Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a 1,500-foot-long suspension bridge, crossing the Los Angeles Harbor, 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.*

Historical Notes

The bridge is 6,060 feet long, 52 feet wide, 365 feet tall.  Its longest span is 1,500 feet, and the clearance below is 185 feet.

Historical Notes

Construction of the bridge required: 14,100 tons of steel; 1,270 tons of suspension cable; 92,000 tons of Portland cement; and 13,000 tons of lightweight concrete.

Historical Notes

The Vincent Thomas Bridge is the first suspension span ever to be built on steel piles — 990 of them were sunk to hold it up, instead of the more traditional concrete supports. And it is the first to be built entirely without rivets; the steel is welded together.

Historical Notes

The main span of the Vincent Thomas Bridge is 1,500 feet long as compared to the Golden Gate Bridge at 4,200 feet long.

Historical Notes

California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas, who represented San Pedro, spent 19 years beginning in 1940 arguing for the 16 different pieces of legislation that were necessary for its construction. When the bridge opened in 1963, Thomas was the longest-serving assembyman. In 1961, the legislature passed a special Concurrent Resolution 131 in order to name it after him while he was still serving.*

Historical Notes

In 1963, the Vincent Thomas Bridge was completed connecting the mainland to Terminal Island, and there was no longer a need for ferry service. Accordingly, the ferry service was terminated. The terminal building on the Terminal Island side was demolished, but the building on the San Pedro side was used for many years as an office building by the Los Angeles Harbor Department. As the ferry building began to deteriorate, citizens of San Pedro sought to have it restored. They succeeded in having the building designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 146) in 1975, and starting in 1976 the building was renovated and converted into the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. The museum opened in 1979. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.*

Historical Notes

The Volkswagen Beetle, or informally the Volkswagen Bug, was produced from 1938 until 2003. The need for this kind of car, and its functional objectives, were formulated by Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, wishing for a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for the new road network of his country. He contracted Porsche in 1934 to design and build it to his exacting standards. Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalize the design.

This is one of the first rear-engined cars. With over 21 million manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single design platform, worldwide.*

Historical Notes

The original 25 hp Beetle was designed for a top speed around 100 km/h (62 mph), which would be a viable cruising speed on the Reichsautobahn system. As Autobahn speeds increased in the postwar years, its output was boosted to 36, then 40 hp, the configuration that lasted through 1966 and became the "classic" Volkswagen motor.*

Historical Notes

SS Statendam was an ocean liner of the Holland America Line built in 1957. She was bought by the Paquet group in 1982 and renamed Rhapsody and sold again to the Lelakis group in 1986. Later she became part of the Regency Cruises fleet and was named Regent Star in the Regency fleet. She was laid up after the Regency Cruises bankruptcy and remained in poor condition for many years. She was scrapped in Alang, India in 2004.^

Historical Notes

SS Catalina, also known as The Great White Steamer, was a 301-foot steamship built in 1924 that provided passenger service on the 26-mile passage between Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island from 1924 to 1975. According to the Steamship Historical Society of America, Catalina has carried more passengers than any other vessel anywhere. From August 25, 1942 until April 22, 1946 the ship served as the Army troop ferry transporting more than 800,000 troops and other military personnel between embarkation camps and the departure piers. After a period of service as a floating discothèque, the ship ran aground on a sandbar in Ensenada Harbor in 1997 and partially sank on the spot. It was scrapped in 2009.^

Historical Notes

RMS Caronia was a passenger ship of the Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line). Launched on 30 October 1947, she served with Cunard until 1967. She was initially nicknamed the "Green Goddess" after Liverpool's green and white "Green Goddess" trams, and the nickname stuck. She was one of the first "dual-purpose" ships, built both for 2-class transatlantic crossings and all 1st-class cruising. After leaving Cunard she briefly served as SS Caribia in 1969, after which she was laid up in New York until 1974 when she was sold for scrap. While being towed to Taiwan for scrapping, she was caught in a storm on 12 August. After her tow lines were cut, she repeatedly crashed on the rocky breakwater outside Apra Harbor, Guam and broke into three sections.^

Historical Notes

When the Bridge opened in 1963, a 25-cent toll was collected in each direction. On grand opening day, Assemblyman Thomas paid the first toll. In 1983, the toll increased to 50 cents for westbound traffic and was free for eastbound traffic.  In 2000, the Bridge was considered “paid for” and the toll was repealed.

Historical Notes

Skeptics predicted it would serve fewer than 2,000 vehicles a day and that it would take taxpayers 40 years to pay for the $21-million structure. In its first month of operation, however, the bridge served a daily average of 9,631 vehicles. And most of the debt was paid off within 20 years.^

Historical Notes

Los Angeles police say a suicide attempt is made from the bridge "every few months".*

Historical Notes

The 4-lane, 2.2 mile bridge, whose towers rise 35 stories above LA's Harbor, replaced ferry service between San Pedro and Terminal Island in 1963.

Historical Notes

The spectacular Vincent Thomas Bridge is the "Official Welcoming Monument" to Los Angeles. The suspension bridge daily welcomes thousands of people to LA's major seaport district of San Pedro as well as the port.

Historical Notes

The Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center began life as a freight and passenger terminal for the American President Lines. It was later converted into a cruise ship facility and became home to the “Love Boat”. As the size and number of cruises ships increased, the cruise ship center underwent a 21 million dollar major renovation and improvement project in 2003. Today the Port of Los Angeles World Cruise Center serves as the West Coast’s largest cruise port with hundreds of thousands of passengers using the facility. It can accommodate the biggest cruise ships.^

Historical Notes

The first thing people notice, during the day, is its magnificent "green" color. It takes more than 1,000 gallons of green paint to cover its span.

Other Sections of Interest

Early City Views (1800s)

Historical Bldgs (1800s)

Early Hollywood (1850 - 1920)

Early San Fernando Mission

Early Los Angeles Plaza

Water in Early Los Angeles

Early So Calif Amusement Parks

Baseball in Early Los Angeles

Aviation in Early Los Angeles

Early San Pedro and Wilmington

Mystery History: Q & A

Early City Views (1900 - 1925)

Historical Bldgs (1900 - 1925)

Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +)

Early Views of the San Fernando Valley

California Historical Landmarks in LA

Electricity in Early Los Angeles

Historical Timeline of Los Angeles

Los Angeles River - The Unpredictable

Early Views of Mt. Lowe Railway

Early Views of Santa Catalina Island

Early Views of the Miracle Mile

Early City Views (1925 +)

Historical Bldgs (1925 +)

Early Views of Hollywood Bowl

Early Views of Pasadena

Early Views of Santa Monica

Early Views of Glendale

Early Views of UCLA / Westwood

Early Views of USC

Early Views of Historic Main Street

Early Los Angeles Streetlights

'Miracle Mile' (1920s & 1930s)

Water and Power in Early LA

Newest Additions

New Search Index