S2. E15. West Harbor: The Update with Alan Johnson

Transcript

📍 Welcome back to the Harbor Area Podcast, where we tell stories of the people, places in Hidden History that shape the Los Angeles Harbor region. Today's episode is one I've been looking forward to for a while now. If you've spent any time in San Pedro, you've probably heard the conversations, the anticipations. Maybe even the skepticism around the transformation of the old Portugal into what will soon become West Harbor. This isn't just another development project, it's something that's been decades in the making. Tied deeply to the identity economy and future of this community. So today we're going straight to the source. I sat down with Alan Johnson, CEO of Jericho Development, a fourth generation family business with more than 40 years of roots in San Pedro to talk about what West Harbor really is, how it came to be, and what it could mean for the future of this waterfront. In this conversation, we go beyond the headlines. We talk about the long road from the decline of the Portugal to a $500 million redevelopment. The vision of turning San Pedro into a regional destination and the tension that always comes with change, especially. In a place with as much history and character as this one. We also get personal how Alan's connection to this community shaped his vision, what his team learned from the past, and why he believes this project could mark what he calls a second golden age for San Pedro. Whether you're excited about West Harbor, skeptical of it, or still figuring out what it means, this conversation is worth hearing. Let's get into it. oh my gosh. Alan Johnson. Oh, thank you so much for making time to come onto the Harbor Area podcast. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I've been looking forward to, , this meeting for a year and a half since I launched , the podcast because west Harbor is. The latest and greatest of many things that are going on, in San Pedro. But , this has been one that's been coming since 2009 basically. Yes. Yes. So, before we get into what's going on with West Harbor, I thought this was also a really good opportunity to , get to know Alan Johnson and the organization you represent. Thank you. And again, thank you so much for having me. Well I've spent 40 plus years working in downtown San Pedro, have lived in San Pedro, on and off, I was born in Torrance, family's been around forever. We're a fourth generation family business that can withstand ups and downs,, to do a development like this. , If it was a, any other regular corporation, you know, you'd have your quarterly analyst calls and we'd say, well, no, not much happened this quarter. , we've been several different things in the history of the company from a crane company, a heavy haul trucker, independent oil producer, and now real estate is where we've landed. And so really struck out downtown San Pedro, really, just because I used to come down here went to Ports O' Call. My grandfather who started the family business loved the port. He just like this. In those days you could go down, drive right on the dock. Everyone knew him. And we just loved it. But I'd also drive through downtown San Pedro and see our unhoused neighbors, in every doorway. And so, I understand why the civic leadership at the time thought to tear it down. It was the solution to downtown's problems. You know, we do it different today, but you know, if I've got one complaint, it's that they tore it down and didn't build anything., And I think that's what's really held downtown so far. 'cause my whole heart has always been in downtown. We've been down there, like I said, for 40 something years. We've rehabbed a couple historic buildings Gaffey building where Bruco is Brown Brothers building, where our offices was very involved in the Warner Grand from, you know, it not turning into a swap meet or whatever else it was gonna be. So we've been working on downtown forever and in fact, just go way back one of the things as a downtown person, I. Came to the conclusion that what's really gonna help downtown is a vibrant waterfront. So this goes back about 25 years. We have a family foundation convinced my siblings to help fund an effort to work with the port and the city to reimagine and redevelop the Ports O' Call area. And it just kind of, they weren't ready. It wasn't ready. Our efforts fell short, except we were able to work with , the chamber to do a ULI report in the city. What's a ULI? Oh, sorry. Urban Land Institute. Okay. And so they come in and they get their experts and they tell you, here's how you solve all your problems. And it was kind of residential and also the waterfront needed to do some work. So. That all with the idea that we were not going to do the work. I would just, I just wanted to make sure and I was gonna hold whoever did the work, feet to the fire, make sure they did a good job and complain when things didn't meet my expectation. So shame on me for thinking that. So when it kind of did come around that our partners, the Kovich company's approach, and I've been a big fan of Wayne Kovich who had done some really incredible adaptive reuses and rehabs of the Ovia building downtown, the Chapman Market. He did the Hercules campus at Ply Vista. He was just giant in la real estate development circles. And I became this enamored historic preservationist. I was getting my real estate broker's license, had to take this class on, real estate law at UCLA extension. They made us go down town and do a La Conservancy tour of the historic core Okay. Of downtown. And all I knew about old buildings was I thought art deco was ugly. So that was my sort of my worldview of old buildings. And that one experience changed my life. And all of a sudden I saw how cool old buildings were and I've always been a big history fan, and so it all of a sudden, like, wow, a light bulb went off. Saw downtown San Pedro as a wonderful opportunity to do that. And so it just built and built. And then Wayne Kovich called our office and wanted to talk about doing the 