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The lasting significance of the Naval Defense Station in World War II San Pedro

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The lasting significance of the Naval Defense Station in World War II San Pedro

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THE LASTING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NAVAL DEFENSE STATION
IN WORLD WAR II SAN PEDRO

by

Tennessee Gardner

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION

May 2023

Copyright 2023 Tennessee Gardner

ii

This thesis is dedicated to
Papa, and our harbor cruises.

iii

Acknowledgements

In the summer of 2017 two significant developments in my life occurred; I began my
position at Point Fermin Lighthouse Museum, fulfilling a long-standing promise to myself that I
would become a lighthouse keeper. The second, I wandered USC’s campus and eventually found
myself in Trudi Sandmeier’s office discussing the Heritage Conservation program I had been
searching for. These could be acts of fate, just a series of fortuitous events, or it could be that
inner self that seems to put us in the right place, at the right time, for the right things to happen.
Whatever you may call it, I will be forever grateful that these events have led me to incredible
mentorships and opportunities.
First and foremost, I need to thank Trudi for so much, but most poignantly her gift for
guidance, her passion, and patience. She has supported me at every turn and cultivated in me a
stronger sense of self within my career. It is this investment in all her students that make the
Heritage Conservation program so remarkable. I will never forget her faith in me.
I would like to offer much thanks to William Deverell for his guidance, and expertise.
His incredible breadth of knowledge was truly a privilege to benefit from. I am so appreciative
for his kindness and encouraging enthusiasm for my work.
I would also like to thank with much gratitude Peyton Hall, for his thoughtful acumen. I
have been fortunate enough to have his class which gave me a lasting fascination with materials
from bricks to concrete. I am grateful for his help in honing my lens on this thesis.
I would like to offer many thanks to Kristen Heather, Director of Point Fermin
Lighthouse, who has been a treasured mentor and friend. Her continuous support of my work,
dedication to integrity, and commitment to the community of San Pedro is inspiring.
Finally, I need to thank my friends and family who have supported and witnessed my
educational endeavors, bringing me endless support and cups of tea in the process.
Thank you to my committee members for seeing me through, and the friends, family, and
the colleagues who encouraged me.

iv

Table Contents

Dedication ................................................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... iii
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................................. vi
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................................... vii
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter One: Military and Industrial Development in San Pedro .............................................................................. 6
Early Harbor Development ........................................................................................................................... 6
Development and Harbor Occupations 1897-1918 ....................................................................................... 9
World War I and Post-War Development 1914-1940................................................................................... 10
Chapter Two: Bethlehem Shipbuilding, Channel Heights, and Point Fermin Radar Tower ...................................... 15
A Fragile Landscape ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Role of World War II Structures in San Pedro ............................................................................................. 16
Role of the port During World War II .......................................................................................................... 17
Bethlehem Shipyards .................................................................................................................................... 18
Bethlehem Shipyards Today ......................................................................................................................... 20
Channel Heights ............................................................................................................................................ 21
The Erasure of Channel Heights ................................................................................................................... 24
Lookout and Radar Station at Point Fermin .................................................................................................. 25
Removal of the Lookout and Radar Tower at Point Fermin ......................................................................... 28
Heritage Conservation Lessons ..................................................................................................................... 28
Chapter Three: The Naval Defense Station ................................................................................................................ 30
Mobilization .................................................................................................................................................. 30
Wartime Use.................................................................................................................................................. 31
Construction .................................................................................................................................................. 35
Character and Treatment of Temporary Military Structures......................................................................... 41
Point Fermin Historic District and Rehabilitation Recommendations .......................................................... 42
Why This Place Matters ................................................................................................................................ 46
Chapter Four: Gentrification and Historic Resource Relationships in San Pedro Today ........................................... 48
Post-War Relationships with the Built Environment .................................................................................... 48
Community Building: Heritage Conservation Successes ............................................................................. 48
Gentrification ................................................................................................................................................ 50
Revitalization in Practice .............................................................................................................................. 51
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................................... 54
Further Research Questions ........................................................................................................................................ 55
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................ 57

v

List of Figures

I.1 Workers Progress Administration Land use survey ...................................................................... 4
I.2 Ariel of Point Fermin, 1934 .......................................................................................................... 5
1.1 Map of Rancho San Pedro, 1850 ................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Daguerreotype of the harbor, 1850 ................................................................................................ 8
1.3 View of the Naval Fleet in the Port of Los Angeles, 1919 ............................................................ 11
1.4 View of the Port of Los Angeles, 1921 ......................................................................................... 11

2.1 Map of Bethlehem Shipyards, 1943 .............................................................................................. 20
2.2 Context view of Channel Heights—Photo by Julius Shulman, 1940’s ......................................... 23
2.3 Context view of Channel Heights—Photo by Julius Shulman, 1940’s ......................................... 24
2.4 Point Fermin Lookout Station Post-WWII .................................................................................... 27

3.1 Radio and Radio Communications map of the Southern California Coast, 1944 ......................... 32
3.2 Recorded oral history from W.C. ‘Wink’ Cumberlain .................................................................. 33
3.3 Navy Department permit for the construction of the Naval Defense Station, 1941 ...................... 34
3.4 Context view of the Naval Defense Station ................................................................................... 35
3.5 West elevation view of the Naval Defense Station........................................................................ 36
3.6 South elevation view of the Naval Defense Station ...................................................................... 37
3.7 South elevation interior perspective from the Naval Defense Station ........................................... 38
3.8 Interior of basement featuring the radio communications desk ..................................................... 39
3.9 Interior view of vandalism of the Naval Defense Station.............................................................. 44
3.10 Point Fermin Historic District Boundary map, 2020 ..................................................................... 46

vi

Abstract

San Pedro is a community within the City of Los Angeles sitting at its most southern
boundary. Historically tied to the development of the Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro hosts a
multi-layered cultural landscape of social and economic developments, with significant periods
denoted by military usage of the Port. This analysis focuses on the historic context, and
preservation discussion around San Pedro’s World War II Era Naval Defense Station, known
locally as the ‘Coast Guard House’ located at Point Fermin. The station served in two capacities
during the war, the first being as a Naval radio communication station from 1942 to 1944 and
then transitioned to a Naval direction detection station in 1945. Today, the station serves as one
of the remaining architectural vestiges of San Pedro’s WWII landscape, holding space for
potential community revitalization efforts as a strong contributor to an architectural narrative
disappearing to rapid gentrification.

Introduction
Change is a constant in Los Angeles. Periods of development and redevelopment are
constant in the sprawling urban landscape. In the city’s port town of San Pedro, this story is also
intertwined with the area’s military history. The jurisdictional linkages between Los Angeles and
the Port were formalized in 1906, when Los Angeles annexed the Harbor Gateway, a corridor
along present day I-110 forming a long connective strip between the city to the Pacific through
Wilmington and San Pedro. In 1909, San Pedro was incorporated as part of the City of Los
Angeles, effectively linking Port resources with the city.
1
This thesis offers historical contexts
and heritage conservation discussion around the efforts made by the city to steward the recently
acquired World War II-era Naval Defense Station at Point Fermin, a place that was responsible
for critical navigational aid and harbor defense. Though the station is offered a level of
protections under the City of Los Angeles, there is still a threat of erasure of this resource if
plans are not made for its long-term continuation within the community. By providing a better
understanding of military construction method during WWII, and what should be the methods of
analyzing and understanding the station’s significance this thesis may contribute to the future of
adaptive reuse of the Naval Defense Station.
The community of San Pedro is inextricably linked to the Port of Los Angeles. The first
chapter of this thesis lays the context for the Port to understand how its periods of development
primed it for Navy use, making it a critical hub for production during WWII. (Figures I.1, I.2)
The significance of the harbor’s development laid the foundation over time for both economic
and military advantages. The interactions between WWII mobilization and the Port were made

1
David Kipen, Los Angeles in the 1930’s: The WPA Guide to the City of Angels, (University of California Press,
2011), 15.
2

possible through its existing World War I infrastructure. Finally, this chapter looks at the interim
years between the wars that allowed for the efficient installation of critical WWII operations.
The second chapter is a discourse about the erasure of contemporaries to the Naval
Defense Station within San Pedro’s WWII landscape. Three brief case studies of Bethlehem
Shipyards (1941), Richard Neutra’s Channel Heights (1941), and the Lookout tower and Radar
Station at Point Fermin (1942), illustrate how heavily altered San Pedro was during this time,
making WWII one of the Port town’s most defining eras. This chapter seeks to clarify an
understanding how the resources from this period have lost visibility within the community
overtime, and how that emphasizes the importance of the station’s reuse moving forward.
The third chapter focuses specifically on the Naval Defense Station itself. Its significance
within the WWII San Pedro narrative is analyzed through its usage, construction, and
preservation perspective. In applying the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for rehabilitation,
and the station’s specific military intentions, it provides insight on ways for this structure to
thrive for future community use. Although much of the explicit history of Naval Defense Station
remains classified, what is clear is the critical and strategic role the site played in the WWII story
of San Pedro. Lastly, this chapter discusses the current state of the station as part of the recently
formed Point Fermin Historic District.
The fourth chapter of this thesis presents the current heritage conservation climate within
San Pedro. The community has a strong collection of historic districts and individual historic
resources. In contrasting the community revitalization efforts with projects driven by outside
developers or agencies, the urgency to address the preservation needs of the Naval Defense
Station are more acute. This chapter seeks to illuminate the adaptive reuse potential of this
resource.
3

A full understanding of the Naval Defense Station will be an ongoing project moving
forward with the preservation and adaptative reuse goals under the of the City of Los Angeles as
a contributor to the Point Fermin Historic District. While evidence of exactly what took place at
the station between 1942 and 1945 may never be fully understood, it is a pivotal aspect of WWII
in Los Angeles. It is the objective of this thesis to support projects surrounding the station and its
continued role within the community.
4

Figure I.1: Land use illustrating San Pedro’s boundaries Works Progress Administration, 1939. Source: University
of Southern California Libraries.
5

Figure I.2: Arial of Point Fermin in 1934, eight years before the Naval Defense Station was constructed. Source:
Water and Power Associates, 2022.

