San Pedro Outside the Box

An Artistic Walking Tour of San Pedro

{Best Supporting Scenery Bonus: In the Best Picture nominated movie Top Gun Maverick, San Pedro was the location and backdrop of Penny's home.}

How much does San Pedro appreciate art? Well, in this historic waterfront community, even the utility boxes are works of public art! Discover 10 of these decorated traffic signal power prisms (by 10 different local artists) on a 5.5-mile walk that also includes maritime history and culture.

Drop off your car at the park-and-ride lot just south of Harbor Boulevard and Swinford Street, catching your first two boxes on the southwest corner. The waterfront park across the street has water fountain shows throughout the day, against the backdrop of the cruise terminal and Vincent Thomas Bridge. Continue south parallel to Harbor through the park, passing a statue dedicated to multiculturalism and your next utility box at the intersection with O’Farrell Street. Two blocks later, you’ll reach a pair of utility boxes at the corner of Harbor and 1st. The battleship USS Iowa looms in the distance.

Your next block, Gibson Park, is home to two maritime memorials and the LA Maritime Museum. At 6th Street, turn right, passing two more boxes as you head inland toward the art district and a giant new art deco–influenced mural on the Warner Grand Theater by Kent Yoshimura. Go south a block on Pacific Avenue, turning left at 7th Street and a utility box stating “You are the key.” Head back to Harbor, passing several art studios and a utility box with two epic interpretations of rubber duckies. From here, go south on Harbor for 0.6 mile of port views as the street veers into a trail in 22nd Street Park. The left path here leads you to two giant warehouses, home to a local art market and Brouwerij West.

Head south along the marina to check out the boats, then north on Miner Street and right on 22nd (and your final utility box) before continuing east to Signal Place. Walk north along the waterfront for the next 0.4 mile until you reach Ghost Fish, a haunting piece about the plague of abandoned fishing gear that harms wildlife. Finally, enjoy Ports O’ Call village, full of seafood joints and mariachi bands. The road, Sampson Way, reconnects with 6th after half a mile. Then it’s only another 0.7 mile back to your car, those first two utility boxes, and the end of your San Pedro less traveled.

To get to the Harbor/Swinford park-and-ride lot, take the I-110 south to exit 1A for CA-47, continuing to the first exit for Harbor Blvd. Take a right onto Harbor Blvd, followed by an immediate right onto Beacon St. The lot will be on your right. Dog-friendly!

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Can't Top This

    San Francisco’s Presidio was already a fantastic place to hang out for the afternoon, a beautiful site within the largest urban national park in the United States (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). And Presidio Tunnel Tops is like a cherry on top. Make that two cherries on top, with the newly opened (July 2025) Outpost Meadow, a 1.5-acre green space located at Old Mason Street across from the Crissy Field Marsh in the Presidio.

    View
  2. This Is Paradise

    Granite mountain-scape, superb sunset views, crystal lakes, and shoreline campsites … the trip to Paradise Lake in Tahoe National Forest lives up to its idyllic name.

    View
  3. Aloha from California

    Say Aloha without leaving California with a 7-mile out-and-back hiking adventure to Lake Aloha in El Dorado National Forest. You can also camp here, a premier place for stargazing.

    View
  4. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Hot As (Bumpass) Hell

    So you like going to all the hot spots when you visit places? Well, in Lassen Volcanic National Park there’s a place so hot it gets downright steamy. Bumpass Hell is the largest hydrothermal area in the park, with sputtering mud pots, sulfur vents, and boiling pools. It’s California’s Yellowstone. But it only opens in summer through fall.

    View
  2. Underground Garden

    Looking to escape the summer heat? Head to Fresno and discover its cool secret: the Forestiere Underground Gardens–an enchanting garden and architecture oasis like no other.

    View
  3. Oh Ryan

    Sure, it’s those whimsical trees that give Joshua Tree National Park its marquee billing; but this beautiful landscape also has surrounding mountains and its night sky—one of the darkest in Southern California and designated an International Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree has four allowable stargazing parking lots, and a newly opened haven for spending the night nearby...

    View
  4. Easiest Best Hike in the World

    Choose the easiest and most view-rewarding hike in Yosemite. Okay, we’ll go first: the combination of hiking to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Both of these lookouts are within a couple miles of each other on Glacier Point Road

    View