The Spielberg Center complex lies at the center of the Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. (Feb. 2018 photo by Sam Gnerre)
Sandwiched between Cabrillo Beach and the Cabrillo Marina in San Pedro lies a choice piece of beachfront property whose future has often been the subject of speculation.
After the end of World War II, the Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America organization signed a lease in 1946 for the 12.3 acres of land with the Port of Los Angeles, with the intent of turning the vacant beach area into a Boy Scout camp.
Fabric Scout badge.
There were a few quonset huts, trailers and other structures on the land that had been used by the military during the war, but not much else.
The Boy Scouts set about to transform the land and buildings for use as a summer camp, calling it Cabrillo Camp. It was designed as one of several summer camp facilities in Los Angeles, and was open to other groups in addition to the Scouts.
The camp would operate, using the leftover buildings, for almost three decades. In addition to the Boy Scouts, more than 40 additional youth groups used the facility during that time.
In 1984, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission approved a plan to build a new, permanent camp on the site at 3000 Shoshonean Road.
Main entrance to Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. Spielberg Center building. (Feb. 2018 photo by Sam Gnerre)
A San Pedro ecological advocacy group, the Coastal and Harbor Hazards Council, protested the plan, pointing out the Union Oil tank farm’s proximity to the beach camp as a potential threat to the development.
In November 1984, the California Coastal Commission voted 7-5 to approved the Scout camp project over the advocacy group’s objections.
In March 1986, the project received a $500,000 grant from the Amateur Athletic Foundation, using surplus funds from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The swimming pool was part of improvements made in the 1980s at the Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. (Oct. 2014 Breeze file photo by Stephen Carr)
Then film director and former Eagle Scout Steven Spielberg stepped in, donating more than a million dollars in 1987 for the construction of the Spielberg Center at the camp. It included meeting rooms, a dining center, amphitheater, swimming pool, boat house, crafts center and gift shop.
The entire project was given a new name: The Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. The total cost of the 1980s renovations there eventually reached $4.2 million.
Campsite at Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. An effort was launched by residents in 2014 to urge more public use of this facility. (Oct. 2014 Breeze file photo by Stephen Carr)
The modernized buildings and facilities made the onetime rustic beach camp a major center for water-based summer youth group activities, including boating, kayaking, sailing, swimming, fishing and rowing in addition to camping.
In addition to the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, schools, church groups, the YMCA, 4-H Club, AmeriCorps, U.S. Coast Guard, Red Cross, and police and fire departments use the Center. The camp also is home for the Los Angeles Harbor Dragon Boat teams.
The Boy Scouts’ last long-term lease with the Port expired in December 2012. In October 2014, speculation on the camp’s future began to grow.
The Boy Scouts were happy with things as they were, but some community leaders advocated making the facility more open to the public. The desirable location also attracted interest from private developers, and the Port decided to begin the RFP (request for proposal) process to gauge interest.
In November 2014, the site had was visited by representatives of AECOM, the firm working on developing the San Pedro waterfront, as well as reps from the California Yacht Marina and the Double Tree Hotel right next doore at the Cabrillo Marina.
More tours were conducted in January 2015. Attendees included some of the same November guests as well as several other developers.
One of the camping area at the Cabrillo Beach Youth Watersports Center. (Oct. 2014 Breeze file photo by Stephen Carr)
Since then, all has been quiet on the subject. According to Port of Los Angeles spokesman Phillip Sanfield, the Boy Scouts continue to operate the Center on a month-to-month agreement.
“Right now the future long-term use of the property remains to be determined. It is under Port control but no long term plans have been made yet,” according to Sanfield.
With all the other development plans being made for San Pedro’s waterfront and other areas, the future of the Center could be subject to change.
For now, though, the beach camp continues to serve the Boy Scouts and other groups as it has for more than seven decades.
The camp is located at 3000 Shoshonean Road, just below Fort MacArthur in San Pedro. (Feb. 2018 photo by Sam Gnerre)
Sources:
“Cabrillo Beach Youth Center & Activities,” Boy Scouts of America, Greater Los Angeles Council website.
Daily Breeze files.
Los Angeles Times files.
Special thanks: Port of Los Angeles spokesman Phillip Sanfield and Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn.
