Terminal Island

Naval Operating Base Terminal Island, (NOB Terminal Island) was United States Navy base founded on 25 September 1941 to support the World War II efforts in the Pacific War. Naval Operating Base Terminal Island was founded by combining Naval Facilities in cities of San Pedro, Long Beach and Wilmington, California under one command. Much of the base was on the man-made Terminal Island, and harbor in San Pedro Bay. The harbor was made through the construction of a large breakwater system.

Naval Air Base San Pedro, NAS Terminal Island was a US Navy World War II 410-acre airfield on Terminal Island in San Pedro, California part of the City of Los Angeles. Before the Navy took control of the airfield, the airstrip was the civilian Allen Field. Allen Field was built in 1927 by filling with sand the Port of Los Angeles and enlarging Terminal Island. Terminal Island is located between San Pedro Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Allen Field was serviced by the Pacific Electric and pedestrian ferries. The air terminal has three runways in a triangle shape, two short runways and one 4,200 foot runway. A large seaplane ramp was also built at the terminal. A Naval Air Reserve Training Facility was built next to Allen Field in 1927 and used the runway - ramp. Civilian use ended in 1935 and the site began an air base, later renamed Reeves Field San Pedro, after Rear Admiral Joseph M. Reeves. On on 25 September 1941 Naval Air Base San Pedro became part of Naval Operating Base Terminal Island. In 1942 many Reserve troops were trained at the Naval Air Base. In 1943 the Navy took over operations and the Reserve was moved to Naval Air Base Los Alamitos. The base was renamed Naval Air Station Terminal Island and continued as a training base until the end of the war in 1945. In 1942, NAB San Pedro, now NAS Terminal Island, was designated for equipping and performing flight-tests on the large number of military aircraft fabricated at nearby plants in Southern California: Lockheed, Douglas Aircraft Company and & Vultee Aircraft. To facilitate delivery of these aircraft, the U.S. Navy established the Naval Air Ferry Command (NAFC) (VRF-3) in 1943. During the war the base was commander was Captain Kneflar "Socko" McGinnis. The base was a 24/7 operation, testing and shipping out planes at a rate of approximately 200 a month. Due to a shortage to servicemen during the war, a unit of WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) was stationed at the base. The 200 strong WAVES served as mechanics, air traffic controllers, radio operators, trainers and air navigators. After the war the base was closed in 1947 and turned over to the Bureau of Yards and Docks. The nearby Naval Air Base Long Beach continued to use the air field until 1997 at which time the base was abandoned; there is no trace of the base today.

California Shipbuilding Corporation built 467 Liberty and Victory ships during World War II, including Haskell-class attack transports. California Shipbuilding Corporation was often referred to as Calship.

Garbutt-Walsh Inc. was started in 1907 by Matt J. Walsh (1866 - 1960) and Frank Garbutt (financier) as a boatyard in San Pedro, California on Terminal Island at Berth No. 221. Garbutt-Walsh Inc. built and repaired boats and yachts for pleasure and commercial. President of Garbutt-Walsh Inc. was Matt J. Walsh and Vice President was David J. Walsh. For World War 2 Garbutt-Walsh Inc built powered and non-powered covered and open barges, a Type B ship. The open badge, YGN-44, with a length of 65 feet and a beam of 20 feet, and 300 hp was lost in the war in 1944. The site is now YTI Terminal's Intermodal container port.Matthew Joseph Walsh was born in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1866. He came to California in 1899. His first job in California was working for the Los Angeles Railway Company, In 1906 was hired by Frank A. Garbutt as crewmen of his schooner Skidbladnir. One of Walsh first boat building projects was Harry Pidgeon's Inlander, which sailed around the world. Other noted boats: 53-ffor cutter Otter in 1914, 45-ffot sloop Thorobred in 1928, 43-foot sloop Margaret, 27-foot Common Sense in 1933 (built 6 of this 27-footer) and his own 55-foot cruiser Mardo in 1930 for himself, 53-foot ferry M.J.W. for Matthew J. Walsh in 1918, which ferried from LA harbor to dan Pedro and the west end of Terminal Island. Th M.J.W. sank in 1946. Common Sense III 25-foot sailboat built by Garbutt-Walsh Inc. was the smallest bat to sail the Los Angeles to Honolulu, Transpacific Yacht Race. Common Sense III sail in the 1934 race with a Hawaii crew. Halfway in the race her mast was damaged, but she still finished the race. After the race rules were changed and 30-foot min. limit was placed on the boats. Walsh raced his own boats. Walsh's had two big wins: The San Francisco Perpetual Challenge Cup in 1923 with the R-boat California. and the Universal rule R-Class National Championship with Pirate in 1929 during the Larchmont Race Week. Walsh Walsh in 1960 at age 94 in his home at near the Point Fermin Lighthouse.Frank Alderman Garbutt (1869-1947) was born in Illinois, he is known for being a race-car driver, an entrepreneur, writing short stories and being an athlete. His business was a variety of activities in printing, oil drilling tools, California real estate, building and movie making. He was one of the founders of Union Oil Company. Worked in Hollywood and was Vice President of Famous Players Film Company, which he sold to Paramount Pictures. He was an investor in many new started-ups, having made his money in oil. He was an investor in Glenn Martin's aircraft business that later became Martin Marietta). He also help start the Automobile Club of Southern California Garbutt was a member of both the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the California Yacht Club in 1922). His passion for yachts connected him with Walsh. Garbutt owned the Skidbladnir a large yacht. Garbutt died of a heart attack at age 78.

