Happy 4th of July from San Pedro and Point Fermin Park
San Pedro sits literally at the southernmost tip of Los Angeles and is located at the southern end of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
As you can see from this vantage point shot, San Pedro is a mixture of international shipping, a massive breakwater and harbor, beaches, commerce, housing, and much more. San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island are the locations of the Port of Los Angeles—one of the nation’s busiest ports and around the world.
If “Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” than San Pedro certainly qualifies as a distant cousin–It’s definitely a colorful, playful, and inscrutability different blend of Southern California’s past, current and future—where world’s literally cascade and collide, and the culture and surroundings are amazing, quite startling at times, and inexorably peaceful as well. Its history well runs deep–it was originally used by the Spanish starting in the 1540s.
San Pedro has many marvelous places to check out, including fabulous beaches bordering the Pacific Ocean, the Port of Los Angeles, parks, historical monuments, museums, aquariums, restaurants, shopping, and the historical downtown area.
The culture is eclectic; many working class families live here along with a vibrant youth crowd mixed with the zest and zeal of being one of Southern California’s iconic and ubiquitous beach towns, replete with its own swagger and atmosphere. It’s also a culturally rich area featuring artists’ galleries and theatrical venues.
The vantage point atop the rugged bluffs affords some of the most breathtaking views of the coast toward Santa Catalina Island. This scenic hilltop–Point Fermin Park–was given its name by the British explorer George Vancouver, who visited here in 1793 and decided to thank Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen for his hospitality at the mission in Carmel. Source: SanPedro.com
From high atop the hills, Point Fermin Park provides spectacular views of the coast and the nearby Channel Islands. It has everything—picnic tables, a playground, stage events, tropical and bountiful plants and shady trees for a hot day.
Looking south, the blue hues of the ocean are because of the deeper ocean depths; and the contours in the water are from the offshore winds howling from the opposite directions. Its cliffs are massive and awe inspiring. The tide pools and beaches below are full of sea life, shells, and quite a few rocks strewn about.
Looking below there are two trails west of the area which lead to the beach and tide pools from the Park. However, do not, I repeat do not attempt to climb down to the beach and tide pools from the park’s cliffs–as the cliff’s are unstable, and many deaths have occurred from people attempting to do so.
The Point Fermin Lighthouse—on the 4th of July, 2009. Historical Information courtesy of United States Coast Guard include:
- Point Fermin Light was built in 1874 with lumber from California redwoods.
- In 1941 the light was extinguished due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There was fear that the light would serve as a beacon for enemy planes and ships. Later, the lantern room and gallery were removed. They were replaced by a lookout shack that remained for the next 30 years, and was referred to as "the chicken coop" by locals.
- In 1972 the light was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
- The light fell into disuse and disrepair. A new lantern room and gallery were built in 1974.
- The building has now been restored to its original beauty and is open to the public as the Point Fermin Lighthouse Historic Site and Museum.
The park consists of 37 landscaped acres of tree-shaded lawns, sheltered pergolas, colorful gardens and an esplanade along the edge of the palisade.
The view through the decorative walls that surround the Point Fermin Park.
What better way to celebrate this Holiday then by Travelin’ Local at the beach. What did you do for the 4th of July? If you took any pictures you’d like to share, choose your favorite, email it to Travelin’ Local, and ’we’ll feature them in an upcoming story.
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Oh, Lisa! When you did your post on Long Beach, I hankered for you to do something on San Pedro. And here you are! I worked at the Ports O’Call Village in the early 80’s. It was a fantastic place to work, overlooking the main channel of the LA Harbor, and in a storybook setting that was the site of lots of film-making. It was like working in a New England fishing town.
Betsy Wuebker’s last blog post..THE FLAME OF LIBERTY STILL BURNS
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LisaNewton Reply:
July 6th, 2009 at 5:03 am
@Betsy Wuebker, San Pedro was fantastic. I really want to explore the harbor more. The whole town looks like fun.
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Great coverage and photos of San Pedro. My family used to know another family that had a house on the Northern side of Point Fermin and had their own trail to the beach.
You’ve really managed to capture all of the stunning color arrays of the aquatint and other hue’s of blue that surround the beaches, breakpoints, bay, channel, harbor, and ocean that surround San Pedro.
I enjoyed reading about the history of the Lighthouse; funny that the locals called it the “chicken coop” at one time.
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LisaNewton Reply:
July 6th, 2009 at 5:05 am
@David, Thanks, David. Many of the houses looked unique, and how fun is it to have your own trail to the beach. Looking from Point Fermin Park, the vistas were breathtaking. Because it was a holiday, the lighthouse tour was closed, but I’ll be going back on a “regular” day.
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