K6AA is the amateur (ham) radio station of the United Radio Amateur Club, located on the second floor of the museum. Visitors can meet the operators (who are museum volunteers AND FCC- licensed radio operators) and learn how they can communicate with friends and make contacts across the globe without using the internet or phones. For more information about the club and its many activities, visit www.K6AA.org
Archives: Exhibits
“WAVES OF CHANGE: The Story of L.A.’s Port” is a new, interactive timeline exhibit tracing the history of the Port – from the indigenous societies to current events. It includes rare artifacts, photos, and interactive touchscreens bringing the story to the present day.
A BRAND NEW EXHIBITION IS NOW OPEN
We are displaying images taken of seafarers by seafarers from on board their ships providing an insider’s view of what life at sea is really like.
The images have been gathered and collated by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust, a seafarers’ welfare charity based in the UK, through a series of photo competitions run over the past five years.
The result is a unique glimpse into the lives of seafarers, thousands of whom were left stranded a sea during successive lockdowns.
Katie Higginbottom is head of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust. She said: “From the beginning our aim was to collect imagery and commentary to raise awareness about seafarers’ situation, during the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic the crew change crisis and beyond. It was important to us to highlight the vital role of seafarers in transporting all the goods that are traded around
the world.
“It’s about bringing the seafarers into the room when international regulations are being negotiated. It’s also about giving the non-maritime public an insight into the lives of this often hidden workforce and helping people connect with the human lives beyond the shoreline.”
BALDEHO, Jericho P. Mifania, Credit ITF Seafarers’ Trust.
Follow the ITF Seafarers’ Trust on Facebook @ITFTrust and Twitter/Instagram @SeafarersTrust to see more of the images and stories that seafarers have shared via the Trust’s photo competitions.
The ITF Seafarers’ Trust is a UK charity established in 1981, which funds programmes that advance the wellbeing of maritime workers, seafarers and their families. We are funded by the Trust’s own capital funds, and by the investment income of the Welfare Fund at the International Transport Workers’ Federation, a global federation of transport workers’ unions representing nearly 20 million members.
More information available here: www.seafarerstrust.org
The Story of the San Pedro Municipal Ferry Service, 1941-1963
The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce had been advocating for a municipal ferry service since 1909. Per the annexation pledge between San Pedro and Los Angeles a municipal ferry between San Pedro and Terminal Island was to be established and operated for a nominal fare. However, due to a dispute between the City of Los Angeles and the Harbor Department about who was responsible for fulfilling the promise nothing was done for decades. It was not until 1941 that there was a celebration for the inauguration of the service. The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is housed in one of the original ferry terminals. The sister terminal was across the Main Channel at Berth 234. August 8, 1941 the City of Los Angeles celebrated Ferry Day, in honor of the inauguration for the ISLANDER. Learn about the history of the ISLANDER, which ferried riders across the channel between San Pedro and Terminal Island from 1941 to 1963. See artifacts from the ferry, historic photos, and a custom-built model of the ISLANDER.
In the early 20th-century, Terminal Island (in the Port of Los Angeles) was home to approximately 3,000 Japanese-Americans who earned their livelihood from catching and cleaning fish. Residents of this community, known as “Terminal Islanders” were originally form the Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, and retained their language and customs after emigrating to Los Angeles harbor.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s subsequent entry into World War II, the entire Terminal Island community was relocated to internment camps, but the residents never forgot their beloved Terminal Island village. Today, the Terminal Islanders Club, a group of former residents and their descendants, preserve the history and friendships of this lost community.
Tāminaru is a look back at this lost community. The exhibit is guest curated by author Naomi Hirahara, organized by Tara Fansler, and sponsored by the Friends of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum and the Japan Business Association with the assistance of the Terminal Islanders Club.
There is a movie star on the second floor! The model of the SS POSEIDON was the original prop in the 1972 classic film “The Poseidon Adventure”.
