Old Pirate’s on Pedestal Again, Thanks to Boosters

The old pirate came close to walking the plank more than once.

There were the pair of port city fires 28 years ago that burned close enough to send a shiver through its timbers.

There was the hitch of landlubber duty that ended abruptly when operators of a tourist boat dock decided to unceremoniously deep-six it.

And finally there was the moment it was marooned at Los Angeles Harbor when the tides of change buffeted the Sea.

Thanks to community support, the Pirate of San Pedro finally has a permanent home. And thanks to new steel supports, it is standing stronger than ever.

The pirate is a whimsical 21 1/2-foot fiberglass statue that sports an eye patch, a hook for a left hand, a seafarer’s hat and a swashbuckler’s boots and coat.

It is reminiscent of other roadside advertising figures that sprouted across the country in the 1960s, except it is holding a sword rather than the automobile muffler, tire or Paul Bunyan ax that was common to most of those statues.

Two weeks ago, the pirate ended its 40-year odyssey when a work crew installed it on a 10-foot concrete base next to the San Pedro High School athletic field.

The project, commissioned by the school’s San Pedro Pirate Booster Club and executed by a San Pedro High graduate, caught students by surprise. But it has rekindled memories of a generation that grew up seeing the pirate, first in Long Beach, and then in San Pedro.

Locals recall that the statue long stood outside Hudson’s Costume Rental shop in Long Beach. The pirate was called “Paganthroat” in the 1970s. But it looked more dandified than dangerous as it stood in its fiberglass lace shirt and its plumed hat on a platform attached to a building above Pacific Avenue.

The pirate was spared in 1974, when arson fires reportedly traced to teenagers caused more than $1.5 million damage to the building.

After that it was moved to San Pedro’s Ports O’ Call, where it stood sentry on the dock next to the Buccaneer Queen, a three-masted dinner cruise ship.

“Ports O’ Call didn’t like the image and made the Buccaneer Queen get rid of him,” said Yvette Williams, who with her husband, Dick, traded some nautical-themed items to the boat owner for the pirate.

They eventually placed it in front of their ocean-themed shop called the Sea.

The Sea, its shelves bulging with shells and its walls lined with fishermen’s nets and whale bones, was stocked with nautical items and folk art.

For decades, the Harbor Boulevard store was as much a marine museum as a curio shop for school and Scout groups that toured it and had their pictures taken out front with the pirate.

“He was a nice and happy pirate, a Three Musketeers kind of pirate. He was well-protected. He was in good hands with us,” said Yvette Williams, 71, a member of San Pedro High’s Class of 1949.

Dick Williams, 77, graduated from San Pedro High in 1944. When he and his wife decided to retire in 1998, they donated much of the Sea’s artifacts -- the rare shell collections and whale skeletons -- to nature centers, aquariums and schools. They decided to give their pirate to their high school -- whose mascot is a gruff-looking pirate.

It was stored in donated warehouse space for several years while the Pirate Booster Club raised $5,000 to refurbish it. Another $10,000 came from the shipping firm NYK Lines.

Booster club President David Trujillo asked artist Kathleen Cadien, 54, who graduated from San Pedro High in 1967, to repair it and repaint it black and gold, the school colors.

The painting and patching went off as planned. But Cadien was surprised when she called to make arrangements to erect it at the high school. The statue would need to be inspected by a structural engineer and meet modern safety codes.

That meant slicing the swashbuckler open.

When an engineer took a look at its innards, he informed her that its rusting, skimpy steel skeleton needed to be replaced.

The unanticipated statue surgery proved that the pirate was handmade, not mass-produced like the thousands of other “muffler men” molded in 1960s and ‘70s by the International Fiberglass Co. of Venice.

Two weeks ago, during spring break, workers used a crane to mount the pirate on a concrete-and-steel base next to the school stadium’s running track.

“There was shock and awe when the kids came back and this monstrous pirate had appeared,” said Principal Steve Walters.

“It’s a historically correct pirate, with its lace furls. I’m sure football fans would rather have a mean, intimidating statue. But this is a true representation,” Walters said.

Despite its size, the pirate may have to grow on students who are too young to remember it standing guard over the Sea or the Buccaneer Queen.

“It’s kind of feminine looking. I think it’s going to look ugly at graduation,” said senior Andrea Showler, 18.

Classmate Tisha McAfee, 18, said: “Maybe they can put a cover on it for our graduation ceremony.”

No reason to do that, others say.

“We actually now have a monument that represents the school,” said senior Dwayne McDowell, 17. “It’s cool. It’s nice. We’re the Pirates and I’m proud of it,” said Trayvon Conley, a 15-year-old freshman.

The pirate’s new home is on the stadium’s home-team side. And that has prompted artist Amy Inouye to wonder if maybe a place for her 21 1/2-foot fiberglass statue might be found on San Pedro High’s visitors’ side.

It’s Chicken Boy, the famed chicken-headed fiberglass figure that once stood atop a fried-chicken eatery in downtown Los Angeles. It has a human body and is holding a bucket of chicken.

“I’m desperately trying to find a home for Chicken Boy,” said Inouye -- who consulted with Cadien on the repair of the pirate. “Are there any high schools with chickens for a mascot?”