Tired of modern-day living? Sick of the...

Tired of modern-day living? Sick of the traffic jams on the San Diego Freeway? Fed up with pollution?

Is the Victorian Era looking pretty inviting?

If so, for a few hours today the Banning Residence Museum is offering a little slice of the 19th Century. It’s the third annual “Old-Fashioned Summer Sociable” from noon until 4 p.m. at the museum, 401 East M Street in Wilmington.

Organizers describe the event as a chance to escape the rigors of urban living, if only for a little while.

“We see this as an opportunity for people to live life 100 years behind the times, when things were more comfortable,” said co-chairman Diane Yoshitomi.

Organizers have packed the event’s four hours with various activities and demonstrations of everyday tasks of the late 1800s. Museum volunteers dressed in authentic Victorian costumes will offer demonstrations of such fine arts as soap-making, woodcarving, bookbinding and quilt-making. Volunteers will also provide tours of the restored Banning house, which is filled with authentic pre-1900 antiques, including some that belonged to San Pedro pioneer Gen. Phineas Banning.

Event officials will also showcase their latest restoration project, in the barn behind the main house. The site has been transformed into a blacksmith’s shop, where museum volunteers have stored antique tools and other gadgets.

In addition to the tours and demonstrations, several hands-on activities are planned for children who attend the Summer Sociable.

“This is a real family event,” Yoshitomi said. “But we have planned the activities with children in mind.”

Children will be able to try their hand at ice cream making, butter churning and washing clothes in a wringer machine. Youthful participants will also be able to make dolls from clothespins and cotton balls. Victorian era games such as croquet and horseshoes will be offered.

“We’ve turned things that used to be considered work in the 1800s into fun things for the kids to do now,” said Julia Heard, chairwoman of the Banning Residence Museum Volunteers.

The festivities will also include square-dancing and clog-dancing. The public is invited to join in the singing and dancing.

Organizers are calling this year’s Summer Sociable a celebration of Phineas Banning’s 162nd birthday.

Banning, one of the first Yankees to settle in the region, arrived in 1851 and is considered the father of Los Angeles Harbor. Banning made his fortune in the transportation business and was a key player in the efforts to develop San Pedro Bay into an international port of call.

Banning built his house in 1864, and the Banning family lived there until 1925. After the family left, the house was vacant until restoration began in the mid-1970s.

Admission to the Summer Sociable is $5, with children 12 and under admitted free. The $5 fee goes toward the restoration of the museum.