Bustling No More

There was a time when Edward Ko gazed through the windows of his store, Candy Town, and saw more than a dozen school buses loaded with children. There was a time when the shop, full of novelty and imported candy, was so crowded that customers lined up to get inside.

Now, years later, only an occasional customer visits his well-stocked shop.

Ko and a few other shop owners are the last survivors at the languishing Ports O’ Call Village shopping center in San Pedro.

Though a well-known real estate company has been chosen to oversee the redevelopment of the 15-acre, New England-style tourist attraction, city officials agree that the center’s future remains uncertain because the challenge is formidable. A decade ago, 98% of the storefronts and restaurants were occupied. Now, businesses fill only 25 of 71 units.

Visitors strolling the village, particularly the southern end, encounter an eerie sight--instead of bustling shops, they find building after building with boarded-up windows.

“People come here and are disappointed because there are just a few stores left, and they ask, ‘What happened here?’ ” said Moon Ko, Edward’s wife. “Everybody likes the place, but they don’t have anything to see. I keep telling people they’re going to fix it. But when? I don’t know.”

Edward Ko, who has operated his shop for 12 years, gives several reasons for the area’s decline, including the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which scared tourists, and disputes between merchants and Ports O’ Call’s former managers, Specialty Restaurants Corp. Ko and others allege Specialty Restaurants let the village deteriorate and did nothing to stop its downward slide.

The condition of the village took William Velez, of Riverside, by surprise during a recent visit. He had not returned to Ports O’ Call in 10 years, but as an East Coast native, he had always liked its old-town feel. He used to bring out-of-town relatives to the port.

But he won’t anymore.

“There’s really nothing to do here, and it’s not as impressive as it used to be,” he said.

Although there are various eatery stands, a cafe and a seafood restaurant, the majority of the remaining tenants are stores specializing in crystals, ring-making, African merchandise, incense and candles, and clothing. There also are a few art galleries. Next to the village is the thriving Fish Market, which is part of the Ports O’ Call complex, but not the village. The Fish Market draws heavy weekend crowds, but there’s not enough foot traffic through the village, merchants complained.

Ports O’ Call opened in 1962, on the west bank of the main channel at the Los Angeles Harbor. Years earlier, it had been a mooring area for tug and fishing boats. The area was also used to store lumber.

Ports O’ Call was prospering by 1975, when the Harbor Department entered a 40-year agreement with Ports O’ Call Restaurant Corp., a subsidiary of Specialty Restaurants Corp. of Anaheim.

Some of the problems began, many city officials and village shop owners say, because of a slowing economy in the late 1980s and the closing of the Marineland amusement park in 1987 in nearby Rancho Palos Verdes.

“There used to be bus tours that would take people to Marineland, and they would drive around San Pedro and go to the port,” said James R. Kapel, an assistant city attorney for the Board of Harbor Commissioners. “But now there are hardly any tourists left.”

James Cross, president of San Pedro Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, said the Village’s deterioration is “difficult to pinpoint.”

Other Attractions Helped Downturn

“It suffered from a couple of things, including the general economy and other attractions. Back in those days, they were building Universal Studios, having major expansions with Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. The other attractions became more attractive,” he said. “This place didn’t keep up. The operator didn’t have anything new.”

The decline of the village coincided with the rise of outdoor shopping areas with attractive looks--Old Town Pasadena and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Also, tourism fell off throughout Los Angeles after the 1992 riots, said David Sheatsley, research director for the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. That year, Los Angeles had 20.9 million overnight tourists--about 3 million fewer than the year before.

Spending also dipped. Tourists spent $8.1 billion in Los Angeles in 1991, Sheatsley said. The year of the riots, that dropped by $500 million.

In recent years, Kapel said, Specialty Restaurants failed to uphold the terms of its agreement, which called for maintenance and continued development of Ports O’ Call as a viable tourist attraction.

The city sued in 1997 to nullify the pact, saying the company had “not maintained the premises and improvements at all times in a safe, clean, wholesome, sanitary and sightly condition. . . .”

Kapel said the company let exposed electrical wires or pipes go uncovered. It ignored other problems, such as chipped paint or nails sticking out from unkempt bridges. Ko said that he grew so frustrated that he personally paid for some repairs, such as fixing broken lights and a leaky roof.

A representative with Specialty Restaurants declined to comment, but confirmed that the company gave the lease back to the city in 1999, returning control of the village to the Harbor Department.

Last month, the Board of Harbor Commissioners voted to allow the Dallas-based company Trammell Crow to oversee a substantial 45-acre redevelopment project, which would encompass Ports O’ Call Village and nearby parcels owned by the Port of Los Angeles. Trammell Crow has until August to draft a plan for a mix of retail and commercial uses--along with substantial open space.

The Harbor Department has had a difficult time finding a developer. It originally asked for development proposals in 1999, but the response was sparse. Last May, the Harbor Department tried again, querying 160 developers. Only six responded. Trammell Crow was one of four companies that submitted proposals.

If the harbor commissioners select Trammell Crow as the developer, the department would lease the property to the company, which would finance the project. If the Harbor Department decides to develop the area itself, it will use its own funds, Kapel said. He called that scenario unlikely, however. Eventually, any redevelopment plan would have to be approved by the Los Angeles City Council.

“We are very excited about Ports O’ Call because it will enhance the environment for local residents and outlying areas,” said Bob Ruth, area president for Trammell Crow. “It’s a wonderful place, not just for tourists, but for the outlying area.”

Ruth said the new design would take advantage of the area’s greatest selling point--the waterfront. The current layout funnels foot traffic between two rows of storefronts, and one of the rows blocks views of the water, separating tourists from the very thing that would make the village different from a landlocked location.

“We clearly have all the right components in San Pedro, with the cruise, markets and marina,” Ruth said. “The core elements are right there, and we have a natural waterfront to work with.”

Port spokeswoman Julia Nagano said Trammell Crow was selected because of its experience and financial strength, as well as its intention to involve local residents in specific building plans. Ruth said the company will set up meetings with residents to receive input.

‘It’s Not Any Less Safe’

He said the company wants to design an attraction that will put shoppers at ease.

“In any environment, you have to make sure it’s safe, because it’s not successful unless it is,” Ruth said.

Cross, the Chamber of Commerce president, said the village’s deterioration has given it an unfair reputation.

“There may be a perception of it being unsafe because of the graffiti and empty stores, but statistically speaking, it’s not any less safe. Reality is not the problem; the problem is perception,” Cross said.

Two years ago, in a survey of cruise line operators, Carnival and Royal Caribbean executives perceived the San Pedro area as unsafe for passengers and ranked it at the bottom of port towns nationwide.

Jennifer de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Lines, said that safety in San Pedro has not been a major issue for the cruise line. But she agreed the area is “certainly lacking” as a tourist destination.

“When there is a viable tourist facility adjacent to a port and it’s a facility that is attractive, they will patronize them, but there’s not really any place like that in San Pedro,” de la Cruz said, adding that ports in Miami and New Orleans have restaurants and stores to entertain cruise guests.

But revitalizing Ports O’ Call will work only if the city tries to revive the neighborhood around it, said Andy Mardesich, co-founder of the Harbor Study Foundation, which advocates the secession of San Pedro from Los Angeles. “What happened to Ports O’ Call happened to the whole town,” he said.

The uncertainty over Ports O’ Call’s future leaves many merchants feeling helpless.

Fan Jing opened a cheese and wine shop five years ago.

“I’ve been told it was very busy 10 or 15 years ago, and that’s hard for me to think about,” Jing said. “I just want the customers back. . . . We need to do something here, because people come here and see nothing, they’re never going to come back.”