The Father of the Los Angeles Harbor

While we were in Long Beach, California, last month we visited an historical site not very far away. We did not use a freeway, just drove down the Pacific Coast Highway.


Vintage postcard of road in Long Beach , turn of the century

In a few minutes we were on a quiet side street bordered by trees with beautiful blossoms. These trees, native to South America, are called “Jacaranda” trees and at that time of year have lovely bright purple flowers.

Click on pictures to enlarge them

We were surprised to see the historical home right in the middle of these quiet roads. There were no other cars parked and we were not sure if the house was opened. It looked like the house was being renovated. Indeed, as we approached we read the panel below.

The gate was opened so we entered



and approached the house.



Since work was being done to the front of the house we walked to the back.




Presently a guide came out and advised us that the next tour to visit the interior of the house would be in 20 minutes – giving us plenty of time to take a look at the rose garden.



Many roses were in bloom and it was difficult to decide which ones to photograph.




The house was built in 1864 by General Phineas Banning(1830-1885) and the area around it was called then Wilmington because Phineas was born in Wilmington, Delaware. When Phineas was 13 years old he left his parents' home with only 50 cents in his pocket and walked 30 miles to begin work in an older brother’s law office. By 21 he decided to go west and immigrated to California. He made his first fortune by operating a freighting business and owning a stage coach with routes going from California to Yuma, Arizona and to Salt Lake City, Utah. During the Civil War he gave land to the Union Army to built a fort close to his home. The National Guard appointed Phineas Banning Brigadier General of the California First Brigade, an honorific title he kept for the rest of his life.

Portrait of Phineas Banning

At the end of the war he served as California State Senator from 1865 to 1868. During his tenure California ratified the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery.) In 1871 Phineas Banning had a 10 foot (3 meters) channel dredged to improve the port of Wilmington which handled 50,000 tons of business that year. By 1885 the Los Angeles Port handled 500,000 tons of business a year. A competitor wanted to create Port Los Angeles in Santa Monica instead and built a long wharf there in 1893. However, with the US Government support (and maybe because of Phineas’ help during the Civil War) the port of Wilmington - San Pedro was chosen (the city of Los Angeles annexed the area in 1909.) General Banning loved his home and doted on his family. He had three surviving sons (out of eight children) with his first wife who died in childbirth.

He later married a wealthy heiress and had 3 more children, two of them surviving, Mary and Lucy.

Portrait of Lucy Tichenor Banning (1873-1929)

When we drove close to Port Los Angeles to arrive at the Banning Residence we could see how large the port has become. It is the busiest container port in the United States. Without Phineas Banning this might not have happened. He even gave his lucrative Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad to Southern Pacific Railroad to make sure that Los Angeles would not be bypassed in favor of San Bernardino as it had been planned. This is why he deserves the name of Father of the Port of Los Angeles. You can read more on Phineas Banning here.

Port of Los Angeles

We were ready for the 1-hour tour of the house. No pictures inside the house were allowed. The gift shop is also under renovation, so no postcards of the interior were available. There was just a single squirrel in front of the closed gift shop.



The guide told us that the house and 20 acres of parkland were acquired by the City of Los Angeles in 1927. It is now a City, State and National Historic Landmark. There are 23 rooms in this Greek Revival architecture mansion; 18 rooms can be visited. Banning used an office in his home to conduct all his business enterprises. From the top tower he could look at his land, all the way to the harbor.

Early drawing of the Banning residence

The Banning family lived in this house for 60 years and many family heirlooms have been preserved. I scanned some of the pictures from the brochure given to us so I could add them to this post, but they are not very sharp.

The mansion was designed after popular Delaware houses of the 19th century. It has elegant furnishing of the Victorian era.



We walked out onto the porch and the guide told me “you may take a picture.” Thank you. I was closely supervised, just in case I would take a picture facing the interior instead of towards the garden. I just took the porch – looking to the left


then looking to the right



The guide told us that Phineas Banning’s sons bought Catalina Island in the early 1890s, developed it and owned it until World War 1.

Vintage postcard of Santa Catalina Island

Once outside we visited the small school room.

I was intrigued by the “Punishments” plaque on the mantel – it clearly enunciated the number of lashes one would get for being unruly – Giving Each Other ill names – 3 lashes. Quarreling at school – 5 lashes . Drinking Spiritous Liquors at School – 8 lashes. Misbehaving to Girls – 10 lashes, and so on.



Then we visited the stables where pictures were allowed.



There was a little room which had been reserved for the stable boy. It looked as if he had just left.



In the stables, I did not see any horses, just a metal one which must be used at Christmas.




The carriages are housed in the building. There were a number of them.



A small panel gave information on each carriage. This was good as I knew the names of some of the carriages but did not know exactly what they looked like. The carriage on the bottom left is called a Peters Brougham. It took nine months to complete and cost $1200 (circa 1903.)



In the back there was a well equipped tack and tool room. On the wall was a picture of the beach, the way it must have looked at the time the house was built.



There was a tall and beautiful tree just outside the stable. A man was brushing it with some liquid and told us that the little white spots on the tree were insects. There were so many and they flew everywhere close to the tree.



I don’t know what type of insects they were. If you touch them, it was like touching powder.




The tour was finished. We walked by the cast iron cornstalk fence. It was purchased by William S. Banning in the 1900s in New Orleans. There are only two others in existence – both of them in New Orleans.



Going back to our car we admired the tall and very old eucalyptus trees. They were planted to soak up the groundwater as the land was very wet.




This was truly an interesting mansion to visit with so much history. I am not sure how many people realize how much Phineas Banning helped in the development of Los Angeles. He was a visionary with drive and dynamism. I am glad I learnt his story.

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The Tour de France

The Tour de France is ending on Sunday 25th July 2010 on the Champs Elysées. Alberto Contador (Spain) should be the winner as he won the time trial on Saturday. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) is a close second. It has been a great tour and I watched it with enthusiasm.

Photo courtesy Graham Watson

I finished knitting the tricolor baby blanket and had time to crochet a small car seat baby blanket and finished it as the tour ended.

It will be hard to wait for another year – but I’ll keep busy until then.

La Tricoteuse, (the Knitter) Alfred Stevens, Belgian, 1823-1906