Wilmington is a neighborhood in the Harbor region of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presen ...

in the continental

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Latino and foreign-born residents. Nearly 20 percent of Wilmington’s total land area is taken up by oil refineries — roughly 3.5 times more area than is dedicated to open and accessible green spaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilmington had one of the highest death rates in all of Los Angeles County, exacerbated by elevated levels of industrial pollution. It is the site of Banning High School, and ten other primary and secondary schools. Wilmington has six parks. Wilmington dates its history back to a 1784 Spanish land grant. It became a separate city in 1863, and it joined the city of Los Angeles in 1909. Places of interest include the headquarters

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

for

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

and the

Drum Barracks The Drum Barracks, also known as Camp Drum and the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, is the last remaining original American Civil War era military facility in the Los Angeles area. Located in the Wilmington section of Los Angeles, near the Port ...

built to protect the nascent Los Angeles harbor during the American Civil War.

Geography

Wilmington shares borders with Carson to the north,

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

to the east, San Pedro to the south and west and

Harbor City Harbor City is a highly diverse neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, with a population upward of 36,000 people. Originally part of the Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant, the Harbor City was brought into Los Angeles as ...

to the northwest.

Demographics

A total of 53,815 people were living within Wilmington's 9.14 square miles, according to the 2010 U.S. census—averaging 5,887 people per square mile, among the lowest

population densities Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPo ...

in the city as a whole. The median age was 28. The percentages of people from birth through age 34 were among the county's highest. Population was estimated at 54,512 in 2008.http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/wilmington "Wilmington," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' Wilmington is not considered very diverse ethnically, with a diversity index of 0.245. In 2000, Latinos made up 86.6% of the population, while non-Hispanic

whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...

were at 6.4%,

Asians Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...

at 4.8%, blacks at 2.6% and others at 1.7%. Mexico and Guatemala were the most common places of birth for the 44.5% of the residents who were born abroad, considered a high percentage of foreign-born when compared with the city and the county as a whole. The $40,627 median household income in 2008 dollars was average for the city. Renters occupied 61.5% of the housing units, with homeowners occupying the rest. In 2000 there were 1,524 military veterans, or 4.6% of the population, relatively low in comparison to the city and county as a whole.

History

The area that is now Wilmington was inhabited by the

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

people of Native Americans. Archeological work in the nearby Chowigna excavation show evidence of inhabitants as far back as 7,100 years ago. The

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...

expanded into this area when the Viceroy of

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...

commissioned

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( pt, João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1499 – January 3, 1543) was an Iberian maritime explorer best known for investigations of the West Coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the firs ...

to explore the Pacific Ocean in 1542–1543. In 1784, the

Spanish Crown , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

deeded

Rancho San Pedro Rancho San Pedro was one of the first California land grants and the first to win a patent from the United States. The Spanish Crown granted the of land to soldier Juan José Domínguez in 1784, with his descendants validating their legal clai ...

, a tract of over in the area, to retired soldier Juan José Domínguez, for his service with the Portolà expedition into the area over a decade earlier.

Phineas Banning Phineas Banning (August 19, 1830 – March 8, 1885) was an American businessman, financier and entrepreneur. Known as "The Father of the Port of Los Angeles," he was one of the founders of the town of Wilmington, in Los Angeles County, Califor ...

acquired the land that would become Wilmington from

Manuel Dominguez Don Manuel Domínguez (1803–1882) was a Californio ranchero, politician, and a signer of the Californian Constitution in 1849. He served as two terms as Alcalde of Los Angeles (mayor). He was one of the largest landowners in Southern Califo ...

, grand nephew and heir to Juan José Domínguez, in 1858 to build a

harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

for the city of Los Angeles. Known as New San Pedro from 1858 to 1863, it was subsequently renamed Wilmington by Banning, a.k.a. “Father of the Harbor”, after his birthplace,

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Unami language, Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North ...

. In 1861, at the beginning of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, Banning and Benjamin Wilson gave the federal government 60 acres of land to build

to protect the nascent Los Angeles harbor from Confederate attack. Wilmington was a township in the 1870 census. The township consisted of the present-day South Bay communities, Compton, western

, parts of Rattlesnake Island and Mormon Island which later evolved into

Terminal Island Terminal Island, historically known as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, is a largely artificial island located in Los Angeles County, California, between the neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro in the city of Los Angeles, and the city of Long ...

