San Pedro’s Ports O’ Call was torn down. A new waterfront is finally taking shape

On the main channel of Los Angeles Harbor where the city’s shipping industry was born more than a century ago, a kitschy imitation of a New England fishing village called Ports O’ Call opened in 1962.

It was a major regional attraction where thousands came every year to stroll among quaint shops, take boat rides and dine by the water. For a period in the 1970s, the mast-like Skytower lifted visitors 30 stories high to show them giant tankers, cruise ships and fishing trawlers navigating the port.