San Pedro | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The historicHarbor View House | |
 Boundaries of San Pedro as drawn by theLos Angeles Times | |
  San Pedro Location within Southern Los Angeles | |
| Coordinates:33°44′N118°17′W / 33.74°N 118.29°W /33.74; -118.29 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| City | Los Angeles |
| Named after | Pope Peter I of Alexandria |
| Elevation | 112 ft (34 m) |
| Population (2022)[2] | |
• Total | 83,556 |
| Time zone | UTC−8 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | |
| Area code(s) | 310/424 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1661392 |
San Pedro (/sænˈpiːdroʊ/sanPEE-droh;[4][5][6][7]Spanish for 'Saint Peter') is a neighborhood located within theSouth Bay andHarbor region of the city ofLos Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. ThePort 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 aworking-class community within the city of Los Angeles, to an increasingly dense and diverse community.
The peninsula, including all of San Pedro, was the homeland of theTongva for thousands of years, home to the village ofChowigna along and the nearbySuangna. In other areas of theLos Angeles Basin archeological sites date back to at least about 10,000 years old.[8][9] The Tongva used seafaring plank canoes orte'aats, found all throughout the coastline, to travel to and from the Channel Islands and along the coastline. The boats are still constructed by the Tongva today and retain a cultural significance.[10][11]
First contact with Europeans occurred in 1542 withJuan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer who noted the extensive presence of the plank boats of the neighboringChumash.[12]
San Pedro was named forSt. Peter of Alexandria, as his feast day is November 24 on theecclesiastical calendar of Spain, the day on whichJuan Rodríguez Cabrillo first encountered the San Pedro Bay in 1542.[7]Santa Catalina Island, named afterCatherine of Alexandria, was claimed for theSpanish Empire the next day, on her feast day, November 25. In 1602–1603,Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548–1624) officially surveyed and mapped the California coastline, including San Pedro Bay, forNew Spain. The anglicized pronunciation is "san-PEE-dro".[6]
European settlement began in 1769 as part of an effort to populate California, although trade restrictions encouraged more smuggling than regular business. In 1784, theSpanish Crown deededRancho San Pedro, a tract of over 75,000 acres (300 km2), to retired soldier Juan José Domínguez, who helped explore California with thePortolá expedition in 1769–1770. Rancho San Pedro was the firstland grant in theAlta California portion of the Province ofLas Californias inNew Spain.
When New Spain won its independence from theSpanish Empire and Alta California became part of Mexico, the trade restrictions were lifted, and the town flourished.
Under United States control after 1848, when the United States defeated Mexico in theMexican–American War, the harbor was greatly improved and expanded under the guidance ofPhineas Banning andJohn Gately Downey, the seventh governor of California after theFree Harbor Fight. In 1868 Banning created theLos Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Southern California's first railroad and used it to transport goods fromSan Pedro Bay toLos Angeles, which soon became a major city in Southern California.[13]
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San Pedro was a township in the 1860 census. The township consisted of the present-daySouth Bay communities,Compton and westernLong Beach.[14] Census records report a population of 359 in 1860. The township was renamed Wilmington Township for 1870.[15]
In 1906, the city of Los Angeles annexed theHarbor Gateway, a long, narrow strip of land connecting the city to the northern border ofWilmington, and in 1909, the larger city consolidated with Wilmington and with San Pedro.[16]
In 1929, the city experienced theSunken City Disaster, where an earthquake caused multiple homes to slide off a cliff into the sea.[17]
In 1888, theWar Department took control of a tract of land next to the bay and added to it in 1897 and 1910. This becameFort MacArthur in 1914 and was a coastal defense site for many years.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.San Diego Bay was considered too shallow for the largest ships, so thebattleships anchored in San Pedro Bay on August 9, 1919. Local availability of fuel oil minimized transportation costs, and consistently good weather allowed frequent gunnery exercises off the nearbyChannel Islands of California. The heavycruisers of theScouting Force were transferred from the Atlantic to San Pedro in response to the 1931Japanese invasion of Manchuria. By 1934, 14 battleships, twoaircraft carriers, 14 cruisers, and 16 support ships were based at San Pedro. On April 1, 1940, thePacific Fleet battleships sailed to Hawaii for annual fleet exercises. The battleships remained in theHawaiian Islands to deter Japanese aggression until theattack on Pearl Harbor. Thefleet post office, supply depot, fuel depot,degaussing range,ECM repair facility, and naval training schools for small craft, fire fighters, merchant ship communications, and anti-submarine attack remained at San Pedro through World War II;[18] but the battle fleet never returned.[19]