. Census records report a population of 942 in 1870. The township had been named San Pedro Township in 1860. Wilson College, precursor to the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, opened in Wilmington in 1874 as the first coeducational college west of the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Los Angeles annexed Wilmington in 1909, and today it and neighboring San Pedro form the waterfront of one of the world's largest import/export centers. Citizens of Wilmington were dubious that annexation would be in their best interests, fearing that it would shift economic activity out of their city and towards Los Angeles. Because the city government of Los Angeles so strongly wanted to have the growing port inside the city limits, it made a number of promises to Wilmington and also to the equally-dubious citizens of the-then independent city of San Pedro. Among these promises were that $10 million would be invested in improvements to the port and that as much would be spent inside the city on public works as was collected in taxes. In the 1920s, William Wrigley Jr. built innovative housing in Wilmington that was dubbed the “Court of Nations.” WilmingtonOilField

Wilmington is adjacent to the

Wilmington Oil Field The Wilmington Oil Field is a prolific petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States in terms of cumulative oil production. The field ...

, discovered in 1932. It is the third largest oil field in the continental United States. Consequently, there are at least 8 major refineries in the Wilmington area, many of them dating back to the original strike. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the

United States Military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

operated the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation in Wilmington, from which soldiers and sailors were sent abroad to battle zones. The LAPE was controlled by the

San Francisco Port of Embarkation The San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for movement of supplies and troops to and from the Pacific during World War II with extensive facilities in the San Francisco area. SFPOE was established ...

from its inception in 1942 until late 1943 when it became autonomous. The California Shipbuilding Corporation, famous for building

victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were sli ...

s during the war (although usually associated with

), operated in Wilmington as well.

Points of interest

Civil War Museum – U.S. Army headquarters for Southern California and the Arizona territory during the Civil War. * The bright green "THE DON" neon sign atop a brick building once welcomed visitors entering the city. * The first Der Wienerschnitzel restaurant (on Pacific Coast Highway, east of

Figueroa Street Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington north to Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs just south of Marengo Driv ...

). *The

Phillips 66 The Phillips 66 Company is an American multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Company, helped ground the newly reconfigured Phillips 66. T ...

refinery in Wilmington is also home to the "world's largest

jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phen ...

", which in fact is a 3 million gallon storage tank decorated every year for

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observan ...

. Decorated annually since 1952 (back when it was owned by

Union Oil Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

), the jack-o'-lantern draws 30,000 visitors annually. * The Banning Museum - Phineas Banning—entrepreneur, the founder of the city of Wilmington, and “the Father of the Port of Los Angeles”—built the 23-room residence in 1864.

Government and infrastructure

The

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals. DHS ope ...

operates the Torrance Health Center in

Harbor Gateway The Harbor Gateway is a in the Los Angeles Harbor Region, in the southern part of the city. The neighborhood is narrow and long, running along a north-south axis. Its unusual shape has given it the alternative name of "the Shoestring Strip". Th ...

, Los Angeles, near Torrance and serving Wilmington. The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...

Wilmington Post Office is located at 1008 North Avalon Boulevard. The community of Wilmington is located in the Council District 15 within the City of Los Angeles. The community of Wilmington is represented by one Neighborhood Council
Wilmington Neighborhood Council.

Education

Only 5.1% of Wilmington residents aged 25 or older had completed a four-year degree by 2000, a low figure when compared with the city and the county at large, and the percentage of those residents with less than a high school diploma was high for the county. Wilmington is home to Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, ranked the top high school in the city of Los Angeles and the fourth-best school in California.

Schools

Wilmington is part of the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

. The area is in Board District 7. As of September 2009, the leadership of District 7 was under Interim Superintendent Dr. George McKenna. Los Angeles Harbor College is in Wilmington, at 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington, CA 90744. Secondary and primary schools include:''The Thomas Guide,'' 2006, pages 794 and 824http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/wilmington-schools "Wilmington Schools," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' * Phineas Banning Senior High School,

LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

, 1527 Lakme Avenue * Avalon High School, LAUSD

continuation In computer science, a continuation is an abstract representation of the control state of a computer program. A continuation implements ( reifies) the program control state, i.e. the continuation is a data structure that represents the computati ...

