DIGS is the premiere luxury real estate lifestyle magazine serving the most affluent neighborhoods in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, California.
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22 DIGS.NET | 6.17.2022 JUNE 17, 2022 | ISSUE 279 TO OUR READERS South Bay DIGS welcomes your feedback and encourages reader response to our editorial features. Please send your letters to the Publisher at 722 1st Street, Unit D, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254 or via email to WDOW@southbaydigs.com. Please include your name and contact information. Letters may be published and we reserve the right to edit. ADVERTISING For inquiries, please contact Publisher Warren Dow at 310.373.0142. EDITORIAL For editorial inquiries, please email Editorial@SouthBayDIGS.com On The Cover PRESENTED BY CHRIS ADLAM OF VISTA SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY LIST PRICE $4,999,000 FEATURED ON PAGE 60 722 1st Street, Unit D, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254 Office: 310.373.0142 South Bay Digs Magazine is published every other Friday by m3 Media, LLC. Reproduction in any form or by any means is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent from m3 Media LLC. The Publisher and advertisers are not responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, or typographical errors. All advertised properties are subject to prior sale or withdrawal without notice. Real estate advertised in this publication is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act. M3 Media will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any and all submissions to this publication become the property of m3 Media, LLC and may be used in any media. CREATIVE SERVICES & AD DESIGN/ORIGINAL ARTWORK PROVIDED EXCLUSIVELY BY SOUTH BAY DIGS. © 2022 Micro Market Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Founder & CEO / Publisher President & COO Chief Growth Officer Digital Media Director Video Editor Senior Graphic Designer Senior Graphic Designer Contributing Writers Senior Staff Photographer Warren J. Dow Bud Moore Kyle Coats Kieron McKay Matt Polizzi Jim Alba Rufus Agbede Jenn Thornton Constance Dunn Karine Monié Joclene Davey Abigail Stone Paul Jonason CO N N E C T W I T H U S Listen & subscribe on iTunes, digs.net or your favorite podcast provider. The Titans of Real Estate INFLUENCERS PODCAST .net S O U T H B A Y History Tidbits DRE#: 01368971 Maureen Megowan 310.541.6416 mdmegowan@gmail.com THE BATTLE TO BUILD SAN PEDRO HARBOR Two new railroads competed to build the dominant port for the Los Angeles area. The Sante Fe railroad constructed a wharf in Redondo Beach, which shipped a considerable amount of lumber from there. On April 13, 1892, the Dominguez heirs sold Rattlesnake Island in San Pedro to a competing railroad, the Los Angeles and Terminal Island Railroad Company. In 1891, a survey had been commissioned as to a recommendation for the location for continued funding and construction of a deep water port for Southern California. This survey had recommended San Pedro as the desired location for the port. Collis P. Huntington, who now headed up the Southern Pacific Railroad, had become annoyed by the competition of the Los Angeles and Terminal Island Railroad, as well as the Sante Fe Railroad in Redondo Beach, so began a vigorous lobbying campaign to designate Santa Monica Bay for harbor development, since the Southern Pacific Railroad completely controlled this option. By 1893, Southern Pacific's railroad extension and wharf in Santa Monica were in full operation. In 1896, an appropriations bill was approved by a congressional committee to fund the construction of a breakwater in Santa Monica, but an amendment was passed to the bill calling for a new commission to be appointed to review the best location for a deep water port. The Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis and U.S. Senator Stephen White pushed for federal support of the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro Bay. The matter was settled when San Pedro was endorsed in 1897 by a commission headed by Rear Admiral John C. Walker . Finally in 1898, San Pedro was selected for the port improvements appropriation, and construction began on the new Federal breakwater project in San Pedro. This intense congressional battle was dubbed the "battle for a free port", because it was feared that with the Southern Pacific's monopoly of the Santa Monica port, that there would be no competition at the new port. Construction of the breakwater began in 1899, with the first section completed in 1912. In 1906 the City of Los Angeles purchased a long narrow strip of land, a half-mile wide from Slauson Avenue, connecting the city to the cities of San Pedro and Wilmington (now known as the "Harbor Gateway" community). and in 1909, the city annexed San Pedro and the adjacent town of Wilmington. The odd shape is still seen in the map of the city. In 1888, the War Department took control of a tract of land next to the bay, and added to it in 1897 and 1910. This became Fort MacArthur in 1914, and was a coastal defense site for many years, which also included a Nike missile site in the White Point area. In 1978, the Secretary of the Interior transferred ownership of the White Point U.S. naval reservation to the City of Los Angeles to be used for recreational purposes. The above is an excerpt from my book "Historic Tales of Palos Verdes and the South Bay". For more info see http://www.southbayhistory.com.