The Port of Los Angeles has selected a consultant to look into the feasibility of bringing an iconic World War II battleship to Southern California as a tourist attraction.
The USS Iowa, famous for shuttling President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to meetings with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, is currently berthed in the Bay Area city of Benicia.
But a San Pedro organization, Pacific Battleship Center, believes the ship could attract tourists and business to the port.
“We know there’d be lots of interest. This is a very significant warship,” said Robert Kent, the non-profit’s director.
Kent has been spearheading a drive since late last year to bring the historic ship to Southern California, where he believes it could attract as many as 450,000 visitors a year at $10 to $12 a head. Though there are no firm numbers on how much it would cost to transport and maintain the ship, Kent estimates a potential profit of as much as $2 million a year.
“This is the last available battleship, and we want to set her up as a mega-attraction,” he said.
Kent and his organization first floated the idea of acquiring the USS Iowa – which the Navy said it will donate to any organization with a viable plan – in November, but the port turned them down.
“Based on the analysis,” Executive Director Geraldine Knatz responded in a February letter to Kent, the port “cannot accommodate your stated needs.”
Since then, according to port spokesman Phillip Sanfield, the situation has evolved. “We haven’t changed our mind, but because there is some community support for the project, we thought it prudent to take a deeper look.”
The consultant is expected to begin a 30-day study regarding the matter Oct. 1. The consultant’s name has not been released since a contract has yet to be signed. Pacific Battleship Center is scheduled to make a presentation on the plan before the port’s board Oct. 7.
“Having the ship here would bring people in to help business all along the waterfront as well as hotels,” Kent said.
The USS Iowa, launched in 1942, shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in the South Pacific in advance of Allied amphibious landings. During the Korean War, it was involved in raids on the North Korean coast.
Weighing about 45,000 tons with a length of 887 feet, the ship was decommissioned in 1990.
Business Gateway
A team of landscape architects will break ground this week on the first phase of a yearlong beautification project to attract trade-related businesses to a section of the Wilmington Industrial Park populated by junkyards.
The $1.8 million project, being paid for by the Port of Los Angeles and managed by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, is designed to create an attractive “business gateway” along a 1.6-mile stretch of highway adjacent to the port.
“We experience quite a bit of truck traffic there as a result of businesses delivering goods to and from the port,” said CRA project manager Susan Totaro. “Our primary goal is to enhance the area’s image. It will be a gateway the community can be proud of; something they can show and say, ‘Hey, this is a good place to do business,’ where before it was barren and dusty.”
The beautification project, called the Alameda Buffer, will run south along Alameda Street starting at E Street. In its first phase, expected to take about six months, landscapers will plant liquid amber and canary pine trees, as well as lay drought-resistant ground cover and install a solar-powered irrigation system.
Transportation Alternatives
Santa Monica has scheduled its fifth annual AltCar Expo & Conference this weekend, a two-day event showcasing what’s new in alternative energy transportation.
Included will be exhibits and presentations featuring the latest in electric, hydrogen, natural gas, propane, hybrid, plug-in and cycling technologies. Manufacturers range from Nissan, GM, Honda, Toyota, Ford and BMW to startups and smaller companies such as Coda, Electric Blue Motors and Wheego.
Attendees will have the opportunity to test drive the much anticipated electric-powered Chevy Volt.
The expo is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 1855 Main St. The expo is free and open to the public.
Staff Reporter David Haldane can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225.
