March in San Pedro: Part One
01 March:
1846: Republic of Texas admitted into the territory of the United States; U.S. adopts the Republic’s outlandish claims to additional Mexican territory; subsequent border conflicts lead to the Mexican-American War and the Mexican Cession of the disputed territories, Nuevo Mexico, and Alta California in the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo (see February 02)
1858: Petition signed by the Mayor and Common Council of LA calling on A.D. Bache, superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey, to survey the anchorage at San Pedro (see February 12); petition notes that “The coasting trade of San Pedro is greater than the aggregate trade of all other ports south of San Francisco”; the value of domestic produce shipped from San Pedro from 07/01/1856-03/31/1856 (according to then Deputy Collector of the port, J.H. Stephens) amounted to $228,835 ($806 million in 2009 dollars using the relative share of GDP index); coastwise imports included 3,659 tons of general merchandise, 405,.801’ of lumber, and 202,000 shingles; 82 vessels (26,966 tonnage; 1,167 employees) entered and 79 vessels (26,945 tonnage; 1,131 employees) cleared the port during the same period; petition also notes that San Pedro Bay is the embarcadero for LA, San Bernardino and Tulare counties (an area of 74,300 square miles), ships all supplies for the military posts at Fort Tejon and San Bernardino (and has even shipped stores to Fort Yuma on the Colorado River), and recently had a new town laid out (the future Wilmington) (Los Angeles Star, 03/06/1858, pg. 2)
1892: Willis A. Norton files suit in Superior Court against the Los Angeles Terminal Railway Company for forcible ejectment from passenger car; seeks to recover $5,200 in damages ($126,000 in 2009 dollars using the consumer price index; $1,030,000 using the production worker compensation index) (Los Angeles Times, 03/02/1892)
1892: Judge McKinley (People, etc. vs. Alvin R. Measures, et al.) applies Common Law to declare infested San Pedro orange trees a public nuisance and orders destruction of remaining 60,000 trees to prevent spread of imported mining scale insects (Chionaspis biclavis, aka Howardia biclavis) which could destroy the southern California citrus industry (1st case of its kind in California); repeated disinfections (6) failed to eradicate the invasive species from the infested orange trees (part of a 325,000—or over 800,000—shipment imported from Tahiti in June 1891); trees are soaked in kerosene and burned on 03/29/1892; J.F. Anderson (“deputy sheriff, deputy United States marshal, pilot, searcher of vessels and detective for the Southern Pacific Company”), is charged with neglect by protesters when he files for payment of $2.50/day for services as caretaker of the trees (Los Angeles Times, 03/02/1892; 03/30/1892; 03/31/1892)
1897: Majority report of the Navy board (or Deep Water Harbor Commission), ordered by congress on 06/03/1896 and organized on 11/16/1896 with Rear-Admiral John G. Walker as Chairman, recommends San Pedro as location for LA’s deep water port (estimates cost of building a breakwater is $2,901,787); minority report by 1 member, R.P. Morgan (affiliated with the Southern Pacific), recommends Santa Monica (New York Times, 03/03/1897); majority report repeats recommendation made 9 years earlier (see March 03)
1900: Los Angeles Times (03/01/11900) reports heavily laden Hermosa ran aground while trying to make landing at Avalon during an extremely low tide
1905: Board of directors for the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake railroad (aka. Clark line and Salt Lake route) meets in LA and elect new officers; J. Ross Clark denies rumors that Harriman interests dominate the Salt Lake (despite E.H. Harriman being on the executive committee); official opening of the line not set but it should be ready for operation by May; port of San Pedro will highly benefit from new railway due to the several large steamship lines which are expected to follow (Los Angeles Herald, 03/02/1905, pg. 3)
1919: Los Angeles Times (03/01/1919) reports that the ex-wife of Charles E. Fulton, former president of the Fulton Shipbuilding Company in San Pedro (see February 17), filed suit for an accounting after belatedly discovering she had community property rights; the Fultons were married on 02/16/1895 and Mr. Fulton was granted an uncontested divorce on 02/08/1916 on the grounds of desertion; runaway wife discovers she was entitled to half of Fulton’s wealth when he files a quiet claim suit for property in San Pedro and Long Beach; ex-wife’s claim on estate may exceed $50,000 (over $3 million 2009 dollars using the nominal GDP per capita index)
1922: Chief Petty Officers’ circus and street carnival opens in San Pedro; fundraiser seeks to raise $100,000 to build recreational center for the 20,000 naval men based in San Pedro; thousands of Angelenos visit the hundreds of tents lining the midway of Harbor Blvd. from 5th to 1st Street; weeklong event promoted by the City Mothers Bureau and Sid Grauman’s Bill Brew Quartet to fight fans at Jack Doyle’s Vernon arena on 02/28/1922;electric cars run every half hour to San Pedro from LA and Long Beach; Henry L. Lee, director of the U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officers Club reports “It’s going over” (Los Angeles Times, 03/02/1922; 03/03/1922)
1922: Los Angeles Yacht Club (previously the South Coast Yacht Club—see March 03) and Los Angeles Motorboat Club (founded 06/10/1910) merge after unanimous vote; organization will keep the Los Angeles Yacht Club name but move from the San Pedro clubhouse (located on the Crescent Street bluff overlooking the old cove; land was bought in January 1904 but the clubhouse didn’t open until 02/09/1907) to the Motorboat Club headquarters at the foot of Terminal Way on Terminal Island and the new California Yacht Club (founded in February 1922) anchorage at Wilmington (near the new creosoting plant—see March 02); for years LAYC members had to endure a long haul down the 100-step stairs and a ¼ mile across the mudflats on wood planks to their 22nd Street Landing anchorage after their old anchorage on the cove below the bluff became part of the Miner fill area
