The Harbor Area Podcast

Episode 9. A Listener Tale

• Joel Torrez

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Hey folks, this is a listener tale. I got my latest guest here who messaged me on the Buzzsprout, app where you can actually directly message me the content creator of the Harbor area podcast. I'm going to go ahead and let him introduce himself. Hello, everybody out there. My name is Chris Legaspi and I am in lifelong. Resident of the Harbor area. Folks. So, uh, we were talking and Chris has a really interesting story and it kind of manifested with listening to episodes, four and five, which focused on Phineas banning. Yes. So, so before we dive into that, I want to know how you came about the podcast. Um, I, I did a search in the apple. Podcasts. and, um, Yeah, the podcast came up and so I gave it a listen and yeah. I was addicted to it. It's really good. Really good show. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Of course. Yeah. You mentioned that. You went on a trip recently with your wife to Washington DC, and that kind of took you to other places in the area. Tell me about that. Yeah. Well, my wife was there for a couple of days working. I met up with her and she extended her stay. So she could go do all the truest stuff around DC. So I got there on her fifth day. And, um, she had to work one more day and she said, take a nap. I'll come back and wake you up and, uh, you know, go do some sightseeing. So I said, all right, let's let's, let's call it. I took a nap, woke up and she goes, Hey, we're going to get a rental car. And I said, for what, we're going to Washington DC, you know, you can walk everywhere. In DC, you know? Uh, or you could take one of those big buses and hop on and off and stuff. I go, well, we need a car for she. Does I have a surprise for you? We're going to Wilmington, Delaware. And I'm like, what? I've always wanted to go there. Um, I'm a big guy, civic pride being from Wilmington. I want to know where Wilmington came from. So it was always a dream to go there. So. Your family has been in Wilmington, California for decades. You said. Generations like generations. I think we're at like nine deep right now. I think. With all the. Great nephews and nieces and stuff like that. We've been down here for quite a bit. And so do you live here in San Pedro or are you out there in Wilmington? I'm live here in San Pedro. I live right across the street from a high school. So 14th and Leland. What do you do for, for, for work? I have like six different income streams, man. Uh, I'm a. I'm a casual longshoreman. Um, I DJ, I've been a DJ for 30 years. Um, I run a nightclub. In Hollywood. And, uh, I have a nine to five where I work at, uh, uh, art in coin, uh, business. So. Nice. Nice busy men. Thank you for making time to come out here. And so, uh, what, what did, I've never been to Wilmington, Delaware? What did that look like? What was kind of going through your mind? Where'd you guys start where'd you go well, First we had to drive through DC. It's a Virginia. Through Maryland. Into Baltimore, you know, I mean, uh, through Maryland, into Delaware. So we drove like four states. And, and a district, you know, and in like two and a half hours. And right now driving. Driving anywhere on the east coast right now. You'll see the fall foliage and all that stuff, you know, that. The leaves are changing colors. So, you know, the two and a half hour trip. Was not bad. You know what I mean? It wasn't like driving through the desert for two and a half hours for. We were in. Like America, you know what I mean? Like America, America, you know, so. Yeah, the triples beautiful. Getting there. Um, I have family in Philadelphia and from Philadelphia to, to Wilmington on the train, it's like 22 minutes or something. I always wanted to go, never had the chance, you know, it's just, something came up. So my wife always knew I wanted to go there. So she surprised me with the trip there. Philadelphia holds a special place in my heart. So I have, uh, I took a picture of a sign and it's Wilmington this way in Philadelphia. That way. You know, I'm not a Philadelphia sports fan or anything. He's just, I've been to Philly. A bunch of times, and I just love the place. So you talked about the fall foliage. Tell me, like, was there any similarities between, Wilmington, Delaware in Wilmington, California? Yeah, it's right on the water, you know, like. Uh, Wilmington's furthest point is, um, what they call banning. And the landing, which the gentleman talked about. And it's right on the water, you know, but it's. By refineries now. And the port. You know, it's obviously right there. But I'm in Wilmington, Delaware. They have a Riverwalk. So you see the old cranes over there. Um, You know, it's right along the water. The bustling. Community, outdoor. Beer places. It's just a really nice place to river walk. And then you go in. Being a longshoreman. Um, I said, I want to see the port. You know, instead of it being the port of LA out there, it's the port of Wilmington, you know, the port of Wilmington, Delaware, and. Um, it's, it's cool that it's called that because. It's where our port comes from. People said, oh, you went to the sister city. I went to the mothership. No it's in Wilmington, Delaware is the mothership. