• Bandini Street Elementary School Renovation - San Pedro CA
    Bandini Street Elementary School, which opened in 1923, was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...
  • Cabrillo Avenue Elementary School - San Pedro CA
    Cabrillo Avenue Elementary School, which opened in 1927, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...
  • Cabrillo Beach Park Statue - San Pedro CA
    In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European explorer to see the coast of California. This statue of the explorer "Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo" was made in cast concrete by Henry Lion in 1936. It was a Federal Art Project. It stands on the shore near the San Pedro Breakwater.
  • Dana Middle School Murals - San Pedro CA
    Dana Middle School in San Pedro, CA, is home to two oil-on-canvas murals entitled "Life and Travels of Richard Henry Dana, Jr." The murals, by Adrien Machefert, were funded by the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1938. They hang on the north and south ends of the school's cafeteria and depict scenes of early San Pedro inspired by Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," the account of an upper class New Englander's life as a seaman on a voyage to California in the 1830s.
  • Federal Building and Post Office - San Pedro CA
    The Federal Building and Post Office in San Pedro, CA was built in 1936 by the Treasury Department.  It also formerly served as a U.S. Customs Office. The design is a good example of the Moderne style of architecture.   The extensive use of marble, bronze and milk glass are typical of the Art Deco style of decoration of the time. The basket weave pattern of floor tile surrounded by black marble gives the effect of rugs on a marble floor. Some of the original bronze lamps and ink wells survive at the public writing desks. The mural over the wall at...
  • Leland Street Elementary School - San Pedro CA
    Leland Street Elementary School, which opened in 1922, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure that every member of the board agrees with...
  • Los Angeles Maritime Museum - San Pedro CA
    "Built in 1941, this Public Works Administration "Streamlined Moderne" building was the base for an auto ferry which crossed the channel at regular intervals from San Pedro to a sister building on Terminal Island. It served navy personnel, fishing industry employees, and people who wished to avoid the long circuitous route through Wilmington and Industrial Long Beach. With the completion of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in 1963, ferry operations ceased, and the building became an overflow office for the Harbor Department. Saved from deterioration by historically-minded citizens, the building has been beautifully restored, and now houses the largest maritime...
  • Municipal Fish Market - San Pedro CA
    An article in the Illustrated Daily News noted that as part of a group of 8 federally funded projects in the early period of the New Deal was "No. 3 - Construction of a municipal fish market in San Pedro. $205,000 will employ 130 to 170 men for 10 months." The Mission Revival style building exists today and provides fish wholesale to businesses and to the public early Saturday mornings from 3:30 to 7:30am.  
  • Passenger and General Cargo Terminal - San Pedro CA
    'The passenger terminal at the port of Los Angeles consists of a reinfoced concrete wharf and a transit shed, 120 by 440 feet, providing 26,000 feet of roofed cargo area. The passengers are separated from the cargo handling and trucking section by means of an elevated corridor 18 feet wide on the ship side of the terminal. An electrically operated, automaticaly adjustable, traveling passenger landing stage and gangplank serves to connect vessels with the corridor... The fruit terminal is used primarily for unloading bananas arriving on vessels in the South American trade. It consists of a creosoted-timber landing wharf upon...
  • Point Fermin Marine Science STEAM Magnet - San Pedro CA
    Point Fermin Marine Science STEAM Magnet (formerly Point Fermin Elementary School), which opened in 1912, was rebuilt with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake. One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving news of the PWA allocation, Board of Education member Arthur Eckman told the Los Angeles Times, “I am sure...
  • Point Fermin Park - San Pedro CA
    "Point Fermin Park is located in the San Pedro district, on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With the addition of the Wilder tract to this Park, we were able to use a great many R.F.C. and Country Welfare men on improvements for the benefit of residents in San Pedro as well as visitor from Los Angeles... Twenty one hundred and thirty lineal feet of new walks were built, and lined with redwood curbing. In putting in these walks we had to move 2,882 cubic yards of dirt and 984 cubic yards was moved in general grading over approximately three...
  • Post Office Mural - San Pedro CA
    "The mural Mail Transportation was painted by Fletcher Martin. Martin was a self-taught artist, and he won the commission to paint the murals among seventy-seven artists. By the age of twelve he was working as a printer. He dropped out of high school and held odd jobs like lumberjack and professional boxer. He served in the Navy in the early 20s until finally ending up in Los Angeles teaching at art schools such Otis Art Institute. Mail Transportation is an oil an canvas that shows how mail is transported no matter the conditions, whether it is in the frozen arctic or...
  • Reeves Field - Long Beach Naval Complex - San Pedro CA
    "Allen Field was a small 410-acre civilian airport built in 1927 on a portion of the expanded section of Terminal Island. Terminal Island is a sand-filled island located adjacent to the port of Los Angeles and expanding between the harbors of San Pedro and Long Beach... The U.S. Navy began its use of Allen Field almost from the very beginning. In 1927 a Naval Air Reserve Training Facility was established there. With the U.S. Naval Reserve Training Camp located across the harbor at the Submarine Base in San Pedro, it was an ideal location. With its large seaplane ramp, the airfield...
  • San Pedro High School - San Pedro CA
    San Pedro High School, which opened in 1909, was renovated with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) between 1934 and 1935. Designed by architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, the new Streamline Moderne buildings were constructed of poured-in-place concrete. The Administration and Language Arts Buildings are both now protected landmarks. In January 1934, the PWA allocated $9,380,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District for the rehabilitation of schools damaged in the severe 1933 Long Beach earthquake.  One hundred and thirty schools would benefit from the system-wide loan and grant, with 2,500 men to be employed in rehabilitation work over 21 months. Upon receiving...
  • San Pedro High School: Comfort Murals - San Pedro CA
    This series of nine oil-on-canvas murals, collectively titled "Industrial Life in San Pedro," by Federal Art Project (FAP) artist Tyrone Comfort is located in the library at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, CA. Completed in 1937, the nine murals are "Hauling the Cargo," "Fisherman in Port," "The Riveters," "Refinery Maintenance," "Opening the Valves," "The Propeller Crew," "Loading the Harvest," "Construction Workers," and "The Drillers." They were restored and preserved by the Los Angeles Unified School District Historic Schools Investment Fund in 2008. Comfort's other FAP works in the region include two murals, "Printing" and "Science and Industry" (1936), at John...
  • San Pedro High School: Dickinson Mural - San Pedro CA
    In 1937, Ross Dickinson completed a four-panel mural at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, CA. He received funding from the Federal Art Project (FAP). Dickinson's other New Deal works—all in Los Angeles, CA—include two murals, “A Valley in California” and “Mankind’s Achievements" (1934), at George Washington Preparatory High School; a pair of tile mosaics (1936) at Thomas Starr King Middle School; and a mural, “History of the Recorded Word” (1937), at Thomas Jefferson High School. Also located at San Pedro High School is a series of murals by FAP artist Tyrone Comfort. Titled "Industrial Life in San Pedro," these murals...
  • Track Relocation - San Pedro CA
    According to an article in the Illustrated Daily News, as part of a group of 8 federally funded projects was "No. 6 - Relocation of tracks around west basin, $1,470,000; will employ 210 to 300 men for from 18 to 20 months."
  • White Point Sewer System - San Pedro CA
    Below are scenes from the PWA construction of this sewer system.