Good morning all!

Over the winter I had mentioned the absolute joy shitshow that I experienced when I moved during a FUCKING GLOBAL PANDEMIC!

It wasn’t planned exactly but it happened none-the-less. Don’t need to get too into specifics but it came down to needing to change the home dynamics. Nobody’s fault, it was just life happening.

While I miss the shit out of my 5 minute commute to work on surface streets in El Segundo, what did come from the move was it brought me back to my old hometown of PEE-DROH! San Pedro, California on the LA Harbor.

While not exactly loving the daily 14 mile commute each way, in all other ways I truly love this fucking town. It’s got a character that is totally unique to itself.

It’s not perfect by any means but it’s got a realness all its own.

The locals who get that feeling call this effect “Pedro Love.” It’s an undying appreciation and respect for this little suburb on the LA Harbor right across from Long Beach.

Today we’re going pictorial style. Yes, there will be food porn as well.

Welcome to my hometown!

I’ll just drop these photos in the order that I took them.

That’s actually on my drive in to work along Harbor Blvd. The construction cranes are for a complete waterfront remodeling. This has been promised since I left here like 9 fucking years ago. It’s actually began in earnest now.

Let’s head north along the waterfront to get a look at a very specific Pedro landmark.

The Vincent Thomas Bridge. The bridge spans east across the harbor to Terminal Island. You can continue along this route, then drive over the Gerald Desmond Bridge and you would find yourself in downtown Long Beach right at the Queen Mary.

Long Beach is another story.

This is part of my walk on Saturdays. I start my walk about 2 miles south of here, then I follow this sidewalk in front of you down to the end of the parking lot, turn around and walk all the way back to the other end of the harbor at 22nd street where I started.

We are also right next to the International cruise ship terminal.

That’s a Holland America ship. I like how centrally located our international cruise ship terminal is. Ah, who am I tellin’? I’m sure all of your international cruise ship terminals are centrally located.

Here she is. A closer look.

During the Pandemic all of the cruise lines are still on “Do Not Sail” orders. The cruise lines need to take the ships out every so often to keep them sea worthy until they are allowed passengers again. They still come to port all the time but now there aren’t any passengers.

Just a few blocks south of here we come to 5th and Harbor.

Back in my previous residency I would walk down this street, cross right down there then follow the walking path down to the cruise ships.

There’s a bunch of cool shit in this little area. Such as this.

This is directly behind where that last photo was taken. Here we can see the berth for the harbor fire boats. The fire boats are fucking amazing. They gather the water from the harbor and can blast it in a 360 degree circle. They can also spin in a complete circle while remaining perfectly in place. It’s cool as shit to see. They will put on a show on occasion when a noteworthy ship enters the harbor.

And just to the south of here if we look over our right shoulder we’ve got this.

That’s the Maritime Museum in the center and you can also see the entrance to the main channel of the harbor in the distance. Let’s walk a few yards back towards the bridge and see what we can find.

That’s the town battleship.

Our town battleship is called the USS Iowa.

What’s the name of your town’s battleship?

Now if we turn around again and look directly behind us we have…

The projects.

We’ll get back to that in a bit.

In the back center of that shot you can see Palos Verdes and just on the other side of that hill is the road that our old buddy Tiger Woods recently ran into trouble on.

Let’s head south of here down to the end of Harbor Blvd and take a closer look at the harbor entrance.

One quick stop along the way though.

That’s our still operational and semi-productive fishing fleet. Not nearly as many fishing boats as there used to be. At least the wharf has room to store one of these.

That’s a “tall” ship. Just a two-master. Back in the day they had tall ship festivals and there would be dozens of tall ships from around the world at the harbor and people could sail on them and they had music and a festival and well fuck, now I’m getting melancholy.

OK. To the end of Harbor Blvd.

I call this spot “Land’s End” and it’s a fantastic place to watch the cruise ships arrive or depart. Lots of folks come down here to wave at family and friends who are on the cruise ships.

Looking north, back towards the bridge.

And looking due east towards Terminal Island.

Now let’s head as far south as you can go in Pedro. Down to the end of Pacific Ave.

Along the way I make a quick detour to see this.

Cabrillo Beach. Yes, we have a beach too. I will say this one isn’t near as nice as my old beach in El Segundo though.

Down to the end of Pacific we go and to what used to be an entrance into the “sunken city” neighborhood.

That street used to go a few blocks further with a bunch of very exclusive homes that sat cliffside. But in 1929, California being the capricious motherfucker that it is, decided to send a bunch of those houses to fucking hell and dropped them right in the briny deep.

It’s a pretty cool story and you can find out more here.

Now let’s work our way a few blocks west and head to the end of Gaffey Street. The towns main thoroughfare.

This is Angel’s Gate Park. Yep still mostly closed. You DO NOT want to badly miss a shot here. I used to play hoops with my girls down here in the mid 90’s,

This court also used to be featured on one of those stupid fucking one-word or phrase inspirational work signs. Remember those? I think the poster that featured this said “Team Work” or some dumb shit.

Now here’s our local Korean Friendship Bell.

Given to the US by Korea in 1976 to help celebrate the bi-centennial.

Now down to Point Fermin Park. Here’s a nice shot of the lighthouse.

There’s an old band shell in the park too.

Let’s get a better look at the lighthouse.

And right behind us.

THAT is Catalina.

Oh about them cliffs?

Well it’s just that…

All. The. Time.

Eldest right was in high school here back in the 90’s and a couple of her classmates, boy and girl, jumped right off from here. They both died. It’s constant. You read about this shit almost weekly.

Let’s get away from the cliffs and appreciate some of the views from the many walking paths here.

