San Pedro

San Pedro is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The district has grown from being dominated by the fishing industry, to a working-class community within the city. The peninsula, including all of San Pedro, was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieleño Native American people for thousands of years. The Tongva believe they have been here since the beginning of time. San Pedro was named for St. Peter of Alexandria, as his feast day is November 24 on the ecclesiastical calendar of Spain, the day on which Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo discovered the San Pedro Bay in 1542. In 1602-1603, Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548-1624) officially surveyed and mapped the California coastline. In 1784, the Spanish Crown deeded Rancho San Pedro to retired soldier Juan José Domínguez, who helped explore California with the Portolá expedition in 1769-1770. In 1868 Banning created the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Southern California's first railroad and used it to transport goods to Los Angeles. In 1929, the city experienced the Sunken City Disaster, where an earthquake caused multiple homes to slide off a cliff into the sea. By 1934, 14 battleships, two aircraft carriers, and 16 cruisers were based at San Pedro. The U.S. Navy Battle Fleet home port was San Pedro in 1919-1940.

History

The peninsula, including all of San Pedro, was the homeland of the Tongva-Gabrieleño Native American people for thousands of years. The Tongva believe they have been here since the beginning of time. Their first contact with Europeans was in 1542 with Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer who also was the first to write of them. San Pedro Bay was used by Spanish ships starting in the 1540s. The harbor was greatly improved and expanded under the guidance of Phineas Banning and John Gately Downey, the seventh governor of California after the Free Harbor Fight. Woodrow Wilson transferred 200 United States Navy ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1919 when tension arose between the United States and Japan over the fate of China. The battleships remained in the Hawaiian Islands to deter aggression until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. On April 1, 1940, the Pacific Fleet ships sailed to Hawaii, but San Pedro remained as the battle port through World War II; the fleet was never selected as the location for the battle of Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy Battle Fleet home port was selected for the Battle of Hawaii in 1941, but the fleet never returned to San Pedro because of the threat of Japanese attack. The city experienced the Sunken City Disaster, where an earthquake caused multiple homes to slide off a cliff into the sea. In 1868 Banning created the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Southern California's first railroad and used it to transport goods from San Pedro to Los Angeles.

Geography and climate

The neighborhood fronts on the Pacific Ocean to the south and is bounded inland by Harbor City and Torrance on the north, Wilmington and Long Beach on the east and Rancho Palos Verdes and Lomita on the west. The neighborhood is located in the central part of Los Angeles County, California. It is located on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The area is known for its redwood trees, which can be found in the neighborhood. The community is also known for being a hotbed of illegal activity. The city has a high percentage of people who live in or near the ocean, which is a major source of income for the area. It also has one of the highest temperatures in the city, with an average of 98.5 degrees Fahrenheit (32.7 degrees Celsius) in the summer. The region is home to a large percentage of the city's homeless people, who are mostly African-American and Latino. The town has a reputation for being active in the arts and culture scene, with many galleries, restaurants and theaters. It has also been known to host a number of high-profile events, such as the L.A. Marathon and the San Francisco Giants football game in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was named after a former mayor of the town, who was a prominent member of the area's community. In the 1990s and 2000s, the neighborhood was the site of several high-tech companies, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Port of Los Angeles

San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island are the locations of the Port of Los Angeles. The Port is one of the largest ports in the United States. It is home to the U.S. Navy's second-busiest port, after New York's Port of LaGuardia. The port is also home to a number of international airports, including LAX, LAX and LAX-Inland, and the San Francisco-Oakland airport. It was founded in 1881 and is the largest port in the world by passenger numbers. It also has the world's largest container terminal, with a capacity of more than 1.5 million. It opened in 1883 and has been in operation since 1883. It has been the site of the World Trade Center since 1954. It's also the largest employer in the Los Angeles area, employing more than 100,000 people. The city has a population of 1.2 million, with the majority of its residents living in and around the port area. In 2010, the Port had the highest number of foreign-born workers in the country, with more than 80,000 in the city alone. It had the largest number of non-immigrant workers, with about 1.3 million people. It employs about 2,000 foreign workers, most of whom live in or near the Port. The town of Wilmington, California, is the location of the port's largest port, with 1.4 million people living in or around the city.

Locations of interest

The Vincent Thomas Bridge, a 1,500-foot (457 m)-long suspension bridge linking San Pedro with Terminal Island, is the fourth longest suspension bridge in California. Nearby is the Battleship Iowa museum and attraction, the Los Angeles Maritime Museum (the largest maritime museum in California), and the museum ship SS Lane Victory. Ports O' Call Village, a tourist destination, which provided shopping venues, waterfront eateries, was demolished in 2019 to make way for West Harbor, a major waterfront food hall and park under development, slated to open in 2021. A historic naval warehouse built in 1944 houses Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles, a permanent craft marketplace. The Point Fermin Light, a Victorian-era structure built in the late 19th century, is a museum and park on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The Korean Bell of Friendship is a massive bronze memorial bell donated by South Korea in 1976 to the people of LA. The church of Mary Star of the Sea is a prominent landmark with a steeple-top statue overlooking the harbor. On 28th Street, between Gaffey Street and Peck Avenue, the street climbs at a 33.3% angle, although the rest of the street is less steep. On July 19, 2003, the San Pedro Waterfront Red Car Line was opened, along the waterfront between downtown San Pedro and the Cruise Ship Terminal. The line includes two trolleys built to resemble the wood-bodied 500 class cars introduced in 1905 for the Pacific Electric Railway, which once operated more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of track running streetcars and interurbans.