6

Chapter One: Military and Industrial Development in San Pedro

Early Harbor Development
The Port of Los Angeles is a defining feature of San Pedro's landscape as one of the
world’s largest and most productive ports. With Los Angeles expanding throughout the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Port reflected the demands of a growing community. As
the harbor itself was developed and re-developed, the Port’s commercial success would prove
critical for its use as a military stronghold over time. San Pedro in effect would adapt itself for
harbor defense throughout periods of conflict, building infrastructure that would allow for the
military branches to continue there today.

Spanish missionaries utilized the harbor as a trading post for receiving goods from Spain
during the latter part of the eighteenth century. From 1769 to 1770 the Portola Expedition, an
endeavor also backed by Spain, made European contact with California. The members of this
expedition were eventually granted significant land concessions throughout the southern
California region.
2
These concessions included the Rancho San Pedro, Rancho Los Cerritos, and
Rancho Palos Verdes land grants. Combined, these rancheros spanned 84,000 acres and included
the present landscape of the Port of Los Angeles. Rancho San Pedro was granted to retired
soldier Juan José Dominguez in 1784.
3
(Figure 1.1) The grant included a sandbank strip that

2
Mary Joanne Wittenberg, Rancho Palos Verdes: The Land of the Law (The Historical Society of Southern
California, 1988), 117-126.
3
Rancho San Pedro was the first Spanish land grant in California. Juan Jose Dominguez who was part of the Portola
expedition was granted 75,000 acres in 1784 by King Carlos III of Spain. This land included the entirety of what is
today the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The family maintains portions of this original land grant today.
Dominguez Ranchero Museum, History of Dominguez Ranchero Adobe Museum (Dominguez Ranchero Museum,
2022).
7

acted as a natural jetty.
4
This essential geographical feature functioned as a kind of natural
breakwater, protecting the harbor from the open ocean. This critical component made it possible
for future development and dredging of the harbor.

Figure 1.1: Map of Rancho San Pedro as surveyed by Henry Hancock in 1850. Source: History of Dominguez
Rancho Adobe Museum, 2022.
In 1822, Mexico—now independent from Spain—lifted the trade restrictions that had
been in place, creating the first period of rapid development in San Pedro centered around the
success of the harbor. In 1834, the Sepulveda family gained control of a significant portion of
Rancho San Pedro and constructed a landing and dock at the harbor. By the time California

4
Dominguez Ranchero Museum, 2022.
8

joined the United States in 1850, San Pedro was already a trade and transportation hub. (Figure
1.2) This Americanization period led to a rapid increase in traders, settlers, and economic
interests in the harbor, necessitating further developments to the harbor to accommodate the
number of goods and people in the greater Los Angeles area.
5

Figure 1.2: A daguerreotype of the harbor in the 1850s. Deadman’s Island is visible in the background. Source:
Water and Power Associates, 2022.

Phineas Banning arrived in San Pedro in 1851 from Delaware. Today he is known as the
“Father of the Port of Los Angeles” and is credited with recognizing the commercial potential of
the harbor. By 1857 Banning had constructed docks for shipping that profited from importing
and exporting goods in Los Angeles. Much of Banning's early profit came from two primary
routes of the southwest gold fields that terminated at the harbor: the Gila River Trail and the Old

5
SWCA Environmental Consultants, Properties on Terminal Island, (Port of Los Angeles, 2011), 15.
9

Spanish Trail. He took advantage of this, establishing a fleet of small vessels to carry materials
from the harbor to the expanding San Pedro waterfront.
6
In 1869, Banning recognized the
potential of rail transportation between the harbor and Los Angeles. The subsequent Los Angeles
and San Pedro Railroad (LA&SP) established the first reliable route for moving goods from the
harbor to greater Los Angeles. In 1872, the LA&SP railway was purchased by the dominant
Southern Pacific Railroad, establishing the systems used to move cargo from the Port today. This
focused development and transportation improvement to and from the Port significantly
contributed to Los Angeles's rapid growth. As a direct result, Los Angeles saw an increase in
population due to booming commerce and a ready workforce.
Development and Harbor Occupations 1897-1918
This commercial boom and growth of Los Angeles lead to the formal federal
establishment of a port. In 1897, after years of surveys and studies as part of a long deliberation
in what became known as the 'Free Harbor Fight,' the federal government agreed to provide aid
to the City of Los Angeles in establishing the official Port in San Pedro.
7
In 1906, the City of Los
Angeles annexed San Pedro, expanding its boundaries to the coast in preparation for opening the
Panama Canal and all the economic benefits it would bring. In 1907, the Port of Los Angeles and
the Los Angeles Harbor Commission were formally established. The first in a series of periodic
Port improvements began and would span over the next decade. The projects were expansive and
ambitious; constructing a new breakwater nearly three miles along the Main Channel was a
monumental construction and engineering effort, drawing resources from San Pedro,

6
Environmental Science Associates, Port of Los Angeles Municipal Pier No. 1, (Historic Resources Evaluation
Report, 2011), 8.
7
Santa Monica had been a contender, backed by railroad baron Collis Huntington, but ultimately ceded. William F.
Deverell, The Los Angeles 'Free Harbor Fight, (California History vol. 70, 1991), 12-29.
10

Wilmington, and Catalina Island. In 1913, Angel’s Gate Lighthouse was constructed at the end
of the breakwater to guide ships into the expanding Port safely. The Port of Los Angeles was
named the world's largest lumber importer. The remaining marshland in the Port was dredged to
construct land for wharves and warehouses. The first occupants of these new structures were
shipbuilding companies.
8

World War I and Post-War Development, 1914-1940
America's involvement in World War I began on April 6, 1917. The Panama Canal had
officially opened three years prior in 1914, and with wartime development, closed for the
duration and several years following the conclusion of WWI in 1918. These two events shaped
the Port, shifting its focus from shipping to wartime production efforts. The United States Navy
established a presence in the Pacific and developed a base in San Pedro primarily as a training
station. (Figure 1.3) This station was the first of several military operations in the harbor. The
Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach focused on shipbuilding in response to the
federal government pushing for strengthening maritime technologies and fleets. (Figure 1.4) This
effort includes the prominent Southwestern Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, responsible
for generating a large amount of the Pacific fleet.
9

8
Environmental Science Associates, Port of Los Angeles Municipal Pier No. 1 (Los Angeles Harbor Department,
2011), 9.
9
Jones and Stokes, San Pedro Waterfront Redevelopment Project, (Los Angeles Harbor Department, 2000), 10.
11

Figure 1.3: A view of the Naval Fleet in 1919. Source: Water and Power Associates. 2022.

Figure 1.4: View of the Port of Los Angeles in 1921 Source: Water and Power Associates. 2022. Early Views of San
Pedro and Wilmington, 2022.

12

After WWI, the Port saw an intensified and focused period of change. Bethlehem Steel
Corporation purchased the former Southwest Shipbuilding Company and all associated facilities
in 1922, then known as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. This shift in ownership was a
catalyst for the new development of the Port post-WWI. In 1923, a $15 million bond issue was
passed, and as a result, the Board of Harbor Commissioners was incentivized to begin
improvement projects that lasted for the next decade.
10
These projects were responsible for
significant changes to the Port landscape, including new wharves, roads, bridges, cargo, and
passenger facilities, and most prominently, the widening and dredging of the Main Channel to
allow for increased production of larger cargo ships. During this time, Terminal Island expanded
to almost double its previous area, and a new transportation point called Henry Ford Bridge was
completed in 1924, providing accessible vehicle transportation to and from the Island.
11
In
contrast, the Port built up and improved to grow its economic and military potential, which also
meant discarding aspects of the Port. Deadman's Island, which had always been an issue to
vessel safety sited at the mouth of the Main Channel, was removed with dynamite. The debris
from the obliterated Deadman's Island was used to construct an adjunct property to Terminal
Island, Reservation Point.
The development of landfill in the Port around Terminal Island created transportation
options within the Port, both vehicular and air. Through the Works Progress Administration
funding, the U.S. Navy and the Port invested in improvements to the field, including new
runways, hangers, special accommodations for seaplanes, and a breakwater jetty for mooring.
The first airfield was Allen Field, established in 1928. It was known as California's first air and

