West Harbor Breaks Ground
Facing the future of the waterfront and the threat of erasure
On Nov. 12, A few hundred attendees packed around the stage for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the long-awaited entertainment and dining complex dubbed “West Harbor.” Ports O’ Call Village was demolished to make way for the long-awaited waterfront development.
Construction on the new San Pedro waterfront complex is set to start in the summer of 2023. The entertainment and dining complex will mark the first major overhaul since Ports O’ Call Village’s founding in 1962. The $155 million project is scheduled to be completed in three phases, with the first phase introducing new restaurants, shops, and bars with a finish date of 2024.
Joe Buscaino, the outgoing city council representative for the 15th district, began his remarks by reminiscing about the past and memories of his youth in San
Pedro, a habit he’s given over to as he winds up his tenure.
“As a child, some of my best memories of my life are from visiting Ports O’ Call Village, where my dad would take me and my sisters for ice cream after he came back from days at sea as a fisherman, then it seemed like we lost an entire generation of memories,” he said, almost as if he didn’t have anything to do with the rapid erasure of San Pedro’s cultural heritage. But, he’ll fix it, he said.
Buscaino recounted the highlights of the Waterfront Development project starting with the Downtown Watercut groundbreaking ceremony in 2012, one of the first of his tenure on the north side of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. It was indeed a full circle moment given that the Nov. 12 ceremony was about 100 feet away from the first ceremony ten years ago.
No one spent much time rehashing how the Port of Los Angeles fought tooth and nail to work with the Community Redevelopment District to develop the waterfront to revive San Pedro. Or turned deaf to restaurateur John Papadakis’ pleas to return the waterfront to the people of San Pedro and develop it. And yet now, nearly two decades after he proposed the vision for this area, he was recognized for that vision by outgoing councilmember Buscaino.
The new waterfront of West Harbor will feature a 20,000-square-foot beer garden, more than one mile of waterfront access, and more than 150,000 square feet of retail, restaurants, entertainment and more. Other elements include the proposed 6,200-seat amphitheater; 9,000 square foot food and dining hall; three overwater decks for dining directly on the waterfront; more than 20,000 square feet of waterside space for attractions and harbor excursions; and 1,200 linear feet of courtesy dock to accommodate boats.
West Harbor, as it has been pictured to-date, has many of the elements envisioned and demanded by the community 20 years ago. That is due to the local grassroots activism that rose and pushed the port to do what it didn’t want to do. There are also a number of elements that didn’t make it, the most prominent of which was the revival of the Red Car line from the south end of the San Pedro Waterfront to Wilmington. That dream was ultimately put in a coffin a couple of years ago when the port pulled the trigger on pulling up the railroad tracks to make room for greenspace for the coming redevelopment of Rancho San Pedro public housing.
Community business leaders and the port had decided that San Pedro’s revitalization rests on increased density around the downtown core and waterfront development rather than transportation even though the POLA has now hired a consultant to create a “connectivity” plan for this area.
The developers have an unprecedented 66-year lease with the port to operate West Harbor with more than $100 million of investment by the city and the Port of Los Angeles to
the site’s infrastructure. There are some who suggested that the rush to break ground now was motivated by the change coming to the mayor’s office starting in December after the close election votes have been counted. Some city hall insiders believed that candidate Rick Caruso would have taken a dim view of this project and that Karen Bass who has just declared victory in the mayor’s race might want to review or alter this project to create more diversity and economic opportunities for small or minority-owned businesses.
Eight acres of outdoor recreation tenants, parks, and leisure spaces on the waterfront do not include any of the previous Ports O’Call tenants, the San Pedro Fish Market nor any other San Pedro brands as previously promised by the developers; except Harbor
Breeze Cruises.
Confirmed restaurants and dining include:
Mike Hess Brewery
Mike Hess is a craft brewery with several franchises in and around San Diego and another in the Bay Area in Walnut Creek. Considered a premier craft brewery, Mike Hess beers are distributed throughout California. Originally established in 2010 as San Diego’s first nano-brewery, the company has expanded to include six locations and is now the 35th largest craft brewer in the state.
