The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach

The Exhibition

The Port of Long Beach and the Historical Society of Long Beach present a new exhibit: The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach.

San Pedro Bay has been a center of trade and commerce for thousands of years, from Indigenous people to the Spanish and then through development from early shipyards to a modern port complex.

This exhibit looks at the people who made it possible: longshore workers, skilled tradespeople, mariners, Navy personnel, and many more – the laborers who shaped the Port of Long Beach and keep cargo moving today.

Exhibition Hours

How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach

An exhibition highlighting and celebrating the contributions of labor throughout the Port of Long Beach’s 114-year history returns next week at the Historical Society of Long Beach’s museum in Bixby Knolls.

“The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach” will re-open Tuesday, March 25. This special exhibition in partnership with the Port of Long Beach, which debuted in 2024 at the Port Administration Building, brings together historical photos and artifacts to look at the people who made the ports of the San Pedro Bay possible: longshore workers, skilled tradespeople, mariners, Navy personnel and many more – the laborers who built the Port of Long Beach and keep cargo moving.

“We often talk of the great environmental progress the Port of Long Beach has made and our world-class facilities,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero. “The people who have made us successful have always been the men and women who work in the harbor. This exhibit honors them, and it’s our way to appreciate the laborer who has made us a great port complex.”

“We’re thankful this exhibition will live on at the Historical Society of Long Beach,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Bonnie Lowenthal said. “It’s an important legacy to preserve – the workers who built the Port of Long Beach laid the foundation of an economic engine that today powers 1 in 5 jobs in the city.”

“The story of workers in the harbor demonstrates the tremendous feat of transforming muddy tidelands into a global economic engine and a source of employment for generations of local residents,” said Historical Society of Long Beach Executive Director Julie Bartolotto. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Port of Long Beach to bring this history to light.”

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