'cause the Port had put out the request for qualifications. Okay. Because I think they just were worried that they wouldn't get any responses, if they put too much on the developers. And so,, I remember saying to my brother, he got the call and I said, Wayne Kovich. Oh my God. Well, I, you know, of course we're not gonna do that project. That's way too big for us. But we'd love to I'd do anything to meet Wayne. So. We just, we met and, they were the senior developers. They were the long track record, and we were just the local, Sherpas that were gonna help with the local stuff. So it Just evolved , their internal changes to their operation. And sadly, God rest his soul Wayne's passing. So it evolved where we took more of the lead , and here we are, I don't know, is it 15 years later? Thank you for that background and really quick, the organization you represent is Jericho. We're Jericho Development. Awesome. And you've been in business? Early eighties? We were incorporated, but we entered San Pedro in 84, 83, something like that. Alright, well here we go. Let's just, jump, , right into, , west Harbor. How would you describe West Harbor to someone who hasn't been following the project closely? Well, I, when I, when we do tours, when I did one yesterday I start with we're a 42 acre site, which, you know, sounds like a big property and it is a big property, it's a very long triangle and the best part of it, the longest leg of the triangle is along the water and one of the other legs of the triangle is along the water in the sp slip. If you count our investment, what the port did in infrastructure work and what our tenants are gonna put into it, it's about a $500 million, you know, or another half a billion dollar project, which kind of wow makes me like those words have trouble coming out of my mouth. Like, wow. And again, the biggest thing our company's ever done. And it's really taken us into a whole new way of, a whole new mindset we have with this wonderful new staff. We've got shout out to the West Harvard team. , So we're like totally set up prepared, prepared for it, And we are hoping for this real transformational project that, I'm calling it this second golden age of San Pedro. , yeah. So it's a, 42 acre, $500 million. Yes. Waterfront project. Is this considered like a fun zone or what are we calling this? Well, it's a big mix of things. And that's one of the things we thought was so important that it not just be somewhere come down, have a meal and leave. You know, one of the things about San Pedro that, . Is a challenge for us and also makes us a wonderful spot, is that we are not on the way to anywhere. Right. You have to intentionally come down here. , You don't just stop off on your way generally to somewhere else, or you went the wrong way on the one 10. Right. And it actually, it used to be that way. In Ports O' Call heyday, when Marine Land was open, and I think those two attractions, , the buses would come Ports O' Call in the morning, , marine land in the afternoon, or vice versa. So much so was so successful that basically , the leases required all the tenants to stay open until about 11:00 PM and, , most would stay open until midnight, which I think for anybody that tries to get a meal in town after eight now. Yup. I mean, it is a little funny, but, , Liz and I, my wife Liz Grand Vision Foundation. We like eating late , . And it's just like, I feel like, you know, everything's a, the blue plate special, right? We gotta get in early. So hopefully West Harbor will have some of that, places staying open, people that want that and come from all around, you know? 'cause really, I think for us to be successful, we have to be , a big draw, , from broadly from Greater Los Angeles. And, , hopefully, , it helps with all the jobs and the success of the project. , Yeah finding a meal past 8:00 PM is actually annoying. Very much so. I agree with you because I don't go to bed until about 11. So if I could get a meal around nine or 10:00 PM just a late night snack that I don't want to prepare, that'd be great. I, well, just on a Friday, Saturday night where you can stay up late and , you know, God bless Nicos and yes, , there's a couple others they're few and far between. I love the dalmades at Nico's. Oh yeah. Yeah. They're great. They're great. And shout out to Liz Johnson. I love what she's done at the, , grand Annex with the cumbia Night. Yeah, they're fabulous. Oh, they're always, I love that team. They're always trying new things. They're always finding new ways to entertain us. And it's really just such a wonderful, it's such a high level of quality of musicians performers that come there and come , to our little town, much like West Harbor in the sense that, you know, with our amphitheater and the other things we're doing, it's like we all here in town experience. You gotta leave to go do a lot of stuff. Yes. Which is, you know, I mean, it's not the end of the world, right? We've all survived it. Right? But wouldn't it be nice if you just came and people came to you? It's like, oh, you've got this show at the Amphitheatre. I wanna see, or at the annex. I wanna see we're gonna come. You don't have to drive, we'll drive to you. Like, 'cause you know, we're all used to going downtown, going on the west side, and I'm tired of going up to the west side. Yeah, I agree. So, well this is all really exciting now. Why was now the right time to bring a project like this to San Pedro? Well, , I jumped that answer a little bit earlier. It's, in a sense, this project has been in the works for 25 years back to when we started, we started our effort all those years ago. The town was anxious and eager to get Ports O' Call redone. 'cause you know, the late fifties started in sixties, super strong seventies, and then it just kind of fell into disrepair. And, you know, there's a whole bunch of reasons which aren't really particularly important, just the fact that it did. Season one episode two. Is about the Ports O' Call, and that'll tell you what happened. Oh, very good. Very good. I can't wait. So we don't have to share that here. Yeah. Good, good. 