Their tasting room and brewery locations are family and dogfriendly.
Yamashiro and Sugar Factory
The Fish Market’s former footprint at West Harbor will be partially occupied by Yamashiro and Sugar Factory, a trendy brasserie known for bombastic desserts and other Instagram-friendly fares. Both Yamashiro and Sugar Factory are co-operated by Elie Samaha, a high-profile film producer and real estate developer with multiple business interests, including restaurants, nightclubs and hotels.
The West Harbor location will be the third location for King and Queen Cantina. King and Queen Cantina is part of the Mr. Tempo franchise founded by Jorge Cueva. The restaurant combines Latin flavors with a farm-to-table experience serving sustainable ingredients presented in one-of-a-kind dishes honoring Mexican influence, while also showing off culinary inspiration from international cuisine. The bar will offer mixologists creating craft cocktails that have garnered consistent five-star ratings.
Hopscotch is an immersive and experiential brand that brings together artists in collaborative environments to create unique, impactful and distinct shared experiences. The company believes art can be a vessel to tell stories and illuminate important messages of the past, present, and future.
Poppy+Rose
Poppy + Rose is a Californiainspired brunch restaurant located in the Flower District in Downtown Los Angeles. Founded in 2014, the restaurant’s husband-wife duo Chef Michael Reed and Kwini Reed, Poppy + Rose serve seasonal, elevated country kitchen-styled comfort food in a relaxed, floral-themed ambiance.
Harbor Breeze Cruises
The only legacy tenant from the Ports O’ Call Village era, Harbor Breeze Cruises is a top destination for whale-watching in Long Beach and Los Angeles. With custom-built high-speed vessels, Harbor Breeze Cruises can cover waters north to Santa Monica and south to Newport Beach for maximum range coverage resulting in maximum marine lifesighting success.
Pitfire Pizza
Pitfire Pizza has seven locations. Its lease at West Harbor will be its eighth. The original Pitfire Pizza opened in 1997 in the North Hollywood Arts District and the brand continues to expand. Besides Costa Mesa, the chain’s other SoCal locations are in Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Pasadena and West LA. The restaurants serve 12 sourdough crust pizzas and offer a create-your-own pie option with vegan and gluten-free choices like house-made vegan cheese and cauliflower crust.
The Win-dow is best known for its inexpensive smash burgers, earning a following well before the pandemic. The company expanded over the fall of 2020, opening a second outlet along the Venice Boardwalk that still sells the same under-$5 cheeseburger by the hundreds.
Opening its first location in Long Beach, Jay Bird’s Chicken is a representation of Chef Jay’s upbringing in Chicago, where he would spend the summers visiting Nashville and frying chicken every Sunday as a family tradition.
Olala Crêpes
Olala Crêpes is a creperie located in the Liberty Public Market of San Diego. It has developed a variety of products that offer an alternative to the current fast food options. Olala Crêpes hasdeveloped an array of freshly prepared, high-quality, savory and sweet crêpes. Marufuku serves authentic Hakatastyle tonkotsu ramen featuring milky and umami-rich broth made from boiling pork bones for long hours, and ultra-thin
artisanal noodles that match perfectly with the broth, and char-siu made from specially selected pork. West Harbor will be the ramen shop’s ninth location.
Bark Social is a dog lover’s beer garden, social club and retail experience with locations in Philadelphia, Pa.; Bethesda and Baltimore, Md.
The Baked Bear is a novelty dessert shop with cookies that are baked from scratch daily and super premium craft ice cream made using only the highest-quality ingredients all from homemade original recipes. Customers can mix and match cookies and ice cream to their hearts’ content.
Mario’s Butcher Shop is a butcher and sandwich shop offering high-end cuts, charcuterie made in-house and wood-grilled and smoked meats.
Los Angeles Maritime Institute is a nonprofit organization that uses hands-on experiences at sea to provide an array of social, education, and leadership development opportunities to middle school and high school students in San Pedro and Wilmington, and throughout Los Angeles County.