500 Varas Square – Government Reserve (Fort MacArthur) (Battery Osgood-Farley) | |
 Battery Farley, with theKorean Bell of Friendship in the background | |
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| Nearest city | San Pedro, Los Angeles, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°42′43″N118°17′46″W / 33.71194°N 118.29611°W /33.71194; -118.29611 |
| Built | 1914 |
| Architect | US Army, Quartermaster General |
| Architectural style | Bungalow/Craftsman,Mission/Spanish Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 86000326[1] |
| LAHCM No. | 515 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 12, 1986 |
| Designated LAHCM | January 22, 1991 |
Fort MacArthur is a formerUnited States Army installation inSan Pedro, Los Angeles, California (now theport community ofLos Angeles). A small section remains in military use by theUnited States Air Force as a housing and administrative annex ofLos Angeles Air Force Base. The fort is named afterLieutenant General Arthur MacArthur. His son,Douglas MacArthur, would later command American forces in the Pacific duringWorld War II.
In 1888, PresidentGrover Cleveland designated an area overlookingSan Pedro Bay as an unnamed military reservation intended toimprove thedefenses of the expanding Los Angeles harbor area. Additional land was purchased in 1897 and 1910, and Fort MacArthur was formally created on October 31, 1914. The fort was a training center duringWorld War I, and the first large gunbatteries for harbor defense were installed in 1917. The effectiveness of these fixed gun emplacements was debated for many years, and test firings were extremely unpopular with nearby residents, the concussion shattering windows in buildings and houses for miles around.
InWorld War II, Fort MacArthur had a Harbor Entrance Command Post and a Harbor Defense Command Post forUS seacoast defense of shipbuilding factories (e.g.,CalShip,Todd Pacific), "giant aircraft factories"[2] (Douglas,Hughes,Martin,Northrop), theHuntington Beach Oil Field, and theSan Pedro Bay harbor (Port of Los Angeles &Port of Long Beach) which made theLos Angeles metropolitan area atarget for attack.
By the end of World War II the large guns were already being removed, with the last decommissioned in 1948.Battery Osgood-Farley is probably the best preserved example of a United Statescoastal defense gun emplacement, and it was placed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1976. A second site,Battery John Barlow and Saxton, was added to the Register in 1982.
During the early years of theCold War, Fort MacArthur became a key part of theWest Coast'santi-aircraft defenses, becoming the home base of the47th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. ANikesurface-to-air missile battery was activated at the fort in 1954, remaining in service until the early 1970s.
The Fort MacArthur Direction Center (DC) was the U.S.Army Air Defense Command Post (AADCP) for theProject Nike batteries of theLos Angeles Defense Area. It was located at Fort MacArthur from 1960.
The Direction Center provided radar coverage for integrating the area's Integrated Fire Control (IFC) sites (16 sites forMIM-14 Nike-Hercules missiles until 1968).[3][4] The DC had High Frequency Crosstell communication with the 1959–1966Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Master Direction Center atNorton Air Force Base (DC-17) for coordinating Army intercepts of targets penetrating through the larger USAFLos Angeles Air Defense Sector defended by fighter aircraft.
During theKorean War, the fort's L-43Lashup Radar Network site provided radar surveillance for the area from 1950 to 1952.[5] The669th Radar Squadron was assigned to the fort on January 1, 1951.[6] On February 16, 1960, Lt Col James L McCallister was the Missile Director for the defense area.[7]
TheFort MacArthur Direction Center (DC) began in 1960 with anAN/FSG-1 computer that was the last of 10 installed and which replaced anInterim Battery Data Link (IBDL). The Army dedicated the DC'sMissile Master bunker with an Antiaircraft Operations Center ("Blue Room") on December 14, 1960, prior to the USAF/FAAARSR-1C radar opening in 1961 atSan Pedro Hill Air Force Station.[8][9][5] Fort MacArthur's 47th Artillery Brigade operated the DC,[10] and the vacuum tube AN/FSG-1 was replaced on January 31, 1967, with a solid-stateHughes AN/TSQ-51 Air Defense Command and Coordination System.[11]
On November 15, 1968, the 19th Artillery Group (Air Defense) replaced the 47th Artillery Brigade in command of the DC and its batteries.[12] The 19th Group deactivated July 1, 1974, afterProject Concise ended Nike operations.[13] The tennis courts next to the bunker remain at the former site of the AADCP's building 554,[14] and the Missile Master nuclear bunker (building 550) was razedc. 1985.[15]
In 1975 Fort MacArthur became a sub-post ofFort Ord, and the Army transferred ownership of the fort's Upper and Lower Reservations to the City of Los Angeles two years later. The Lower Reservation was cleared off and dredged and is now the city's Cabrillo Marina.
Fort MacArthur's remaining Middle Reservation was transferred to theUnited States Air Force in 1982 for use byLos Angeles Air Force Base for administration and housing.[16]
The Upper Reservation is now a city park: San Pedro's Angels Gate Park, home of theKorean Bell of Friendship.
The Fort MacArthur Military Museum, located at the site of Battery Osgood-Farley, displays exhibits on the history of Fort MacArthur, its role in defending the Los Angeles area, thePacific War (Pacific Ocean Areas and theSouth West Pacific Area under MacArthur), and the role of Los Angeles as a military port.
TheBattle of Los Angeles and Fort MacArthur Museum are featured inCalifornia's Gold episode 6005 withHuell Howser.[17] It is referenced in the 2001 movieSwordfish.
It has been used forlocation shooting in such television series as24,The A-Team,The Bionic Woman,JAG, andNCIS. Also in films includingA Few Good Men (doubling as Guantanmo Bay barracks),Dragnet,Midway andTora! Tora! Tora!.
NCIS: Origins is filmed on a 1990s era recreated set of Camp Pendleton, built at Fort MacArthur.[18]
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