'Cause you know, I've heard both sides. Both sides. Everyone's ideas and Sure. And, uh, This was an effort the community had been clamoring for for a long time. And there was some some really. Big changes at the Port of Los Angeles when John Wentworth became the commission president, and I think that was in Antonio's term. And so things started evolving and this partnership and this understanding and this, you know, it was called the hundred Years War. You know, it's a fairly accurate probably description of it. But then it really started changed and now everyone has got a real vested interest in this. This is like important to everybody that this be successful. And they have been, fantastic the work, work with the city, stepping up and doing everything we can. 'cause, you know, I'm not gonna surprise anybody to say that City of Los Angeles could be a challenge to work with news flash government entities, but, you know, and there's just probably some infrastructure or some just the way things are set up. But, we've, you know, we feel the love and we've really come to to have this shared vision. And so that's, that is really what's got us to here, is everybody pulling this project from the very beginning seemed like there's so many things that could have unraveled. In fact, the big story forever was, oh, it's never gonna happen. 📍 It's such a, it's such an important spot, you know, and it this also came with this sort of de-industrialization of the San Pedro waterfront from the, used to be called the bridge to the breakwaters that, you know, there's still a few little remaining industrial uses, but basically kind of return that to the people of San Pedro. And so it's your waterfront where before, , the old line was that the anomaly of San Pedro is that the property values decrease as you got closer to the water. So, you know, and if you think of that dynamic wow, if you changed that around, all of a sudden the waterfront becomes important and, you know, used by the people, then everything just gets better and better grows over time. And so I think that's, we're definitely there now and one of the things I think this has been this long held desire of the business community, so, which I've been a part of now for 40 plus years, is to, that we would be a visitor serving to downtown, a visitor serving waterfront. And for more than just a day, come down to Ports O' Call or, you know, or the fish market, which just kills it down there. There, there's they're so successful and they're such a loyal customer base. But you know, a lot of that you come, you eat and you leave and, you know, there's so much more to see in town. So to get to publicize everything other. Wonderful things. And I think the Iowa, when the Iowa arrived, that was really a turning point in the sense that, you know, a tourist map of Los Angeles that didn't have San Pedro on it before the Iowa wouldn't necessarily be incomplete. But after the Iowa, a bonafide ified national attraction and treasure and Jonathan and the folks that run the Iowa have turned it into this such an important part of our town and our whole the tourist ecosystem, has really put us on the map. And then, you know, west Harbor Alta Sea, Cabrillo, the aquarium, you know, I won't leave out Lane Victory. So we have all these things, point firm and Angels Gate, you know, the Palisades area, Royal Palm. I do these tours. Of tenants, of investors of lenders, whoever it is they that, that wanna see San Pedro. And so I've been this, just this tour guide and you know, I go, this movie was filmed there and this was built, and this was San Pedro Country Club before the Army took it over for Nike Missile and the whole Fort MacArthur and the wonderful notion of angels Gate, you know, where it was an army base and now it's an art center. Right. That's so San Pedro to me. So cool. Yeah. It's like the, it's just wonderful and San Pedro does that. They just, that's part of our de sunken city. The fact that you can go, it's also a favorite site. And if we only have one if I only have a little bit of time with someone, it's usually go get uh, Troy man or busy bee. Have a picnic at Point Furman and then take 'em down to Sunken City. Yeah. And it's like all of a sudden it's like, oh, this is a really cool spot. And I always, I love saying it 'cause it's like wear some good shoes and be prepared to do some trespassing. That's funny. One of the first things I remember doing when I moved into town is going to check out Sunken City. 📍 What did your team learn from what Ports O' Call meant to this community and how was that reflected in what you're building here in West Harbor? That's a good question. We didn't live here, but we spent a lot of time with my brother and I and brothers and sister. It was a very popular, , it was where you went out of town, company came, it was just always busy. It was always packed. It was just something new to see and it was that great. Besides all the interesting kind of kitschy, funky attractions down there, it was the harbor itself that you really couldn't see very well because there's buildings in the way that we've changed that now. Now the promenade is directly on the water and we have all the over, over water decks, and so it's really features. All the activity, all the ships going by, all the stuff that make San Pedro. So, and you know, no knock on Long Beach , but they, you know, their waterfront is a little more tucked away and not really, like, it's not on their main channel. Well, they don't really have a main channel. Their harbors just set up differently. So, you know, west Harbor takes takes advantage of that in a really special way. , Just understanding the history of San Pedro which is one of the most, fascinating, one of the big reasons why we chose this over, downtown Torrance and Belmont Shore and a few other areas and landed on here for probably the history as much as anything else. So kind of, have a good grasp of that and always loved to hear more. 