San Pedro was selected as the final home port of the battleshipUSS Iowa (BB-61). TheIowa now serves as a museum ship and memorial recognizing "the positive contributions of this battleship and its crew at critical moments in American history".[20]
Additionally, theUnited States Maritime Commission commissioned private San Pedro and Long Beach shipbuilders such as theCalship to buildattack transports, Liberty ships, and Victory ships during World War II under theEmergency Shipbuilding Program, including theSS Lane Victory, now a designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark museum ship in San Pedro.[21]
The neighborhood is bordered to the north by the fellow Los Angeles City neighborhood ofHarbor City and the city ofTorrance, to the east by the Los Angeles City neighborhood ofWilmington and the city ofLong Beach, to the south by thePacific Ocean, and to the west byRancho Palos Verdes and the city ofLomita.[22][23][24]
| Climate data for San Pedro, Los Angeles | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 67 (19) | 68 (20) | 68 (20) | 71 (22) | 73 (23) | 76 (24) | 81 (27) | 82 (28) | 80 (27) | 77 (25) | 72 (22) | 67 (19) | 73 (23) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 46 (8) | 48 (9) | 50 (10) | 52 (11) | 56 (13) | 59 (15) | 62 (17) | 63 (17) | 62 (17) | 57 (14) | 50 (10) | 46 (8) | 54 (12) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 3.31 (84) | 3.12 (79) | 2.69 (68) | 0.70 (18) | 0.27 (6.9) | 0.08 (2.0) | 0.03 (0.76) | 0.13 (3.3) | 0.25 (6.4) | 0.43 (11) | 1.17 (30) | 1.85 (47) | 14.02 (356) |
| Source:[25] | |||||||||||||
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San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island are the locations of thePort of Los Angeles. TheVincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot-long (457 m)suspension bridge linking San Pedro withTerminal Island and named afterCalifornia AssemblymanVincent Thomas. (It is the fourth longest suspension bridge in California.) Nearby is theBattleshipIowa museum and attraction, theLos Angeles Maritime Museum (the largestmaritime museum in California), and themuseum shipSSLane Victory (a fully operationalVictory ship of World War II andNational Historic Landmark).Ports O' Call Village, a tourist destination, which provided shopping venues, waterfront eateries, was demolished in 2019 to make way forWest Harbor, a majorwaterfrontfood hall and park under development, slated to open in 2024.[26][27][28]
Warehouse 1, the largest warehouse west of Chicago at the time it was built in 1917, is now a California State Historical Landmark, while a historic naval warehouse built in 1944 housesCrafted at the Port of Los Angeles, a permanent craft marketplace.[29]
TheFrank Gehry–designedCabrillo Marine Aquarium had its origins in the old Cabrillo Beach Marine Museum which was located in the historic Bath House atCabrillo Beach. ThePoint Fermin Light, a Victorian-era structure built in the late 19th century, is a museum and park on a bluff overlooking the ocean. TheKorean Bell of Friendship is a massive bronze memorialbell donated bySouth Korea in 1976 to the people of Los Angeles. The church ofMary 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, is a steep section of public roadway. For about 50 feet (15 m), the street climbs at a 33.3% angle, although the rest of the street is less steep.[30]
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Ethnically diverse San Pedro was a magnet for European immigrants from various countries for years, reflected in the number of restaurants representing diverse cuisines, especiallyCroatian,Portuguese,Mexican,Italian,Norwegian,Irish andGreek. San Pedro is home to the largest Italian-American community in Southern California, centered on the "Via Italia" (South Cabrillo Avenue). San Pedro is also considered the heart of theCroatian andNorwegian communities in Los Angeles. The Croatian community, originally composed of seafarers and fishermen from theDalmatia (especially the islands ofBrač,Hvar,Vis andKorčula) region, has been present in San Pedro since the settlement began more than 200 years ago. The City of Los Angeles even named a stretch of 9th Street "Croatian Place" in honor of the city's old Croatian community. The Norwegian presence can be felt at theNorwegian Seamen's Church. San Pedro's Norwegian community is concentrated along a stretch of West 6th Street between South Gaffey Street and South Pacific Avenue (also known as "Little Norway") and also along South Beacon Street.
