San Pedro, California is and has been the Gateway to the world! Located just south of Los Angeles, it is one of the busiest ports on the Pacific Ocean. With its location at the edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, San Pedro has majestic cliffs and bluffs with ocean vistas that are unmatched anywhere in the world. It has an international culture and a history dating back to 1542.

The United States Battle Fleet was stationed at San Pedro - Long Beach from 1919 to 1940. The spectatular photo below shows the Battle Fleet at night on April 22, 1938. The text below the photo was the taken from the back of the photo as it was typewritten by the Los Angeles Bureau of World Wide Photos. The photo is also stamped "Received Examiner Reference Library May 24, 1938. The photo was in the San Francisco Examiner Reference Library . Click on the photo to enlarge.

U.S. NAVY - MANEUVERS
FROM: WIDE WORLD PHOTOS  LOS ANGELES BUREAU
SPECTACULAR U. S. BATTLEFLEET SEARCHLIGHT ILLUMINATION
SAN PEDRO, CALIF:—Bombs thundered. Anti-aircraft batteries roared. San Pedro traffic, house and business lights were dimmed. Flares and huge battleship searchlights stabbed the skies. This was a deadly, realistic dramatization of an enemy air attack last night on Los Angeles Harbor, climaxing Harbor Day ceremonies, during Foreign Trade Week. PHOTO SHOWS: The US. Fleet last night showing 100 giant searchlights from assembled fighting ships in Los Angeles Harbor setting the heavens ablaze with their searchlights.
LOS#75074  S  PLEASE CREDIT 5/22/38