Free Boat Tours of the Port of Los Angeles

DETAILS:

• Location: Los Angeles Harbor with two departure points (please see their website below under “resource” for more details or changes):

  • Banning's Landing Community Center - 100 E Water St, Wilmington, CA 90744

  • Downtown Harbor - 504 S Harbor Blvd, San Pedro, CA 90731

• Hours of Operation: Yearly on the third Saturday in May; 10AM to 3PM

• Parking: Free parking lot.

• Cost: Free!

• Time Commitment: 1 hour narrated tour.

• Miscellaneous:

  • No need to RSVP - tours are first come, first served.

  • Tours depart every 30 minutes from both locations throughout the window.

  • Pet-friendly tours for those who bring leashed, well-socialized dogs, depart at 10AM and 11AM from both locations.

After seeing the titular beast for the first time in Jaws, a stunned Chief Brody informs Quint, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” He would’ve found that in spades had he come to the Port of Los Angeles. One of the world’s busiest seaports and the #1 container port in the country, the immense scale of everything within the Port of Los Angeles has to be seen in person to be believed. That’s why the Port opens it waterways to the public for one Saturday each year in the month of May for free narrated boat tours in conjunction with World Trade Week; a yearly celebration and outreach program on the importance of international trade.

As you cruise around the harbor, you begin to feel very small as you pass by some of the biggest ships in the world. You’ll see cranes that are equally as large go to work, stacking shipping containers on top of one another like gigantic Lego bricks. It’s hard to fathom that an operation this large and all it’s individual parts can even exist or how any one of these city-sized boats is able to float under all that weight, but thank God for both or how else would we get our flat screen TVs from Korea? Don’t mess with my ability to watch sports on the very best 4K technology! And if you’re so inclined, you can head to the bow of your cruise ship and shout “I’m the king of the world” to your heart’s content.

Afterwards, you can take in some of San Pedro’s other waterfront attractions like the USS IOWA (a decommissioned battleship that is now a museum), the Gateway Plaza Fanfare Fountains (which dance around to music at timed intervals like a mini Bellagio water show), The Vincent Thomas Bridge, Fireboat Ralph J. Scott Fire Station 112 & The Los Angeles Fire Department Museum, Los Angeles Maritime Museum, and all the great seafood spots along the water. So who’s the captain now?

 

RESOURCES:

• Port of Los Angeles; Harbor Boat Tours page.

• LA Waterfront page (for schedule of events, attactions, news and other resources).

• USS Iowa website.

• Gateway Plaza Fanfare Fountains info.

• Vincent Thomas Bridge Wikipedia page.

• Los Angeles Fire Department Museum page.

• Los Angeles Maritime Museum page.

• San Pedro area restaurants on Yelp.