📍 Angela Romero and I were very good friends and we'd have long debates about which is this and, well, I won't say they weren't long debates. I would tell her what I thought she would explain how I had it wrong. Okay. So, and I never questioned her 'cause she was the true historian. Yes, and may her passion for history continue to live on. So I think we, we have a real deep appreciation of the history of town and been watching it over the years and feel like we, we grew up with it. And so I think people. , Can be anxious about change. And I've, I am that too. But I harken back to the people that built town and they were not worrying about change. They wanted to build these businesses, build these industries, you know, start their families here. That the whole history, the arc of San Pedro has been this change and, embracing it and, , just really keeping in mind that it being true to the history. And one of my projects that I'm gonna work on it's on my list, I gotta get to it is, we're gonna have some history plaques and things about what was on the site. Over the years, what what was across the channel? What would you have you seen if it was 1945 and, you know, Bethlehem Steel or the Southwest Marine is still right across. And we were in Bethlehem, Liz and I were in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at their, they've really saved all their blast furnaces, and it's just this beautiful thing. They had a couple big panels about their shipyard in San Pedro. And just the statistics and all the ships that were built. And so there's really just this, there's so much to say and there's so much to celebrate. And it's kind of funny how I, I hear this a lot or read it in Facebook comments or Instagram comments that like, you know, why can't they have something authentic like a faux New England fishing village? You know, why are they putting up these warehouses? And it's well, you know, look around. They're mostly warehouses and, but there's a whole lot of reasons why they're flexible. There are things that we, that are, that can evolve and change over time as San Pedro has done. And so I think it's just people will get used to it. And the also, one of the issues we've always had is that when people look at our fences at construction fences, 'cause you've got a fence off construction sites, they're looking at the backs of our buildings. You know, it's the back of the house. And so we've really made a big effort to tour people through. We've probably toured, I don't know. A thousand people. I'm gonna just guess we didn't, no one kept track. But, and every time I said I, I gave one yesterday, I said, someone, I have some investors that are looking at something in town. Can I show 'em West Harvard? I go, sure, I'll do. Yeah. I think one of the big issues in, in downtown and San Pedro broadly before was a lack of investment. You know, when nothing changes, , say from late eighties two the early two thousands, , you know, nothing much changed. 'cause it just, and that was visibly significant. Yeah. It is. And things just got old. If you're, I think it's a bit, a little bit like a shark, right? If you're not swimming, if you're not moving, you're dying. And downtown never died. I bothered anytime people say downtown is dead. But they'll eventually come when we give 'em something. And I totally appreciate, it's up to us to give them give them a reason to come down. And the they are it's changing over time. So it's really, an evolutionary thing. , You gotta take a really long approach. This is not if you're in a hurry. This is not the business. Real estate development, like downtown revitalization, renewal, just don't think anything's gonna happen in a while. Right, right. Jacob Eisenberg was on the show and he was talking about, you know, the preservation of the buildings that him and his father own and how, busy that keeps them just kind of jumping through the Oh yeah. The regulations to do simple updates and I was gonna say build it and they will come field of Dreams, I think is where I remember that from. Yes indeed. I think that's really neat that you are bringing that historical preservation through the pictures and the displays of information. And , For example, that's what you see at White Point on the top. Of the bluff, , and people do stop and read those pieces of information. 📍 . How do you balance creating something new while still honoring San Pedro's identity? And how did you incorporate, community feedback, ? Well, we went through a lot of different plans and a lot of different architects. , When project takes this long you know, and then COVID happens , and then in the meantime, you you imagine and you dream and then you get some reality checks of what's doable and what's financeable and so, it has definitely evolved over time. I think through the tenants when they come in, their signs go in , all the boutique pop-up retailers that will have they'll, be reflective. And we were very eager to get as many local people and local merchants 📍 and restaurants , to participate. to pay for new construction is very expensive and anyone paying rent down there would say they're very expensive, but, you know, compared to other places they're not. And so I think everybody in town had a cheaper option than us. And one of the last things we would ever wanna do is take businesses out of town and so I think what we will find as we open and new opportunities come that there'll be some people that, I'll have a popup kiosk little popup retailers sure. I'll take some of that and we'll see if it works. And, you know, it's like, and they're here, they can do the wait and see kind of thing when you know, and we will just see how busy it is and how successful it is. So I'm very confident it will be very busy and very successful. So I think, we'll have a local feel. I think as far as becoming an attraction to local folks is, first of all, this is really gonna be your first opportunity when the promenade finally opens. To have that, , mile waterfront, I think it's like three quarters of the promenade, right on the main channel. We're gonna have entertainment in the Central Park area, so there'll be programming on a constant, regular basis. So I think we're just gonna get a lot of people, local people, just walking their dogs, taking a stroll, not necessarily looking to buy or eat anything that just walk up and down the promenade and,, watch the ships go by, check out Pickle and Paddle Tennis operator, king of Padell, super excited about that membership Dog park. So there's a place to let your dog run, have a beer, have a bite, and the amusement park. You know, so I really thinking the amusement park and our 175 foot Ferris wheel is gonna be a real big. Draw to the local community. 