Demographics

A total of 80,065 people lived in San Pedro's 12.06 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census. In 2000, whites made up 44.2% of the population, Latinos were at 40.8%, blacks at 6.1%, Asians at 4.8%. Mexico and Italy were the most common places of birth for the 24.5% of residents who were born abroad. The $57,508 median household income in 2008 dollars was average for the city and county. The median age was 34 in the San Pedro neighborhood, considered average for Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles even named a stretch of 9th Street "Croatian Place" in honor of the city's old Croatian community. Until February 1942, San Pedro was home to a vibrant Japanese immigrant community of about 3,000 people. These Japanese immigrants pioneered albacore fishing out of San Pedro Bay and harvesting abalone off White Point. The 48-hour forced expulsion of these San Pedro residents and the razing of their homes and shops, as part of the Japanese-American internment during World War II, is described in Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's memoir Farewell to Manzanar. The Croatian community, originally composed of seafarers and fishermen from the Dalmatia (especially the islands of Bra, Hvar, Vis and Korula) region, has been present in SanPedro since the settlement began more than 200 years ago. The Norwegian presence can be felt at the Norwegian Seamen's Church.

Government and infrastructure

San Pedro anchors the southern end of Los Angeles City Council District 15. The United States Postal Service operates the San Pedro Post Office and the Eastview Post Office. The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island on Terminal Island and in San Pedro. The USPS also operates the Seafarers Post Office at Suite A at 93 Berth in close proximity to the SanPedro Post Office, 839 South Beacon Street and 28649 South Western Avenue. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the Los Angeles Army National Guard Base at San Pedro and Terminal Island. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department operates the Santa Monica Sheriff's Station at 839 S. Beacon Street. The Los Angeles Police Department has a substation at the corner of South Western and San Pedro avenues. The Santa Monica Police Department also has a station at the intersection of Southwestern and Santa Monica Boulevard. The San Pedro Police Department is based at the Santa Cruz Police Station at 705 S. Santa Cruz Avenue and has a post office at 706 S. San Pedro Avenue and a substations at 707 South Santa Cruz and 705 South Santa Pedro. The LAPD's Los Angeles Station is located at 605 South Santa Pedra  Avenue and is at the base of San Pedro Hill. The station is also at the top of the hill, at the end of San Pedrian Street. The neighborhood has long been represented only by San Pedro residents. The district's population is less than one-third of the district's size.

Education

Just 23.8% of San Pedro residents aged 25 or older had completed a four-year degree in 2000. San Pedro High School is home to the protected landmarks in the form of The English Language Arts and Administration Buildings (c. 1939, 1936, resp.) The school recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2003. As of 2012, test scores tended to be higher in the area's elementary schools than in its middle and high schools. The Los Angeles Public Library operates the San Pedro Regional Branch Library at 931 South Gaffey. The library was opened in 1983 in the presence of the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. The school district is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Residents of the Palos Verdes Peninsula may be admitted into schools in the neighboring PalosVerdes Peninsula. This admittance is only granted if a student's parent is enlisted in the US military, has a parent or guardian employed within the Palo Verdes peninsula, or if the student simply lives in a closer vicinity to a PVPUSD school than any other LAUSD schools. Private schools in San Pedro include:Holy Trinity School, Mary Star of the Sea Elementary School, andRolling Hills Estates Preparatory School. The area is within Board District 7, and Dr. Richard Vladovic represents the district. The current location opened on February 6, 2007, and is located in the Rolling Hills Estate neighborhood. The San Pedro Elementary School is located on the east side of the city.

Events

Annual "Shakespeare by the Sea, Los Angeles" Festival, held at Point Fermin Park each summer. Festival is one of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. Festival runs from June to August. Festival was started in 1854. It is the oldest Shakespeare festival in the U.S. and has been running since 1855. It was founded by William Shakespeare, who was inspired by his hometown of L.A. to start the festival. The festival was first held in 1855 and continues to this day. It has been held every summer since then, with the exception of two years in the 1980s. The Festival is held in the same place as the original Shakespeare Festival, Point Fermini Park, in Los Angeles' Marina Del Rey neighborhood. It runs from July to August each year, and is free to the public. It also has its own Shakespeare Theatre, which is open to the general public.