Phineas, We Hardly Knew Ye

Phineas Banning is back in Wilmington, and not a minute too soon. Good times continue to elude the plucky but down-at-heels harbor community named for the Delaware hometown of the Gold Rush-era transportation tyro, who installed Southern California’s first railroad and more or less dreamed up the Port of Los Angeles.

L.A.’s own Fitzcarraldo-esque visionary, who built a Victorian Greek Revival mansion near the harbor and got Wilmington started on mud flats, now radiates can-do spirit as an 8-foot bronze statue unveiled last month at the Banning’s Landing Community Center. “Books describe him as always the first to roll up his sleeves and say, ‘Let’s jump into this,’ ” says sculptor Eugene Daub, who discusses the statue in portraiture workshops. Funded partly through L.A.’s Community Redevelopment Agency, it may augur well for Wilmington. Last month, the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a harbor-front development plan. They’ve foundered before, but this time Phineas is around to supervise.