'cause it's like kids, where do you want to go? , When Lauren and her brother Matt were younger, I know where they would've said, we want to go to the Ferris, we want to go to the amusement park. And so that would be this big draw. And so I think that's where the community plugs in. I consider San Pedro a restaurant town, that we've got a lot of good restaurants. We don't have a lot of chains especially in downtown. And so I think I could be wrong, but I think everyone would like a couple more places to, to eat at. Right? And we're gonna have a big variety and lots of different price points. And so I think that the way to connect community, there's no ticket to buy. . It's available for you. And the big 50,000 square foot amphitheater that will have, there'll be like a park space when it's not , uh, uh. a show's going on, or we also wanna do a lot of like festivals. I can imagine, you know, I'm not, I'm sure Croatia has an Independence day and there's some Saints Day for Italy or ishka or mm-hmm. Some, you know, so there'll be, you know, the Greeks and the, there'll be Mexican festivals and Portuguese festivals and so I just think there's gonna be. This will be this gathering place. We'll do graduations in the amphitheater there's still a lot of places to do that, but, you know, we'll, we will work into that fabric of town and just additive. The other thing is with all the new residential construction downtown and around that, that, you know, those are like, it's 5,000 new dwelling units on the drawing board or proposed or plan check. You know, we have construction piles driving in town right now for where the old with green onion was, which again was sad to see the green onion go. I was a big fan. It had been there forever, but it was trainees before that. And so things evolve, things change. There'll be some, you know, Trammell Crow does a really good job. Alex uh, ante is really embraced community and I think community's embraced him. I gotta take a quick aside and talk about Trammel Crow. So, this is, I think, a really telling thing for me personally. So when the port put the RFP for ports call out, this is going back about 25 years to redevelop ports, call Travel Crow won that bid, and I think travel crow lasted about. Six months, nine months. Oh, wow. And they said this isn't gonna work. You know, and I'm not, I don't know the specifics of why, I mean, there's a lot. It was just too early, I think. Okay. We just the things weren't ready yet. The environmental work, I don't, I'm not sure why. Overwhelming, perhaps. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I can see that. I can see that. But it's so heartening to me to see, 'cause you know, I think they're the biggest builders in the country. , I believe so. Okay. That they came back. So, you know, a big company like that looks at San Pedro and goes, eh, there's something there. Yeah. I just, I'm not sure what it is. Yeah. And so again, we have a company that can go invest anywhere that says San Pedro's, the place to do it. And again. You know, if you're not being invested in you're deteriorating. So I know there's a lot of people, and probably a lot of your listeners are going, I wish all this stuff wasn't happening. And I just said, if I could take you back to 1980 and you, I walked you around downtown, you would say, oh, this isn't so good. This isn't this, all this growth isn't necessarily there. You know, nothing's all good or all bad, but you would say, we need some work, we need some put to put some money in. So travel crow is back. And then you look at the new cruise terminal and what Kerik and SSA are proposing down there, I mean. That's gonna be spectacular. And there's a big company really they are our partners. They've taken an equity position with us and we're super excited about that. So they're really kind of filling in those last few pieces of the waterfront. And , this is a 30, 40 year build out, but when they're done , then the hotels will do better. And then all this economic activity. And so you don't have to leave town to have a job. You can have your first job here in town. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's just, you build your life here. The arc is a really good, strong, vibrant. Community that can fight for itself and fight for its needs and has the resources and the wherewithal to really, to keep things as positive as possible and fight the things they don't like and support the things they do. Sure. Well, I am very appreciative of this new development. I actually like change my parents. Moved around a lot when I was younger, and so it was always like a new beginning. The average podcast listener according to inside radio is like 34 to 39. So I think our listeners we might be safe but feel free folks to actually message to the podcast Harbor Area Podcast on Bus Sprout. You could now write direct messages and I can respond . And you can also find us on Instagram using the Handle Harbor Area podcast. That's Harbor Area Podcast. I think we're gonna jump onto the next question here so, what makes West Harbor different from a typical waterfront development project? I'm glad you asked. One of the things we talked about too a little earlier, was this idea of more than just come have a meal and leave, so another one, a really important tenant who's come, who's really far along in their tenant build out is hopscotch. And