San Pedro and Port of Los Angeles History

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you live in San Pedro or Wilmington, or you are looking at a home near the harbor, this page tells you how the Port of Los Angeles grew from the bay Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo recorded on October 8, 1542, and where to see the lighthouses, fort, ships and memorials that remain.

The story runs from Phineas Banning to the Battleship IOWA, including Terminal Island’s Japanese American village and its removal in 1942. Where sources differ, every version is listed near the end.

How did the harbor begin?

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo recorded the natural harbor at the northwest end of San Pedro Bay on October 8, 1542, and named it Bahia de Los Fumas, the Bay of Smokes, according to the Port of Los Angeles. The Lelia Byrd was the first American trading ship to call at San Pedro, in 1805, the Port says.

Phineas Banning, whom the Port calls the Father of Los Angeles Harbor, acquired land from Manuel Dominguez in 1858 to build a harbor. The settlement was called New San Pedro until 1863, when it became Wilmington, after his Delaware hometown. The Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad, which the Port calls Southern California’s first railroad, was completed in 1869, and in 1871 Congress funded a rock jetty while Banning dredged the channel to Wilmington to 10 feet. The Dominguez rancho is on our Torrance, Lomita, Gardena and Carson history page.

How did San Pedro become the city’s port?

The fight over where Los Angeles would build its deepwater harbor ended in 1897, when Congress declared San Pedro Bay the city’s official port. The Port credits Senator Stephen M. White, called the Savior of the Bay, with the legislation and with keeping the federal breakwater in San Pedro instead of Santa Monica. The City of Redondo Beach dates Redondo’s decline as a shipping port to 1899, as San Pedro Harbor took shape; see our Redondo Beach history page.

The City of Los Angeles created the Board of Harbor Commissioners on December 9, 1907, the date the Port treats as its founding, and annexed San Pedro and Wilmington on August 28, 1909. By 1912 the main channel was dredged and major sections of the breakwater were complete, so larger ships could come in. Municipal Warehouse No. 1, which the Port says was its only bonded warehouse, followed in 1917 in response to the opening of the Panama Canal.

When were the harbor’s lighthouses built?

Banning petitioned for Point Fermin Lighthouse, San Pedro’s first, which was built in 1874 and guided ships away from the cliffs for nearly 100 years, the Port’s LA Waterfront site says. The Stick Style Victorian building was listed on the National Register in 1972 and restored in 2002. Angels Gate Lighthouse, which the Port calls the only lighthouse on the West Coast that shows a green light, has marked the harbor entrance at the end of the breakwater since 1913. Its rotating light was automated in 1973, and it was listed on the National Register in 1980 as the Los Angeles Harbor Light Station.

What was Fort MacArthur?

Fort MacArthur was a U.S. Army post that guarded Los Angeles Harbor from 1914 to 1974. The Fort MacArthur Museum, established in 1985, is inside Battery Osgood-Farley, a coastal gun battery listed on the National Register in 1974. Part of the old fort still houses military families for Los Angeles Air Force Base, covered on our aviation and aerospace history page.

What happened to the Japanese American village on Terminal Island?

The first Japanese settlers in the San Pedro Bay area were abalone and lobster fishermen at White Point in 1899, and by 1910 the community had moved to East San Pedro, on the western end of Terminal Island, and turned to sardines and tuna, according to the Densho Encyclopedia. About 3,000 people lived in the village in the 1930s, most with roots in Wakayama Prefecture, and nearly all worked in fishing or for canneries such as Van Camp Seafood.

FBI agents began arresting Issei leaders and fishermen on December 7, 1941. On February 25, 1942, Navy notices gave every Japanese American 48 hours to leave the island, Densho says. Residents were forced into temporary quarters, many Issei men were already in custody, and families were offered Manzanar, the first camp ready, starting April 1, 1942. The Navy razed the village.

In 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 for Terminal Island tuna fisherman Torao Takahashi in Takahashi v. Fish and Game Commission. The Port dedicated the Terminal Island Memorial Monument in 2002, and in 2018 the Los Angeles Maritime Museum opened Taminaru, an exhibit guest curated by author Naomi Hirahara.

Who worked the canneries and shipyards?

Fishing, canneries, oil drilling and shipbuilding drove harbor jobs in the early 1900s, the Port says. Densho credits a local canner, A. P. Halfhill, with coining “chicken of the sea” for steamed albacore. During World War II the Port did only wartime work, and San Pedro Bay shipyards employed more than 90,000 workers. From 1941 to 1963, double-decked ferries carried cars and passengers across the Main Channel from the San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building, most of them cannery and shipyard workers bound for Terminal Island. The building, listed on the National Register in 1996, now houses the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

When did the Vincent Thomas Bridge open?