Until February 1942, San Pedro was home to a vibrantJapanese immigrant community of about 3,000 people who lived in what had been described as a "typical Japanese Fishing Village" onTerminal Island (East San Pedro).[31] These Japanese immigrants pioneered albacore fishing out of San Pedro Bay and harvesting abalone off White Point,[32] thus leading the way in establishing a viable fishing industry in San Pedro. The 48-hour forced expulsion of these San Pedro residents and the razing of their homes and shops, as part of theJapanese-American internment during World War II, is described inJeanne Wakatsuki Houston's memoirFarewell to Manzanar.
A total of 80,065 people lived in San Pedro's 12.06 square miles, according to the 2000 U.S. census—averaging 6,640 people per square mile, near Los Angeles' total population density. The median age was 34 in the San Pedro neighborhood, considered average for Los Angeles.[33]
San Pedro is considered highly diverse ethnically, with adiversity index of 63.0.[34] In 2000,whites made up 44.2% of the population,Latinos were at 40.8%,blacks at 6.1%,Asians at 4.8% and others at 4.1%. Mexico and Italy were the most common places of birth for the 24.5% of the residents who were born abroad, considered a low percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city as a whole.[33]
The $57,508 median household income in 2008 dollars was average for the city and county. Renters occupied 56.1% of the housing units, and homeowners occupied the rest. In 2000 there were 3,394 families headed by single parents, or 17.5%, a rate that was average for the county and the city.In the same year there were 6,559 military veterans, or 11% of the population, considered high when compared to the city and county as a whole.[33]
San Pedro serves as the southern terminus ofInterstate 110, beginning at Gaffey Street heading 20 miles north to Downtown Los Angeles and beyond to Pasadena via the Arroyo Seco Parkway.California State Route 47 heads east from San Pedro across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, connecting San Pedro to Terminal Island, Wilmington, Long Beach, and beyond.
TheLA Metro Bus 205 line travel North from 6th and Harbor up to Willowbrook,[35] theLADOT DASH San Pedro line travels up and down Western, and the LADOTCommuter Express travels west to Downtown Long Beach.
Downtown San Pedro  | |||||||||||
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Line 950 of theLos Angeles Metro Busway'sJ Line terminates in downtown San Pedro. The line runs north toDowntown Los Angeles following theHarbor Freeway (I-110) andHarbor Transitway before following theEl Monte Busway along theSan Bernardino Freeway (I-10) east to its northeastern terminus inEl Monte.
Heading south fromHarbor Beacon Park & Ride along Beacon Street, the line turns west along First Street, then south along Pacific Avenue down to its southern terminus at 21st Street. Heading back north, the line turns west on 22nd Street, north on Gaffey Street, and finally east onto 19th Street before once again meeting Pacific Avenue and turning north.
