San Pedro

Purchased a house in SP about 5 years ago on the "nice" side of town (i.e. west of Gaffey), had a baby and started to raise her in our cute little Craftsman home.

When the police wouldn't let us drive into our alleyway because of the dead body located there as a result of a gang shooting, we decided to politely move out of SP – and Los Angeles for that matter.

Honestly, we tried to stick with it, even after I couldn’t park in my garage because of the drunken gentleman who was passed out in front of the driveway - twice.

I did, however, become a skilled painter. A lesson we learned early on was to keep a good supply of paint handy so that you can keep up with the Jones’ during the weekly graffiti cleanup. Seems that in LA, there is an acceptable amount of blight.

Aside from the gangs, dirty neighborhoods, ghetto-type people, lawless animal-like teenagers of disinterested parents, dead bodies, homeless vagrants urinating wherever they please (i.e. on the wall of the public library), local crackheads, housing projects, incessant noise of the infamous ghetto birds circling above (police helicopters), the many halfway houses, dinner punctuated with gunfire, LAUSD, and ubiquitous graffiti, it was fine.

One reason I’d briefly go back to SP is the Omelet and Waffle Shop (but only with wearing good quality body armor). Great Saturday morning breakfasts! Other than that, it’s pretty much a cesspool.

I have lived in San Pedro for about 12 years now. I am amazed at how many people here never leave home once they become adults. They lay around their parents houses doing absolutely nothing when they are not running around with their gang friends. They bring a girlfriend or boyfriend home, start their own families and sign up for public assistance. Their houses go into disrepair and they really do not care. Some areas of San Pedro are turning into slums. Its sad as there is so much potential in this unique little area.

I lived in San Pedro 20 years ago and still go back to visit. I was always amazed at the small-town feel of this community in one of the world's largest cities. If you go walking in Pt. Fermin, people always say "hello." If you are on a small cross street at stop sign wondering how you will ever get across Gaffey, you will soon have all four lanes of traffic come to a stop and motion you across. If you get a beer in Bessie Walker's Cafe, you sometimes get in a John Prine singalong, talk with the mayor, or get in a discussion about old Volvo 122s. What a wonderful place!

It was the first place i moved to after arriving from the u.k.

I would love to say it made me feel welcome and was a home from home.

It was not.

I saw a man hit by a car and no one stopped - that was my first day, and one of the best

Sorry to be down on it, but hey it was down on me

I lived in San Pedro all through the 1980's. I suffered with a derelict person camping in my back yard. My vegetable garden and fruit trees were picked clean before I could get home from work and have any for myself after toiling to raise healthy food. Every small animal that managed to get out was missing (presumably eaten). My landlord constantly raised the rent. The gangs rampaged the streets shooting up houses and beating the heck out of incoming immigrants. I was afraid to go out at night.

My kids were trained to walk on the side of the road that had parked cars in case a drive by happened, they would be able to hit the ground and have a little cover.

I went shopping at the Safeway one time and a sick person slid onto the floor to take a picture up my dress. Another time a gang of 6 full grown men followed me out of the Safeway to my car to steal my groceries and purse. Imagine their surprise when I turned around with a loaded gun and asked which one was first?

Oh yeah. The views are lovely in San Pedro. But it is a hard place to live.

I forgot to add, i played baseball for Bob Moulton as a Barton Hill Cougar, football at the Boys Club for Nick Trani, they were legendary coaches because they molded boys into men, as a teenager going to the dances at the Yogoslav hall, crusing on Pacific Ave as a car member of the Chessman, going to the movies at the drive-in, visiting my extended family ie cousins, aunts and uncles and alot of friends yea friends that i may not have seen for many years, but i know we are friends for life. yea im an old Pedro dog and Pirate for life. there is soooo much more that can said.