In 1923 the LAYC joins the California Yacht Club (though retaining its name and charter); LAYC separates from the CYC in 1937 (the CYC basically went defunct during WWII after losing its Wilmington facilities to the Coast Guard in 1941 and was reactivated in 1961; on 09/22/1963 the club moved into its new quarters at the Sheraton Marina del Rey Hotel); the LAYC built a clubhouse at its new “temporary” anchorage south of Fish Harbor on Terminal Island (staying in the area for over half a century despite the smell from the canneries and industrial pollution) (Los Angeles Times, 03/03/1922; LAYC) (see also March 18)
1924: District Attorney seizes LA Harbor Department documents for Grand Jury investigation of mismanagement, irregularities and graft (Los Angeles Times, 03/02/1924)
1924: Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members from throughout southern California gather in San Pedro for march on the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World, aka, “Wobblies”) hall at 12th and S. Centre Street (see January, Also in); while newspapers reported 10-25,000 marchers, it may have been only 1,200-2,000 Klansmen plus a much larger crowd of curious bystanders and observers; marchers gathered a ¼ mile north of Liberty Hill and paraded past crowds of onlookers through downtown San Pedro to the IWW hall and back (uniformed police keep the route open while the crowds gather along the streets); parade led by mounted vanguard with a flaming cross; front ranks included local banker and the supervisor of the maritime service bureau (aka, “fink hall”); parade ended at the gathering point where spotlights lit the hillsides and a speaker attacked doctrines of disloyalty (such as bolshevism, anarchy, and IWW-ism) and said aliens unwilling to become “good Americans” should go back where they came from or “you can go to hell” (Industrial Pioneer, 04/1924, pgs. 30-31) (see also March 16)
1930: Battery B, 3rd Coast Artillery inactivated at Fort MacArthur (reactivated on 07/01/1940; reorganized and redesigned as Battery B, 520th Coast Artillery Battalion on 10/18/1944; Redesigned as Battery B, 3rd Coast Artillery Battalion on 12/01/1944; reorganized and redesigned as Battery C, Harbor Defenses for Los Angeles on 09/15/1945; inactivated at Fort MacArthur on 06/03/1946); Battery A also inactivated at Fort MacArthur (reactivated on 07/01/1939)
1938: San Pedro newspaper article makes unsubstantiated claim that Mormon Island was named after a Mormon missionary who lived on the Island in 1863 digging and selling shellfish; father went insane and tried to kill his 8-year-old son as a human sacrifice (Gilliland, 2009 citing San Pedro News Pilot, 03/01/1938 and 08/14/1959)
1938: San Pedro celebrates the 50th anniversary of its incorporation with a pageant, barbeque and dance; 81-year-old Roman D. Sepulveda serves as Grand Marshal of parade led by Fort MacArthur’s 63rd Coast Artillery; parade includes motorized anti-aircraft guns and 2 battalions of seamen from the battleships of the Pacific Fleet; celebration sponsored by the Thirty-Year Club of San Pedro (all members must be residents of San Pedro for 3 decades) (Los Angeles Times, 03/02/1938, pg.1)
1955: Opening of the San Pedro Hacienda (designed by the renowned modernist architect, Richard Neutra, who did the famous Channel Heights Housing Project for WWII San Pedro shipyard workers), the new million-dollar community-sponsored drive-in hotel in the Miraleste District; 80-room hotel is adjacent to the new 9-hole golf course (USCDL, examiner-m12397; Los Angeles Times, 02/27/1955)
02 March:
1842: John S. Dunn, majority owner of the San Pedro Salt Company, Long Beach (located on the flats between Long Beach and Wilmington), is born in Pennsville, Ohio; in 1904 Dunn moved to Long Beach, California and bought the company—putting his adult sons in charge (Irving L. as President and Orton C. as Secretary and Treasurer); San Pedro Salt was organized in 1901 and started production in 1902has 1,473 acres with 13 salt ponds (ranging from 35 to 280 acres each); land is flooded through a headgate at high tide; when ponds reach 25% salt, water is pumped to crystallization vats at rate of 16,000 gallons/minute; large crystals of rock salt are scraped away then washed, purified, dried (by machine invented by the Dunn brothers) and ground at the mill (evaporation, milling and packing process takes 90 days); in circa 1906 the plant shipped about 30,000 tons of salt; succeeded by the Long Beach Salt company (1909-1945) until salt works closed with the loss of marsh land (Guinn, 1907, Vol. 1, pgs. 909-910; Ver Planck, 1958, pg. 113)
1871: $200,000 appropriated by US congress for harbor improvement and Wilmington made a “Port of Delivery”; Congress appropriates funds for a rock jetty recommended by the Army Corps of Engineers between Rattlesnake (Terminal) Island and Deadman’s Island (closing the gap in the sandbar between the Islands and creating a current to help deepen the main channel); jetty and dredging transforms lower San Pedro Creek into the Main Channel of San Pedro Harbor; engineer Martin Lindskow (died 08/23/1902) oversees breakwater construction (including the companion jetty jutting out from Timms’ Landing) and becomes a leading citizen of San Pedro for the next 3 decades; Linskow came to own the 5th Street landing (known as Lindskow’s Landing) and ferry, and the business block on Front Street between 5th and 6th with the Lindskow Hotel and Pioneer Restaurant (surrounding area became known as Lindville); Lindskow was also San Pedro’s 1st school principle (his wife, Mary Ellen Lindskow—see March 08, was San Pedro’s 1st schoolteacher), a city night watchman (1895-1897), and a Deputy City Marshal (dates?)