they're the immersive art gallery. There's, their first one was in San Antonio. They have one in Portland and now in Los Angeles. And it's just this, you know, it's hard to describe. In fact, I asked on , one of the tours the two people that run it, that gimme a couple sentences so I can tell people. And they said, you just have to see it to experience. And now that I've seen it, that is very true. But I thought that's unhelpful. That, that is kind of a creative mind response, right? Because it defies that kind of one thing. So immersive is one of the words. And it just it does need to be seen. And it changes it's a big 17,000 square foot space, and they have all these different galleries at all these different things. And it changes And , as they change, it'll be another reason to come back. The, amusement park area, , the rides there'll probably be some changing there, . Pickleball, pickleball, I guess just continues to grow and, you know, and the dog park. You know, amphitheater, all these things that give people a reason to come back and one of the things I thought was so important for the amphitheater, we did all the work we needed to and the environmental review and so the idea, again, going back to this concept that San Pedro's not on the way to anywhere and competing for tourist. I'll brave the one 10 all the way to San Pedro. I drive to Irvine to see somebody that, you know, absolutely. So that was such an important thing. And so we have the potential of 6,200 seat capacity of bringing, , thousands of new people that might not ever had a reason to come down. And this has been , the way I'm thinking about things for 40 years is that, , when we're trying to rent retail space, or interest restaurants and space, or office tenants, whatever it is or events we're having down here, it's like, it was never disappointing 'em once they got here. I mean, they'd see it and go, oh, it's just, you get it. It's like, this is a really cool corner of Los Angeles. And, you know, and the history and everything else. It's getting 'em down here. You know, it's that. That feat of bringing people down, which I think the amphitheater will just do in spades. You know, with Nederlander concerts, they're 120 uh, 30-year-old family business, , they do the Pantages and they've got that all figured out and they ran the Greek for a lot of years. So they're also good neighbors, good operators, , with this long track records because that's where the kind of business you wanna run, and you do it so you can keep running your business. And similarly, the Greek amphitheater has a lot of residential areas in the surrounding community. Close by, closer than like next door. Yeah. And if you know how, if you go into the Greek. The roads get shut off. Neland is very excited. It's like you, your egress and ingress. It's so much better. There's so many other options and weighs in, and weighs out. And the parking fields we have, you know, we've got like 8,000 parking spaces within like a third of a mile. And the port is building more. They just approved the contracts to do more there at 22nd. And Dave Ian or minor, however you whatever corner that is. That's gonna excite people. Yeah, it really is. And so, so there's the resources, there's the infrastructure, and that's the other thing the Porsche has done. It's really. The road realignment for those that kind of will Remember back when before they realigned Harbor Way, Harbor Boulevard, you'd come down Harbor Boulevard. You'd take, you'd get into a single lane turn, pocket turn in front of the Maritime Museum, wait for that light, then turn again to get into Ports O' Call, and it backed it up on the freeway. And it was like, I remember thinking that can't be enough. You know, that's, that just seems like there's so many When Mother's Day at Fish Market is, you know, it's pandemonium. It's unbelievable. , And all the traffic now on two lanes, each way flows easily in, and when it's a super busy day they stopped people from going into that very first northern entrance. And it flows to these lower lots. And, you know, there's music festivals, there's been some. EDM things down there. Okay. Kind of. I have other comments I won't make about all of that, but so it really physically, and that's what I think the port did such a really spectacular job of doing the engineering, doing the planning, the traffic work to really understand what it takes to make this area able to handle all the cruise ship passengers, all the people coming to West Harbor, all the people coming to Alta Sea and the Iowa. It's really, you know, the beautiful part of it. It's done before we're open. It, right? And so it's not like we are open, it's a problem, let's scramble around to solve it. They really got ahead of it all and and invested the big dollars that, you know, no developer could do, you know, and the port built the promenade in front of us. It was our designers, James Corner field operations, who was famously did the high line in New York the tunnel tops in the Presidio up in the Bay Area. So, you know, world class world class landscape people. And and so again, they were a, they through their work and their investment we were able to take it from there. And it's been a great partnership and continues to, yeah, you really have strong partnerships. From a larger perspective, of development in San Pedro there's a lot more going on than just West Harbor to make it more interconnected. I love these new exits. I don't know why anybody would think a new exit is so charming, but it looks so beautiful. They really did a wonderful job. And again, as the port continues to grow and these terminals grow, and the throughput, if they're doing, you know, if they're doing more TEUs, more containers, they got, they have to go somewhere. And so you, so there's room if you do it right and the infrastructure's done correctly, there's room for everybody to grow. And it just has to be very thoughtful. And, you know, one of the challenges are, I hear a lot is about the Vincent Thomas Bridge closing, which, you