There’s another shot of PV – what the locals call Palos Verdes – in the distance.

Now. If we wanted to get some incredible shots of the entire harbor area we could actually drive up that hill a ways and get a look. These next shots were taken from Friendship Park which is in Rancho Palos Verdes and partway up that hill.

Now let’s zoom in a bit.

Notice the cruise ship and the Vincent Thomas bridge there in the center left? If you look center right, right over the top of those cranes, that’s downtown Long Beach.

With the longshoremen still dealing with COVID limitations, there’s a long-ass waiting list of container ships waiting to get in the harbor.

And yes one of the bigger shipping fleets here is the “Evergreen” shipping fleet. To the best of my knowledge they have never blocked the harbor for a week with one of their big ass ships.

But enough of this shit, you may say. What about the food?

That’s our own claim to food fame, Busy Bee Market! I took this photo on a Sunday, when they were closed. It was easier to get an establishing shot that way, because when they’re open?

Yes sir. It was a solid 1 hour wait from the time I got in line until the time I walked out with my sandwiches.

Just look inside.

They load up their sandwiches though. They have quite the heft.

Pro tip. If you’re getting a “wet” sandwich, like their barbecue chicken, meatball or Italian sausage, get your sauce on the side. It gets plenty soggy other wise.

What did I order?

Meatballs and Italian sausage. Both made in house. The sausages are still linked together at the sandwich making station and they cut them off of the other links when you order.

Know what really stands out though? They fucking GRILL their sausages so there’s a good amount of char on them. Motherfucker! I’ve been to Busy Bee before back in the day and wasn’t exactly blown away because I’ve ordered a cold Italian sandwich or a pastrami. Both of which left me fully “whelmed.” This bastard though? Best goddamn meatball and/or Italian sausage sandwich ever. Like fucking EVER ever.

Now that we’ve been fed let’s continue our journey and head up the hill to Western Ave.

For those of our literary crowd, Pedro is known for being the hometown of one of my favorite authors ever. It’s also his final resting place.

“Buk” was a long time Pedro resident and his last couple of years overlapped my first couple of years living here. I’ve drank at a couple of the local dive bars and there used to be many a local bartender who would gladly share a story or two about his drinking days.

He’s buried in Green Hills Cemetery up on the hillside that borders Rancho Palos Verdes.

Kill Satan!

Sorry, that’s a random statue at the cemetery that was begging for its photo to be taken. I ain’t exactly religious but is that Saint Michael? Someone out there has to know.

Pedro is also home to the Warner Grand.

It’s one of the few remaining survivors of Hollywood’s hey day. The Warner Grand opened in 1931. Back in the day movie companies had their own theaters to screen their films in. This one obviously belonged to Warner Brothers. The theater is still operational and has magnificent architecture. Such as the box office.

Here’s a closer look at the marquee. Yep. The lettering was for an event happening in March…of 2020. The sign hasn’t been updated since.

Kind of gives you chills no?

Fuck it now I’m hungry again. Let’s try out another Pedro-specific joint.

The Choriman!

The Choriman makes artisanal chorizos and other meats in house from scratch. The meats can be served in your choice of preparation or you can take the bulk meat home to cook.

Like many Pedro institutions, including Busy Bee, it’s found in an unassuming building in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

It shares a storefront with Colossus Bakery – which is insanely busy in its own right – and also a liquor store/market and a laundromat.

Let’s get a gander at their menu.

We grabbed a couple of burritos and some Chori Wings. Here’s the haul.

Chori wings? You wonder.

Instead of a traditional Buffalo style or “wet” wing, these are different on a couple of fronts. First, they cut the “flat” and the drumettes in half. Interesting. You have to navigate some bone bits here but it’s worth it. The wings are twice fried and dusted with a combination of chorizo seasonings and sugar. This imparts a slightly sweet/savory type thing that’s really quite delicious.

Now. That burrito.

This is a “Chori, bean and cheese” burrito with chipotle braised roast beef as my choice of protein.

People? This fucker was delicious.

Look!

That’s a habanero based salsa and a jalapeno relish. Despite the sound of it neither are overly spicy just kick-ass additions to the overall finished product. I could eat this like, fucking daily. Outstanding.

Despite being a relative newcomer to the Pedro food scene, The Choriman moved right the fuck in and took charge. It’s easy to see why. Their “specialty” burrito is a breakfast burrito with your choice of meat, eggs, potatoes and cheese. I had one with the maple habanero chorizo before and it’s fucking incredible. The breakfast burrito will definitely insure you will require no additional food intake for the rest of the day.

So there she is. San Pedro.

Gorgeous right? I mean what’s not to fucking love about this town?

I was going to take a few photos of the grittier elements of San Pedro but I just don’t have the heart. This town has a legitimate concern with a rapidly growing number of homeless residents. It’s exploded since the start of the pandemic. When I lived here before, there were definitely some homeless residents around but nothing like now. There are tent cities with dozens and dozens of tents. The local post office which has gorgeous architecture has been basically overrun since many of the unhoused use the post office for mail.

It’s nothing I can make light of.

It’s fucking horrible how many of these folks are very obviously “recently” homeless. They still have cars and phones and there are way too many entire families to wrap your head around.

No jokes.

The gang issue is lightyears better than when I first moved here in 1992 but there are a few elements still around.

The town is obviously in the middle of some massive gentrification and it will be a struggle for the city’s soul to keep it with the same spirit it’s always had.

This is my town. Warts and all and I just love this fucking place.

When we’re allowed to travel again and a new “normal” can return, come for a visit. I’ll be happy to show you around.

Thanks for following along.

I appreciate you being there.

Be Well!

Be Safe!

PEACE!