1893: Los Angeles Times (03/02/1893) interviews Captain A.B. Smith, general manager of the San Pedro Transportation Co. (owned by anonymous LA investors), on the new company’s plans and progress: company will do first-class ship work, towing and lightering at discount rates; 2 large tugs (the Sea Witch arrived from San Francisco on 03/01/1893) and 6 lighters purchased; control of sufficient San Pedro wharfage acquired and will soon build own wharf; passenger service to Catalina will commence in 2-3 weeks
1905: Human remains found scattered along a quarter mile of track south of Bixby station are identified as ex Pacific Electric detective M.H. Ransome (who had been missing for 2 days after leaving home for a San Pedro fishing trip) (Los Angeles Herald, 03/02/1905, p.12)
1905: Brig. General G.H. Burton, inspector general of the U.S. army, arrives in Los Angeles to inspect San Pedro and other harbors where extensive government improvements are in progress; will move to Southern California after retirement in 2 years (Los Angeles Herald, 03/03/1905, p.1)
1908: Articles of incorporation filed for the Decoy Land and Water Company headquartered in San Pedro, California (No. 53,109; $20,000 capital stock)
1912: Railroad legal department estimates that the San Pedro rate reduction ordered by the Railroad Commission will save shippers $120,000 per year
1921: San Pedro sailor, Morris Cohn, drowns in a Famous Players-Lasky Corp. movie shoot off Redondo Beach when San Pedro tug, Imperial, capsizes in surf 200’ from shore (Los Angeles Times, 03/03/1921); property man Briggs Wilson and another San Pedro sailor, Pat Higgins, are rescued from sea; 3 more are recovered from top of upturned boat; crew, director (George Melford—known for The Sea Wolf, The Sheik, and the Spanish language Dracula) and stars (James Kirkwood and Alice Hollister) are credited with assisting doctors and lifeguard, Ted Combs, in rescue efforts; film is released on 06/26/1921 as A Wise Fool (costars included Alan Hale senior and William Boyd)
1922: Southern Pacific announces construction of new creosoting plant in Wilmington 600’ from deepwater wharf; the Canal Street plant will have four 6’ diameter retorts and 30,000 gallon creosote oil storage tank to process a minimum of 600,000 cross ties per year (Los Angeles Times, 03/03/1922)
1922: Mann Act white slavery charges (for bringing Mabel Halverson of Fergus Falls, MN to San Pedro, LA and San Diego, CA for asserted immoral purposes) against Dr. Leighton Bonner (alias Dr. R.L. Leighton and Dr. R.L. Gentrue) dropped when prosecution fails to present evidence proving prior marriage; Judge Trippet reprimands state authorities for dumping case in the Federal court; Bonner claims that if he married Edna Howard (in January, 1919), Kathleen Gillette (on 02/17/1921), Mildred Jarvis (on 03/16/1921), and Mabel Halverson (on 03/26/1921?) it was only because “they decided to vamp me and went and did it... I’m a sucker. Blondes are deceitful, cruel, immodest... [and] do not care a cent for a man except what he can give them”; Bonner remains in custody under unrelated charges from Denver, CO
1942: Western Defense Command Public Proclamation No. 1; San Pedro becomes part of Military Area No. 1 (see February 25)
03 March:
1831: Future San Pedro clerk and California bank commissioner, Andrew Wilson Potts, is born in Bedford, PA; joined the Gold Rush to California in 1849; worked for Tomlinson & Co. (the San Pedro freight and merchandise forwarding and shipping company) from 1861-1863 before joining their Wilmington competitor, Banning & Co.; when H.B. Tichenor completed the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad, Potts become its LA road agent; elected LA County clerk in 1869 (served for 14 years); appointed bank commissioner by Governor Stoneman in 1886 (Lewis Publishing Co., 1889, pgs. 599-600)
1849: Congress passed the Gold Coinage Act of 1849, approving the creation of the $1 gold coin and the $20 Double Eagle gold coin
1849: United States revenue laws extended by congress to California; ports of entry and delivery designated (San Pedro is not listed as either; after the first collector of customs, James Collier, arrives in San Francisco he reports on 11/12/1849 that San Pedro is the 2nd busiest port in California and should be designated a port of delivery)
1888: Army engineers submit report to congress recommending construction of a breakwater at San Pedro (Los Angeles Times, 03/03/1888; 03/14/1888; 03/18/1888) (see March 01)
1905: The tug, Dauntless, left San Francisco for Eureka to tow the disabled lumber schooner Bee to San Pedro; the fully loaded steam schooner damaged her propeller blades when she struck a sinker in Humboldt Bay (Los Angeles Herald, 1905, pg. 10)
1907: Brakes on interurban line Pacific Electric car fail at Beacon street hill in San Pedro; Motorman Gill tries to leap free but is caught by overturned car near 5th street (or on 5th between Beacon and Front); after rescue by wrecking crew, Gill’s crushed right foot is amputated; Sunday passengers are bruised and cut by flying glass (4 seriously injured); “hundreds” gather to view wrecked car (Los Angeles Herald, 03/04/1907, pg. 1) (see also March 04)
1920: South Coast Yacht Club adopts name of the defunct Los Angeles Yacht Club; LAYC was originally called the Sunset Yacht Club (with anchorage at the east end of Terminal Island in Long Beach); Sunset (mostly founded by ex members of the South Coast club headquartered in San Pedro) changed its name to the Los Angeles Yacht Club in 1916 but dissolved the same year (most members returning to South Coast); South Coast claims the name in 1920 amidst rumors another club might grab it; South Coast was founded in 1901 with anchorage at Brighton Beach on Terminal Island (1st headquartered in a shed then in a pavilion rented from the railroad) (LAYC) (see also March 01 and 18)
1926: Lumber schooner Sierra (704 net tons; valued at $260,000) on fire at the E. K. Wood Lumber Company wharf in San Pedro; boiler room fire spreads to engine room and forward cargo hold; fire contained after 4 hours by 4 engine companies and Fire Boat No. 2 (see December 02); weight of salt water used to fight flames causes ship to list 27 degrees to port; 2 firemen are overcome by smoke and carried out of hold; $50,000 in damage in this 3rd serious accident for the unlucky ship in 3 years (1st she was rammed and sunk by the submerged H-7 submarine as she entered the LA port, then rammed and sunk again by the steamer Claremont while leaving the wharf); (LAFIRE; Los Angeles Times, 03/04/1926, pg. A13)
