Shell Games

A kid who stands on the shore in scuba gear, singing out a Slim Whitman-esque “I Am Calling You” at the top of his lungs, might get the hook on any other stage. At the Southland’s annual lobster festival, however, he was an admirable contender for the grand prize in the lobster-calling contest.

The competition, which gives contestants plenty of line to express themselves creatively and warble enticingly (although it’s debatable just what will entice a lobster), again will kick off the Port of Los Angeles International Lobster Festival on Friday evening.

For the first time in its five-year history, the festival will be set in San Pedro, at Ports o’ Call Village. Formerly held in Redondo Beach, the event is geared to the family--with contests, kids’ rides and entertainment--but among the juiciest attractions is a Maine lobster dinner for $10.

For San Pedro residents, the event also marks the return of the popular cioppino contest, a mainstay of the former Fisherman’s Festival that was discontinued more than a decade ago.

Cioppino is a tomato-based seafood stew made out of whatever happened to be the catch of the day, festival organizer Jim Hall said.

“Fishermen would come home bringing something different every time, so no two batches were ever alike,” Hall said. “You never knew what the ingredients were until you ate it.”

Justin Karmelich, 62, a retired engineer, is a veteran of cioppino contests. He and his cooking partner, longshoreman Ernie Lowe, 58, will enter a tried-and-true recipe Sunday, one that has been passed along through the Karmelich family, which comes from the Dalmatian coast in the former Yugoslavia.

“It’s a secret,” Karmelich said. “We use a little wine vinegar in a tomato base. We use stewed and fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic. My grandmother taught me.”

The amateur chefs will also use the one ingredient required in all the recipes in the contest: lobster.

Karmelich, who grew up in San Pedro, said it was always a family tradition to cook cioppino around the holidays. He and Lowe, a former school chum, were cioppino contestants in the old Fisherman’s Festival for years.

Karmelich is happy to see the contest revived for the International Lobster Festival. He and Lowe will compete in the amateur division, and area restaurants will go head to head in the professional division.

“It’s such a diverse community in San Pedro,” Hall said. “There are Portuguese, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, so there are all these great recipes and some great dining from those ethnic heritages.”

The cioppino cook-off isn’t the only festival contest with a history. The lobster-calling and LobsterDog contests also have places in Southern California lore.

In the old days, fishermen would open lobster season by gathering at the shore in early October. At sunset, they would yell, hoot and holler to the lobsters. There’s no evidence that anyone ever caught a lobster this way, but the time-honored tradition stuck.

The LobsterDog event honors the legend of Bob the LobsterDog, a pooch that hung around the docks and became the official mascot of the lobster fleet. One dark and stormy night, legend has it, the lighthouse went dark and Bob’s barking guided the fleet into the harbor.

Festival-goers have embraced the LobsterDog event (if not the yarn), Hall said, and the contest and its related event, the Doggie Doo Dah Parade of contestants, will be among the highlights Saturday.

“Dress up your pet as a lobster or other seafood item. Just let your imagination run wild,” Hall said. “If your pet won’t wear a costume, dress up as a lobster yourself and carry your pet.” The entry fee is $10; the grand prize is a computer.

On Friday, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan is scheduled to be on hand for the opening and to help judge the lobster-calling contest.

“The only time I get to meet the mayor and I’ll be dressed as a lobster,” Hall lamented. “How can you be taken seriously when you’re dressed like a crustacean?”

Only if you have a pet and enter the Doggie Doo Dah Parade.

BE THERE

International Lobster Festival, Ports o’ Call Village, 6th Street and Harbor Boulevard, San Pedro. 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, 11 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The cioppino contest and a Gospel Brunch are set for Sunday. VIP tickets for $20 include a lobster meal, admission all weekend, front-line privileges and a poster. General admission, $6; 12 and younger, free; weekend passes $10. (310) 366-6472 or https://www.lobsterfest.com.