Los Angeles Harbor College

Dr. Richard A. Vladovic Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy (VHTPA), formerly Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, is a Middle College Program high school established within Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC) in Wilmington, Los Angeles, California, United States. It is currently under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Unified School District and is part of the Middle College National Consortium.Under the middle college/dual enrollment program, students attend college courses at LAHC alongside high school classes, and can accumulate credits towards one or multiple associate degrees. Freshman and sophomores are automatically enrolled in "contract education" courses, college classes exclusive to VHTPA students. Upon entering junior year, students are allowed to self-enroll in college courses alongside LAHC underclassmen. VHTPA is a California Distinguished School, with full accreditation under the Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which certifies that "an institution meets or exceeds established standards and is achieving its own stated objectives". The academy received the National Blue Ribbon in 2008 and the California Gold Ribbon in 2015. U.S. News & World Report ranks VHTPA as #1 out of 181 high schools in LAUSD, #4 in the Los Angeles Metro Area, and #8 out of 1,675 high schools in California. The academy maintains a 100% graduation rate.

Pacific Coast Highway station is a elevated busway station on the J Line of the Los Angeles Metro Busway system. The station is located on the shoulder of Interstate 110 at its intersection with Pacific Coast Highway, after which the station is named, in Los Angeles County, California. It is one of two stations along the Harbor Freeway are outside of the Harbor Transitway, a shared busway and high occupancy toll lane. South of this station the J Line exits the Harbor Freeway and starts serving San Pedro, starting with the Harbor Beacon Park & Ride. Traveling north on I-110 the next station is Carson. The station is located close to Los Angeles Harbor College, Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center, Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, and has a 240 space park and ride lot. An A Line station with an identical name is located approximately 5.4 miles (8.7 km) east of the station.

Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, commonly Harbor Park, is a 231-acre (0.93 km2) Los Angeles municipal park featuring a golf course and 45-acre (0.18 km2) Machado Lake and freshwater wetland. Harbor Park is the third-largest park in Los Angeles city parks system after Griffith Park and Elysian Park.Harbor Park is located west of Harbor Freeway and south of Pacific Coast Highway, adjacent to Los Angeles Harbor College. In addition to the lake and golf course, amenities include barbecue pits and picnic tables, children's playgrounds, a bike path and walking trail, and an outdoor fitness zone.The park is visited by migratory birds and is a "dedicated city wildlife sanctuary." More than 160 species of birds have been observed in the park since it reopened in 2017 after a rehab, and it's "one of the best places in the South Bay" to see the "secretive" marsh wren. The historic pre-development bird list for the park land is significantly longer. However, the park's wetland habitat is periodically disrupted by litter and debris flows from city storm drains. The park is a "natural low point, collecting water from a 9,000-acre (36 km2) watershed."The refurbishment completed in 2017 included "pathways, four observation piers, two observation zones, two pedestrian bridges, interpretive signs, new park fixtures, 622 new park trees, and over 50,000 new plants."Prior to the improvements "alien species and pollution [were] serious problems at the park." Circa 2011, problematic invasive species with breeding populations within the park included "bullfrogs, apple snails as big as baseballs and Florida banded water snakes."The infamous alligator Reggie lived at the park for two years from 2005 to 2007 until he was finally captured and relocated to the Los Angeles Zoo. (The two-year hunt for Reggie "astoundingly…netted another, smaller alligator.")As of 2014, Lake Machado was described as “a state-designated 'impaired water body' because of its witch's brew of trash, algae, coliform bacteria, foul odors and hazardous substances. Adjacent habitat is strewn with broken glass. Interlopers wage paintball wars and drive vehicles through the nesting and foraging grounds of more than 300 species of birds. The park has only one working restroom and no security. Brush fires are annual events."Prior to 2002, "Boating and fishing were originally allowed in the Lake, and until recently fish were stocked in the Lake. As water quality deteriorated and toxic sediment accumulated, boating was stopped and signs have been posted with warnings about the risk of eating fish from the Lake.""Mosquitoes have been a chronic problem that has been exacerbated by flourishing tule growth in the accumulated sediments along the east shore," noted a report in the Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation. Encephalitis-bearing mosquitoes were found in the park at one point and a caged flock of hens was placed in the park to use for mosquito testing. (Mosquitoes apparently prefer to feast on poultry before primate when given a choice.)