1927: The Bureau of Customs was created as a separate bureau within the Treasury Department, but the authority for the collection of Customs revenue was established by the Constitution in 1789. Congress also established the Bureau of Prohibition
1952: Army sergeant arrested for stabbing wife 7 times in their San Pedro hotel apartment (110 W. 6th St.) after wife declared she was “through and leaving him”; husband tries to commit suicide with meat cleaver; wife is in critical condition at Harbor General Hospital; husband is booked for Assault with a Deadly Weapon (USCDL, examiner-m9470)
2011: The Hollywood Hotspot reports (03/03/2011) on the playful antics of AnnaLynne McCord at San Pedro, California while shooting an Indian wedding themed scene for hit TV series 90210
04 March:
1839: Francis Mellus (see March 09; February 03; January 20 and Also in January) arrives in San Pedro from Boston
1868: Directors of the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad (Ex-Governor J.G. Downey, Dr. J.S. Griffin and John King) file petition with the LA Board of Supervisors calling for an election authorizing a county subscription of up to $150,000 of the railroad’s stock; petition is granted (see March 10 and 24)
1892: Senators Stanford and Felton and Representatives Bowers and Geary appeared before the House Committee on Commerce this morning and made arguments showing the necessity for harbor improvements at San Pedro, San Francisco, Oakland and Humboldt (San Francisco Call, 03/05/1892)
1907: Pacific Electric officials block relatives and reporters access to and information on injured after the San Pedro car rear-ends the Long Beach flyer at 47th Street and Long Beach Blvd.; PE claims adjusters and employees block hospital access, warn accident victims not to talk, and sneak them away after treatment (Los Angeles Herald, 03/05/1907, p.1) (see also March 03)
1911: Smugglers drown a shipload of Chinese “coolies” by dumping them in the Pacific Ocean after Immigration Inspector Charles T. Connell prevents them from landing the contraband cargo at San Pedro; 2nd report (see February 16) of illegal Chinese being thrown overboard on smuggling runs from Baja California (New York Times, 03/05/1911, p.16)
1924: Legendary San Pedro High School alumnus, Egbert Austin “Bert” Williams, the pre-eminent pioneer black comedian honored by contemporaries of all races, dies in New York from pneumonia; Williams was America’s 1st black superstar and possibly America’s greatest vaudevillian performer (though disfavored as politically incorrect by activists in the 1960s and 1970s because he performed in black face); W.C. Fields called him "the funniest man I ever saw—and the saddest man I ever knew"; Williams was the former partner of George Walker (the Williams & Walker vaudeville act started in 1893 and were headliners from 1896-1909, when Walker had to retire due to illness); Williams was the 1st black American lead on Broadway and he co-authored “Shuffle Along” (the all-black Broadway musical comedy); Williams also headlined in the Ziegfeld Follies and performed with Eddie Cantor and George M. Cohen; many of his comedy and musical recordings are available for listening or download from the Internet Archive;
Up to 1920 (see also When the Moon Shines on the Moonshine, 1919) he was the world’s top-selling black recording artist (and one of the 3 highest paid regardless of race); in 1903 he gave a command performance at Buckingham Palace for the Prince of Wales’ birthday; in 1915 he became the 1st black artist to have full artistic control (except for the requirement that he appear in black face) to produce films for a general audience (IMDb Biography); Williams created A Natural Born Gambler, watch below (or go to download page) and Fish;
In WWII (20 years after his death) the United States liberty ship SS Bert Williams (launched 11/18/1944) was named in his honor; the Los Angeles Times (03/06/1922; 03/19/1924) reported he was a familiar figure in San Pedro for several years and graduated from SPHS—records showed he was one of the brightest pupils in his class (biographies say he attended school in Riverside and don’t mention San Pedro); at the time of his death, old time harbor residents recalled the impromptu street entertainments the young Williams staged in front of Shirley’s bootblack stand on Beacon Street (then a popular meeting place for blacks in San Pedro); local San Pedro prominent, James Dodson, recalled “When Bert would unlimber his dogs all business along Beacon street would come to a halt” and Williams and the gang at Shirley’s “would congregate under one of the downtown oil lamps and serenade for hours”
1952: Dana Junior High and San Pedro High School students ordered to remove their blue and grey Civil War caps after water-bomb fights break out on the SPHS campus in paper drive fundraiser rivalry (USCDL, examiner-m9493; examiner-m9486)
05 March:
1854: Letter from Lt. E.O.C. Ord (see November 12; December 21; January 11; February 07 and 14) to Superintendent Alexander Dallas Bache: “I have endured more exposure [working in San Pedro] and worked harder this winter on the Coast Survey than in any previous winter of my six years service here [—] with no society when my days work is done”; Ord worked 7 more weeks in the San Pedro area before giving up on 04/24/1854 with the “summer heats”; Ord returns to the “society” of San Francisco, finds his future bride (Mary Mercer Thompson), and returns to San Pedro in the winter of 1854-55 (see January 11 and February 7 and 14)
1885: LA County Board of Supervisors grants William G. Kerckhoff’s controversial petition (filed 05/03/1884) for a wharf franchise in San Pedro; Kerckhoff receives franchise to strip 375’ long (348.5’ less than requested) by 75’ wide of unoccupied waterfront (mostly below low water line) between W.H. Perry and Pacific Coast Steamship; petition opposition believed backed by Southern Pacific which feared franchise would be used by competing railroad and blocked public access to the county tidelands with heavy fence built on piles; franchise celebrated by anti-monopolists only granted when Atlantic and Pacific Railroad assured board they will not use it (declared they will use Rattlesnake Island if they reach San Pedro) (Los Angeles Times, 03/06/1885a; 03/06/1885b; 03/08/1885)