10
Jones and Stokes, 2000, 10
11
Ernest Marquez, and Veronique de Turenne, Centennial Port of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: Port of Los Angeles),
136-152.
13

sea airfield and was composed of a runway, pier, and sea-plane runway.
12
Notably, the field was
utilized as a military and commercial facility but backed by the Harbor Commission's
understanding that the U.S. Navy would primarily utilize it.
13
In 1935, the Navy signed a 30-
year lease with the Port and the airfield was renamed Reeves Field for Admiral Joseph M.
Reeves, the then-commander-in-chief of the United States Fleet, who was interested in building
the U.S. Naval Aviation program.
14

Significant improvements to the Port included infrastructural elements that allowed
commercial business and the U.S. Navy to function within this space. The Harbor Commission
continued its work in making significant alterations to the sewage system to replace a minor
disposal system that had been put in place in 1915. From Wilmington to East San Pedro, a more
comprehensive sewage management plan was implemented to accommodate the rapidly growing
fishing industry and workforce. The fishing industry had become a problem as it began polluting
the bay and was an unpleasant health hazard. This led to the construction of the Terminal Island
Treatment Plant in 1935, specifically to manage all the Port's waste production.
15

One of the most crucial elements of the Port’s economic development during this period
was the discovery of oil fields in 1923. Oil production became one of the most significant
contributors to the Port's economy and made it attractive to military operations. Oil shipment
increased 250 percent between 1923-1924.
16
Regional companies such as Standard Oil of
California, General Petroleum Corporation, and Union Oil Company were the major contributors
to the expanding-built environment of the Port. New facilities were constructed through

12
Historic California Posts, Camps, Stations, and Airfields; Long Beach Army Airfield. Accessed October 10, 2022.
13
Jones and Stokes, 2000, 11-12.
14
Los Angeles Times, Honor Paid to Reeves, March 27, 1936.
15
Environmental Science Associates, 2011, 12-13.
16
John M. Houston, The San Pedro City Dream: An Account Made up of Extracts from the Minutes of the City
Board of Trustees and Items from the Newspapers of the Time Vol. 2., (San Pedro Historical Publications, 1982).

14

Wilmington during the 1920s, and storage facilities were installed on Terminal Island. These
storage facilities could load four tankers simultaneously and be, in addition to the dock-side
terminals, also constructed around the boundaries of Terminal Island. The placement of General
Petroleum's facilities proved economically strategic as it efficiently provided services to fishing
vessels and more extensive tanker needs.
During this post-war period, trade restrictions were lifted, and the Port returned to a busy
trading hub. Lumber and oil were the most significant commodities, and though the Port moved
a variety of products, most of the facilities were focused on lumber, oil, fish, and shipbuilding.
Additional facilities and wharves were approved for construction in 1923 to accommodate new
economic demands as part of the harbor improvement bond measure. In 1930, harbor traffic
began to slow due to the stock market crash at the end of 1929 marking the beginning of the
Great Depression. Necessary improvements continued, including new breakwater and passenger
terminals, completed in 1937, backed by the Harbor Commission.
17

The Port is a unique landscape within Los Angeles, defined by change and progress.
Today, the Port of Los Angeles is a monolith, a global shipping center with multifaceted
industrial, commercial, and military installations. Much of the Port as it was pre-1960 is erased
from the built environment. The older, historical aspects of the fishing industry, shipyards, and
sea-plane airfields that gave definition to its overall character and the people who cultivated
those spaces are lost to new technologies and rapid development.

17
The Works Progress Administration assisted with these improvements and made significant contributions to the
wharf, passenger, and freight terminals. Charles F Queenan, Long Beach and Los Angeles: a Tale of Two Ports
(Windsor Publications, 1986), 67.

15

Chapter Two: World War II Contributions to the Built Environment:
Bethlehem Shipbuilding, Channel Heights, and Point Fermin Radar Tower

A Fragile Landscape
San Pedro’s historic resources exist in a fragile landscape, and this is extremely true for
its WWII built environment. San Pedro’s WWII resources exist in an urban and industrial
cultural landscape. This poses unique challenges and opportunity for approaching heritage
conservation in an environment subject to constant re-development. These resources are within a
working and innovative port, whose priority is commerce, not heritage conservation. This
fragility then brings forward the necessary conversation that aging structures have the potential
to be embraced with adaptability, adding positive contributions to the community through the
built environment in San Pedro. It is the fragility itself that needs to be addressed to successfully
move forward.
Looking at three contemporaries of the Naval Defense Station and their differing
treatments and circumstances illustrate some of the challenges facing this historic resource.
Bethlehem Shipyard, located within the Port is an example of the effects of benign neglect on a
historic resource. Secondly, the Channel Heights housing project, a master work of design, can
only be characterized as a devastating illustration of loss. Its erasure is an example of just how
much a community can lose. Finally, the Lookout and Radar Tower at Point Fermin Lighthouse
was a modification to an existing historic resource, and its removal creates an unexpected
discourse about the role modified structures play within a historic landscape.

16

Role of World War II Structures in San Pedro
The effects of WWII on the American home front manifested in a variety of ways from
consumer goods to movies, and most visibly to the built environment. WWII marks a major shift
in California’s role in industry, and San Pedro’s contributions as a ship and aircraft
manufacturing hub played a key part in this transformation.
18
The resources developed during
WWII were entirely based to accommodate wartime needs, be it production, defense, or housing.
This period in San Pedro was entirely focused in supporting the military in the Pacific Theater.
19

Military construction during this period was centered around logistical considerations.
There was a tremendous need to efficiently manage resources, and special consideration was
given to the military construction. New facilities were a necessity to accommodate the rapid
expansion rate of enlisted men, laborer, and their families alike. Because construction largely
consumed what was considered critical wartime material, economic considerations were given a
tremendous amount of weight.
20
Government and military backed construction then became a
balance between adequate facilities and how to use as little resources as possible. Temporary
construction became the preferred method of meeting these wartime needs, except when it came
to industrial facilities where temporary construction methods were not feasible.
21

The role of the built environment was essential for the war effort, and to accommodate
this, construction was kept as simple as possible. It is significant to note that driving design
principal from this period had more emphasis on construction method than design. This created
an architectural moment of focused innovation, finding solutions for rapid expansion while

18
Rodger W. Lotchin, California Cities and the Hurricane of Change: World War II in the San Francisco, Los
Angeles, and San Diego Metropolitan Areas, (Pacific Historical Review, 1994), 393-420.
19
Lotchin, 1994, 400.
20
U.S. Army Corps Engineers, Combat and Military Construction, Accessed October 2022.
21
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Accessed October 2022.
17

complying to the rationing of materials.
22
The approaches in the preservation of WWII resources,
and their further consideration of adaptive reuse moving forward play an instrumental role in the
identity of San Pedro.
Role of the Port During World War II
The Port of Los Angeles was the most significant and closest American port to the
Pacific Theater during World War II. The war years brought the next wave of dramatic changes
to the Port and San Pedro. Military activity defined the entire harbor area both physically and
socially. San Pedro found a new purpose and made nationally significant contributions during
this time.
23
Ship and aircraft production facilities in the port and surrounding area were in a non-
stop production cycle. Between 1941 and 1945, fifteen million tons of war equipment was
manufactured in the Port.
24

This high production rate was made possible by the thousands of people who now
composed the wartime labor force at the Port. To accommodate this influx of both production
and labor, national wartime mobilization efforts were put into place.
25
These mobilization
accommodations came into effect as early as 1939, preparing a landscape and labor force for
war.
26
The federal government supported the construction of various facilities that were executed
almost instantaneously. These structures ranged from housing to warehouses and were designed

22
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Accessed October 2022.
23
Arthur C, Verge, The Impacts of the Second World War on Los Angeles, (Pacific Historical Review, 1994), 289-
314.
24
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 5.
25
Suzanne Loechl, Samuel A. Batzli, Susan I. Enscore, Megan Weaver, Guidelines for Documenting and Evaluating
Historic Military Landscapes: An Integrated Landscape Approach, (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2009).
Accessed October 2022.
26
Loechl, 34.
18

to serve specific temporal wartime needs. An average military building project was predicted to
last five to seven years using available non-critical materials such as ready-cut lumber.
27

Bethlehem Shipyards
Bethlehem Shipyards, later known as Southwest Marine, is a neglected and significant
site of wartime production. Shipbuilding and repair became an official industry with the 1916
Shipbuilding Act, which was under the Merchant Marine Act.
28
This established the United
States Shipping Board, which intended to strengthen the merchant marine fleet, a primary
concern during WWI. This combination of legislative and wartime needs was the catalyst for
officially establishing the Navy at the Port of Los Angeles, bringing significant economic
benefits. By 1930, fourteen shipbuilding and maintenance yards populated the Port. Every
shipyard in the Port boundary by 1940 was dedicated to the construction and manufacturing of
ships for the war.
29
The yards were contracted by the federal government for the duration and
were expected to produce at rapid rates. Larger shipyards, such as Bethlehem Shipyard, produced
large military vessels, while smaller yards could contribute to producing other Naval artillery,
such as minesweepers. In 1941, government shipbuilding contracts at the Port of Los Angeles
totaled at $333 million.
30

