When I first envisioned this project, compiling and publishing a list here of books about San Pedro and San Pedrans, or written by San Pedrans, I didn’t know what I was getting into.
This is Part 5, which includes the largest category, History. No surprise, given that we’re talking about a site first written about during the Age of Discovery and a town that grew up around a harbor that, over the decades, became one of the world’s most famous.
Also, this month, there are a few novels by San Pedrans that slipped past me the first go-round—plenty of choices for your summer reading enjoyment.
HISTORY
Battleship Country: The Battle Fleet at San Pedro-Long Beach, California 1910-1940 by Harvey M. Beigel.
Panic on the Pacific: How America Prepared for a West Coast Invasion by Bill Yenne. Includes role played by Fort MacArthur in nation’s plans.
The Vincent Thomas Bridge: San Pedro’s Golden Gate by Arthur and Irene Almeida, Flora Twyman Baker, Kathryn Schultz, Gayle Williamson.
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana.
Southern California’s Seacoast: Then and Now by Howard Gregory.
Boomtown: San Pedro in the 1980s by Henry P. Silka.
San Pedro: A Pictorial History by Henry P. Silka.
Port of Los Angeles: An Illustrated History From 1850 to 1945 by Ernest Marquez and Veronique De Turenne.
Port of Los Angeles: Conflict, Commerce, and the Fight for Control by Geraldine Knatz.
Terminal Island: Lost Communities of Los Angeles Harbor by Naomi Hirahara and Geraldine Knatz.
Picturing Los Angeles by Jon and Nancy Wilkman.
Time and the Terraced Land: The Story of California’s Unique Palos Verdes Peninsula by Augusta Fink.
The Port of Los Angeles: From Wilderness to World Port by Charles F. Queenan.
Feb 1944 El Shatt Egypt Nov 1948 by Rusko Matulic. The odyssey of Croatian refugees—many of whom ended up in San Pedro—forcibly evacuated from Dalmatia by the Allies during WWII.
The Whistler: A Harrowing True Story by Marilyn Gwizdak Greenwood. A San Pedro family’s connection to one of WWII’s lesser-known atrocities.
Haunted San Pedro by Brian Clune.
Hidden History of Transportation in Los Angeles by Charles P. Hobbs.
Historic Fishing Industry of San Pedro Bay by Russell R. Bradford.
Harbor Heritage: Tales of the Harbor Area of Los Angeles, California by Oliver Vickery.
Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen by Brian Taves. Late San Pedran Taves was an archivist at the Library of Congress.
Croatian Fishermen-Oystermen and Mariners-Shipbuilders-Fish Restaurants in America by Adam S. Eterovich.
From Pedro to Pearl by Carolyn Brooks Wood. San Pedro native Eddie Brooks survived Pearl Harbor.
The Right to Get in the Fight: What I Was Taught When I Came Into the Union, and What I Have to Pass On by Dave Arian. Short look at the ILWU by the late union leader and harbor commissioner.
San Pedro: Then & Now by Jim Isaac and Tom Herrera.
Los Angeles in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the City of Angels.
San Pedro by Joe McKinzie. Postcard history series.
San Pedro Bay by Joe McKinzie. Postcard history series.
Fort MacArthur by Stephen R. Nelson and David K. Appel. Images of America series.
Los Angeles California by Jeffrey Samudio and Portia Lee. Images of America series.
The Palos Verdes Story by Delane Morgan.
San Pedro Bay Area: Featuring Long Beach, San Pedro, and Wilmington by Stephen T. Sato.
San Pedro’s Cabrillo Beach by Mike Schaadt and Ed Mastro. Images of America series.
Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park by Mike Schaadt and Ed Mastro. Images of America series.
Temple Beth El San Pedro: A Centennial Celebration—A Reflection on Our 100 Years. Published in 2002 and still available at the synagogue.
A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America by James Tejani.
The Port of Los Angeles by Michael D. White. Images of America series.
One Eye Closed the Other Red: The California Bootlegging Years by Clifford James Walker.
NOVELS
The Accidental Jesus by John O’Kane. A foray into fiction by the San Pedro publisher of AMASS Magazine.
Global Vice: A COMSEC Thriller by Andrew J. Rafkin. The most recent action thriller by San Pedro’s best-selling author. Check out Amazon for a complete list.
Ghost Mother: A Novel by Kelly Dwyer. The third novel by the 1982 San Pedro High grad.
Under Angels by Jace Daniel. Former San Pedro resident’s supernatural thriller revolving around the labyrinthine tunnel network beneath Fort MacArthur’s old Upper Reservation.
Next month: Biography and Anthology. spt
San Pedro native Steve Marconi began writing about his hometown after graduating from high school in 1969. After a career as a sportswriter, he was a copy editor and columnist for the News-Pilot and Daily Breeze for 20 years before joining the L.A. Times. He has been writing monthly for San Pedro magazines since 2005, and in 2018 became a registered longshoreman. Marconi can be reached at spmarconi@yahoo.com.
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