The Vincent Thomas Bridge, named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro, officially opened in 1963 with a 25-cent toll each way, repealed in 2000. It carries State Route 47 and is managed by Caltrans. A 16-month full closure for deck replacement is scheduled from November 7, 2026, to February 29, 2028, according to the LA Waterfront home page, and Caltrans District 7 keeps a project page for the work.

Who gave the Korean Bell of Friendship?

The people of the Republic of Korea gave the Korean Bell of Friendship and its pavilion to the people of Los Angeles in 1976 to mark the U.S. bicentennial, honor veterans of the Korean War and stand for friendship between Korea and the United States. The carved bell sits on a hill in Angels Gate Park with views of Catalina Island and the Port.

What is the Battleship IOWA?

USS Iowa, namesake of what the Port calls the last class of American battleships, was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1990. It is now a museum ship on the LA Waterfront, run by the Pacific Battleship Center, an independent nonprofit that reports more than three million visitors since 2012. Our San Pedro page covers the neighborhood today.

Where can you see it today?

• Los Angeles Maritime Museum, Berth 84, foot of 6th Street: harbor history in the Ferry Building, open Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
• Battleship IOWA, 250 S. Harbor Blvd.: the museum ship, open Thursday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., last entry 4 p.m.
• Point Fermin Lighthouse, 805 Paseo del Mar: tours through Los Angeles Recreation and Parks.
• Angels Gate Lighthouse, end of the breakwater: seen from the San Pedro waterfront; no pedestrian access.
• Fort MacArthur Museum, 3601 Gaffey Street: the museum inside Battery Osgood-Farley; check hours before you go.
• Korean Bell of Friendship, Angels Gate Park, 37th Street and Gaffey Street: the bell and its pavilion.
• Terminal Island Memorial Monument, Terminal Island: the Port’s memorial, overlooking the harbor.
• S.S. Lane Victory, Outer Harbor: a World War II cargo ship, a memorial to the civilian Merchant Marine and Naval Armed Guard, open for tours.
• Ralph J. Scott, near LAFD Fire Station 112: the fireboat that served from 1925 to 2003.
• Muller House Museum, 1542 S. Beacon Street: the 1899 house shipbuilder William Muller bought in 1901, free on select Sundays.
• Cabrillo Beach Bath House, 3800 Stephen M. White Drive: built in 1932 and used for boating events at that year’s Olympics.
• Banning Museum, Wilmington: the 1864 Banning house, in a park that is California Historical Landmark No. 147.

Where do the sources differ?

• What Banning founded: the Port says Wilmington. The LA Waterfront site calls him “a founder of the City of Los Angeles.”
• Angels Gate’s green light: the Port says “the only lighthouse on the West Coast that emits a green light.” The LA Waterfront site says “one of the rare lighthouses to use a rotating green light.”
• How Angels Gate was built: the Port gives a 40-foot concrete square, a steel frame and steel plating. The LA Waterfront site says steel reinforced concrete on a concrete block, “the only lighthouse ever built to this design.”
• The removal order’s date: Densho’s article dates the 48-hour Navy notices to February 25, 1942. A removal notice Densho reproduces is dated February 14, 1942.
• Where Terminal Islanders went: Densho says temporary quarters, then Manzanar for families from April 1, 1942. The Port’s harbor communities page and the Maritime Museum say the whole community was “relocated to internment camps.”
• The memorial’s year: the Port says it dedicated the Terminal Island Memorial Monument in 2002. The LA Waterfront site says the Japanese American Fishing Village Memorial was “built in 2001 by Terminal Islanders, Inc.”
• The bridge’s year: the Port says it “officially opened in 1963.” The LA Waterfront site says “built in 1963.”
• The Iowa’s service: the Port gives 1943 to 1990, in three eras. The LA Waterfront site says “over 50 years.”
• San Pedro’s age: the San Pedro Bay Historical Society celebrated “San Pedro’s 138th Birthday” on March 1, 2026. No page we read says what that count starts from.

Questions people ask about the harbor’s history

When did San Pedro become part of Los Angeles?

The City of Los Angeles annexed San Pedro and Wilmington on August 28, 1909. The Port dates its founding to December 9, 1907, when the City created the Board of Harbor Commissioners.

What happened to the Japanese village on Terminal Island?

About 3,000 people lived in the Terminal Island fishing village in the 1930s. Densho says that on February 25, 1942, Navy notices gave every Japanese American 48 hours to leave the island. The Navy razed the village, and the Port dedicated the Terminal Island Memorial Monument in 2002.

When is the Vincent Thomas Bridge closing?

The LA Waterfront home page says a 16-month full closure for deck replacement is scheduled from November 7, 2026, to February 29, 2028. Caltrans District 7 keeps a project page for the work.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Sources were read October 18, 2026.

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