San Pedro ‘Puts Centennial to Rest’ With Fanfare, Time Capsule Burial

An antique hearse, bedecked in white balloons and a rainbow of ribbons, carried two phony time capsules through the streets of downtown San Pedro on Saturday, as residents staged a colorful New Orleans-style funeral procession to mark the end of their yearlong centennial celebration.

“We come not to bury San Pedro, but to praise it,” joked Joe Marino, chairman of the San Pedro Centennial Committee, before a crowd of about 200 who gathered for a mock burial of the time capsules.

The real time capsules will be buried at that site in about a week.

One will contain contributions from San Pedro’s schoolchildren--including their written and tape-recorded thoughts on the future--and is to be opened in 25 years. The other, to be opened in 100 years, will contain local memorabilia and is designed to reflect San Pedro’s ethnic diversity.

Said Gary Larson, who coordinated the day’s events: “The idea is, we’re kind of putting to rest the centennial.”

Began Outside Mortuary

Saturday’s festivities began at 1 p.m. outside Halverson’s mortuary on 6th Street near Grand Avenue. Accompanied by the San Pedro High School Jazz Band, the marchers made their way down 6th Street to the burial site at Peppertree Plaza, adjacent to the San Pedro Municipal Building.

There the mock mourners gathered around two elegant black granite headstones that will mark the spot of the time capsules. Each is carved with the centennial seal--an oval-shaped picture of the Point Fermin lighthouse--and declares that the contents of the capsules have been donated by the students and residents of the “City of San Pedro.”

That erroneous statement--San Pedro is no longer a city--is nevertheless fitting in this community, which prides itself on its sense of independence.

Indeed, although San Pedro was annexed by Los Angeles in 1909, the centennial celebration marks the 100th anniversary of the community’s incorporation as an independent city on March 1, 1888.

The centennial officially ends Wednesday, with a sold-out banquet for 425 people, similar to one held a year ago on March 1.

“We’re ending up the same way we began,” said Marino, “except when we first started, we highlighted the past history of San Pedro and now we’re going to (focus on) the next 100 years.”

After a year of such parties--including the two banquets, a centennial picnic, a centennial parade and a 25th-anniversary bash for the Vincent Thomas Bridge--some said Saturday that they are ready to channel their energies into more serious efforts.

“We feel that because of the excitement of the whole year, that we’re going to have to have another cause to keep the people going,” said Bonnie Christensen, vice chairwoman of the centennial committee. She mentioned gangs and graffiti as two problems she would like the community to tackle.

In his speech at the mock burial, Marino sounded a similar note. “We wish we could bury graffiti,” he said. “We wish we could bury smog. We wish we could bury pollution.”

But he and others also said they were sorry to see the fun wind down.

“We hate to see it all come to an end,” said Marylyn Ginsburg, president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, “because we’ve had such a grand and glorious time of it.”