In some ways, it felt like a typical lunch hour outdoors at the San Pedro Fish Market on Thursday, March 3.
Folks lined up to carry platters heaped high with fresh fish to the familiar outdoor bench-seat tables at the edge of San Pedro’s shipping channel.
But this day was to be forever different.
The family-owned business was leaving its legacy location on San Pedro’s waterfront — where the restaurant has been for more than four decades — because of a new development that’s beginning construction.
Equipment, desks, chairs and other items were being hauled out of the business — the last remaining vestige of the old Ports O’ Call Village — and loaded onto trucks. The owners, meanwhile, huddled with developers and Los Angeles City Councilmember Tim McOsker as they worked to put a final agreement in place that would provide at least a long-term temporary spot some 200 yards north of the current location — and still on the waterfront.
While the details are far from worked out, San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant CEO Michael Ungaro said this week tthat here was a possibility negotiations could lead to a permanent spot for the historic business at West Harbor, the new waterfront development set to open in late 2024.
McOsker, the area’s new Los Angeles representative and a lifelong San Pedro resident, said it’s important to keep the Fish Market, a landmark in the port town, on the waterfront.
“This is a fantastic brand, it’s a fantastic company and these are fantastic workers,” McOsker said of the restaurant as he arrived to meet with owners on Thursday. “I want to make sure we do everything possible to make sure this is around for another six generations.”
Meetings between the restaurant and West Harbor teams were still ongoing late into the afternoon, Ungaro said.
The announcement of a temporary location that would include a new branding — Fish Market Landing — appeared on “We’re Moving — 200 Yards North” signs Thursday…
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