Wilmington, Los Angeles Explained

Wilmington, Los Angeles
Pushpin Map:United States Los Angeles Southern
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Southern Los Angeles, to the west of the city of Long Beach
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2: Los Angeles
Subdivision Type3:City
Subdivision Name3: Los Angeles
Named For:Wilmington, Delaware
Unit Pref:US
Area Total Sq Mi:9.14
Settlement Type:Neighborhood of Los Angeles
Population Total:53,815
Population Density Sq Mi:5887
Timezone:Pacific (GMT -08:00)
Coordinates:33.78°N -118.2617°W
Postal Code Type:ZIP code
Postal Code:90744
Area Code:310/424, 323, 562

Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California,[1] covering 9.14sqmi.

Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Latino and foreign-born residents. Nearly 20 percent of Wilmington’s total land area is taken up by oil refineries — roughly 3.5 times more area than is dedicated to open and accessible green spaces.[2] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilmington had one of the highest death rates in all of Los Angeles County, exacerbated by elevated levels of industrial pollution. [3]

It is the site of Banning High School, and ten other primary and secondary schools. Wilmington has six parks.

Wilmington dates its history back to a 1784 Spanish land grant. It became a separate city in 1863, and it joined the city of Los Angeles in 1909. Places of interest include the headquarters U.S. Army for Southern California and the Drum Barracks built to protect the nascent Los Angeles harbor during the American Civil War.

Geography

Wilmington shares borders with Carson to the north, Long Beach to the east, San Pedro to the south and west and Harbor City to the northwest.[4]

Demographics

A total of 53,815 people were living within Wilmington's 9.14 square miles, according to the 2010 U.S. census - averaging 5,887 people per square mile, among the lowest population densities in the city as a whole. The median age was 28. The percentages of people from birth through age 34 were among the county's highest. Population was estimated at 54,512 in 2008.[5]

Wilmington is not considered very diverse ethnically, with a diversity index of 0.245.[6] In 2000, Latinos made up 86.6% of the population, while non-Hispanic whites were at 6.4%, Asians at 4.8%, blacks at 2.6% and others at 1.7%. Mexico and Guatemala were the most common places of birth for the 44.5% of the residents who were born abroad, considered a high percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city and the county as a whole.[5]

The $40,627 median household income in 2008 dollars was average for the city. Renters occupied 61.5% of the housing units, with homeowners occupying the rest. In 2000 there were 1,524 military veterans, or 4.6% of the population, relatively low in comparison to the city and county as a whole.[5]

There is a Mexican-American community in Wilmington.[7]

History

The area that is now Wilmington was inhabited by the Tongva people of Native Americans. Archeological work in the nearby Chowigna excavation show evidence of inhabitants as far back as 7,100 years ago.[8]

The Spanish Empire expanded into this area when the Viceroy of New Spain commissioned Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the Pacific Ocean in 1542–1543. In 1784, the Spanish Crown deeded Rancho San Pedro, a tract of over 75000acres in the area, to retired soldier Juan José Domínguez, for his service with the Portolà expedition into the area over a decade earlier.[9]

Phineas Banning acquired the land that would become Wilmington from Manuel Dominguez, grand nephew and heir to Juan José Domínguez, in 1858 to build a harbor for the city of Los Angeles.[9] Known as New San Pedro from 1858 to 1863, it was subsequently renamed Wilmington by Banning, a.k.a. “Father of the Harbor”, after his birthplace, Wilmington, Delaware.[10] [11]

In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Banning and Benjamin Wilson gave the federal government 60 acres of land to build Drum Barracks to protect the nascent Los Angeles harbor from Confederate attack.[10]

Wilmington was a township in the 1870 census. The township consisted of the present-day South Bay communities, Compton, western Long Beach, parts of Rattlesnake Island[12] and Mormon Island which later evolved into Terminal Island.[13] Census records report a population of 942 in 1870. The township had been named San Pedro Township in 1860.[14]

Wilson College, precursor to the University of Southern California, opened in Wilmington in 1874 as the first coeducational college west of the Mississippi.

