A Party That Will Span the Channel

New York has the Statue of Liberty. Rio has Sugar Loaf Mountain. San Francisco has the Golden Gate. What does Los Angeles have?

“The Vincent Thomas Bridge,” said Louis Dominguez, the man who wants to make the bridge a municipal landmark.

Dominguez is in charge of Bridge Walk Day, a bridge party (the steel rather than card variety) scheduled for April 26. Proceeds will go to outfit the bridge with lights so at night “it’s visible for miles around,” Dominguez said.

The 185-foot span crosses the main channel of Los Angeles Harbor, connecting Long Beach and San Pedro via Terminal Island. The California Department of Transportation will close the bridge to vehicular traffic from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to allow people to walk its length to raise money for the lights, Dominguez said. The walk begins at noon.

He promises giant parties on both sides of the bridge, with food, drinks and entertainment ranging from bagpipers to a troupe doing pre-Columbian dances and a heavy metal rock band. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children under 12, free for children 5 and younger. The food and drinks are extra, of course.

Many Angelenos have never seen the bridge. But the Port of Los Angeles has the largest cruise terminal on the West Coast, and for oceangoing visitors, Dominguez said, the bridge is “the first thing people see.”

And yet, Dominguez said, the bridge is “just sort of there, like nobody cares about it. We’ve got a major landmark and people don’t really appreciate it.”

The bridge walkers will have a rare opportunity to see Los Angeles and the harbor area from “a totally different point of view,” Dominguez said. On a clear day, “you can see all the way from Palos Verdes to downtown L.A.,” he said.

Dominguez, a San Pedro resident who grew up in Long Beach and now works as Mayor Tom Bradley’s director of computer operations, is part of a citizens group formed to raise money for the bridge lights. The group already has $14,000, but is far short of the estimated $150,000 to $300,000 needed. The committee hopes that 50,000 people will walk the bridge, named for longtime Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro. Dominguez, who at one time worked as an aide to Thomas, said the assemblyman was most responsible for bringing Southern California its first major suspension bridge, which is the third largest in the state. Thomas, who died in 1979, wanted the bridge to become a landmark, Dominguez said.

The community’s goal is to have the lights installed by November, 1993, for the bridge’s 30th anniversary. “We should take pride in it,” Dominguez said. “We should let the world know we’re here.”

Directions: The bridge exit off the Harbor Freeway (110) will be closed, so take the Harbor Freeway south and follow the signs to the Bridge Walk. All parking is free. In San Pedro, park along Front Street. From the Long Beach side, park along Seaside Avenue or Ocean Boulevard on Terminal Island, below the bridge toll booth plaza. Free shuttles will take people to the bridge.

For motorists who would normally use the bridge that Sunday, alternate routes will be through Wilmington on Pacific Coast Highway or Anaheim Street, or to Terminal Island via Henry Ford Avenue. Information: (310) 832-7272.