, 1425 North Avalon Boulevard * Pacific Harbor Christian School, private K-12, 1530 Wilmington Boulevard * Broad Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 24815 Broad Avenue * Wilmington Christian School, private, 24910 South Avalon Boulevard * Wilmington Middle School, LAUSD, 1700 Gulf Avenue * Fries Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 1301 Fries Avenue * Gulf Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 828 West L Street * Wilmington Park Elementary School, LAUSD, 1140 Mahar Avenue *

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

and

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Elementary School, private, 706 Bay View Avenue * Hawaiian Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 540 Hawaiian Avenue * Harry Bridges Span School, LAUSD 1235 Broad Avenue * George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School, LAUSD, 500 Island Ave, Wilmington, CA 90744 * Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, LAUSD, 1111 Figueroa Pl, Wilmington, CA 90744

Libraries

WilmingtonBranch formerLosAngelesPublicLibrary detail June2008 sm1

Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the lar ...

operates the Wilmington Branch.

Recreation and parks

* Banning Recreation Center, 1331 Eubank Avenue. Auditorium, baseball diamond (lighted), basketball courts (lighted/indoor, unlighted/outdoor), children's play area, picnic tables, tennis courts (lighted). * East Wilmington Greenbelt Community Center, 918 North Sanford Avenue. Basketball courts (lighted/indoor), class room, after school programs, day camps. * East Wilmington Greenbelt Pocket Park, 1300 East O Street * Wilmington Recreation Center, 325 North Neptune Avenue. Auditorium, baseball diamond (lighted/unlighted), basketball courts (unlighted/outdoors, lighted/indoors), children's play area, community room, four picnic areas with tables. * Wilmington Senior Citizen Center, 1371 Eubank Avenue. Auditorium, baseball diamond (lighted), basketball courts (lighted/Indoor, unlighted/outdoor), children's play area, indoor gym (without weights), picnic tables, tennis courts (lighted). * The Wilmington Waterfront Park, opened in June 2011 between the Port of Los Angeles and Wilmington. (This park is not, in fact, on any waterfront: the name is a misnomer.)

Notable people

* Cayetano Apablasa (1847–1889), member of the Los Angeles Common Council *

John Avalos John Avalos is an American politician. He served two terms as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2008 to 2016. Avalos represented District 11 in San Francisco, consisting of the Crocker-Amazon, Excelsior, Ingleside, Ocean ...

(1964-), member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors *

Wilder W. Hartley Wilder W. Hartley (April 4, 1901 – August 17, 1970) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from the Harbor and South Los Angeles districts from 1939 to 1943. Biography Hartley was born in Reno, Nevada, on April 4, 1901, and was brought ...

(1901–1970), Los Angeles City Council member, 1939–41 * L.T. Fisher, publisher of Wilmington newspapers in the 1870s * Asa Keyes (1877–1934), Los Angeles County district attorney, 1923-1928"Asa Keyes Succumbs to Stroke," ''Los Angeles Times,'' page 1. ''(Access to this link may require the use of a library card.)''
/ref> * George H. Moore (1871–1958), Los Angeles City Council member, 1943–51Los Angeles Public Library reference file
/ref> * Eric Plunk (1963–), former pitcher for the Oakland Athletics and the Cleveland Indians *

Thuy Trang Thuy Trang (December 14, 1973 – September 3, 2001) was a Vietnamese American actress. She was known for her role as Trini Kwan, the second Yellow Ranger on the original cast of the television series ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''. The firs ...

(1973–2001), actress *

Charmian London Charmian London (née Kittredge; November 27, 1871 – January 14, 1955) was an American writer and the second wife of Jack London. Early life "Clara" Charmian Kittredge was born to poet and writer Dayelle "Daisy" Wiley and California hotelier ...

(1871-1955), writer, second wife of

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

Gallery

File:BP1.JPG, Historic Banning Park Home, American Colonial style File:Banning Park, Tudor Revival architecture.jpg, Banning Park, Tudor Revival architecture File:Holy Family Catholic Church, Wilmington, California.JPG, Holy Family Catholic Church File:BP3.JPG, Spanish architecture inspired Banning Park home File:THEDONWILM.jpg, The Don

References

Notes Further reading *

External links

List of Historical and Cultural Monuments in Wilmington and Harbor City

Wilmington Neighborhood Council

General Phineas Banning Residence Museum

Phineas Banning High School

Los Angeles Harbor College

Comments about living in Wilmington

Wilmington crime map and statistics
{{Authority control Former municipalities in California Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Los Angeles Harbor Region Los Angeles Historic Preservation Overlay Zones South Bay, Los Angeles