Los Angeles annexed Wilmington in 1909,[15] and today it and neighboring San Pedro form the waterfront of one of the world's largest import/export centers. Citizens of Wilmington were dubious that annexation would be in their best interests, fearing that it would shift economic activity out of their city and towards Los Angeles. Because the city government of Los Angeles so strongly wanted to have the growing port inside the city limits, it made a number of promises to Wilmington and also to the equally-dubious citizens of the-then independent city of San Pedro. Among these promises were that $10 million would be invested in improvements to the port and that as much would be spent inside the city on public works as was collected in taxes.[16]

In the 1920s, William Wrigley Jr. built innovative housing in Wilmington that was dubbed the “Court of Nations.”[10]

Wilmington is adjacent to the Wilmington Oil Field, discovered in 1932. It is the third largest oil field in the continental United States. Consequently, there are at least 8 major refineries in the Wilmington area, many of them dating back to the original strike.[17]

During World War II the United States Military operated the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation in Wilmington, from which soldiers and sailors were sent abroad to battle zones. The LAPE was controlled by the San Francisco Port of Embarkation from its inception in 1942 until late 1943 when it became autonomous.[10] The California Shipbuilding Corporation, famous for building victory ships during the war (although usually associated with Terminal Island), operated in Wilmington as well.[18]

Points of interest

Government and infrastructure

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Torrance Health Center in Harbor Gateway, Los Angeles, near Torrance and serving Wilmington.[22]

The United States Postal Service Wilmington Post Office is located at 1008 North Avalon Boulevard.[23]

The community of Wilmington is located in the Council District 15 within the City of Los Angeles.

The community of Wilmington is represented by one Neighborhood Council, Wilmington Neighborhood Council.[24]

Education

Only 5.1% of Wilmington residents aged 25 or older had completed a four-year degree by 2000, a low figure when compared with the city and the county at large, and the percentage of those residents with less than a high school diploma was high for the county.[5] Wilmington is home to Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, ranked the top high school in the city of Los Angeles and the fourth-best school in California. [25]

Schools

Wilmington is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The area is in Board District 7.[26] As of September 2009, the leadership of District 7 was under Interim Superintendent Dr. George McKenna.[27]

Los Angeles Harbor College is in Wilmington, at 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington, CA 90744.

Secondary and primary schools include:[28] [29]

Libraries

Los Angeles Public Library operates the Wilmington Branch.[30]