In 1917, Southwestern Shipbuilding was established at Berth 240 on fifty acres at
Terminal Island after securing a contract to construct twenty-three ships to contribute to WWI

27
Stephen D. Mikesell, California Historic Military Buildings and Structures Inventory Volume III: Historic
Context: Themes, Property Types, and Registration Requirements, (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2000), 7.2-7.5.
28
John W. Adams, The Influences Affecting Naval Shipbuilding Legislation 1910-1916, (U.S. Naval War College
Press, 1969), 41-70.
29
City of Los Angeles Harbor Department, Addendum to the Berth 240 Transportation Vessels Manufacturing
Facility Project, Final Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration, (San Pedro Environmental Management
Division, 2020).
30
SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2011, 20.
19

Naval efforts.
31
In 1921, after a considerable reduction in space and production, Southwestern
Shipbuilding was acquired by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. Bethlehem quickly
integrated repair services in addition to building and added a dry dock brought down from its San
Francisco location to San Pedro. By 1924, with the continued expansion of facilities and dry
dock space, Bethlehem could accommodate larger ships.
32
Eventually, the Bethlehem Shipyard
campus would come to include facilities that contributed to its efficient, self-reliant capabilities
for quick repairs and high construction rates; a boilermaker shop, carpenter shop, electrical shop,
joiner department, machine shop, marine-machine shop, pipe ship, rigger shop, plate shop,
pattern shop, and blacksmith shop. (Figure 2.1)
Bethlehem had other facilities nationwide including Baltimore, Maryland; Boston,
Massachusetts; and Alameda, California.
33
The yard at Terminal Island was one of the smallest
at just 3,000 feet of berthing space, and in 1940 received $4.24 million from the Maritime
Administration for assistance in outfitting the shipyard for construction and repair of
destroyers.
34
This resulted in an increase of facilities, primarily on the south end of the
Bethlehem campus. Preexisting facilities were updated if they met standards for WWII
production with a significant portion demolished primarily on the north end. Bethlehem was a
major employer between 1941 and 1945, with more than 90,000 workers building and repairing
destroyers for the Navy and Merchant Marines. Due to space and ample workforce, Bethlehem
would produce twenty-six destroyers during WWII.
35

31
SWCA Environmental Consultants, 2011.
32
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 10.
33
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 11.
34
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 11.
35
The U.S.S. Cassin Young, one of the twenty-six destroyers produced at Bethlehem Shipyards has been restored
and preserved as a national historic landmark. She currently resides at Charlestown Naval Yard at Boston National
Historical Park. Jones and Stokes 2000, 11-15.
20

Figure 2.1: Map of the Bethlehem San Pedro Shipyards from the December 1943 Employee Handbook. Source: Los
Angeles Conservancy.
Bethlehem Shipyards Today
Post-WWII, the defense contracts that had allowed Bethlehem to re-outfit its yard were
canceled, resulting in widespread layoffs and a drastic decrease in shipbuilding activity. There
was a period of resurgence during the Cold War in the early 1960s, which resulted in the
demolition of several WWII shipbuilding areas. Bethlehem Shipyards was sold in 1981,
becoming Southwest Marine, which continued in ship repairs.
36
The yard was identified as a
National Register-eligible district with sixteen contributing structures and other elements, ten of

36
SurveyLA, Los Angeles Citywide Historic Context Statement: Guidlines for Evaluating Resources Associated
with Military Institutions and Activities, 1850-1980, (City of Los Angeles Deparment of City Planning, 2019).
21

which were constructed in 1941 and the remaining in 1918.
37
Over six years, it was saved from
demolition against a proposed Port project to deepen the main channel in 2006, which would
result in the demolition of two slips, among other impacts. In 2011, after a second years-long
effort to return Southwest Marine to ship-repair usage, the Port and the Los Angeles City
Council rejected the reopening.
38
The slips at the shipyard were dredged, and the remaining
structures ranging from warehouses to workshops currently sit abandoned and decaying. Neglect
is not loss, but it leaves much to be desired.
Channel Heights
Channel Heights is a lesson in how neglecting a resource, even one so clearly significant,
can result in the ultimate loss. Although no longer standing, the Channel Heights housing
development was designed by the Los Angeles-based master architect Richard Neutra. Neutra is
one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century.
39
Neutra was constantly
experimenting and embracing technology in his work while following his guiding principle of
connecting to nature. He called this essential component of his style “biorealism,” described by
Neutra scholar and architect Barbara Lamprecht as “…design exploited, with great
sophistication, the realm of the senses and interconnectedness to nature that he believed
fundamental and requisite to human well-being.”
40
Over the course of his career, his work
encompassed residences like the Lovell Health House (1929), school campuses such as Palos

37
SurveyLA, 2019.
38
SurveyLA, 2019.
39
Arthur Drexler and Thomas S. Hines, The Architecture of Richard Neutra: from International Style to California
Modern, (The Museum of Modern Art, 1984), Accessed October 2022.
40
Barbara Lamprecht, Neutra: The Completed Works, (Tashen, 2000).
22

Verdes High School (1959), which borders San Pedro, and multi-family housing like Channel
Heights (1943).
41

Neutra was originally contracted by the Federal Public Housing Authority (FHPA) for the
City of Compton to construct inclusive, integrated housing for working-class Angelenos called
Amity Village. After the United States entered WWII, the project shifted from Amity Village to
what would be known as Channel Heights.
42
It was relocated from Compton to San Pedro as
housing for defense workers at the shipyards in the Port under the Lanham Act of 1940, which
was implemented to provide infrastructural support on the home front.
43
Channel Heights was
one of five Lanham Act projects in Los Angeles during WWII, and it would become one of
Neutra’s most famous worker housing projects, functioning as a model of its type.
44

Built in 1943 on 160 acres off Western Avenue, Channel Heights included 222 residential
structures collected into three blocks, housing a total of 600 families. The residences were
composed of alternating one-story duplexes and two-story, four-family units. Materials were
consistent with Neutra’s organic style using stucco and redwood, with interiors intentionally
crafted with a soft color palette of blues, greens, and yellows.
45
Channel Heights functioned as a
community meeting place, including school buildings, a nursery, an arts center, and a

41
Richard Neutra was born in Vienna in 1892, where he was inspired by the work of architect Otto Wagner. After
his service during WWI, he returned to Vienna in 1917 to complete his studies at Vienna University of Technology.
Encouraged by his mentor Adolph Loos after seeing Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, and fellow Austrian born architect
R.M. Schindler, Neutra decided to immigrate to America. He spent a period at Wright’s Wisconsin Taliesin studio
before arriving in Los Angeles in 1925. He was known for his experimental approaches and embracing new
technology into his work. He retired in 1968 spending his last years in Germany where he died in 1970. Los Angeles
Conservancy, Richard Neutra, (2022), Accessed October 2022.
42
Martin J. Schiesl, City Planning and the Federal Government in World War II: The Los Angeles Experience,
(University of California Press with California Historical Society, 1980), 126-143.
43
The Lanham Act of 1940 was legislation that provided federal funding for wartime related infrastructure support
such as child-care, and support for women employed in defense related occupations. Chris M. Herbst, Universal
Child Care, Maternal Employment, and Children's Long-Run Outcomes: Evidence from the US Lanham Act of
1940, (Discussion Paper, Bonn, Germany: The Institute for the Study of Labor, 2013).
44
U.C. Berkeley Exhibitions, Richard Neutra's Channel Heights, (2022), Accessed October 19, 2022.
45
Drexler and Hines, 1984.
23

marketplace. Before it opened for occupancy, it was photographed by famed architectural
photographer Julius Shulman who exposed the development to an international viewership.
46

Channel Heights was featured in prominent architectural publications such as California Arts
and Architecture (1944), and L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui (1946). In 1945, Shulman’s
photographs of Channel Heights were featured as part of New York’s Museum of Modern Art
exhibition, “U.S. Housing in War and Peace” as one of the best-designed housing war projects.
47

(Figures 2.3, 2.4) Channel Heights was recognized as a masterwork in its own time and was an
essential piece of Neutra’s canon.
48

Figure 2.2: Context view of Channel Heights in the 1940s. Photographer: Julius Shulman. Source: Channel Heights
Housing Project, 2022.

46
Drexler and Hines, 1984.
47
Sarah Newmeyer, The Lesson of Wartime Housing, (Museum of Modern Art Press Release, New York: Museum
of Modern Art, January 11, 1945). Accessed October 2022.
48
Neutra, Channel Heights Housing Project, Accessed October 2022.

