Posted tagged ‘History’

Dodson House – San Pedro

December 20, 2013

Last week we had the opportunity to tour the Dodson house on 13th Street in San Pedro. Here is the entry from sanpedro.com

Built in 1888 by the Sepulveda family as a wedding present for their daughter Rudecinda and her husband, James Dodson, a merchant and one-time postmaster. Rudecinda Dodson dwelled in the home for the duration of her long life, becoming a notable local figure. Dodson House, one of San Pedro’s best examples of Victorian architecture, was originally located at the corner of 7th and Beacon Streets. Since then, it has been moved twice and has undergone restoration. Private residence, not open to the public.

Here’s an article written by The Daily Breeze writer Donna Littlejohn.

The two-story, gingerbread Victorian house — built in the 1880s by one of the port town’s early families — is getting some lively interest from potential buyers since it was put on the market and open for public viewing a couple of weeks ago.

Normally, the house has not been open to the public, but for weekends during the month of December it has been open for viewing. The reason it has been open is that the house is up for sale for a tidy sum of $800K. Such a bargain.

Here are some pictures.

The house has been beautifully restored. Someone probably put a lot of money into it. Here are some interior shots. Note the stain glass windows. Most of the plumbing has been updated except for the claw foot bathtubs. I can’t for the life of me figure out why one would replace all of the sink fixtures with ultra modern ones and leave the antique bath tubs.

So, who would pay $800K for this gem of a Victorian house? Not me certainly. The house is on the historic register, so you can’t change almost anything. The location stinks. It is right across from the San Pedro HS athletic field. Not exactly a tony upscale neighborhood.

Bed & Breakfast perhaps? Maybe, but there is no parking to speak of.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro, CA

SS Lane Victory

November 16, 2013

This afternoon Paula, Mary and I attended the annual meeting for the San Pedro Historical Society (See http://sanpedrobayhistoricalsociety.com/)
 The meeting was held at the Limani Taverna (previously known as Papadakis Taverna).
 
 After lunch and brief business meeting we got to hear from Capt. Greg Williams, US Merchant Marine (ret). The subject was the US Merchant Marine in WW2 in general and the SS Lane Victory.
 
 During WW2, the merchant marine was called upon to transport most of the supplies needed to run the war. Sometimes, new Liberty ships would not get far out of harbor before being sunk either by mines or German Uboats.
 
 Capt Williams told us the during the war, the press was prohibited from writing about the loss of Merchant Marine ships at sea. Indeed, the loss was great. The fatality rate in the Merchant Marine far exceeded that of the other services. Over 700 merchant ships were sunk during WW2.
 
 Click here for the wikipedia article on the Merchant Marine.
 
 The SS Lane Victory is the last operational Victory ship in existance. The Lane Victory saw service in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam providing the delivery of much needed supplies to our armed services. It is moored at pier 49 in San Pedro.
 

 The Victory ships were much like their predecessors the Liberty shops. They were mass produced in shipyards around the country. The Victory ships were faster than the Liberty ships (making 15-17 knots) and had a longer range. This made them less vulnerable to Uboat attacks. Click here for the Wiki.
 

 The Lane Victory is open for tours six days a week (closed on Thursday). Admission is $5 for and adult and $2 for children. The Lane Victory runs several day cruises around LA Harbor each year. Donations and volunteers are much appreciated. It costs a lot of money to keep the ship operational.
 
 Every five years, the ship goes into dry dock for inspection, bottom cleaning and painting. The Lane Victory is scheduled for dry dock in 2014 and they have a ways to go to raise the $900K for the overhaul and inspection.
 
 For additional info, click here for the Lane Victory web site.
 
 
 – Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:San Pedro