1886: Los Angeles Times (03/05/1886) reports “skull smashed” in shipboard accident at San Pedro; suspended tub of coal falls on 2nd mate when cable snaps; injured man rushed to LA by train and expected to survive
1890: Floater found in Wilmington slough is mistakenly believed to be one of the 2 non-union sailors kidnapped at gun point in San Pedro from the schooner Nettie Sondberg of San Francisco (Los Angeles Times, 03/01/1890; 03/02/1890; 03/05/1890; 03/06/1890; 03/07/1890; 03/08/1890) (see February 26; March 09)
1905: San Pedro Merchants defeat Los Angeles Owls (3 to 2) for the 5th time in semi-pro baseball game (Los Angeles Examiner, 03/06/1905, p.6)
1922: Los Angeles Times (03/05/1922, p.V4) reports Austin Company is building a new 80’x200’ machine plant for Regan Forge and Engineering on Terminal Island; construction will include addition to the forge shop and a new 2-story office building; the Regan company began in 1910 as a 2-man operation in LA which grew to a 10-man plant in the harbor by 1916; by 1922 it employed about 180 and new plant will have capacity of 300; company manufactures oil drilling machinery plus fishing and drilling tools
1936: Labor Secretary Perkins leaves a Cabinet dinner in evening gown to talk to seamen in San Pedro; talks crew into ending strike on an inter-coastal liner; crew of the east coast liner wanted to be paid at the higher west coast pay scale
06 March:
1885: Coast Seamen’s Union formed in San Francisco (300 members); in 1891 it merged with the Steamship Sailor’s Union (organized 1886) to become the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific
1905: AFL President Samuel Gompers revokes union charter 8921 for San Pedro’s ITLM&A union local 541 (Los Angeles Herald, 03/10/1905, p.4)
1905: Los Angeles Herald article (03/05/1905, pg. 6) gives overview of fortunes made in the development of Los Angeles—includes story of the stage and transport rivalry between Phineas Banning of Wilmington and the firm of Griffith & Tomlinson of San Pedro in the 1860s
1905: Real Estate transfers in San Pedro: P.J. and Bendikka Pryts to L. Hansen (Peck subdivision, block 33, Lot 15); State Bank of San Pedro to Pauline and A. Carmagnolle (Peck subdivision, block 50, Lot 25); Dolores B. de Ward to Mike Gaudino (Gaffey & Ward subdivision, block 2, Lot 8); State Bank of San Pedro to Walter V. and Nettie Haidt (Palos Verdes tract, Lot 17); Jacob and Pauline Adloff to John Hauerwass (Part Lot 8, block 59)
1911: Crew from the cruiser South Dakota wins the annual San Pedro cutter race (3-mile course; 10-man crews in each cutter)—taking the prize from the California; sailors bet almost $10,000 on the outcome (New York Times, 03/06/1911)
1938: Body of newspaper publisher, Robert P. Scripps, arrives in San Pedro aboard the Pacific liner Pennsylvania; Scripps died aboard his yacht off the Mexican coast near Magdalena
07 March:
1890: Kidnapped nonunion sailors Harry Kemp and Louis Busch are found on Catalina Island (see February 26)
1907: Business woman, Mrs. Margaret Francis Slusher, opens her new Los Angeles laundry (the business does $4,000/week—over $90,000 in 2009 dollars using the CPI—and specializes in the lingerie of the elite); Mrs. Slusher began her laundry career at age 15 and founded her own business at age 20 in 1899; the successful former Miss Campbell of Livermore married Silas F. Slusher on 07/23/1902; recognizing the local business opportunities of WWI, Mrs. Slusher gets the jump on her competitors and secures government contracts for all the army and navy work at San Pedro’s Fort MacArthur and Naval Reserve; in 1918 alone her government business amounted to $130,000—about $1.85 million using the CPI and $24.2 million using the relative share of GDP index; when competitors try to run her out of business, Mrs. Slusher becomes a local celebrity in 1919 and captures an even larger share of the local market (McGroarty, 1921, pgs. 146-148)
1918: 6-week study by Mark C. Cohn (Housing Bureau director, State Commission of Immigration and Housing), concludes San Pedro businesses are losing $16,000 of trade daily (over $1 million/day in 2009 dollars using the nominal GDP per capita index) and workers are losing $1.5 million per year ($110 million in 2009 dollars using the production worker compensation index) in lost time commuting up to 2.5 hours per day due to the housing shortage; calculates harbor district needs capacity to house 11,200 workers in addition to its permanent population (Los Angeles Times, 03/07/1918)
1927: Time magazine reports on the curse of the Grey Ghost: Lifeboat from yacht of novelist Zane Grey (see March 09) converted to fishing yawl; crippled in December 1926 storm—killing fisherman James McKinley; craft drifts ashore on Santa Catalina Island and fishermen Eli Kelly turns cannibal to survive; Grey Ghost salvaged by San Pedro fisherman, George McShallis, and sailed to San Clemente; yawl breaks mooring and strands McShallis, who falls off a cliff into a cactus pit and breaks his leg; starving fisherman found 8 days later suffering from exposure and blood poisoning
1936: George Bernard Shaw and Nicholas Murray Butler exchange barrage of caustic sarcasm in San Pedro interviews
1943: Coast Guard icebreaker USS Atka (AGB-3; 6,000 tons; 269’ long; 63.8’ beam; 25.75’ draught; 16 knots) launched at San Pedro, California by Western Pipe and Steel Company (christened 03/08/1943); commissioned as USCG Southwind (WAGB-280) on 07/15/1944 (renamed Admiral Makarov, 1945-50; USS Atka, 1950-66; USCG Southwind, 1966-76)
08 March:
1909: Hundreds watch in San Pedro as 20-year-old Lester Elkins, amateur aeronaut, is rapidly carried 4,000’ high and out to sea; Elkins parachutes from the balloon to his death 1 mile beyond Dead Man’s Island (New York Times, 03/09/1909)
1919: Acetylene gas explosion on 8000-ton steamship, West Cavanal, under construction at the Southwestern Shipbuilding Company kills one and injures 11; crew working in a narrow fuel tank when hot rivet ignites inadequately vented fumes; steamer is launched from the East San Pedro shipyard on 03/20/1919 (Los Angeles Times, 03/09/1919; 03/21/1919)