If you love contrast, you'll love San Pedro: a community with both a small town and big city feel, where fishingboats and sailboats bob alongside container and cruise ships of the great Port of Los Angeles. Against a backdrop of concrete and bougainvilla, community neighborliness competes with big city noise and traffic. If you live here, you must accept the noise: helicopters, sirens, car alarms (frequently set off by the over loud motorcycles), barking dogs, weekend partying, and the folks who'll use their garages for anything but cars. And, how many leaf blowers does it take to maintain yards the sizes of postage stamps?
But, should you manage to garner enough peace and quiet to read, there's a fun and friendly library, the wonderful and historic William's Book Store, and delightful Little Fish Theatre. Marvellous views of the ocean and the hills abound. There's lots of talent: check out the First Thursday Art Walks, and Angels Gate. Visit nature in Peck and Friendship Parks, and Point Fermin. Or take a sweet evening stroll by the dancing fountain in the romantic harbor lights. Salt water taffy and other surprises can be had found at Ports o Call: tourists treats can even be found in the drugstores. At night, bask in the glow of the humungous yellow LIQUOR sign, or and the big lit-up, red chicken bucket; visible even in the thickest fog! By day, enjoy the roses, ducks, wedding parties, and great city-ocean views from Averill Park! With the right vision, (and laws and law enforcement structured to represent a community instead of the city of L.A.) San Pedro, city of color and contradictions, could be as charming as San Francisco!

I was born in San Pedro some 54 years ago (I grew up in Compton). I've lived in Colorado Springs, CO for over 20 years now, and it's also a nice place to live. But I ALWAYS come back to "Pedro" whenever I'm in town. I'll always have fond memories of San Pedro, it was so much nicer than Compton. Going to Cabrillo Beach, hanging out at Peck Park, and working during summer at "Fort Mac" are things you just can't do everywhere in Southern Calif.

I grew up in Pedro, went to Dana and SPHS and was in the class of W48 of just over a hundred. I entered the Coast Guard there and married there.

Coming from a protected society in Annapolis Md in the mid 1940s, I was introduced to many ethnic cultures.

Some were harsh, some molded my character and made me who I am today.

Pedro was good school for entering the world of people and the many sided cultures.

It changed my racial prejudicial views so that I married the grestest Latino woman I have ever known and have stayed in that marriage for 50 years.

Landmarks? I was all over that town, walking and biking in those days and later busing everywhere. Cabrillo Beach was my home in high school.

Pedro holds more memories, than Ventura, Mesa Arizona or now Littleton Colorado, good and bad, for me.

Thanks for the lessons Pedro.

Bob Garrison

Does anyone else know where you can be one block from an ATM, book store, coffee shop, two great restaurants, an Italian market, some art galleries, and a liquor store? Downtown SP is the only place I know in LA where you can do that, that I know in the LA area. I hear there are dangerous people that live in SP -- so totally unlike Downtown? ;). I appreciate the community too. Croatian longshoremen are much more authentic than yuppies.

San Pedro has the same East Coast ambience of a NYC or Baltimore neighborhood. If I couldn't live in Santa Monica or Pasadena, I'd definitely go back to San Pedro; and it's more affordable with a great commute to LA Central.

PS: I'm not in CA any more. I built my home in Mexico.

Heavy concentration of alcoholics and addicts. The kind of place where some of the people have never even been out of state and the mentality that goes with it. If it ain't San Pedro, it don't exist to them. Old Town 6th Ave looks charming at first but most shops remain closed most of the time, not that they offer much anyhow, and the food at the restaurants is sub par. Worst air quality w/ LA Port and geographical layout. All in all a nice view of Catalina from Pt. Fermin, but that's about it.

I grew up in San Pedro as a child into adulthood, left pedro in the mid 70's. parents,siblings, cousins burried at Green Hills, yea i have a lot of very fond memories of San Pedro, i think i walked every street, played ball at block field, avirell park, peck park. went swimming at all the public pools and in the summer went fishing for bonita of 22nd street. went to barton hill elem. school, dana junior high school and sphs. Loved every moment, it was as close as Mayberry as one could have lived. I dont live there anymore, but i still LOVE SAN PEDRO!

