Historic Star-Kist Cannery Threatened

Port eyes demolition as a solution to short-term crises

Terelle Jerricks contributed to this article

The grand old Star-Kist Cannery, an iconic presence on the Los Angeles waterfront nearly 40 years after it was closed, has been targeted for demolition by the Los Angeles Harbor Department last month.

The facility’s origins can be traced to 1918 when it was founded as the French Sardine Company by Yugoslavian immigrant Martin J. Bogdanovich and other prominent San Pedro families.

The facility, renamed Star-Kist Tuna Cannery in 1952 and was the main plant, held the distinction of being the single-largest cannery in the world at the time. Star-Kist was the largest of several major tuna canneries, including Chicken of the Sea, which operated on Terminal Island for many decades and revolutionized seafood consumption through the introduction of canned tuna. There remain three tuna canning companies that were once American-owned that still dominate the industry today, all three are foreign-owned with headquarters in the United States. 

As of the 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s report  imports of canned tuna were 141,480 tons, up 8,882 tons (6.7%) from 2016. The value of canned tuna imports also increased by $108.9 million (20.8%) from 2016.

Star-Kist closed its facilities on Terminal Island in 1984, and moved its operations overseas, but the buildings continued to represent a significant link to Los Angeles’ once-mighty tuna industry.

The Star-Kist Main Plant is also significant for its design by John K. Minasian, a prominent engineer and designer who worked on projects at Cape Canaveral and Edwards Air Force Base and served as the chief engineer of the iconic Space Needle, which opened at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

When it was completed, the Star-Kist Main Plant was the single-largest example of tilt-up construction built by private industry on the West Coast. Giving this industrial facility further distinction is the unusual level of architectural detailing on the harbor-facing façade, which was viewed primarily by fishermen in the harbor and employees entering the building.

Most of the Main Plant remains standing and remains a significant example of a cannery facility at the Port of Los Angeles.  And yet canned tuna is still a major commodity that is imported. Canning facilities for the big three companies have shifted away from the West Coast. They’ve moved, in some cases, to territories like Puerto Rico and American Samoa, where wages are lower but, because they’re still technically on U.S. soil, there aren’t any import tariffs. Those big three brands themselves have changed ownership again and again over the years, with companies like Pillsbury, Heinz, and Ralston Purina all dipping their toes in the tuna business. These days, the big American tuna companies aren’t American. 

About 25% of the world’s tuna processing is done in Thailand.

Although the ultimate future use of the site is unknown, in the immediate future it could be used for cargo support, which can be anything between container or chassis storage to chassis repair and maintenance, since these types of uses are already allowed in this location under the applicable zoning and the Port Master Plan. However, the POLA isn’t even considering issuing an RFP to see what other uses the facility might be used for, or even the possibility of bringing back a tuna cannery.

As a result, the Mitigated Negative Declaration will also consider the impacts from the development and operations of a chassis repair and maintenance depot in order to analyze the impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, in case of future development of the site. The 30-day review period ended on Dec. 16 but has now been extended into January. 

Threatened historic resources make up only 3% of Terminal Island’s total acreage, yet the island reflects a great deal of history:

• It housed a vibrant Japanese-American community of nearly 3,000 residents, who were the first in the nation to be forcibly removed from their homes and interned during World War II.
• It played a crucial role in both world wars as a major shipbuilding center, setting world records for speedy delivery to support the war effort.
• It launched a worldwide tuna canning industry that made tuna fish a staple of American households and fostered LA’s growth as a major industrial hub.
• At the height of production, as many as 10,000 workers of all nationalities made their living working in this plant that supported families all over the Harbor Area.

    San Pedro residents and many others with ties to the old cannery expressed alarm and dismay at the port’s plans, while others suggested alternative plans.

Rudy Vanderhider offered a description of what remains of the Star-Kist cannery on Terminal Island in a Facebook post:

• Plant 1 or the pet food side is gone a few years now. Plant 4 is still there largely. Not much that anyone would recognize. The main entrance facade is recognizable, the rest is just rusting industrial stuff. A great history and employment for thousands, mostly immigrant moms like mine.
• During the Reagan administration as globalization was gaining traction, the tariff on imported canned products was dropped and that was it. The canneries and fleets had to move offshore to compete. Then the naval shipyard under Clinton. From any hill in San Pedro you looked out on thousands of good largely Union jobs. We were just one town in America, just imagine all the others that sank or died on the trickle-down lie.

Truly the decade of the 1980s was crushing for the greater LA Harbor Area. By the end of 1990 ,because of globalization, this area lost some 30,000 blue-collar jobs according to one report from that era. And those jobs just never returned. 

Emil Erdelez  said this:

The Main Plant is Historical to the community and its history needs to be preserved. It means so much to many. It is the history of this community and is a historical landmark. LA needs to stop destroying the history of San Pedro for their own financial gain and giving nothing back to San Pedro. If it was not for San Pedro there would be no Los Angeles.

And yet it is not just the cultural history of the last tuna cannery that is at stake, what is not being considered is what might be done to create more jobs for the export economy.  

Lindsey Cota said the following:

‘… for short term use and unknown potential long term use,’ tells me someone wants to use the lot and doesn’t have a long-term plan after they demolish a historical building that is part of the fabric of San Pedro. Seems about par for the course with developers here. There is a growing sentiment amongst the San Pedro community that sees this as a short term solution that ignores the possible long term benefits.

Anthony Misetich, former honorary mayor of San Pedro, wrote to the Port of LA opposing this move:

Numerous individuals and organizations including the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Dalmatian American Club of San Pedro all advocate for the preservation of the facility.

Since the plant was [once] used in tuna canning, it can be repurposed for canning any type of food products. Another RFP (nationwide) should be released in 2022 targeting those companies in the food industry, especially in California’s central valley to gauge their interest. Since the facility is located in the middle of export facilities, I am sure that a suitable suitor for the facility can be found, in line with the goals outlined in the Port’s Master Plan.

The matter will come back to the Board of Harbor Commissioner in January and public comments are sure to rise up in opposition.  Only time will tell if the port is more concerned about the present supply chain crisis or the future of job creation and exports. 

James Preston Allen is the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council Port Committee chair.