Los Angeles Maritime Museum facts for kids
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is a cool place to learn about ships and the ocean! It's a non-profit museum, which means it's run for a good cause, not to make money. You can find it in San Pedro, a community in Los Angeles, California.
The Museum Building
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum is located in a really old and interesting building. It used to be the Municipal Ferry Terminal building. This building sits right on the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor.
An architect named Derwood Lydell Irvin designed the building in a style called Streamline Moderne. It was built in 1941 by the Works Project Administration (WPA). The WPA was a government program that created jobs during the Great Depression.
Ferries used to travel between San Pedro and Terminal Island from this building. But in 1963, the Vincent Thomas Bridge opened, and the ferries stopped. After that, the building was used for offices. Today, the San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building is a special Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's an important historical site.
The Los Angeles Maritime Museum opened in 1979. Many people in the community worked hard to save this historic building and turn it into a museum. It is now the largest maritime museum on the West Coast of the United States! The museum is run by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
You can visit the museum Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 AM to 5 PM.
What You Can See: Museum Exhibits
The museum has many interesting exhibits to explore. One exhibit shows the history of commercial diving in Los Angeles Harbor. This is about people who dive for work, like repairing ships or underwater structures.
There's also a Navy Hall with large models of ships. You can see a model of the U.S. Navy cruiser Los Angeles. There's even a model of the SS Poseidon from the 1972 disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure!
The museum also tells the story of the San Pedro fishing industry. This exhibit shows how people used to fish with large nets called purse seines. It also covers the San Pedro Fishermen's Fiesta and the tuna canneries on Terminal Island. These canneries processed a lot of the fish caught in the area.
Upstairs, you'll find models of merchant ships, which are ships that carry goods. You can also see models of square riggers (old sailing ships) and sail boats. There's even a fully working ham radio station you can check out!
The museum also operates a tugboat named Angels Gate. This tugboat was built in 1944 for the Army Transportation Service during World War II. It was originally called ST-695. Nearby, you can also see the fireboat Ralph J. Scott. This fireboat is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, meaning it's very important to the country's history.
See also
- Maritime history of California
- Maritime museums in California
- Museums in Los Angeles
