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A family friend was cleaning out her bookshelves and came across some old obsolete school books from the 50′s and 60′s. This special publication from the LA City Schools District was published in 1953. It tells the story of Nick Vodich and his summer with his three uncles on the Marie-Eliza.
The book is full of great illustrations depicting the life and times of commercial fishermen.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Fisherman, Fishing, San Pedro, Show n Tell Tuesdays | Leave a Comment »
Every now and again I get a hankering to test the power of the internet. I sit around thinking of things to search just to see what it’ll throw back at me. Since my life is a little Pedro-centric lately, I find myself searching for San Pedro related items on ebay and wishing I could buy them all and bring them home. Maybe there’s someone out there with a little more buying power that might be interested…hey, that sounds like a great idea for a SPBXB segment! My first item of the week comes from Cathedral City, CA (click the link to go to the listing).
For a mere $1900 you can be the proud owner of a SUPER RARE 16mm reel of This original 16 mm movie produced by The French Sardine Company (Starkist) called “THE FRENCH SARDINE COMPANY PRESENTS – THE STORY OF TUNA’
I would LOVE to see this film. There are so many San Pedro families that had Fathers and Grandfathers who worked for Starkist on tuna clippers, maybe this interests you enough, maybe you just want to buy it and donate it to the Maritime Museum? That’s up to you, I’m just letting you know its out there.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Fishing, French Sardine Co, Item of the week, San Pedro, Starkist | Leave a Comment »
At one point in time San Pedro had 5 theaters showing movies; the Fox-Cabrillo, the Warner Bros San Pedro, the Strand, the Globe and the Barton Hill. Fox and Warner’s were the two powerhouses in town and they fought weekly for each patron’s fare. They would lure customers in with giveaways and ballyhoo. Sometimes they booked on stage talent. I found two separate occasions where the acts, while successful in their own right, went on to be astronomically more successful than they could have ever imagined while they entertained our local townspeople.
Mickey McGuire was a favorite character of the 20′s and 30′s. He started as a comic strip character and eventually got his big break into the movies. A young boy, destined for stardom, played the role of Mickey from 1927 to 1936. His name was Joseph Yule Jr, but you might know him better as Mickey Rooney. While the 70+ shorts he did as Mickey McGuire made him pretty popular with the kids, his musicals as Mickey Rooney would make him world-famous. Mickey made a couple of San Pedro appearances in the early years of the Warner Bros San Pedro.
Pedro Infante was a very talented singer who went on to become one of the icons of the golden era of Mexican cinema. This performance at the Fox-Cabrillo happened in 1943. That same year he would be introduced to the man who would make him Mexico’s brightest star.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Famous San Pedro, San Pedro, Theaters | Leave a Comment »
The one thing I always envied about New York were all the cool sounding neighborhood names like Park Slope, Tribeca, Soho, DUMBO…etc. While San Pedro is technically the neighborhood name of our little section of Los Angeles (maybe we should look into switching to a borough system?), you know what I mean, right? If Soho means South of Houston in Manhattan, couldn’t we have some cool one’s like WeGaff (west of Gaffey) or NoSum (North of Summerland). While doing SPBXB I learned that we had some historic neighborhoods with some cool names. Mexican Hollywood with the BAB, Vinegar Hill and one of my personal favorites, Happy Valley. Happy Valley makes me think of a giant cartoon sun smiling back at me as it shines from between two lush green hills. That visual couldn’t be further from the truth. Here’s an article I found in the LA Times online archives.
What Has Become of Happy Valley
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Happy Valley, Neighborhoods, San Pedro | Leave a Comment »
I was downtown grabbing some dinner Thursday evening when I saw the Horse Police. So glad I had my camera with me!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Downtown SP, LAPD, San Pedro | 1 Comment »
Here’s another cool picture of some color swatches on the side of the ferry building. A lot of the spots where the plaster is broken, used to be entryways to access the ferry.
I can’t wait til the whole building is finished. It should really spruce up the view on Harbor Blvd.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ferry Building, POLA, San Pedro | Leave a Comment »
Do you like trivia? Do you LOVE San Pedro trivia? I know I do. If you really want to learn some fun facts about San Pedro, I highly recommend you take one of my walking tours, and not just because I’m the one giving them. They’re super informative and they’ll give you the edge over all your friends when you get together for a good game of reminiscing.
Townee Trivia will give you a little taste of the fun stuff you’ll learn on one of my tours. This month I have a video trivia for you from my Back-lot San Pedro tour.
Have you ever felt like you were born in the wrong era? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an undercover federal agent running through the ferry building in a three piece suit, over coat and hat? Behold, a clip from The Street With No Name (1948).
The ferry was important because it connected most San Pedrans with their livelihood.
For more information on the Back-lot San Pedro tour or any other San Pedro walking tour, visit www.towneetours.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ferry Building, POLA, San Pedro, Townee Tours, Townee Trivia | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to a new segment here on SPBXB! You know I LOVE segments. Vintage Vantage is just a cool name for old pictures I found at the Historical Society archives. See, Vintage Vantage has a much better ring to it.
SP Bay Historical Society
SP Bay Historical Archives
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ferry Building, POLA, San Pedro, Vintage Vantage | Leave a Comment »
If you’ve braved Harbor Blvd during Navy Week, you probably noticed a couple of things. 1) Traffic is CRAZY and 2) There is scaffolding put up around the Ferry Building/ LA Maritime Museum. Let me tell you about the scaffolding.
The LA Municipal Ferry Building, opened in 1941, is celebrating it’s 70th Birthday this year and the Port of Los Angeles is gifting it a brand new paint job for the occasion. I actually drove by this morning and the area around the clock face is already a lovely shade of terracotta.
You might be asking yourself, why terracotta? San Pedro old-timers might know the answer.
According to the paint chip, the faded white has been masking a very festive color for years. This is the original color of the building.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Ferry Building, LA Maritime Museum, POLA, San Pedro | Leave a Comment »
That concludes the tour of the brand new Port Police building. I couldn’t stay for the ribbon cutting, where I hear Mayor Villaraigosa, Congresswoman Hahn and, my favorite, Director Knatz presided over the ceremony. At the end of the tour you got a ticket for free tacos and you could get up close and personal with some of the wonderful machines and officers of the Port Police.
I really enjoyed the tour and my tour tacos. As I sat there, eating said tacos, I thought about what the building looked like when I walked this area. Here’s a link to that post, it was come a long way and was a long time coming. Happy Centennial Port Police, here’s to another hundred years!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: POLA, Port Police, San Pedro | Leave a Comment »
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