24

Figure 2.3: Context view of Channel Heights in the 1940s. Photographer: Julius Shulman. Source: Channel Heights
Housing Project, 2022.
The Erasure of Channel Heights
The postwar Housing Act of 1949 provided for the continuing support of affordable
housing in Los Angeles so that Channel Heights and spaces like it might thrive.
49
The McCarthy
era and its fear of socialism effectively ended that vision. Instead, the government sold Channel
Heights to private developers, turning the homes into rental units that were poorly maintained,

49
Alexander von Hoffman, A study in contradictions: The Original Legacy of the Housing Act of 1949, (Housing
Policy Debate, Harvard University, 2000), 299-326.
25

and the celebrated housing complex fell into disrepair.
50
By the late 1980s, most of the units
were demolished, and a select group of ruins remained.
51
Today, single-family housing is
currently under construction at the former Channel Heights site. Channel Heights is one of the
most devastating examples of vanishing WWII resources within the community. Its design,
community ideals, and experiments in wartime preparedness held such promise for communities
everywhere.
Lookout and Radar Station at Point Fermin
The lookout and radar station at Point Fermin existed as a temporary wartime
modification to an existing historic structure, Point Fermin Lighthouse, which was constructed in
1874 to serve the Port of Los Angeles.
52
The lighthouse is situated at the most Western point of
what is today Point Fermin Park, at 807 West Paseo del Mar, and it is this point that serves as the
natural entrance to the harbor. The lighthouse is a stick-style two-story Victorian with a central
tower.
53
The tower sits at a fifty-foot elevation with the lighthouse sitting on a 120-foot cliff. The
light station was manned as an active lighthouse until December 9, 1941, when its fourth-order
lens was removed from the gallery in the tower as a result of the attacks on Pearl Harbor two
days prior.
54
In 1942, the Navy adapted the light for wartime use as a radar and radio
communication station.
55
To accommodate the Navy, the lighthouse was painted in regulation
army green, and the gallery at the top of the tower that once held the fourth-order Fresnel lens
was removed. In its place, the Navy constructed a structure that would function as a lookout

50
Thomas S. Hines, A Dream for Low-Cost Housing in Los Angeles That Went Astray: Planning: Architect Richard
Neutra designed an innovative community of low-income housing in the late 1930s that could still work for the city,
(Los Angeles Times, June 12, 1992), Accessed October 2022.
51
Hines, 1992.
52
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, 2022.
53
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, 2022.
54
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, 2022.
55
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, Accessed 2022.
26

room and house radar equipment. This radar room was referred to by the Coast Guard as a
‘lookout shed’ and by local San Pedro residents as the “chicken coop.”
56
(Figure 2.4)
Radar was first successfully tested in the United States in 1934 at the Naval Research
Laboratory by American Robert M. Page. Radar is a detection device that provides information
on the range, and elevation of objects. It played a crucial role in the war by giving defenses early
warnings of possible incoming attacks ranging up to eighty miles away.
57
Radar was adapted for
multi-use during the war, including aircraft, searchlights, and ships. Overall, this newer
technological development had a heavy influence on strategy for both Allied and Axis forces
during WWII and arguably shifted the course of the war.
58

56
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, Accessed 2022.
57
Fort MacArthur Archives, Accessed 2023.
58
Radar during this WWII period depended on a semiconductor crystal functioning as a rectifier, sending out a radio
wave and analyzing the reflected wave after it bounced off any objects in the air. The rectifier would interpret the
reflected signal into a legible current on a screen. These early conductors proved to be slow to pick up rapid shifts in
radar which was a major area of study well into the post-WWII era. Imperial War Museums, How Radar Changed
the Second World War, Accessed November 2022.

27

Figure 2.4 : View of Point Fermin Lookout Station post-WWII. The tower was restored to its original 1874 lantern
gallery design for the light’s centennial in 1974 Source: Point Fermin Lighthouse Archive.

Radar stations did not follow a uniform style as other military structures might have.
59

California was a central piece for managing the activity of the Pacific theater, and there were
many radar stations up the coast. These stations were disguised as homes, barns, or whatever
suited the landscape best. These structures had to be able to house all the radar and
accompanying equipment while having room for two to four persons to run it. The lookout tower
at Point Fermin was in a prime location due to its relationship to the Port and location at the foot
of the Army’s Fort MacArthur.
60
The structure itself was composed of a shed roof, and redwood

59
Loechl, 2009.
60
National Park Service, Battery-Osgood Farley National Register of Historic Places Registration Form , (United
States Deparment of the Interior, 2022), 10.

28

siding, with wood-cased windows facing west out to sea and flanked by an additional set of north
and east-facing windows.

Removal of the Lookout and Radar Tower at Point Fermin
The lookout tower at Point Fermin is an example of wartime adaptation of the
preexisting-built environment. It was efficiently constructed for specific Navy use, and when the
Coast Guard replaced the Navy there in 1946, its purpose became more ambiguous. In 1974, the
lookout room modification was removed for Point Fermin Lighthouse’s centennial, and the
lighthouse was restored through community efforts to its original 1874 lantern gallery.
61
The
lookout room is an example of a success story for community-led historic restoration and
preservation practice. While the 1874 interpretation of the lighthouse is without question the
most significant, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the WWII layer is almost entirely erased
from the tangible narrative. Its removal elevates the importance of remaining WWII resources
throughout San Pedro.

Heritage Conservation Lessons
There is much to be learned in the ways these WWII resources are facing or have faced
erasure from San Pedro. What remains of WWII in San Pedro is promising, but it is under threat
of vanishing. In the span of eighty years, a city and Port entirely redeveloped for war has a
vanishing physical heritage from that period. Bethlehem Shipyards within the Port is arguably
the most susceptible to demolition, given the nature of an ever-changing place of commerce. The

61
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, Accessed 2022.
29

lookout and radar tower at Point Fermin existed in a place of limbo in the postwar period, and its
eventual removal can be viewed as a positive victory. Still, its architecture was never
acknowledged as a significant layer during this impactful time. Arguably, the greatest loss to San
Pedro and the larger Los Angeles narrative is Channel Heights. Neutra’s experimental workers’
housing project could have been a guiding example in approaches to urban development and
preservation practice in its promotion of space and community if it was given the chance to
continue. These temporary or semi-temporary, rapidly executed military-funded structures have
had long-reaching impacts on San Pedro’s overall growth. Their absence effectively elevates the
few remaining resources’ significance and contributions to the WWII narrative in San Pedro.

30

Chapter Three: The Naval Defense Station

Mobilization
The Office of War Mobilization (OWM) was an agency within the U.S. government
formed during WWII to connect all governmental departments in a unified war effort.
62
The U.S.
military had these ‘mobilization’ plans in place for each service branch to be implemented in the
event of a threat to national security, such as a war.
63
These mobilization plans allowed the
federal government to implement a draft for servicemen, and the means to train, house, and outfit
them. This process required the production of war materials, which included the construction of
military bases and related structures. Between 1939 and 1946, $20.2 billion was spent in the U.S.
for the construction of various military facilities.
64
These facilities were constructed quickly to
serve specific purposes for the duration of the war and were never intended as enduring
architecture, instead, they were often designed with experimental material to be intentionally
expendable. Despite this fact, many of these resources still exist and contribute to the built
environment. The Naval Defense Station at Point Fermin is a prime example of Naval facilities
built under mobilization.
65

62
Loechl, 2009.
63
Loechl, 2009.
64
Mark Harrison, Resource Mobilization for World War II: The U.S.A., U.K., U.S.S.R., and Germany, 1938-1945,
(The Economic History Review 41, no. 2, 1988), 171–192.
65
Harrison, 1988, 175.

31

Wartime Use
The eight-month period leading up to the attacks on Pearl Harbor were a critical time for
Allied preparedness. A permit issued on May 22, 1941, from the Treasury Department
responding to a request from the Chief of Naval Operations details a request for the installation
of an operating station for the management of “underwater detection equipment for the San
Pedro area”, which included radio instruments and shelter house.
66
(Figure 3.3) This is what
would become the Naval Defense Station. Civil Corps Engineers completed the construction of
the station in mid-1942 under the Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks.
67
The station would prove
to have a multi-faceted use in the Navy’s effort for home-front defense. Originally a Naval radio
communication station and barracks, its primary purpose was to “increase coastal navigation
support for the Port of Los Angeles and to improve the monitoring of coastal defense during the
war.”
68
(Figure 3.1) There are documents that provide evidence that the station interacted with
the adjacent Army-run Fort MacArthur communicating coastline activity.
69
In 1945 the station
slightly shifted use and was primarily utilized as a Naval direction defense station.
70
Twelve
Naval officers would be stationed at the barracks at one time, sharing a main bunk room. They
called themselves the “Defensive Dozen.”
71
(Figure 3.2) The officers would take shifts in a
twenty-four-hour surveillance cycle to monitor underwater acoustics, listening for Axis
submarines. Acoustics would be recorded through a fifteen-sonar buoy system with attached
hydrophones and thirty-foot cables at the entrance of the Port.
72
There were numerous recorded

66
Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1941, Accessed 2022.
67
Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, 1941, Accessed 2022.
68
Point Fermin Lighthouse Archives, Accessed 2022.
69
Fort MacArthur Archives, Accessed of 2022.
70
Page & Turnbull, Point Fermin Historic Resource Analysis, (Historic Resource Analysis U.S. General Services
Administration, 2014) 72.
71
“Defensive Dozen” Navy personal listed by last name; Jack, Locke, Ludwig, Reed, Linderman, Cox, Forkin,
Marquarat, Geiger, Audette, DeLuca, and Clare. Martha Mackenzie, Interview, December 2022.
72
National Park Service, 2020.
32

and confirmed submarines that posed potential threats at the time, which was considered
classified information. Today, this information remains unavailable to the public. Notably, this
hydrophone system was a precursor to Sound Surveillance Systems that was heavily relied upon
during the Cold War era.
73
After the conclusion of WWII, from 1945 through the 1950s, the
station continued as United States Coast Guard Officers Quarters and then transitioned again as a
U.S. Coast Guard Well-Being and Recreation Cottage, available for rent until 2010.
74

Figure 3.1: A 1944 radio and radar communications map of Southern California, Catalina, and Santa Barbara Island.
This map illustrates each radio locations range including Point Fermin. Source: Dan Eagle Collection, Fort
MacArthur Archives, 2023.