know, I won't say I won't say, oh good. But I do know the roads around it gives a few more minutes, you know, five, 10 minutes, whatever, to, to take it. And I think people are just gonna learn to go around it. And that, it's, you know, west Harbor will be a big enough of a draw. And the other things going on in town is people will still find a way to come down. You know, if it's Russell Los Angeles, they just won't go down to seven 10. They'll go over 91 and they'll come down to one 10. Yeah. And then once you're in San Pedro, you're stuck. Yeah, exactly. Like you can't go to Long Beach anymore, folks, it's gonna take you longer. So yeah. But again, it's just a few minutes and Long Beach was always, we used to run John T's that's where Bruco is now. And we, that, we built that out years ago when we first did the seismic retrofit and the rehab of that building. Like some of our best customers were Long Beach. In fact, probably, you know, so Long Beach is, it's kind of funny. Long Beach has no trouble coming under the bridge to San Pedro. San Pedro seems to have a problem going to Long Beach, and I hear this a lot that, you know, somehow that this identifying that's, you know, it's, we're in competition with Long Beach and I just firmly disagree with that. We're neighbor, we're and what we're our. Is the rest of Los Angeles like an enemy's strong but accurate? You know, like we were talking about downtown, the west side everything else going on in Los Angeles, that's the ones we're competing. And so what I'd love to see is some kind of joint marketing and that this metro ferry that's gonna come from Long Beach, be back and forth from Long Beach and N Pedro is, I think a great start. And that we, I'd love to see us market us as the harbor area. Thank you Janice Han for the water ferries. Thank you. Thank you. And so, you know, and they're gonna have a lot of Olympics. We're gonna have a little saline. Little s we got, I'm really happy about that. And we have Croatia house coming. And so I think this idea that we, that it's like, you know, on the second day or third day of someone's visiting Los Angeles, come to the harbor. And all of a sudden , there's a lot more there if you incorporate all Long Beach has to offer, all San Pedro has to offer. And then we're really a tourist draw. We've got some we're the harbor area. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. With some exciting built environment things. 📍 So, what should people realistically expect in terms of jobs access and community benefits? We'll touch on jobs first. I'm glad you asked me that 'cause I asked my daughter Lauren. 'cause No problem. I had forgotten we did all this a while ago, but I can, so I will give you very accurate words. Construction. For the construction part, it's about 875 direct jobs. 485 indirect plus induced jobs. So it's about 1,360 total jobs involved in the construction of West Harbor. Then the ongoing is 1200. And 10 direct onsite jobs. 490 direct in and induced jobs in seven. So 1700 jobs supported annually. Which, you know, for a town that had lost, as we touched on earlier, had lost so many jobs. And that was one of the wonderful things about Ports O' Call, so many people, stories that people would tell me is that was my first job. You know, I think Joe Buscano his, that was his first job down there at the fish market, I believe. So it's this place that it will be that for a lot of people. And you know, one of the things about San Pedro is work is such a defining thing of our town and the job and the blue collar nature of what we do. And it's just really to be able to bring a whole lot of those jobs back and what Alta City's doing with jobs. And so, you know, there's so many opportunities now. For someone to, to live here, not have to leave, and just not that being stuck here. We just said that earlier. Shout out to Joe Buscaino. I love what they're doing at the cruise terminal there. I've seen some of those renderings and that's, yeah, super exciting. Really exciting. Exciting. Super exciting. And again, another big business that could have done that everywhere. Of course, they kind of, I think they're the biggest terminal operators in the Western hemisphere, so they do it everywhere. But to look at San Pedro and say, yeah, this is where we're gonna invest a whole lot of money. You know, like billion plus dollars is, you know, it's funny using those terms. It just doesn't, I mean, even with inflation. 📍 So, when people finally experience West Harbor, what do you think it means for San Pedro? Well, I hope it's, viewed with some pride, you know, that I think it, people look at it as a really net benefit. I mean, that is one of the things when we're doing all this, is that we're, this is all part of our desire to make this town a more successful place, a more economic, vibrant place. So I think that's a big part of what we're hoping to do. And you know, and I think the success will be is when we get the locals to come down, because I think, you know, you don't necessarily want to go visit someplace and just go where the tourists go. Right. So if the locals don't come down, it's not gonna have the same vibe and the same kind of authenticity , I think that will be a real a meaning of success when the locals embrace it and make it their own. You bet. We're gonna go down there. I think you're gonna change some minds, Alan, I think you're gonna fascinate them. . Even Disneyland gets a facelift every, , 10 Exactly. 