1921: The Pacific Fleet’s 7 dreadnaughts (the USS New Mexico, New York, Wyoming, Arkansas, Texas, Idaho and Mississippi) and several auxiliary vessels return home and drop anchor in San Pedro after 2 months of maneuvers with Atlantic fleet off Panama and the west coast of South America (Los Angeles Times, 03/09/1921)
1922: General court martial ordered by commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Eberle, for former cabin steward, Pedro Abdon, of the USS Alert at the San Pedro submarine base; harbor division police discovered plot by “several” San Pedro civilians in January; Abdon would order extra supplies “for the navy” from harbor merchants and his partners would sell them in LA (Los Angeles Times, 03/08/1922)
1932: Mary Ellen Lindskow, widow of Martin Lindskow and San Pedro’s 1st schoolteacher, dies in San Pedro at age 80 (buried with her husband at Harbor View Memorial Park); Mrs. Lindskow outlived her husband (see March 02) by 30 years and is buried at Harbor View Cemetery, San Pedro
1952: Girls' League Federation convention at San Pedro High School; 469 high school girl leaders from 185 Southern California and Arizona high schools gather at convention and tour the harbor aboard Harbor Department tug, Ace (USCDL, examiner-m9584)
09 March:
1839: Francis Mellus (see March 04 and January 20) is hired by Thompson in San Pedro
1847: Fremont, then Governor Marshall of the territory, directed F.W. Swasey to seize (requisition?) the Primavera anchored at San Pedro to transport some discharged men to San Francisco (see March 12)
1852: U.S. Commercial Treaty with Japan concluded by Commodore Perry
1868: Petition submitted to the Los Angeles City Council for election authorizing city’s subscription to $75,000 of Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad capital stock; petition granted (see March 10 and 24)
1889: “Crazy” Hawaiian woman from San Pedro is brought to LA and confined in the County Jail for disturbing the peace (Los Angeles Times, 03/09/1889)
1890: Los Angeles Times (03/09/1890) reports that the 2 sailors kidnapped in San Pedro were found “not a half hour too soon” on Catalina; 2 kidnappers are in jail awaiting trial (Sacramento Daily Union, 03/09/1890) (see February 26; March 05)
1921: LA celebrates National Fish Day; band wagon and “boat” filled with mermaids parade streets; 60 homing pigeons owned by the fishing fleet are released from The Times Building for race to Point Fermin; local packers exhibit varieties of canned fish (Los Angeles Times, 03/10/1921)
1921: New custom made deep-sea sport fishing cruiser, the Gladiator, is launched in Wilmington; the one-of-a-kind 60x14’ cruiser was special ordered by author Zane Grey (see also March 07) to solely catch swordfish (primarily off the coasts of Catalina) (Los Angeles Times, 03/10/1921)
1933: 123 ships and 245 planes in a 12-mile long column (“the most powerful armada ever assembled under single command in naval history”) parade and perform maneuvers off San Pedro before Admiral Richard H. Leigh and dignitaries aboard the Pennsylvania (which waited at San Pedro 3 miles out from the breakwater) while a crowd of half a million people watched from the Palos Verdes hills; parade emerged from the fog at Point Vicente led by light cruiser Raleigh with 26 destroyers of the Scouting Force flotilla; next came the heavy cruiser Augusta with 12 consorts and the dreadnaught squadron (California, West Virginia, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas) and 30 auxiliaries, followed by the aircraft carriers in a full-speed dash down the line and the submarine flotilla (20 V and S class submarines with the cruisers Narwhale and Nautilus); 50 destroyers dashed southward billowing a black smokescreen joined by a white aerial smokescreen dropped by planes; in a mock battle, squadrons of airplanes dived on the Pennsylvania from 8,000’ before the carriers returned so that the planes could land at sea before the crowds with the grandstand view at Point Fermin and Upper Fort MacArthur; after the display the battleship, cruiser, and carrier units anchored at San Pedro while the destroyers and submarines continued on to San Diego (Los Angeles Times, 03/09/1933, pg.A1; 03/10/1933, pg.A1 )
1994: Henry Charles Bukowski dies in San Pedro of pneumonia at age 73 shortly after finishing his last novel, Pulp
10 March:
1868: Los Angeles County clerk, Thomas P. Mott, publishes proclamation calling for election on 03/24/1868 to vote on approving bond measures to fund construction of the Los Angeles & San Pedro railroad (see March 24); Tomlinson, Banning’s San Pedro competitor and major opponent of the railway (which would give Banning’s wharf and lighters an unfair competitive advantage) dies 2 weeks before the election; A bill authorizing the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to subscribe $150,000 toward the construction of a Los Angeles-San Pedro railway was originally passed by the California Senate in 1861 and an Act authorizing its construction passed both houses in 1863 but Los Angeles did not act upon the bills introduced by Banning; the reauthorization bill passed by both houses in 1868 (see February 01) was immediately acted upon (see March 04 and 09)
1885: Body of Phineas Banning arrives in LA to be interned at Wilmington family plot (later moved to Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in LA by his 2nd wife); Banning died on 03/08/1885 in the Occidental Hotel, San Francisco at age 54 (55?) after 2 years of poor health from kidney and liver ailments and failed recovery from being hit by an express wagon; Banning’s business interests were transferred to the Wilmington Transportation Company (run by the sons of his 1st wife) about a year earlier (Los Angeles Times, 03/10/1885)
1893: LA Chamber of Commerce board of directors receives report from Director Charles Forman on his 6 weeks in Washington, D.C. lobbying for the San Pedro harbor improvements; report concludes chamber must remain united in support for San Pedro—after 5 successive boards of engineers recommended San Pedro [and the years of acrimonious conflict] the view in Washington is now “San Pedro or nothing”; the exception is Senator Frye who still favors “whatever Mr. Huntington wants” (Los Angeles Times, 03/11/1893; 03/12/1893)