73
Willem D. Hackmann, Sonar Research and Naval Warfare 1914-1954: A Case Study of a Twentieth-Century
Establishment Science, (Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, University of California
Press,1986), 83-110.
74
Kristen Heather, George Audette interview, (Point Fermin Lighthouse Society, 2022).
33

Figure 3.2: A recorded oral history by W.C. ‘Wink’ Cumberlain who was station at the Point during WWII, and
details what life was like around the Naval Defense Station. Source: Point Fermin Archives, 2022.

34

Figure 3.3: This document is a permit issued from the Treasury Department to the Coast Guard Liaison Officer
under the Navy to establish the construction of what would become the Naval Defense Station, also sometimes
referred to as the Naval Detection Station, to implement ‘underwater detection equipment’ around critical points of
San Pedro leading to the Port. The permit is notably issued on May 22, 1941, seven months prior to the attacks on
Pearl Harbor, supporting the infrastructural developments of mobilization plans to prepare for the potential of a
national attack. Source: Records of the U.S. Coast Guard Lighthouse Service, Lighthouse Files, 1790-1939.

35

Figure 3.4: Context view of the Naval Defense Barracks from Point Fermin Lighthouse facing Southwest with
Catalina Island on the horizon, 2019 Source: Author.

Construction
Located between two base end stations, the Naval Defense Barracks is a one-story-over-
basement, wood-frame building measuring 23 feet by 53 feet.
75
It has a side-facing hipped roof
with small overhanging eaves. There are two entrances on the north elevation, with one being the
primary entry to the rest of the structure, while the door to the left, the primary entrance, accesses
the basement. (Figure 3.4) The interior of the basement remains largely intact to its original
construction, which includes a built-in desk designed for housing radio communications
equipment. (Figure 3.8) There is a vinyl siding on one portion of the basement that was likely

75
Base end stations are typically located around larger military complexes to provide the most advantageous firing
range, with the idea that you could triangulate against a potential threat. National Park Service, Batter-Osgood
Farley National Register of Historic Places Registration Form , (United States Deparment of the Interior, 2020), 17.
36

added in 1965. On the east side of the building, there is a distinctive five-sided observation room
with a 180-degree view toward the Port. The observation room is where officers would be
stationed in shifts over a twenty-four-hour cycle.
76
The south elevation features another entrance
door with a wooden deck that was added in 1965. (Figure 3.6) The west elevation once featured
a chimney that was removed in 2004. (Figure 3.5) No original window treatments remain, being
replaced with vinyl sliding windows by the early 2000s. (Figure 3.7) The interior is also heavily
altered and sustains substantial damage from vandalism. There are no building records available
to inform of any alterations to the barracks over time; however, it retains strong overall
integrity.
77

Figure 3.5: West elevation, with chimney outline still visible. 2019. Source: Author.

76
National Park Service, Battery-Osgood Farley, 2020.
77
National Park Service, Battery-Osgood Farley, 2020.
37

Figure 3.6: South elevation view 2019 Source: Author.
38

Figure 3.7: View from South elevation featuring interior perspective on vinyl sliding windows, 2019. Source:
Author.
39

Figure 3.8: Interior basement view of the WWII-era radio communications desk, where it is likely that Navy teletype
machines would be stationed manned by ‘radiomen’ 2019 Source: Author.

The Naval Defense Station is distinctly a non-prefabricated structure. Prefabrication had
become more common by the turn of the century, primarily with companies like Sears and
Montgomery Ward providing ready-to-order homes.
78
While some of these prefabricated units
could be purchased by defense contractors, this was not a practical method for larger-scale
military needs because pre-fabrication relied heavily on local labor to build and assemble and
would not be able to deliver a completed product for large-scale projects on short notice.
79
The

78
Amanda Cooke, Ahead of Their Time, (Journal of Design History, 2001), 53-70.
79
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Accessed October 2022.
40

U.S. military found that prepared materials, namely ready-cut lumber that was delivered to the
site, proved to be the most effective ways to install structures.
80
The Navy, and other branches of
the military-related barracks constructed during the mobilization period of WWII, had to be
designed in a standardized way, and were categorized as either 700 or 800 Series.
81
The Naval
Defense Station was part of the 700 Series, with modifications that blended the design to look
consistent with the residential architecture of the area to not look as obvious along the
coastline.
82
Each Naval company required specific structures to accomplish specific duties while
also accommodating living quarters. This typically comprised an assortment of accompanying
buildings, command post, supply room, mess hall, and an appropriate number of barracks. This
was part of the promise president Franklin D. Roosevelt made at the onset of the war, that
soldiers would be adequately sheltered during their service, even in these temporary structures.
83

These WWII structures, based on previous renderings from the 1917 mobilization series,
went through modified designs through the 1930s.
84
The advisory Architect of the Construction
Division, Maj. Elsmere J. Walters, is credited with categorizing these buildings as “Theater of
Operations” (T.O). Designed with the intention of being temporary, well-constructed, and
consistent as possible, T.O. buildings became a mainstay of military planning.
85
Architecturally,
stud construction was used versus plank framing and concrete foundations were used, an
improvement over WWI-era timber posts. Using exterior sheathing and subfloors created less
draft and potential for water-related damage. Notably, this was the first military test of

80
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1997.
81
Jesse A Remington, and Lenore Fine, The Corps of Engineers: Construction In The United States, (Washington,
D.C. Center of Military History United States Army, 1989), 254-342.
82
Remington, and Fine, Construction in the United States, 1989, 254-342.
83
University of California Santa Barbara, Message to Congress on Economic Stabilization Program, 1942),
Accessed November 2022.
84
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1997.
85
Remington and Fine, 1989, 254-342.

41

composition board and plywood construction, aided by the developing of stronger resins. All 700
Series buildings were painted in ivory-colored enamel coating, regardless of use or rank. Doors,
framings, and aprons were all painted a light grey.
86
These changes from the WWI Series 600
allowed these WWII Series 700 temporary structures the ability to last longer than their
predecessors. The life span was an estimated five to seven years—the Naval Defense Station is
now eight decades without serious exterior alterations or improvements.
87
The ability to
construct these buildings efficiently was critical to the overall success of these designs.
Simplicity was necessary due to the dependence on unskilled labor for the building process.
88

Both the 700 and 800 Series used platform framing techniques, meaning floors are framed
separately. Pre-cut lumber and stock doors and windows were used uniformly.
89

Character and Treatment of Temporary Military Structures
Historic military landscapes and individual military resources require a holistic approach
when being evaluated, considering their complex, layered historical associations. National
Register Bulletins that best guide the evaluation and documentation of these resources are
evaluation of historic landscapes (Bulletin #18), rural historic landscapes (Bulletin #30),
battlefields (Bulletin #40), and contributing and non-contributing properties (Bulletin #14).
90

These provide a framework for understanding military relationships between the landscape,
architecture, and overall historic narratives of these unique sites. In the case of WWII resources,

86
Remington, and Fine, Construction in the United States, 1989, 254-342.
87
National Park Service, Battery Osgood-Farley, 2020.
88
Stephen D. Mikesell, California Historic Military Buildings and Structures Inventory, (Historic Context: Themes,
Property Types, and Registration Requirements, Sacramento, California: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 7.11, 200),
41-47.
89
US Army Corps of Engineers, Combat and Military Construction, Accessed October 2022.
90
National Register of Historic Places, Publications of Historic Places, (National Park Service), Accessed
December 2022.
42

most of them were primarily built for defense or in support for combat. In addition to the
National Register Bulletins, they are primarily evaluated under permanent or temporary
guidelines for the National Register of Historic Places.
91

The Naval Defense Station is considered part of the temporary mobilization WWII
construction pattern. To shift categories from temporary to either permanent or semi-permanent,
they must have undergone some modifications or continued use over time.
92
These structures
should, however, be measured against the historic contexts of WWII temporary construction
standards.
93
These temporary wartime structures are defined more by construction method than
strictly architectural style. Temporary military structures can be defined as a building type that is
intentionally constructed to be used for short periods of time, with a typical life span of five to
seven years, to meet a variety of military needs from warehouses to barracks. Temporary
structures were distributed under two divisions, The Quartermaster General, and the Army Corps
of Engineers, with the Naval Defense Station being under the latter.
94
These divisions followed
five main principals in executing all types of temporary structures in wartime conditions: speed,
simplicity, conservative materials, flexibility, and safety. This allowed for standardized
construction plans regardless of where these structures may be erected.
95

Point Fermin Historic District and Rehabilitation Recommendations
Currently, the Naval Defense Station sits on the Point in a state of neglect. It is, however,
a strong candidate for rehabilitation and eventual adaptive reuse that would allow the station to