15 years or so, 📍 I know you dream big and I know your big dreams come true. I mean, this is one of them. Yep. But what did you imagine to include in West Harbor that you really wanted that perhaps didn't stick a rollercoaster? Yes. I'm a giant rollercoaster fan. Same. And in fact Dr. Geraldine Nats the former executive director who's. Also a visionary and . So she really liked this idea of this themed attraction. And one of our very first plans we showed at the Warner Grand were fanciful with flags and seagulls and stuff kind of aspirational as we are developing. , Trying to keep the town informed, here's some of the things we're thinking about. And she loved that idea 'cause there was the architects that made a presentation about a themed attraction, we ended up hiring to do some of our initial work. Okay. We, they sent us to like, universal , in the Nor Orlando. To see the Harry Potter ride as this four, four D senses thing. And I will say very impressive. So I'd always thought it would just look, so this big sculptural steel rollercoaster down there would've just been fantastic. And that didn't happen. And I don't think will, but a Ferris wheel is, that's not bad. Good enough. That's not bad. Ferris wheel is good enough and it'll be the tallest one, in California. Coast? I think. 📍 So, when do you plan to open? We were selected which I'm, we're really t tickled by, I should say the, for the fan zone for the last four games of the World Cup. Which I was super impressed 'cause we were out, we were touring the LA Sports Commission folks around and, it was a construction fence and some tumbleweeds and broken sandbags and we're. Here's our vision for it. Here's what it's gonna look like. And they saw it. They appreciated the, what we were trying to do. And then we were awarded those last four games. So that's fantastic. That will be our opening July 14th, 15th, 18th, and 19th, 14th, 50 or semi-finals. 18th is the third place. Game finals on the 19th. So that is really that is really the official, although we're now it was in Donna's article recently about, so I think I can say that we're talking that fire, the Cabrillo Beach fireworks show is. Considering moving or they're, we're working with them and potentially they might be coming closer to West Harbor. Okay. So that would be also another we'll be open for that. I think I'm making all these promises that the construction guys have to deliver on. But you know, when can I get a piece of fish? Oh, from the new fish markets location? Oh, they're not the pop up, they're permanent. That's probably I would ag I would guess they're gonna start their construction probably in 2027. Okay. And then be done by. Probably I would, let's say for the Olympics. Okay. So as, and a shout out to the ros and acknowledging the very sad passing of Tommy Malana, which was a real kick in the gut for all the people that loved him and all the wonderful things that man has done and meant to town over the years. He's he was really one of those last old school guys that, that really just all heart, you know, and I'd never worked for him, but I guess he had another side that I didn't get to see. Wow. Wow. Rest in peace, Tommy. We are wrapping it up here, so I'm just kind of firing off some, like Go for it. Questions about things that I think might be of interest to folks let's see, any secrets? Anything , that we don't know yet that we should know about this special project? I like to think of this as we're a fairly open book. What are you most excited about? You know, I gotta say it's the amphitheater. Yeah. I love, I just love the idea of going to a show that is, 'cause you know, 'cause obviously with Liz running the annex and going and seeing all that wonderful talent. And just so spoiled, you know, I mean, I park right behind the annex 'cause my office is right across sixth Street from it, the old Brown Brothers building. Sure. And so I don't even have to, I go to a show and I don't even have to move my car. It's right there. Right. And so having that in town and having the. The people that lander you know, we were Jamie Wilson and I, the old operator of Ports O' Call restaurant, we shared a, one of the boxes at the Greek for a long time. So we went, I remember one summer, it was Paul Simon, it was Bruce Springsteen, it was gypsy kings. It was just like, it was just magical. It's there, so that's the kind of level, you know, and it's a similar sized space. And so I just love, I just think, you know, and not that I, I don't even mind driving, but just there's some magic about just doing it in your backyard. And I just, like I said, having people come to you and not going to not have to drive to them is really exciting. Well, Ellen, thank you so much for carving out time in your. Busy schedule. I know you have a lot going on. I know the Johnsons have a lot going on. You guys have your hands in a lot of things. We are busy. Busy. It's good to be busy. Busy. Yeah. Yeah. So any, anything else be before we go? Thank you. Just thank you for interest and thank you for the town, for the patience that has been shown and the grace that we have been given. I just gotta say it's something that we are gonna work so hard. I had a lot of people tell me when we started that the hopes and dreams of the community as resting on my shoulders, which I thought, oh my God that's like, I don't, that's not a good idea. But really what it has become and we've embraced and our whole ethos is that we have taking this responsibility so seriously and we're honored to have this responsibility and we are working as hard as we can to deliver the best possible product to make this something everyone can be proud of and everyone can enjoy and have it be the kind of place that gets continual reinvestment in. So it never does have to be torn down or have to get, run down, and just continue to serve the locals and the visitors and the regions people, because we really think of it. It's gonna be a regional draw. It's gonna be this economic engines along with all the other things we've talked about to really pump some much needed financial. Resources to town . And hopefully we all just, we all lock arms and sing Kumbaya. Yeah. So, well, folks you heard it directly from Alan Johnson, a very patient man slash real estate developer. This project has taken him 25 years to reimagine the Ports O' Call now as west Harbor. And so, I hope to see a lot of San Pedros out at the world Cup last for games. I imagine, Alan, you're gonna be there, right? Oh boy. You know it. Awesome. Well, thanks again and ladies and gentlemen, folks, thank you so much for listening to the Harbor Area Podcast. 📍