‘Hidden’ waterfront takes shape
Behind fences, land sits ready for construction of restaurants, dining patios and amphitheater
The canvas is primed.
But it remains unseen by most of the public, kept at bay, for now, by construction fences.
Large blocks of cleared open space, a recent tour of the site revealed, sit ready for new restaurants, outdoor dining patios and an amphitheater where the former Ports O’ Call buildings once stood on San Pedro’s waterfront.
Massive container and cruise ships glide through the shipping channel alongside the linear property, creating its own reallife theater.
And key infrastructure elements — the waterfront promenade, benches, a giant swing in the adjacent town square set to finish up soon and new landscaping — are already in place and await all that comes next.
The coronavirus pandemic managed to push back openingday plans for San Pedro’s longawaited new waterfront development, West Harbor. Groundbreaking now will be in early 2022, and the attraction is slated to open to the public in late 2023, more than a year later than the dates laid out in the most-recent
timelines and plans.
But the time lost to the pandemic provided some advantages.
Port of Los Angeles crews have worked throughout the past 23 months and have managed to complete much of the infrastructure, including most of a 30-footwide, 1.9-acre section of the promenade walkway that runs alongside the water.
The area, constructed with concrete unit pavers, has drought-tolerant plants and 34 trees of various species.
Benches made out of Brazilian walnut wood, 29-foot tall light poles, “angel” wing lights and waterfront railings have been installed. There will also be drinking fountains, restrooms, a pet station and trash and recycling receptacles.
Leashed canines will be welcome throughout much of the area, and folks can come down to stroll the promenade or just sit by the water.
Along with a floating courtesy dock, it has set the stage for the coming infill. The first structures will be one of two sizes: 100 square feet and 75 square feet. They will house new anchor tenants who have signed leases, including Yamashiro, a century-old Japanese seafood restaurant that is an L.A. and Hollywood favorite.
Construction is expected to begin early next year.
The development has been more than a decade in the works and has drawn both anticipation and skepticism among locals.
Detractors have questioned whether it would ever be built — and, for sure, the project has taken much longer than originally expected.
Others have been critical of renderings and have lamented the loss of Ports O’ Call Village, a beloved and quaint seaside shopping village that opened in the 1960s but had become outdated and in need of physical repairs within two decades.
But the push to update San Pedro’s visitor waterfront with something fresh and new has been on the community’s wish list for many years.
Now, it appears the development, which has plodded along behind the scenes for so long, is about to gain more visibility.
The developers, Ratkovich Co. of Los Angeles and Jerico Development of San Pedro — both family-run businesses — have worked alongside the Port of Los Angeles under a 50-year ground lease to move plans forward, going through several design iterations along the way. The landscape architect is James Corner Field Operations.
The latest change was a rebranding announced in October 2020 that altered the working name from the San Pedro Public Market to West Harbor, meant to contrast with the neighboring Long Beach harbor to the east.
The design makeover also threw in new splashes of color, nautical flags, expansive use of huge windows and other bright touches throughout the 42-acre site. West Harbor will combine with an interconnected Wilmington waterfront district, all of it branded the L.A. Waterfront.
The promenade is hailed as an element that was lacking from the old Ports O’ Call, which had buildings along the water, blocking shore access and views in many spots.
In a major announcement in August, the developers announced the signing of seven new anchor tenants. Besides Yamashiro, those tenants include Mike Hess Brewing, Hopscotch, Poppy + Rose, Sugar Factory, Jay Bird’s Chicken and a Mexican cantina.
The San Pedro Fish Market, which is still operating on the property, will not join the new development after negotiations for an anchor spot failed to come up with a plan that would give them the larger footprint the business said it needed. The Fish Market instead will move north to the other end of the Main Channel near the World Cruise Terminal and the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
But the new development will include a food market hall and space for other restaurants, including some local businesses that have expressed interest in moving there.
In part due to trends established during the pandemic, expansive outdoor eating spaces will be part of the layout, including plans for seating on a platform over the water.
Plans for an amphitheater have been adjusted to make use of portable seating and programming that will be seasonal, leaving the area open for other uses the rest of the time. The amphitheater will have 6,200 seats, allowing it to host large community or corporate events in addition to concerts.
Ultimately, a second phase of the development could include a boutique hotel at the northern end of the project, but that would come later and would require a full study of potential environmental consequences.
Ideas yet to be cemented include possible water attractions, such as floating pools, and some kind of vertical interactive way-finder piece that would be seen from a distance, allowing motorists to visually identify West Harbor.
Harbor Breeze Cruises will offer harbor and dinner cruises. And Los Angeles city’s official brigantines, the Irving Johnson and Exy Johnson — the flagships of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute — will be docked at one of the main entrances.
Parking will include 2,000 spaces onsite with another lot to be built on the bluff to the west.
The idea, said Eric Johnson of Jerico, is to put the spotlight on the port itself while offering what all successful waterfronts have in common: a variety of food, drink and entertainment.
Some specialty entertainment also will be woven in, Johnson said, but the days are gone when visitors mostly wanted to shop at brick-and-mortar stores, the kind that populated much of Ports O’ Call, which was built to resemble an East Coast fishing village.
The new attraction, Johnson said, will be authentic to San Pedro — and “not faux anything” else.