91
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Combat and Military Construction, Accessed October 2022.
92
Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, (United
States Department of Defense, 2022) Accessed December 2022.
93
Goodwin & Associates, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, Accessed 2022.
94
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Combat and Military Construction, Accessed October 2022.
95
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Combat and Military Construction, Accessed October 2022.
43

interact with the community in a multifaceted way. This is supported by its pivotal inclusion in
the Point Fermin National Register Historic District in 2020.
96
(Figure 3.10) The Point Fermin
Historic District was formed to unify the linkages between military and navigational aids on the
point, creating a cohesive narrative of significant contributions to the military landscape in San
Pedro. The period of significance of the district is 1916 to 1944 and was considered under
criteria A: property that is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the
broad patterns of our history.
97
The Naval Defense Station is included as one of five contributors
to the district. The other contributors include Battery-Osgood Farley (1916-1919), Radio
Compass Station Generator Building (1920-1924), and two U.S. Army Base End Stations
(1920).
98
In terms of historic protections, a district allows for oversight from a city to deny
alterations, or demolition, review proposed design overview regarding new construction, and to
maintain overall compatibility with the unique character set within the district boundaries.
99
That
means for, now, the station and its companion historic resources, have achieved a level of
recognition of their pivotal role within the community of San Pedro. The historic district
designation does not guarantee however any commitment for rehabilitation or treatment plan for
reuse. The station remains under tremendous threat. In this moment, the station sits on the Point
deteriorating under the harsh effects of saltwater, weather, and repeated vandalism. These
combined factors need urgent solutions that could be addressed through investment in
rehabilitation. The community views the station as a derelict building, its significance lost to the
casual passerby.
100
Through applying a rehabilitation treatment plan, this would not only

96
National Park Service, 2020.
97
National Park Service, 2020, 1.
98
National Park Service, 2020, 5.
99
California Office of Historic Preservation Department of Parks and Recreation, Drafting Effective Historic
Preservation Ordinances, Technical Assistance Bulletin #14, (Calfornia State Historic Preservation Office, 2022),
Accessed 2023.
100
Point Fermin Lighthouse Museum, 2022.
44

physically renew the life of the station but would bring it back into community consciousness as
part of their shared history.

Figure 1.9 : Interior view of vandalism. While the interior walls spray painted here with graffiti are not contributors
to the Naval Defense Station’s overall integrity, it does serve as an invitation to more harmful treatment that could
damage the structure overtime. Currently, all the windows have been boarded to keep trespasser out of the vacant
station. Source: Author.

The Secretary of Interior Standards defines the treatment of rehabilitation as, “the act or
process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and
additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical cultural, or
architectural values.”
101
It is this approach that would best accommodate the needs of the Naval

101
U.S. Department of the Interior, The Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, (National Park Service,
2022).
45

Defense Station. Under this treatment, it is recommended that any material original to 1942 be
maintained and protected. This would mainly consist of the wood framing, primary façade, and
elevations.
102
Arguably, the feature that contributes the most to the identity and use of the station
is the built-in radio equipment desk that resides in the basement. The entire purpose of the station
was to house the detection instruments which this desk was explicitly installed for. In
maintaining its radio equipment desk location and material, it would be preserving the essence of
the station’s purpose. The interior of the station, apart from the floorboards and fireplace, has
been heavily altered or vandalized to the point of severe damage. (Figure 3.9) Both the current
state of the building interior and its simple layout lends itself to multiple adaptive reuse
possibilities, including as a community event space. Allowing community access to the station
would be instrumental in its long-term survival. If this place was integrated into the community
in an active way, that would bring opportunity and awareness to its significant contributions to
the WWII landscape that are slowly being erased.

102
National Park Service, Battery-Osgood Farley, 2020.
46

Figure 3.10: Point Fermin Historic District Boundary. 2020. Source: National Park Service.

Why This Place Matters
The essential question within heritage conservation practice poses of approaching any resource is,
why does this place matter? Factually, framing space as; homes, neighborhoods, or the inhabitants
47

themselves, can define place. Place can also be distinguished by the intangibles of social dynamics,
organizations, or by its measures of time, events, and memories. In essence, there is no strict definition of
place. It can be all of these or none, and if there is one defining aspect to place, is that it is entirely
dependent on how it experienced.
In Los Angeles, with its expanse of urban sprawl, the opinions on what the city is or isn’t, are
endless. One of the most common and most alarming opinions is a ‘lack of history’, which is to say its
lack of narrative and memory. This assumption coupled with the idea that Los Angeles communities
aren’t communities at all, but transient residents haphazardly grouped together, is tragic. It may have
gotten this general reputation due to the newness of Los Angeles, which is not a comment about its age,
but more about its commitment to looking forward. This forwardness allows the landscape to embrace the
traditional, to innovate, to be contradictory. It is a city capable of adaptation, and because of its dynamism
it creates the very opportunity for discourse on new approaches to place.
The discussion of the Naval Defense Station as a resource so far has centered around the tangibles
of its contexts and its integrity, and the nature of its architectural circumstances. The greatest value these
aspects contribute is how it supports placemaking within San Pedro and extends to greater Los Angeles.
The station matters because more than anything else, it is part of what makes this community a home, and
its shared experience of being of this place is a language the people of this community can understand.
103

103
Willfred McClay and Ted McAllister, Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life In Modern
America, (Encounter Books, 2020), 215-238.
48

Chapter Four: Gentrification and Historic Resource Relationships in San
Pedro Today

Post-War Relationships with the Built Environment
In 1946, the Navy returned the command of the Port to civilian use. In this postwar
period, San Pedro, like the rest of Los Angeles, underwent intense redevelopment.
104

Immediately after WWII, the Los Angeles Harbor Department formed a board launching a port
restoration program. It was through this program that some WWII structures were improved, but
many more were removed or significantly altered.
105
Today, this is further stressed by the
gentrification that threatens San Pedro. Understanding the nuances between community
revitalization and gentrification can empower heritage conservation efforts that build toward a
community’s sustainable future.
106
In identifying the relationships between the impacts of
heritage conservation and the role of revitalization, community activism is key.

Community Building: Heritage Conservation Successes
It has been well-documented that heritage conservation benefits communities in
interconnected, multifaceted ways. Essential urbanist Jane Jacobs famously argued in The Death
and Life of Great American Cities that a community thrives in old buildings, contributing to a
sense of permanency.
107
The ‘Hey Rookie Pool’ at Fort MacArthur, which sits on the hillside
overlooking the Naval Defense Station, is one example of the community thriving with historic

104
Port of Los Angeles, History, 2022, Accessed October 9, 2022.
105
Port of Los Angeles, History, 2022, Accessed October 9, 2022.
106
Port of Los Angeles, History, 2022, Accessed October 9, 2022.
107
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, (Random House, 1961).
49

space. In 1942, funds for the construction of the swimming pool at the Army base were raised
from a performance titled of the same name, ‘Hey Rookie.’ The show was developed at the
beginning of WWII.
108
It was routinely performed by members of the Fort MacArthur Garrison
for men stationed at other harbor defense bases in Los Angeles to increase morale. The
swimming pool was opened in 1943 and designed in the Art Moderne style. In the pool’s post-
war years, it served both the military and the public.
109
In 1982, the Army left Fort MacArthur
and the pool was now under Los Angeles Parks and Recreation, eventually closing in the 1990s.
For the next twenty years, it suffered from vandalism and deterioration, like the current state of
the Naval Defense Station.
110
In 2015, the ‘Hey Rookie Pool’ through the Fort MacArthur’s
Museum Association on behalf of the City of Los Angeles won a $6.9 million dollar grant bid to
create an adaptive reuse plan for the swimming pool.
111
Today it exists as a treasured and heavily
used community resource in its restored life as a swimming pool, contributing to the continuation
of the WWII landscape.
Another recent example of community investment in heritage conservation is Walkers
Café, which opened in 1946 and closed in 2021 on Paseo del Mar directly adjacent to Point
Fermin Park and the Naval Defense Station. The building began as a local family-owned grocery
store in 1915 and would take on several different commercial businesses over its life. It was most
famous within San Pedro under its ownership by Bessie and Raymond Walker, who established
the Walker’s Café.
112
Locals have consistently affirmed it as an important part of the area’s
identity and experience. After the café’s closure in 2021, the San Pedro Coastal Neighborhood

108
Fort MacArthur Archives, 2022, Accessed December 2022.
109
Fort MacArthur Archives, 2022, Accessed December 2022.
110
Fort MacArthur Archives, 2022, Accessed December 2022.
111
Fort MacArthur Archives, 2022, Accessed December 2022.
112
Emma Rault, Historic-Cultural Monument Application for Walkers Café, (Cultural Heritage Commission, 2022),
Accessed December 2022.
50

Council led a successful effort to designate the building as a Historic-Cultural Monument under
Los Angles Administrative Code Chapter 9, Division 22, Article 1, Section 22.171.7 in
December of 2021.
113
Currently, Walkers Café is in the process of creating a supported adaptive
reuse plan.
114
Both of these heritage conservation projects feature local initiatives establishing
that these places matter to the local memory. They also provide context to the Naval Defense
Station as contemporaries that have found heritage conservation success through community
activism. It is hopeful that if these are how neighboring resources are treated, that the station will
also find itself in the same position of community support.