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Right, right. So, um, what is your fascination with, Phineas? Uh, being a kid from Wilmington. Civic pride. FINI is banning high school. And did you go there? I did not. Okay. Cheated. My parents moved me to Riverside, California. To lake Paris. But, you know what? It was the best thing that he probably did for me because, uh, A lot of my friends from those days, like I moved away in 1987. And a lot of my friends from, from those days. They didn't make it. You. Either gangs or drugs. You know, They just trouble follow them. And stuff. So, you know, we got out during 1987 bloods and Crips and stuff like that was big here in both San Pedro and Wilmington. San Pedro, we're going over here, Wilmington. It was coming here. It was just my parents. Like, you know, With no fear of outcome. They just packed us up. We're building us a new house in Riverside. We don't care. How it's going to affect you, but we think that this is the best thing for you. They took us out there. I was a prompt king, like two years in a row. That's captain ball team. In high school in Riverside and lake Paris, there's like 12 people there. So it's kind of hard. You're not being the coolest guy at a tall people. No, I'm just kidding. But. Yeah. Those are some of the best years of my life out there. You know, I'm glad my parents took me out there, but. And so. I worked green and black. Wasn't my school colors. But every day that I put on my Jersey and stuff, I'm like, I should be playing that banning, you know, I shouldn't even. Because my parents would take us out every Friday. Like growing up. Every Friday was like Ben and football day. We had to wear red and black to school. Bearing in high school. Their football team is. Becoming big again. And, um, when, when they're doing good, the community for some reason, seems like it's doing good. It's like the NFL, like whenever the Raiders and the Cowboys are good. The NFL is like really, really, really good. Or when the Lakers are really good. Right. The NBA as a whole. Isn't really good. But that's like with Danny high school, when, when their football team is good, for some reason, it just looks like the whole community is just flourishing. You know, So what year did you guys move out to Riverside? And what year did you decide to come back? We moved away in 1987, March of 1987. I was 12. I was five. Yeah. My father ended up passing away when we were out there. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I say hi to him every day. He's right here. Up in Greenhills. Okay. The pieces Western. You know, so every morning I drive to work, I say, listen to every morning, you know? So. It's funny too, because we always say that he took us out there. Passed away. And we brought him back out here. To live back out here, but we stayed out there. So, um, 1996 ended up coming back out here and getting like totally back into the community and all that. I coached football IBAN we made it to the championship. You know, I DJ'ed a lot of local events I DJ for before I became a longshoreman. Like lung, Shaun and picnic and stuff like that. So, So, um, that's, that's really cool. What year did you coach? Uh, banning high school. On 99, 2000 2001. Nice. So you were kind of able to live out your dream of playing football by being a coach for that school? Yeah, definitely. And, and knowing all the folklore and all that stuff of like what Benny was back in the days. I really try to push that on the kids, you know? Like how the community was behind him. When the community sees you guys working together, they want to support you, you know, I always told them be players that, that. That people want to support, you know, B, B, B, a team that you're. That your community wants to get behind and stuff like that, you know? The knucklehead stuff. Only go so far. You know what I mean? So, right. Yeah. Right. I agree. So, um, while, I mean, this is, this is so cool. I mean, I've really enjoyed getting to meet you. Like I said, I, I think I've seen you out in the community before I look forward to meeting your wife one day. I know she wasn't able to show up. Uh, tonight her nieces. They're there hanging out cause my niece's mother who also amongst Charmin, she's working tonight. So yeah, we, we all pitch in you know, a. Takes a village. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I think a lot has, uh, uh, changed, um, uh, for, for, for the better. And I, but I think there's still a lot more room for, for improvement. Definitely. Um, So. Do you have a favorite restaurant there? In Wilmington. Yeah. Oh man. Well, it's two pizza places Dominic's is always a go-to. I've heard of Dominic's pizza. If it's open, you you're lucky to be on one of the days when it's open. Go ahead and grab the, the sausage pepperoni. Can't beat it. Back in the days. I heard that they had like one of the best cheeseburgers. In the whole city, like better than Tom, was it better than, you know, all the, all the different burgers that they have in Wilmington? I bet my mom said, if you liked the pizza back, And the days the burger was like the thing. So. I never got to try the burger out cause I think they phased it out of their menu, but my mama said the old. Dominic's Berger was the best. Nice. Red west pizza is always a good one. I don't know if you've tried red west. It's on Pacific coast, highway and Neptune. It's right on the corner. And there's like one of those power box it's where like artists did pictures. There's a picture of banning right there on the corner too. So Venus ban on. Nice. We have a cartoon. Picture of him. So, but yeah, red, red west pizza, can't go wrong with the Cho diesel. Hello. Sausage. Pepperoni pizza. We call it the Harbor and special. Oh, nice. Yeah. It's the best in chronicity is a. Flores meat market on Anaheim. Um, it's right across from the veterans of foreign war. Uh, hall on Anaheim and I believe Hawaiian avenue. Okay. Yeah. It's the best burritos. Um, freshest, uh Arnita is over there in the warmer, not, not the ones that you could get, like when, you know, I want to put in a silo. Now you asked for the other ones. Only a few people know that she can ask for that stuff. So. I'm letting the secret out to you guys right now. And since you're from San Pedro, what is your, what, what are some of your favorite spots around here? I'm probably going to get some hate mail over this. Everybody loves busy bees, but I'm really not a busy bee fan. Uh, I go to a one. Uh, Awan imports. It's on. I think eighth and main. Sorry, anything grand like down there, it's a little a target in Delhi. Yup. Best bread. The best sandwiches, I think, um, Yeah. Pedro 81 has some of the best stuff. Yeah, I got a lot of friends at Ray for busy bees. I've never been, yeah. Um, I'm a transplant. I'm a San Pedro transplant. So I do everything backwards, right? Yeah. Um, but I've also never been to a one I've had, uh, some food from there. I think they have some wine that some of my friends have. Dinner parties. A little wine thing right next door. Like. Yeah, some fresh stuff. I don't know if they have a lady back there doing the. The Weinstock. Like I love Lucy, but yeah, they got, they got some, some kind of wine thing right next door to it, so, yeah, but it's totally legit. Italian Delhi. So. So, you know, San, Pedro's got a lot of pride right. In our community. And right now you have an opportunity to, tell it like it is if you would, if there is. Do you got any message for our community here? The people in the Harbor, anything, any last words you'd like to share? Yeah, let's uh, bring back. Downtown San Pedro. You know, I know. Um, You had somebody on here talking about like the beautiful Kate. The beautification and all that stuff of downtown. Those buildings down there. You know, They're in so many movies, like, you'll be like, oh my God. Y'all. That's sixth street right there. And it's like, yeah, that's that's the ramen spot. They turned it into a comic book shop, like for a movie, you know? And. Yeah. That, that place really needs a lot of love and it. You could totally flourish. You know, people are waiting for something like that, especially like with the new port thing going on. I think, I think he's going to get like really packed down there. And people are going to. Want to go to other places like these, and they're going to do that. At that courthouse. Um, That courthouse scene. That they're going to have. It's like a multi-use, uh, facility where you have like apartments on top and you got, I think it was some eateries down on the bottom. That should be really cool. Yeah. So. That should help out, you know, that should bring people, you know, some people are worried, like, you know, They're going to lose business because of this big thing. You know, they're going