It Is Not Too Late to Rename West Harbor.

By Daniel E. Ryan
San Pedro

It is not too late to rename West Harbor.

The name West Harbor is at once geographically confusing, generic, and uninspiring.

Simply put, West Harbor is a terrible name, and the developers of this exciting project would be well-served to come up with something better – and soon!

Given its location near L.A.’s southern tip, and east of much of L.A., West Harbor’s name is clearly going to confuse potential patrons about its physical location. When one looks at a map of LA as a whole, West Harbor will be in what is essentially the southeast corner of the city. The location of the project is east — not west — of the entire San Fernando Valley, much of the South Bay, and most of Los Angeles. Why incorporate such geographic dissonance into a project’s name?

The development’s location is of course technically on the western side of the Harbor, by virtue of the fact that it is in San Pedro. But this is an uninteresting detail, unworthy of being the focus of the project’s name.

Beyond being very confusing, the name West Harbor does little to convey anything about the project itself — it is bland and unexciting. It is apt to be confused with the place one goes to buy resin to maintain one’s boat: West Marine.

Luckily, better alternatives abound, and I have a couple of suggestions to offer.

In my native home of Boston, the crappy parking lots in South Boston that former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt once also owned, have been developed into one of the most desirable areas of all of Boston to live in. The area has been rebranded the Seaport District. Calling this area the Seaport of course is not what made the area into a hotspot overnight — it took hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and support from the local authorities (and as with any project, the Boston Seaport District is not without its share of problems). Yet, it is undeniable that the rebrand from Southie to Seaport was a part of the neighborhood’s transformation. In one word, this new name vividly connotes a bustling maritime environment, with passing ships and a coastal breeze.

The West Harbor project will be on what is already known to many as the LA Waterfront, so including “waterfront” in its new name would make a lot of sense. Visitors to the new esplanade will have a front row seat watching LA’s working waterfront, so why not consider incorporating the word “waterfront” into the project’s name? Is the proximity to the waterfront not the main draw for the project in the first place?

A place called West Harbor could be literally anywhere — but there is only one spot for the LA Seaport, or the LA Waterfront. Mix and match: Seaport Los Angeles and Waterfront LA would also work just as well.

These are just a few suggestions, but just about anything would be an improvement over West Harbor. Perhaps the developers can crowdsource a better name from the community, or hold a contest to come up with a new name for this important project.

As a San Pedro resident, I have been eagerly watching the progress on this project for the past few years. I am happy with what I see so far. Until recently, I have been assuming that West Harbor was just a placeholder name. I hope this is the case. Yet, as I see construction quickly progressing and tenants committing, I am alarmed the current name will stick, which I strongly feel would be to the detriment of the project and the community.

I encourage the developers of West Harbor to go back to the drawing board on the name, and come up with something better.

It won’t be hard. West Harbor is a bad name, but it is not too late to change it!