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The epic of the Port of Los Angeles was initiated more than 150 years ago by a handful of visionaries and entrepreneurs who exploited both fortunate and outrageous circumstances to transform a tidal mudflat into the worlds largest man-made harbor. Phineas Banning and archrival Augustus Timms were among the first to realize the potential of the coastal dent on the map called San Pedro Bay in the 1850s. The bays namesake village expanded from a backwater loading point for raw cattle hides to a deepwater harbor rivaling and eventually surpassing San Francisco as the busiest port on the U.S. Pacific coast, and would later become the nations largest container port. Political battles in far-off Washington, D.C., economic booms and depressions, world wars, and billions of tons of cargo and material later, the Port of Los Angeles remains Americas premier revolving door for trade with markets around the world.
About the author
Business editor and author Michael D. White collected these vintage photographs from many sources, including the archives of the Port of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Times, as well as his own extensive collection, to relate the story of this world-class superport. Many of these historic and evocative photographs have never before been published.