Fifteen men built the model over a period of three months. POSEIDON is 21 .5 feet long, and weighs one ton. The builders relied on the plans of the RMS QUEEN MARY, now permanently docked as an attraction in Long Beach, California.
In spite of its tremendous weight, the model was designed to float! During shooting, it was equipped with battery-operated propellers, working smokestacks, and interior lights. The film’s plot required POSEIDON to suffer repeated explosions and a rollover, but the model was successfully repaired and used in television commercials before arriving at the Museum.
Loan Courtesy Fox Studios
The Museum building, built in 1941, was originally used as a ferry terminal, transporting people and automobiles between San Pedro and Terminal Island. The area of the first floor where cars would enter and exit is now used as the Navy Hall. Here you can see several large ship models, and recreations of the flying bridge on the heavy cruiser USS LOS ANGELES (CA-135) and living spaces aboard the submarine USS LOS ANGELES (SSN-688).
The Angels Gate Lighthouse (officially known as Los Angeles Harbor Light) has marked the entrance of Los Angeles Harbor through times of war and peace, and even survived a tidal wave! The tower itself has undergone many changes through the years. The distinctive green flash of the Angels Gate Lighthouse remains a welcoming beacon to professional mariners and recreational boaters alike.
As with most icons, myths surrounding this lighthouse continue to abound. The most famous story claims that the tower’s southeasterly “tilt” was caused by a collision with a battleship. This is untrue, and in reality the leaning tower is most likely due to a combination of subsidence, earthquakes, and wind storms.
Many lighthouse keepers served at Angels Gate until the early 1970s, when automation made it possible to maintain the light from nearby Terminal Island. When the Coast Guard converted the lighthouse to solar power in the 1980s, the original Fresnel lens was retired and is now on long-term loan to the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.
Kids of all ages will discover what’s going on in the harbor today through a series of interactive games and activities in the children’s exhibit. Grab a pair of binoculars and take a close-up look at the nation’s busiest container port! Learn how cranes work, imagine yourself in a variety of harbor professions, build your own wharves, test your knowledge of ships and cargo, or just settle down and enjoy a nautical story!
Due to Covid-19-related precautions, the toys and costumes have been temporarily removed.
The exhibit features a photo mosaic by photographer Martin Cox who spent a day on the Museum’s roof documenting the harbor traffic. He then juxtaposed elements of the photograph into a single mural that has become the exhibit’s visual centerpiece. You can read an interview with Martin, learn exactly how this mural was created, and see more progress photos here.
The exhibit was made possible by the generosity of the following: Friends of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, Port of Los Angeles Community Benefit Grants, City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks, The Lee (Sher) and Joseph M. Mardesich, III Children’s Education Fund (in memoriam), Stephanie and Deborah Mardesich, Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, Southern California ILWU Pensioners, Local 13, San Pedro Retired Elks, The Corner Store, San Pedro
The History of San Pedro’s Fishing and Canning Industries
The Port of Los Angeles (San Pedro) was the fishing capital of the nation for much of the twentieth century. Generations of fishermen sold catches of tuna, sardines, mackerel, and squid to fish markets or canneries on nearby Terminal Island.
Today, the fishing fleet is greatly diminished and the canneries have closed, but the legacy of the fishing and canning industries endures.
Cannery workers were responsible for cleaning and inspecting fish which was later packed into cans, sterilized, and shipped to markets. San Pedro pioneered the technique of canning tuna in 1903, and world-famous brands such as Star-Kist and Chicken of the Sea had local origins.
Discover authentic cannery equipment and life-size murals, watch classic TV commercials for Charlie the Tuna, and experience that lovely aroma of fish, “the smell of money”.
The annual Fishermen’s Fiesta was an opportunity for fishermen to celebrate with family and friends, give thanks, and bless the fleet. Thousands of spectators, including celebrities and politicians, lined the docks each year to view the decorated boats on parade. Enjoy silent home movies from the 1949 and 1957 fiestas, and admire the many trophies and souvenirs kept as remembrances of the event.