Gentrification
Rapid gentrification has undeniably come for San Pedro exacerbating any neglect within
the historic built environment. Gentrification typically comes with reinvestment of resources
with the intention for a greater economic return, be it in residential homes or in introducing
corporate entities in areas where there were previously occupied local businesses. These shifts
disenfranchise communities and, with it a loss of inherent knowledge of place. In San Pedro, one
of the more concerning projects is a new $155 million dollar waterfront development project
called “West Harbor.”
115
It foreshadows how the most current layer of gentrification will
manifest throughout the Port town in the future. The project sits on the razed 1962 Ports O’Call
Village, which consisted of locally owned storefronts, restaurants, and seafood markets. The
West Harbor project has a projected completion date of 2024 to be carried out over three

113
Rault, Historic-Cultural Monument Application for Walkers Café, 2022.
114
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Community Revitalization and Economic Benefits, Accessed
November 2022.
115
Rodger Vincent, Long-awaited entertainment complex on San Pedro waterfront begins construction, (Los
Angeles Times, 2022), Accessed November 2022.
51

phases.
116
Instead of local collaboration or input that was encouraged at the beginning of the
development, this project has been rife with contentious and difficult conversations about the
role of residents as it moves forward. The developers, Ratkovich Company and Jerico
Development, despite being based in Los Angeles, are choosing to incorporate large restaurant
and retail chains in the newly constructed structures.
117
It is a drastic contrast to the character San
Pedro has cultivated as a small and interconnected neighborhood. While this might seem initially
unrelated to the discussion of remaining WWII resources, the large-scale West Harbor project
brings dominating businesses that do not have direct returns to the community and takes away
from San Pedro’s overall character. Without community, there are no stewards to interpret and
impart value to the historic landscape.
Addressing gentrification as it is aggressively encroaching is important to any community
with heritage conservation considerations. San Pedro fortunately already has a collection of
dedicated groups who understand how valuable the historic built environment is to the survival
of the San Pedro community. Adding tools like historic districts, and literacy on how this
community can continue to be revitalized will better empower residents to understand their
changing environment. Often, change is slow and happens in small shifts. For residents, there
needs to be an added sense of urgency before the landscape becomes unrecognizable to the
people who inhabit it.
Revitalization in Practice
In 1956, Canadian anthropologist Anthony F.C. Wallace published his work,
“Revitalization Movements” describing how cultures can adapt “deliberate, organized, conscious

116
City of Los Angeles, West Harbor Development, Accessed 2022, https://www.lawaterfront.org/invest/current-
port-projects.
117
City of Los Angeles, 2022, https://www.lawaterfront.org/invest/current-port-projects.
52

effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture.”
118
Wallace’s work echoes
contemporary definitions of community revitalization, that being the intentional efforts to bring a
quantifiable positive impact to a community, usually in higher employment rates, access to
healthcare, community services, transportation, and affordable housing. The relationship
between heritage conservation and community revitalization is just as connected to economic
benefits as it is cultivating space to bring people together. Reuse of historic space creates an
investment in both a historic narrative, as well as the commerce that sustains the place that this
community calls home. In identifying the kinds of businesses that have taken shape here there, it
could model solutions for approaches to carry the Naval Defense Station into the future.
In recent years, San Pedro’s revitalization efforts resulted in adaptive reuse projects
supporting efforts to cultivate a healthy and connected community. San Pedro’s proudest effort
opened in 2012. Alta Sea at the Port of Los Angeles located at the Port’s historic Warehouse 58,
59, and 60 is a 35-acre campus at the Port with the mission of creating ocean-based climate-
change solutions. They are active in community empowerment and outreach, working with local
educators and schools in underserved areas. .
119
This San Pedro flagship of how these adaptive
projects can thrive with the changing landscape gives a framework for how other resources can
also move forward in the community.
The reuse of Warehouses 9 and 10 on 22
nd
Street, a short drive from the Point Fermin
Historic District, are also models of adaptive reuse and community revitalization.
120
The
warehouses were constructed for WWII as part of the same wave of mobilization construction as
the Naval Defense Station. They were used for general cargo from the Port in their post-war

118
Anthony F.C. Wallace, Revitalization Movements, (American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 58 No. 2, 1956),
264-281.
119
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 89-91.
120
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008. 89-91.
53

period with a few years of vacancy before the plans for Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles were
announced in 2011 to move into the space.
121
The agreement for the 25-year lease feeds back
directly to community artists and brewers. One half of the 140,000 square foot property is
dedicated to vendor stalls act as a local marketplace for a variety of artists and sellers. The other
half of the property is a locally owned brewery serving craft beers. This venue has proved to be
sustainable for the businesses and has now become part of the local feel and identity. This
project was backed by the Port of Los Angeles, who for this project have stated their continuing
commitment to a sustainable community.
Heritage conservation itself holds multifaceted values that when brought together, create,
and support healthy communities. The blending of aspects of culture and aesthetic, education and
memory, historical narrative, can sustain a sense of community. Revitalization allows for
historical linkages to survive. In looking at what San Pedro has started to accomplish in its
approach to its historic resources, and especially its WWII resources, like the warehouses, and
Hey Rookie Pool, there is hope that those models will extend to the Naval Defense Station.

121
ICF Jones and Stokes, 2008, 89-91.
54

Conclusion
Evidence of San Pedro’s WWII narrative has deteriorated over the past eighty years. The
increased invisibility of these resources can be in some way attributed to the Port being an
epicenter for continuing commerce and inherently moving forward through development and
redevelopment. The addition of the Point Fermin National Register Historic District hopefully
means that as heritage conservation practice becomes more prevalent in the community, the
incoming gentrification may be balanced by the authentic local historic districts and historic
resources. Writer Charles Bukowski known for his direct style, lived in San Pedro from 1978
until his death in 1998. He encapsulated the attitude of San Pedro in this excerpt from his poem
“Be Angry at San Pedro,”
"I never heard of Jeffers," she
says.

"you never heard of Big Sur? Jeffers
made Big Sur famous just like D. H. Lawrence
made Taos famous. when a
great writer writes about where he
lives the mob comes in and takes
over."

"well you write about San Pedro," she
says.

"yeah," I say, "and have you read the
papers lately? they are going to construct
a marina here, one of the largest in the
world, millions and billions of dollars,
there is going to be a huge shopping
center, yachts and condominiums every-
where!"

55

"and to think," my woman says smiling, "that you've only
lived here for three years!"
122

While Bukowski is not to blame for collective community erasure, if there is anything to
learn about the successes of San Pedro’s WWII environment moving forward, it’s that it takes
patience; patience to connect the community, for the patience and time for details to emerge from
hidden archives, and the patience to accept when those efforts may lead to unsuccessful
outcomes. It is encouraging to witness heritage conservation leading many community efforts.
The Point Fermin Historic District will hopefully be able to support more projects within San
Pedro, encouraging multifaceted adaptive reuse approaches to heritage conservation. This
community has so much to offer, in both heart and resources, all that is needed are tools like
historic districts to empower this community. Today, the Naval Defense Station sits in that
threatened liminal space between designation under a historic district and its future rehabilitation
and reuse
Further Research Questions
The Naval Defense Station leaves many gaps in its context due to a lack of available
information by the U.S. Navy. Documents detailing exactly what was accomplished at the station
have either not been released yet, or likely were destroyed due to the classified nature of
operations taking place. Discussions with WWII veterans and interviews with the community
also alluded to classified information and were not disclosed. The more elusive details of its full
use during WWII arguably elevates its significance, making it an essential aspect of the Point
Fermin Historic District, San Pedro, and greater Los Angeles. What might those missing details

122
Charles Bukowski, Be Angry at San Pedro, 1981.

56

of its use contribute to the community’s understanding of the station? Secondly, as the future
takes shape for potential adaptive reuse of the station, how best should that space be utilized?
Furthermore, how much can a community shoulder when it comes to its adaptive reuse? How
much input should this community have in carrying the station forward? Perhaps all this space
needs is the time and space to thrive with renewed community interest and use. It is interesting
that while these temporary structures had an expiration of five to seven years, there was no plan
to remove them. The station’s ability to endure at Point Fermin is a heritage conservation study
that will develop over time.

57

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Gardner, Tennessee Rose (author)

Core Title The lasting significance of the Naval Defense Station in World War II San Pedro

School School of Architecture

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Heritage Conservation

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 01/26/2023

Defense Date 01/25/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag community,gentrification,maritime,Navy,OAI-PMH Harvest,preservation,World War II,WWII

Place Name California (states), Los Angeles (cities), North America (continents), Port of Los Angeles (harbors), San Pedro (populated places)

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Sandmeier, Trudi (committee chair), Deverell, William (committee member), Hall, Peyton (committee member)

Creator Email TennesseeMills@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC112719082

Unique identifier UC112719082

Identifier etd-GardnerTen-11443.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-GardnerTen-11443

Document Type Thesis

Format theses (aat)

Rights Gardner, Tennessee Rose

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230126-usctheses-batch-1004 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu