942, the bridge was one of the largest vertical-lift bridges on the West Coast. At the time of its opening, it was the highest in the country with the deck weighing about 820 short tons. Its towers are 186 feet (57 m) tall above the roadway deck and about 236 feet (72 m) tall when measured from the water level at high water. The bridge was decommissioned on October 12, 2015 and replaced by a new, six-lane fixed-span bridge in order to meet current safety and earthquake standards. A replacement bridge, tentatively titled State Route 47 Schuyler Heim Bridge Replacement, was completed in September 2020.
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.
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.
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.
The Los Angeles Harbor Region, sometimes truncated to simply The Harbor, takes up a large portion of southern Los Angeles County, California. The area is impacted by the harbor complex consisting of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach.
Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division was a shipyard in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. Before applying its last corporate name, the shipyard had been called Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company and Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division. Under those three names, the San Pedro yard built at least 130 ships from 1917 to 1989.
California during World War II was a major contributor to the World War II effort. California's long Pacific Ocean coastline provided the support needed for the Pacific War. California also supported the war in Europe. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, most of California's manufacturing was shifted to the war effort. California became a major ship builder and aircraft manufacturer. Existing military installations were enlarged and many new ones were built. California trained many of the troops before their oversea deployment. Over 800,000 Californians served in the United States Armed Forces. California agriculture, ranches and farms were used to feed the troops around the world. California's long coastline also put the state in fear, as an attack on California seemed likely. California was used for the temporary and permanent internment camps for Japanese Americans. The population grew significantly, largely due to servicemen who were stationed at the new military bases/training facilities and the mass influx of workers from around the U.S. in the growing defense industries. With all the new economy activity, California was lifted out of the Great Depression. Over 500,000 people moved to California from other states to work in the growing economy. California expanded its oil and mineral production to keep up with the war demand.
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 II 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.
Craig Shipbuilding was a shipbuilding company in Long Beach, California. To support the World War I demand for ships Craig Shipbuilding shipyard switched over to military construction and built: US Navy Submarines and Cargo Ships. Craig Shipbuilding was started in 1906 by John F. Craig. John F. Craig had worked in Toledo, Ohio with his father, John Craig (1838-1934), and Blythe Craig, both shipbuilders, their first ship was built in 1864 at Craig Shipbuilding Toledo. John F. Craig opened his shipbuilding company in Port of Long Beach on the south side of Channel 3, the current location of Pier 41 in the inner harbor, becoming the port's first shipyard. In 1908 Craig Shipbuilding was given the contract to finishing dredging of the Port of Long Beach inner harbor and to dredge the channel connecting it to the Pacific Ocean. In 1917 Craig sold the shipyard to the short-lived California Shipbuilding Company. but then opened a new shipyard next to the one he just sold and called it the Long Beach Shipbuilding Company. The Long Beach Shipbuilding Company built cargo ships in 1918, 1919, and 1920 for the United States Shipping Board.
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.
Naval Base San Pedro and San Pedro Submarine Base were United States Navy bases at the Port of San Pedro, California officially founded in 1919. While commissioned in 1919, the Navy started operating out of the port in 1910, by renting dock space at the City of San Pedro's Dock No. 1 in 1914. The Navy had vessels stationed at the port starting in 1913. The San Pedro Submarine Base closed in 1923, with the end of World War I. Naval Base San Pedro became part of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island on 25 September 1941, which closed in 1947.
References
↑ "Map". Wilmington Neighborhood Council. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Knatz, Geraldine; Hirahara, Naomi (2015). Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor. Los Angeles, CA: Angel City Press. pp.150, 155–156, 164–165, 165, 171–174, 192–194, 209–212, 226–227, 255, 253, 271. ISBN978-1-62640-018-4.
↑ Griffith, Sarah M. (2018). The Fight For Asian American Civil Rights: Liberal Protestant Activism, 1900-1950. Champaign: University of Illinois Press. p.104.
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