 |
| Vincent Thomas Bridge - Picture by Regular Daddy, GNU Free Documentation License |
In 1963 the Vincent Thomas Bridge* was build and ferry service was abandoned across the Los Angeles Harbor. The building was then used by the LA Harbor Department until 1979, at which time it was turned over to the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The Parks Department remodeled and converted the building into the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, which is now the largest maritime museum on he West Coast.
The museum contains a large collection of maritime documents and exhibits, a fabulous collection of model ships, commercial diving displays, and various exhibits about the once thriving San Pedro fishing industry.
Models ships of the Los Angeles, Nimitz, and Nevada are all part of the Navy exhibit, which is currently being renovated.
*(The Vincent Thomas Bridge was the first welded suspension bridge in the United States and is the only suspension bridge in the world supported entirely on piles.)
The Poseidon model that was used in the 1972 movie The Poseidon Adventure is on display (right-side up) on the second floor of the museum.
The historic section of the museum includes a model of the English Tea Clipper Cutty Sark. Cutty Sark was the most famous of the tea clippers because the ship's construction started the transition of ship building from wood to iron. The ship was built with an iron frame and Teak wood siding. Launch date of the Cutty Sark was November 23, 1869.
By 1895 English sailing ships were replaced with steam ships and the Cutty Sark was sold to the Portugese to haul freight to various ports around the world. By 1938 commercial sailing ships were taken out of service, so the Cutty Sark was donated to the Thames Nautical Training College where it remains today.
A history of commercial diving in the Los Angeles Harbor is presented along with some of the original equipment used by the divers. Historically, commercial divers have been used to support the fishing industry, marine salvage, Department of the Navy, and ship husbandry. (It did not say what "ship husbandry" entails.)
When the fish canneries were operational, fish were cleaned by women working at long tables before being machine processed. Pete Bosnich, Supervisor of the Maintenance Department for Star-Kist, is quoted as saying "If the fish was right - if it was a big fish - there was no way the [canning] machines could keep up with the ladies. No way! No way!"
 |
| Photographer Unknown |
Adjacent to Harbor Boulevard and in front of the museum are various memorials and other ship displays.
Port O'Call Village is located a short distance from the Maritime Museum and contains a number of stores and restaurants. There was reported to be a replica of the the famous "Fisherman" statue of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in front of the center; but I could not locate the statue. I did, however, locate the San Pedro Fish Market, which reminded me why I do not like to eat fish.
Just south of the fish market are the tall ships Exy and Irving Johnson, Site of Timms Point/Timms Landing, and the S.S. Lane Victory (Victory Ship).
In 1852 German immigrant Augustus Timms started to develop the Los Angeles harbor by construction of a wharf, warehouse, corral, and other facilities to service the shipping industry. Stage coach service was also available to downtown Los Angeles. The area was original known as Timms Point, but was renamed Los Angeles Harbor after the area was developed with additional commercial businesses.
Since I had previous toured the S.S. Lane Victory (Victory Ship), I just took a quick picture of the ship from the dock. (see RonnieAdventures #0094 and #0133 - #0135)
No comments:
Post a Comment