Downtown San Pedro stops include:
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The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport located in San Pedro Bay and together with the neighboring Port of Long Beach, is promoted as "America's Port" and consistently ranked as the top one and two busiest ports in the Western Hemisphere. The port has 25 cargo terminals, 82 container cranes, 8 container terminals, and 113 miles (182 km) of on-dock rail within 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) of land and water with 43 miles (69 km) of waterfront. The port's top three trading partners were China (including Hong Kong), Japan, and Vietnam.[36][37]
The World Cruise Center offers cruises up and down the Pacific Coast and beyond aboard cruise lines such asRoyal Caribbean andCrystal Cruises, as well as a ferry to Catalina Island via theCatalina Express.[36][38]
San Pedro anchors the southern end ofLos Angeles City Council District 15, which has long been represented only by residents of San Pedro. The neighborhood, according to theLos Angeles Times, "despite accounting for less than one-third of the district's population has enjoyed outsize influence as the district's traditional base of political power."[39]
TheUnited States Postal Service operates the San Pedro Post Office at 839 South Beacon Street and the Eastview Post Office at 28649 South Western Avenue.[40][41] The USPS also operates the Seafarers Post Office at Suite A at 93 Berth in close proximity to the San Pedro Post Office.[42]
Fort MacArthur, now a sub-base ofLos Angeles Air Force Base, serves as privatized housing and an administrative annex forDepartment of Defense service members and dependents under the management of Tierra Vista Communities.
TheUnited States Coast Guard'sSector Los Angeles-Long Beach is based at Coast Guard Base LA/LB onTerminal Island in San Pedro. Base LA/LB is home to many tenant commands includingAids to Navigation Team LA/LB,Maritime Safety and Security Team 91103,Port Security Unit 311,CGIS Pacific Region DET, CG Motion Picture Office, 4Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters, theUSCGC Argus Offshore Patrol Cutter,USCGC George Cobb Coastal Buoy Tender, CG Boat Station LA/LB, as well as supporting marine units ofU.S. Customs and Border Protection,Los Angeles County Lifeguards, andLA Sheriffs.[43]
TheFederal Bureau of Prisons operates theFederal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island onTerminal Island and in San Pedro.[44]
Just 23.8% of San Pedro residents aged 25 or older had completed a four-year degree in 2000, about average when compared with the city and the county at large, and the percentage of those residents with more than a high school diploma was high for the county.[33]
San Pedro is served by theLos Angeles Unified School District. The area is within Board District 7.[45] As of 2023, Tanya Ortiz Franklin represents the district.[46]
San Pedro High School,Mary Star of the Sea High School, and thePort of Los Angeles High School are the primary high schools within the region. 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 celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2003. It is home to both the Marine Science and Police Academy Magnet programs. Port of Los Angeles High School is a public charter high school, fusing a college preparatory program with elective coursework in International Business and Maritime Studies. Such studies reinforce the significant impact of California's ports on the global economy and international trade.
As of 2012, test scores tended to be higher in the area's elementary schools than in its middle and high schools.[47]
Under certain specific circumstances, residents of San Pedro may be admitted into schools in thePalos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District located in the neighboringPalos Verdes Peninsula;[48] specifically they may attend Miraleste Intermediate School andPalos Verdes High School. This admittance is only granted if a student's parent or guardian is enlisted in theUS military, has a parent or guardian employed within the Palos Verdes Peninsula, has a grandparent residing within the Palos 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:
TheLos Angeles Public Library operates the San Pedro Regional Branch Library at 931 South Gaffey Street. The late Los Angeles MayorTom Bradley attended its opening in 1983.[77]
San Pedro News-Pilot, a newspaper, closed in 1998.[78]
San Pedro was declared 2017 Neighborhood of the year by Curbed Los Angeles.[79]
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Places adjacent to San Pedro, Los Angeles | ||||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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| Preceding station |  Metro Busway | Following station | ||
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| Terminus | J Line | Harbor Beacon Park & Ride towardHarbor Gateway orSan Pedro | ||