1912: Pacific Torpedo Fleet leaves San Diego for San Pedro on 03/10-11/1912; 6 torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers leave on March 10; the Farragut, Hopkins, and Rowan leave on March 11
1918: Students in the over-crowded marine building (plans for an additional building have been submitted to the trustees) of San Pedro High School (at 12th and Gaffey complete up to 12 boats per year; mechanical drawings are completed on the upper floor with shipbuilding in the ground floor woodshop (electrical and gasoline engines are completed in the machine shop); completed boats are sold at $1/foot (averaging $48 each) for a 2% profit but students can buy them for only the cost of lumber (or for about $8) (Los Angeles Times, 03/10/1918)
1932: “Black” fleet leaves San Pedro under Vice Admiral Arthur L. Willard for latest war games (see February 04, 22 and March 22)
1933: Long Beach Earthquake: 6.2-6.4 magnitude; $41 million in damage ($10.3 billion in 2009 dollars using the relative share of GDP index); 115-120 people die (only death in San Pedro was a fireman on the USS Marblehead, U.W. Murray; one San Pedro resident, Tony Guggilomo, was killed in Long Beach); mistaken by many as creating the “Sunken City” area in San Pedro (inspection of the Point Fermin area, which actually sank several feet 3 years earlier, showed no impact from the quake); believed to have shut off the natural springs at White Point; US National Geodetic Survey estimated that Catalina Channel sank 359’; east coast publications, including Time magazine, reported highly exaggerated and false accounts of damage, injury and death by witnesses (passengers on a vessel which left San Pedro just before the quake reported the Palos Verdes cliffs slid into the sea) and reporters (Union Oil storage tanks in San Pedro did not go up in flames); reports that “Old Ironsides” (the restored USS Constitution which had left San Pedro for Long Beach the day before) sent Fireboat No. 2 racing to the rescue only to find a rubbish fire on the shore; prior readiness drills enabled thousands (2,000-4,000) of San Pedro sailors, marines and soldiers from Fort MacArthur and the Battle Fleet to respond quickly and aid authorities in Long Beach and Compton (triggering false rumors of martial law); fleet sailing orders were cancelled and the ships remained anchored at San Pedro during the relief efforts;
San Pedro, on the edge of the primary quake area, suffered little damage compared to Long Beach or Compton (as shown in the above 17’ silent documentary)—mostly cornices and facades in downtown (bricks from the Anderson Building at 6th and Beacon destroyed a car); also salt water pipelines at the Standard Oil wharf separated (by almost 6 inches) and the base of a Catholic church tower cracked; San Pedro stores were ordered reopened on 03/13/1933; damage to Wilmington port facilities were initially estimated at nearly $1 million ($250 million in 2009 dollars using the relative share of GDP index); overall, San Pedro and Wilmington experienced only about $1.65 million ($413 million in 2009 dollars) damage compared to the $10-25 million in Long Beach ($2.5-6.3 billion in 2009 dollars); while the Wilmington City Hall (already pegged for replacement) was condemned, San Pedro’s damage was revised down to only $400,000 ($100 million in 2009 dollars) (NOAA Photo Library; SCEC; SCEDC; NISEE; LA Maritime Museum; USGS Photographic Library; LA Times Images; Los Angeles Times, 03/11/1933a, pg.1; 03/11/1933b, pg.3; 03/11/1933c, p.1; 03/12/1933, pg.1; 03/13/1933a, p.1; 03/13/1933b, p.1; 03/13/1933, p.5; 03/15/1933, p.6; Time, 03/20/1933; 04/03/1933)
11 March:
1892: Los Angeles Times reports (03/11/1892; 03/18/1892) “Mysterious Railroad Movements at San Pedro”; appears another line will be built to the port; E.P. Carnicle and E.C. Hine have applied to the San Pedro Board of Trustees for a wharf franchise at Timms Point (to be considered on 03/28/1892); the Santa Fe Company is interested; Eastern capitalists are investigating the Terminal Road’s property
1892: An infamous San Pedro “dance-house” (a common term in the late 1800s implying a disorderly house, bawdy-house, house of ill repute, place of lewd and lascivious commerce, or place which admits lewd women with no visible means of support) enlivens the news in two cases; in the 1st the notorious Henry H. “N*gg*r” Brown (not to be confused with the 1920s-1940s gambler Marvin A. “N*gg*r” Brown, brother of the San Pedro commercial shark fisherman and skipper of the Tivuron, Gilbert Brown—see Investigation of Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, 1950, pgs.742-744) is acquitted despite having refused to pay license for running a dance-house—rumored that jury was mad at the Court for breaking up their poker game; in the 2nd case Elicia (or Felicia) “Lizzie” Reyes, “a Mexican woman,” is acquitted after a short trial for the 01/26/1892 assault with intent to murder Norwegian sailor Ole “Strawberry” Johnson (or Johannsen) at “N*gg*r” Brown’s stingray dance-house (Los Angeles Times, 01/26/1892; 03/04/1892; 03/11/1892; 03/19/1892)
1900: The battleship USS Iowa (see October 07) under Rear Admiral Kautz, North Pacific Squadron (or Pacific Coast Squadron?) Commander, arrives in San Pedro; associated visit of cruiser USS Marblehead cancelled by Washington at last minute; thousands of tourists and Angelenos arrive in San Pedro to visit ship on 11 special trains run from LA by the Southern Pacific; Kautz and party are entertained in LA as guests of the Chamber of Commerce (Los Angeles Times, 03/07/1900; 03/08/1900; 03/10/1900; 03/12/1900; 03/13/1900)
1921: Two workmen die at LA Harbor from separate industrial accidents; Southwestern Shipbuiding Co. mechanic, Samuel Foose, crushed between 2 cranes; Baxtor & Jordon pole-treating plant hook and tender, W.L. Hodge, crushed when 2 poles drop 75’ onto his head (Los Angeles Times, 03/12/1921)
12 March:
1847: The Primavera sets sail from San Pedro for San Francisco with discharged California volunteers for the Mexican-American War (see March 01 and 09)
1888: William F. (23) and Charlotte (18) Dunbar married; Seventh Day Adventist Church of San Pedro honors Lomita couple on their 70th wedding anniversary in 1958 (USCDL, examiner-m15220)