I love san pedro because I found my love there. It's such a hidden treasure after you drove throuhg the vincent thomas bridge and landed the the end of 25th street. Away from the smog and city noise, you walked to the beach without encountering a soul, in a hot summer night, with the ocean breeze whispering in your face, the moon above you, holding hands with your lover, all you hear is the waves pounding on the cliffs. It's like walking into a secret garden. Only one thing I don't like about San Pedro is the schools aren't no good by any standard. I'm in real estate business and lots of parents shy away because of the poor quality school system. That's why they say san pedro is poorman's P.V.

San Pedro is home. Pure and simple. Even though I don't live there any more, it is still, and always be where my heart lies. South Shores was a new development when we moved there in 1959. South Shores elementary was where I met friends that I still communicate with. Dana Jr. High brought new friends and experiences. SPHS, what can I say, I'm a Pirate for life!
It will always be home.

Kathy O'Haggarty Stanfield
SPHS Class of W '68

San Pedro is the last bastion of affordable housing close to the waterfront. It hosts the greatest mixture of classes, ranging from the elite in South Shores to the incoming immigrants on 1st and Pacific. What other town would have public housing adjacent to the waterfront? Some might think its bad planning, but I believe its what makes San Pedro home. Its the last downtown that's not cluttered with chain restaurants like Chili's and Islands, so that it can host gems like Nico's and the Brew Co.

The potential for San Pedro is tremendous. Too bad that its shackled to the City of Los Angeles.

Bring back the drive-in movie theater!!!

I bought my house for almost a million dollars. Instead of crying about the economy I made smart improvements to insure my "investment". In so doing, I found a new appreciation for San Pedro. Sure there are tough people here but I grew up in East L.A. and will bring the hammer down if the need arises. I used to live in Redondo and laughed as the millionaires played in the street with their kids for lack of a yard!..I have a yard, cool nieghbors and an awesome ocean view.

I see nothing wrong with crafters hawking their wares in downtown Pedro. Crafts are cooler than art now anyway. Always were now that I think of it.

I don't how long the previous poster expects to live, but in my lifetime I expect to see downtown Pedro get to be a lot more like West Washington, er, Abbott Kinney, in Venice.

While other communities may have scenic views of ocean or cityscape, San Pedro has that and more. It overlooks a working harbor that is always changing with the comings and goings of cruise and cargo ships, tugs, and private watercraft. Watch huge cranes unload shipping containers and muse about what they might contain, our consumer society, and the nation's trade deficit. Buy a scanner radio and listen to tugs communicating with arriving ships. Try to guess the nationality of the arriving captain based on his accented english. Watch a prominent cruise ship like the Queen Mary 2 come into port for a day and wonder who's on board, what they will see in L.A. on their day ashore, and what you would pick to show them from an Angeleno's perspective.

For me, San Pedro is mostly about views and reflection.

San Pedro is at the end of a narrow strip of LA freeway and with the port as its economic hub and its simultaneous nemesis, the town is insulated from typical LA life. Some would say backwater because the generations tend to stay here and settle - many of my children's friends went to school with kids whose grandparents attended the same school. Pride of place is stronger here than anywhere else I've lived. Jobs have been plentiful and lucrative (till lately) with the strong union contracts for longshoring. You don't need a lot of education to pull down a good paying job so people buy lots of toys and don't require cultural outlets unless it involves beer and blues or rock.

I deplore the lack of competitive fine food restaurants. We have plenty of cafes, ethnic and steakhouses but the best food is prepared in home kitchens. There are many good LA artists in residence in strorefronts and homes but they tend to stay underground while the wannabes and crafters take over the visible arts district commercial sites and open their doors for First Thursday events. The port keeps its eye on the major prize - shipping commerce - and grants lip service to change for downtown. But downtown was ruined in the late 70s and won't come back in my lifetime judging by the lack of progress beyond planning to plan and more planning. Still, it is spectacularly beautiful along the coast and the "lost in time" atmosphere suits a poet's soul so here I'll stay.