San Pedro – The Small Sleepy Town That Happens to be Home to the Port of LA
Usually when someone from another state asks where I live I usually just say Los Angeles. Not because its cooler to say but because most people do not know where San Pedro is in reference to Southern California, not even a lot of Angelinos can tell you where it is, to be honest. Since San Pedro is the home to LA Fleet Week that ascends on San Pedro over the Labor Day weekend, I thought I would introduce you to the city I call home for the time being. The port city of San Pedro seems to come alive with sailors (dressed in their white bellbottom trousers and matching white hat) along with locals, walking the streets, hanging out in dive bars and attending the port side festivities that center around the USS Iowa, all with displays of military equipment, live entertainment and even daily aircraft flyovers.
My husband and I first met and lived for almost 10 years in the nearby city of Redondo Beach, after moving to San Pedro in 2106 we didn’t really have much knowledge of this little sleepy port town outside of it being the home to the now permanent floating museum of the USS Iowa. So LA Fleet Week was a surprise for us, along with the sporadic and seemingly unscheduled live fireworks shows we first witnessed while sitting at home watching a movie only to be inundated with what sounded like bombs going off over in the port (I swear we are rationally minded people). With this being our second year of LA Fleet Week, we were actually able to plan for and attend some of the festivities the city has to offer over the extended holiday weekend.
I am most intrigued by the beautiful sailboats that gather within the marina to be part of this celebration of our nation’s Sea Services. Sometimes there is even a Pirate Ship recreation that anchors in the marina and is always a fun sight to see as I’m driving to and from home since my apartment is just a block away from the water. San Pedro is a Union town, made up mostly of dock-workers and their families, the surprising thing for my husband and I is the Italian and Croatian population and history that is deeply rooted in this town (especially since I have Italian ancestry and my husband is pretty much 100% Croatian). There is a butcher shop just a couple of blocks away that serves as a step back in time to when this city was mostly populated by immigrants and the fresh meats along with the attached grocery store have some of my families favorites that bring back some great childhood memories for me and some surprising delicacies that my husband has never heard of before.
I wanted to take a moment and reflect on our brief time in this diverse and changing city because there is a chance we will not be living here for much longer. To share my experience and maybe encourage someone who has never been here to maybe take a chance on this almost vintage slice of LA. You might want to make that trip sooner than later though, I’m afraid. They are in the process of rebuilding the long standing and run down Ports O’ Call village down by the waterfront and as we speak there is another high-end high-rise apartment complex going in just next door to the one I currently reside in. This town I feel, will not be so sleepy in the future and may fall victim to over development and the corporate take-over that has drastically changed nearby downtown Long Beach and the popular waterfront Pike area. Maybe take a chance on a town that is on the precipice of moving into the modern age and catch it before it loses some of its vintage and immigrant history and charm.