1892: Coroner’s inquest on mysterious death in San Pedro of Mrs. Gustavson: 1st husband, William Wolf, died on 01/06/1892 and despondent widow takes to drink; marries Enoch Gustavsen on 03/08/1892; makes new will leaving all property to 1st husband’s sister and dies on 03/11/1892; Coroner’s inquest on 03/12/1892 reveals drug use, post-mortem shows signs of poisoning, and stomach analysis ordered; body buried on 03/13/1892; inquest is reconvened on 03/14/1892—analysis disproves morphine use but reveals large quantities of free chloroform; Coroner’s jury concludes accidental death from overdose of choral hydrate prescribed by San Pedro druggist J.W. Davis without a physician’s certificate; Coroner will investigate claims made by George Peck in earlier libel suit (see February __) that Davis is “not in his right mind” (Los Angeles Times, 03/14/1892; 03/15/1892)
1905: Severe southeaster storm downs hundreds of trees, phone and telegraph lines throughout LA basin; downtown streets flooded; streetcars blocked and derailed; 300’ of Ocean Park and 100’ of Santa Monica piers washed away; 50 mph winds in San Pedro downed wireless mast (cutting off communications with Catalina) but caused little damage—new breakwater protected ships and harbor from mountainous waves (Los Angeles Herald, 03/13/1905, p.1; p.2)
1916: Colonel D.C. Jackling, the Utah copper king, and party leave San Pedro on auxiliary yacht Cypress for a leisurely pleasure cruise around Cape Horn to New York (Los Angeles Times, 03/13/1916)
1920: U.S. submarine H-1 (SS-28; prior Seawolf; commissioned 12/01/1913 and assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Fleet, San Pedro), on return trip to San Pedro (left 10/17/1917) via the Panama Canal after WWI service on the east coast, founders on shoal off Santa Margarita Island, Lower California at 1 am and sinks; initial speculation is that ship was intentionally beached stern-first to save crew from noxious chlorine gas leak (actually caused by mistaking the outline of Santa Margarita for the entrance to Magdalena Bay due to poor visibility in heavy seas); 4 die (Lieutenant-Commander James T. Webb, machinist mate H.N. Giles, and seamen H. Dealmain and Joseph Hofman); tender ship USS Eagle broadcasts S.O.S. and 3 destroyers (the USS Sinclair, McCawley and Meade) and fuel steamer Neptune race to aid survivors under orders of Admiral Welles; 22 survivors arrive in San Pedro on 03/18/1920 aboard the steamer Mazatlan; crew was stranded on beach suffering from exposure for 30 hours despite rescue efforts of Eagle and sister ship H-2 until the nearby Mazatlan succeeded in getting a boat ashore to evacuate survivors (see December 01) (NHC; PigBoats; NavSource; Los Angeles Times, 03/15/1920; 03/19/1920)
1921: Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of San Pedro (see November 11) holds 1st annual company party at the Long Beach municipal auditorium (Los Angeles Times, 03/13/1921)
13 March:
1887: State Board of Health members arrive in LA to investigate small pox outbreak; Mexican border to be quarantined (Los Angeles Times, 03/14/1887) (see March 17, 18 and 19)
1905: Storm (see January 12) destroys 200’ of construction pilings at sea end of the San Pedro breakwater; derrick falls into sea at outer end and lost; part of the shore end pilings also damaged; wreckage washed ashore on Terminal Island all day; sardine fishing power sloop Alpha (believed lost on 03/12/1905) reported safe; Captain Harry Young successfully reached safe harbor at Redondo Beach to wait out storm (Los Angeles Herald, 03/14/1905, pg. 4)
1907: Financial panic began as the stock market began to fall. The market reached a low point on November 15, 1907 when the average was 39% lower than on March 13
1922: Japanese champion wrestler, Kinjo Ikeda, works out with heavy sledgehammers and runs an hour a day at Whites Point, San Pedro for forthcoming contest with “white world champion”, Walter Miller, at the Los Angeles Athletic Club; ill-fated match postponed from 03/02/1922 because Ikeda had the flu, then Miller wrenches shoulder and is replaced by Eddie O’Connell, former welterweight wrestling champion; Ikeda wins match against under prepared O’Connell on 03/30/1922 (Los Angeles Times, 03/13/1922; 03/27/1922; 03/29/1922; 03/31/1922)
14 March:
1885: Anti-Chinese mass meeting held by the Independent Labor Union No. 1 at the plaza in LA (Los Angeles Times, 03/14/1885; 03/15/1885) initiates the 2nd anti-Chinese campaign in California; the meeting was orchestrated by Captain J. F. (John Frazer?) Janes, ship’s chandler agent and publisher of San Pedro’s 1st newspaper, the Shipping Gazette (published from 10/06/1883 to 08/xx/1886; masthead changed from San Pedro Shipping Gazette to Los Angeles and San Pedro Shipping Gazette when the publication moved to LA two months later—see December 22—and distribution expanded from San Pedro to include LA and Santa Monica); Janes had organized a Workingman’s Club earlier in March 1885 to foment a new anti-Chinese campaign (the group’s name was changed to the Independent Labor Union No. 1 and then the Anti-Chinese Union) because he found existing political parties too tepid on exclusionist issues (he briefly reestablished the Shipping Gazette as an organ for the movement in joint publication with The Advocate); Janes quit the Union in May when he lost the presidency (see Stimson, 1955, pgs. 61-63)
1932: Time magazine (03/14/1932) reports: “Albert Einstein ended two studious months at California Institute of Technology last week. At San Pedro, Los Angeles' harbor, he boarded the Hamburg-American San Francisco with Mrs. Einstein... For farewell he gave—in good English —an interview to the Press, which the New York Times meticulously quoted.” One of the quotations included “It is scarcely possible to think that life on other planets does not exist,” and when asked about Prohibition he replied “That’s your problem, not mine” (see also January 04)
1952: 63-year-old cat burglar killed in San Pedro in gunfight with police; two officers wounded (USCDL, examiner-m9845)
1956: Charles Manson arrested in Indianapolis for skipping bail and returned to LA; probation is revoked and he is sentenced to 3 years imprisonment at Terminal Island, San Pedro, California with eligibility for parole in April 1957 (see March 21)