Wilmington Boat Works, Inc. or WILBO was a shipbuilding company in Wilmington, California. To support the World War 2 demand for ships Victory Shipbuilding built: Tugboats, crash rescue boats and sub chasers. Wilmington Boat Works opened in 1920 building Fishing boat and yachts, by Hugh Angelman, Willard Buchanan and Tom Smith. After the Korean War the shipyard closed in 1958. The shipyard was located at 400 Yacht Street, Wilmington, the site of the current USC boatyard.

The Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge was a vertical-lift bridge in the Port of Los Angeles. Dedicated on January 10, 1948, the bridge allowed State Route 47 (the Terminal Island Freeway) to cross over the Cerritos Channel. Named after Schuyler F. Heim, who was in command of the Naval Air Station on Terminal Island in 1942, the bridge was one of the largest vertical-lift bridges on the West Coast. At the time of its opening, it was the highest in the country with the deck weighing about 820 short tons (740 metric tons). Its towers are 186 feet (57 m) tall above the roadway deck and about 236 feet (72 m) tall when measured from the water level at high water. The bridge was decommissioned on October 12, 2015 and replaced by a new, six-lane fixed-span bridge in order to meet current safety and earthquake standards. A replacement bridge, tentatively titled State Route 47 Schuyler Heim Bridge Replacement, was completed in September 2020.

The Long Beach Naval Shipyard (Long Beach NSY or LBNSY), which closed in 1997, was located on Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles, approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport. The primary role of NSY Long Beach at the time of its closure was overhaul and maintenance of conventionally-powered US Navy surface ships, but it also had served as the homeport for several auxiliary ships during its operating history.

The Pacific Harbor Line (reporting mark PHL) was formed in 1998 to take over the Harbor Belt Line (HBL). In 1998, the Alameda Corridor was nearing completion, allowing for a massive amount of railroad traffic from the largest harbors in the Western hemisphere: Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. The railroad has 18 route miles (29 km) with a web of 59 miles (95 km) of track.

Back Channel is a canal in the Port of Long Beach, California, United States, and is nearby to Terminal Island, Island Grissom, and Thenard. It is also close to the port's East Basin and the Gerald Desmond Bridge.

Dominguez Channel (Spanish: Canal de Domínguez) is a 15.7-mile-long (25.3 km) river in southern Los Angeles County, California, in the center of the Dominguez Watershed of 133 square miles (340 km2). The watershed area is 96% developed and largely residential. Subsurface storm drain tributaries and open flood control channels flow into the channel. The channel originally was named after a racial slur but was changed in 1938.

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot-long (460 m) suspension bridge, crossing Los Angeles Harbor in Los Angeles, California, linking San Pedro with Terminal Island. It is the only suspension bridge in the Greater Los Angeles area. The bridge is part of State Route 47, which is also known as the Seaside Freeway. The bridge opened in 1963 and is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro, who championed its construction. Its chief engineer was William (Jim) Jurkovich who was instrumental in bringing pre-stress concrete bridge design to California. It was the first welded suspension bridge in the United States and is now the fourth-longest suspension bridge in California and the 76th-longest span in the world. The clear height of the navigation channel is approximately 185 feet (56 m); it is the only suspension bridge in the world supported entirely on piles.

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.