Regaining the Waterfront

Smiling blissfully, eyes half-closed, Jeannine Maher lounged in one of several Adirondack chairs facing the sun and inhaled the salt air at a new seaside park.

Like many people, the 25-year resident of San Pedro is well acquainted with the primal tug of the ocean. But she and tens of thousands of her neighbors have long been cut off from the water by the commercial sprawl of the bustling Port of Los Angeles.

Now that barrier is being erased. The opening last month of a boardwalk and park, called the Cruise Ship Promenade, is the first step toward bringing the waterfront closer to the communities it touches by dramatically altering the landscape with open space.

“It does a lot for a very large amount of people,” said Maher, 75. “There’s so many things in it, you could spend the whole day here.”

Named for the cruise ships docked nearby, the park is the first quarter-mile segment of what will eventually be a ribbon-like, 8-mile-long playground stretching from the Vincent Thomas Bridge to the breakwater at Cabrillo Beach.

On a recent day, brightly colored banners fluttering in the sea breeze beckoned visitors to “Stroll,” “Cruise L.A.” and “Enjoy” the park’s amenities. Longtime San Pedro resident Bob Basich, 70, was enthusiastically trying out the new boccie ball court.

“The whole thing is wonderful,” he said, spreading his arms as if to embrace the entire park. “We could never touch the water, but now we are playing by the water.”

Before the makeover, the spot was an unsightly asphalt patch used for cruise ship overflow parking.

“There was junk and garbage,” Basich said. “You couldn’t even park here very well to say goodbye to people on the ships.

Now well-wishers can wave bon voyage from a handsome Brazilian-wood boardwalk backed by lush date palms.

Adding a bold signature to the scene is the busy Vincent Thomas Bridge.

Basich and others said they plan to use the park for daily walks.

While meandering, they can pause to rest on wooden deck chairs or concrete benches inlaid with tile and handmade ceramic art.

Sleek metal drinking fountains and bike racks are other user-friendly touches meant to draw people in and encourage them to stay.

San Pedro’s Waterfront Red Car trolley line stops just outside the park. Visitors can hitch a ride to the Maritime Museum or Ports o’ Call Village and continue to Cabrillo Beach via the San Pedro Electric Trolley.

Permanently installed game boards offer amusement to those seeking more sedentary pleasures. Viewing scopes provide up-close-and-personal glimpses of the massive port cranes, the World Cruise Center and terraced residential neighborhoods.

Wind-stirred sculptures prod the imagination, as do ornamental grasses intended to resemble ocean waves.

While checking out the park recently, Jerry Lovanov, a 75-year-old San Pedro native, recalled a waterfront era whose passing is still lamented by many locals.

“Years ago they had the ferry and huge shipyards here where they built ocean-going vessels,” said the retired schoolteacher. “That’s all gone. But this sort of change has been a tremendous improvement. This will bring people in from afar to enjoy it.”

In fact, that is exactly what officials envisioned when they used $6.5 million from port revenues to design and build the park.

“I think Los Angeles will find a new affection for its waterfront,” said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who represents the area. “I think this will be a new destination for people all over Southern California. On a nice summer eve, people will be saying, ‘Why don’t we go down and stroll and wave?’ ”

Her brother, Mayor James K. Hahn, goes so far as to call the entire 400-acre “From Bridge to Breakwater” plan “one of Southern California’s greatest public infrastructure projects.”

It draws directly from the region’s rich but often neglected maritime past.

“A lot of people forget that this is a port town,” Janice Hahn said. “This is a good time to begin reconnecting Los Angeles with its waterfront.”

The history of the 7,500-acre port stretches back at least to 1805, when the first American trading ship, the Leila Byrd, brought textiles, sugar and household goods to the region. In the 1850s, Phineas Banning, considered the father of today’s port, opened a freight service.

In 1914, the completion of the Panama Canal boosted the importance of the harbor.

During World War II, port shipbuilding employed 90,000 workers. After the war, the operations were converted to private industry.

Harking to a past era are Art Deco “angel-wing” lamps, modeled after ones used decades ago at one of the port’s largest berths.

Officials look toward the future as they lay plans to build the full project over the next two decades. The broad promenade will be extended to link the water-hugging open space winding through the harbor’s pier, Ports o’ Call Village, warehouse and marina districts.

The next two segments, spanning nine blocks between the Cruise Ship Promenade and the Maritime Museum near 6th Street, are scheduled for completion by June.

San Pedro restaurateur John Papadakis surveyed the new park on its first day and said it’s only the beginning of what he believes will be one of the world’s premier recreational harbors.

“From the bridge to the breakwater,” he said, “is going to be an amazing journey.”