Negotiations between the owners of the currently homeless San Pedro Fish Market and the West Harbor developers are showing promise, both parties reported this week — with the historic restaurant’s proprietors saying they could potentially resume operations by early next month.
While issues remain and no agreement is in place, Eric Johnson, president of Jerico Development, said a “good meeting” took place with the Ungaro and Amalfitano families — the market’s founders — on Friday, March 10.
“The parties,” Johnson said in a Monday, March 13, email, “are engaged in substantive discussions regarding interim and long-term space for the San Pedro Fish Market at West Harbor.”
When the rest of Ports O’ Call was leveled in recent years, the San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant was left standing, even as West Harbor plans developed and construction crews began creating what will be a new waterfront attraction set to open in late 2024.
The Fish Market originally was to be part of that new development. But following discussions on what a new facility would look like and how big it would be, the market bowed out, saying the popular business needed more space.
Plans to build a new home on Berth 93 near San Pedro’s cruise and Catalina terminals also appeared to stall, with Fish Market CEO Michael Ungaro recently saying the planning for that was “on hold” as they worked with West Harbor officials on a quick turn-around temporary location that could also lead to a permanent spot in the new development.
The Fish Market was forced to move out of its “legacy” location on March 2 after four decades. The family-owned business, which began modestly in 1959, selling fish from a location on Ninth Street in San Pedro, moved to that spot in what was then Ports O’ Call Village, in 1982, opening on Good Friday. Before that, it operated at Norm’s Landing, a sport fishing complex opened by Norm Hagen in 1958 that also was on San Pedro’s old…
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