Recreation and parks

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: San Pedro Community Plan. October 11, 2023.
  2. Web site: Mahoney . Adam . 2022-03-31 . Deaths have spiked in this polluted California port community. COVID is only part of the story. . 2024-07-01 . Grist . en-us . April 4, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220404230733/https://grist.org/health/excess-deaths-wilmington-california-covid-pollution/ . live .
  3. Web site: Mahoney . Adam . 2022-06-22 . A community poisoned by oil . 2024-07-01 . High Country News . en-US.
  4. Web site: Harbor - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times . https://web.archive.org/web/20100616222953/http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/region/harbor/ . 2010-06-16 .
  5. Web site: Wilmington Profile - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times . https://web.archive.org/web/20100326064740/http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/wilmington/ . 2010-03-26 .
  6. Web site: Diversity Ranking - Mapping L.A. - Los Angeles Times . https://web.archive.org/web/20100612113633/http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/diversity/neighborhood/list/#wilmington . 2010-06-12 .
  7. Book: Mexican Americans in Wilmington. 2011. Arcadia Publishing. 978-0-7385-8174-3.
  8. News: Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past . Sean . Greene . Thomas . Curwen . . May 9, 2019 . April 27, 2020 . limited . December 28, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201228031020/https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-tongva-map/ . live .
  9. Book: Olivia Cueva-Fernández. Mexican Americans in Wilmington. August 15, 2012. February 21, 2011. Arcadia Publishing. 978-0-7385-8174-3. 7.
  10. Book: Wilmington Historical Society. Wilmington. August 15, 2012. April 23, 2008. Arcadia Publishing. 978-0-7385-5610-9.
  11. Book: John Steven McGroarty. Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea: with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement. August 15, 2012. 1921. American Historical Society. 14.
  12. Web site: Water and Power Associates. September 11, 2020. waterandpower.org.
  13. What a Difference a Decade Makes: Ethnic and Racial Demographic Change in Los Angeles County during the 1860s. Paul R. Spitzzeri. Branding Iron. Fall 2007. February 3, 2019. February 4, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190204014228/http://www.lawesterners.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/249-BI_249.pdf. live.
  14. Web site: Population of the United States in 1860: California . U.S. Census Bureau . U.S. Census Bureau . February 3, 2019 . April 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230412080415/https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1860/population/1860a-06.pdf . live .
  15. Book: Los Angeles examiner, Los Angeles. Press reference library: being the portraits and biographies of progressive men of the Southwest. August 15, 2012. 1912. The Los Angeles examiner. 134.
  16. Book: . The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles, 1850-1930 . June 9, 1993 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-08230-4 . 117 . August 15, 2012.
  17. Book: Gordon Laird. The Price of a Bargain: The Quest for Cheap and the Death of Globalization. registration. August 15, 2012. November 10, 2009. Macmillan. 978-0-230-61491-8. 131.
  18. Book: Roger W. Lotchin. The Bad City in the Good War: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Diego. August 15, 2012. 2003. Indiana University Press. 978-0-253-21546-8. 163.
  19. Web site: World's Largest Jack-O-Lantern in Los Angeles, CA. July 20, 2006. Virtual Globetrotting. July 1, 2024. July 20, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230720121152/https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/worlds-largest-jack-o-lantern/. live.
  20. Web site: Convenience Store News: "The Great Pumpkin Returns to ConocoPhillips' Wilmington Refinery", October 14, 2005..
  21. Web site: Home. July 1, 2024. The Banning Museum. July 1, 2024. June 27, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240627052719/https://www.thebanningmuseum.org/. live.
  22. Web site: LA County Department of Public Health - Torrance Health Center . https://web.archive.org/web/20100527190219/http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/phn/docs/HealthCenter/torrance.pdf . 2010-05-27 . publichealth.lacounty.gov.
  23. Web site: USPS.Find a Business/Standard Search - United States Postal Service . https://web.archive.org/web/20090131231145/http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office/49784?p=1&s=CA&service_name=post_office&z=wilmington . 2009-01-31 .
  24. Web site: Home Page . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207052638/http://wilmingtonneighborhoodcouncil.com/ . 2012-02-07 . www.wilmingtonneighborhoodcouncil.com.
  25. Web site: Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy . October 17, 2022 . May 9, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120509125218/http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/california/districts/los-angeles-unified-school-district/harbor-teacher-preparation-academy-2632 . live .
  26. Web site: Board District 7 Map . https://web.archive.org/web/20120321224254/http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/board/secretary/BoardDistrictMaps/2007-08%20Board%20District%207.pdf . 2012-03-21.
  27. Web site: Local Districts . https://web.archive.org/web/20120120193654/http://notebook.lausd.net/portal/page?_pageid=33,122477&_dad=ptl&_schema=PTL_EP . 2012-01-20 . notebook.lausd.net.
  28. The Thomas Guide, 2006, pages 794 and 824
  29. http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/wilmington-schools "Wilmington Schools," Mapping L.A., Los Angeles Times
  30. Web site: Wilmington Branch Library Los Angeles Public Library . 2024-07-01 . www.lapl.org . June 30, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240630105128/https://www.lapl.org/branches/wilmington . live .
  31. Web site: Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
  32. Web site: City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks - EAST WILMINGTON GREENBELT COMMUNITY CENTER . https://web.archive.org/web/20150328122721/http://www.laparks.org/dos/reccenter/facility/EastwilmingtonGrnBeltComC.htm . 2015-03-28 .
  33. Web site: City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks - EAST WILMINGTON GREENBELT POCKET PARK . https://web.archive.org/web/20150225032309/http://www.laparks.org/dos/parks/facility/eastWilmingtonVestPocketPk.htm . 2015-02-25 .
  34. Web site: City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks - WILMINGTON RECREATION CENTER . https://web.archive.org/web/20150202003615/http://www.laparks.org/dos/reccenter/facility/wilmingtonrc.htm . 2015-02-02 .
  35. Web site: City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks - WILMINGTON SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER . https://web.archive.org/web/20150430221326/http://www.laparks.org/dos/senior/facility/wilmingtonSCC.htm . 2015-04-30 .
  36. Web site: Wilmington Waterfront Park. Port of Los Angeles. August 9, 2012.
  37. Web site: Los Angeles Public Library reference file. May 16, 2013. July 19, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140719164625/http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/03/195435.pdf. live.
  38. Web site: Los Angeles Public Library reference file. May 16, 2013. March 22, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120322023659/http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/05/1452.pdf. live.
  39. News: . ASA KEYES SUCCUMBS TO STROKE: Funeral Planned Tomorrow Former District Attorney and Leader in Politics Born in California . Los Angeles Times . 19 October 1934 . 1 .
  40. Web site: Los Angeles Public Library reference file. May 16, 2013. March 22, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120322023842/http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/07/517851.pdf. live.
  41. News: People . . February 4, 1995 . a02.

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