Bixby Slough (American English pronunciation: “slew/slu”) was an ancient wetland in Los Angeles County, California. Also known as Machado Lake, the slough was a "large freshwater wetland in the Carson-Harbor City-Wilmington area" that flowed into San Pedro Bay about three or four miles (5 km) west of Dominguez Slough. Originally a "network of sloughs, nondescript streams and bogs in the harbor district," over time the Port of Los Angeles was carved “out of the mud flats and shallow waters that edged the ranchos of San Pedro and Palos Verdes.” About 90 percent of wetland ecosystems in Los Angeles County have been destroyed, with the losses in the highly urbanized South Bay "especially acute" and one biologist calling the draining of Bixby Slough and other harbor-area wetlands a “"wipeout".

Harbor City is a highly diverse neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, with a population upward of 36,000 people. Originally part of the Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant, the 2.58-square-mile (6.7 km2) Harbor City was brought into Los Angeles as a preliminary step in the larger city's consolidation with the port cities of Wilmington and San Pedro. The area includes two high schools and seven other schools, as well as the Ken Malloy Harbor Regional and two other parks. There is a Kaiser Permanente hospital as well. Harbor City's percentage of high school graduates is larger than the city's as a whole.

Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, established in 1865 in Wilmington, Los Angeles, California, is one of the oldest parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The current church building was dedicated in 1931. During the year 2000 Jubilee, it was proclaimed as a Pilgrimage Church and recognized as the Historic Faith Center of the San Pedro Pastoral Region. It is currently run by the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael's Abbey (Orange County, California).

Saint John's Episcopal Church is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument located in the Wilmington section of Los Angeles, California, near the Port of Los Angeles. Built in 1883, it is the oldest church building in the harbor area that is still used for regular worship services. It was moved to its present site in 1943.

Memory Chapel is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #155) located in the Wilmington section of Los Angeles, California, near the Port of Los Angeles. Built in 1870 in the Carpenter Gothic Victorian architecture style, it is the oldest Protestant church in the Harbor area. Originally located at "F" Street and Marine Avenue, it was moved to its present location in 1939. In 1946, the chapel was designated as a historical landmark under auspices of the Wilmington Parlor No. 278, Native Daughters of the Golden West.The chapel is used now by a Philippine church, with Sunday services in the Tagalog language. The original pews dating to 1870 are still in use at the chapel. English services are held in the adjacent Calvary Presbyterian Church—which replaced the Memory Chapel.

Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering 9.14 square miles (23.7 km2). Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Latino and foreign-born residents. Nearly 20 percent of Wilmington’s total land area is taken up by oil refineries — roughly 3.5 times more area than is dedicated to open and accessible green spaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilmington had one of the highest death rates in all of Los Angeles County, exacerbated by elevated levels of industrial pollution. It is the site of Banning High School, and ten other primary and secondary schools. Wilmington has six parks. Wilmington dates its history back to a 1784 Spanish land grant. It became a separate city in 1863, and it joined the city of Los Angeles in 1909. Places of interest include the headquarters U.S. Army for Southern California and the Drum Barracks built to protect the nascent Los Angeles harbor during the American Civil War.

Bixby Marshland is a wildlife area operated by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts in Carson, California, as part of the environmental mitigation of wastewater. The space is 17 acres (6.9 ha) in area and is a restoration of the old Bixby Slough. The only other surviving piece of the Slough is Machado Lake at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. Bixby Marsh is notable as a “unique marsh habitat in an urban setting.” According to the Bixby Marshland Guide for Visitors, the Sanitation District and Los Angeles County Department of Public Works secured the land in mid-1970s, but “over time, non-native plants proliferated at the site.” To restore the marshland so that it was closer to its original ecological state, many introduced species were removed, and others like eucalyptus were killed but left standing as snags, which are important habitat resources. A “large variety of native plants” were selected to re-vegetate the area.It is located next to the 110 freeway and the adjacent Wilmington Wash flood control channel at the southwest corner of Figueroa Street and Sepulveda Boulevard.Established in 2009, the park is open to the public for tours on the first Saturday of each month from 8 a.m. to noon (weather permitting) and by appointment.

Granada Theater is a theater in Wilmington, Los Angeles. C.L. Post of the Post Cereal family built the Granada Theatre in 1926 as part of the West Coast Theatres chain. One year later, Fox Theatres purchased West Coast and changed the name to the Fox Granada. The architect was W.J. MacCormack. The Los Angeles City Council designated the theater as a historic cultural monument in 2021.The theatre is closed but the Wilmington Granada Friends is fundraising to reopen the theatre as a performing arts center and independent cinema.

Phineas Banning High School is located in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.