to want all of that. You know what I mean? They're gonna want everything from like Pacific down. And it, and it's gonna look great. I really think that they're going to do something nice. I hope so, too. Um, Not being, uh, like stingy or nothing, but. My property values. what property values are gonna go up there and, uh, you know, it, but it'll be for a good cause, you know? I'm from Wilmington. Um, My dad was from Wilmington. And it was a big thing like Wilmington versus San Pedro. Right. Before the gang stuff like old surfer guys. The surfer guys from Wilmington who wanted to come surf in San Pedro. And they got into fights with each other. He used to use their shoes as their weapons and all that stuff. So my dad was always like, Sir. My dad told me three things before he passed away. He says, son, Never drink Miller genuine draft. Never cheer for the Raiders. And never ever, ever moved to San Pedro. And so when I told my family, Hey, Moving to San Pedro. They're like, What's your deck and a thing. And I'm like, I'm going to be paying mortgage. In San Pedro. I think my dad would be happy that I made like a grownup decision. And two. To come to San Pedro. it happened during the pandemic. Um, we moved in. April 20, something of 2020. And, it's, it's been amazing. It's been amazing the first year though. It was it. It was. Kind of bad because. We were in this town and we weren't able to explore it because it was shut down. Yeah. You know what I mean? So as soon as it opened back up, as soon as they opened Nico's pizza back up over there. And that's another one of my favorite spots. Nico's pizza. They just remodeled. Have you been there? Uh, yes. Yes. Yeah. We eat there all the time. So. Yeah, just, I would just love to see that part of San Pedro. Just really start flourishing. The whole downtown area. Cool. Well, thank you. I'm sure your father would be very proud of ya. I think so. Yeah. I think so. And, uh, well, Hey man, thank you again for taking time out of your schedule for listening to the podcast. Before we go. I want to ask you, question though. What. What else would you like to see on the podcast? What other history in the area are you, looking forward to hearing about. Um, They have a record store on, sixth street or seventh street. Um, It's called JDC records. Okay. Um, it's like one of the oldest record stores in LA county. Okay. And, um, the guy who, who owns it. Um, He was a record producer for, the GDC record label that started off like a lot of rappers who came up. From him, like he made. Like small guys, big from his. Like Shalimar and groups came through his store. Like through his production and stuff like that. To tap into that. And into like, The arts. You know, Music and stuff. Yeah, actually a, Individual. I have. I have her card somewhere from the grand annex reached out and she said, Hey. I know your, uh, Podcast is focused like on the history of the Harbor area. And she mentioned that I need to make sure to do something about the music here in San Pedro. So. I'm curious about taking a dive into that. I think where I want to go to next, because I've been jumping around from the three. Cities or towns, right. It's San Pedro Wilmington. So I move over to long beach. And I think I want to talk about the pike, yeah. We'll get a lot of stuff. Yeah. Well, Like it's very well documented. You know, there's a lot of stuff you can read about that. And, the, the Navy sailors and all the boats were, were coming in and all the people. Used to ride the roller coaster. I forgot what it was called. Um, cyclone or something like that. There's, there's a lot of history right there with the pike, that whole area right there. That would be good. I'd listen. That's what's up. Hey, Chris. Well, thank you so much for coming out again. And, I'll be seeing you around town, man. Oh, yeah, definitely. Tell your family. I said, hello. Oh, do you want to say hi to your family? Yeah. Oh, what's up everybody. The Gaspe family. You guys, uh, I really appreciate all the support. And everything. Whenever I really do. You guys, uh, we're a blue collar family. You know what I mean? We we've worked. We've been workers around here forever. And so, uh, I appreciate them having my back and all the things that I do. So thank you. Look, ask. B people. All right, man. You got, thank you. Yes, sir.

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Hey, thank you for listening today. If you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure to click download. Let me know if you have any stories to tell about the Harbor area. Email me@harborareapodcastatyahoo.com. That's Harbor area podcast@yahoo.com.

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