On December 5, San Pedro's Holiday Boats Set the Schedule for the Whole Waterfront

Last December, the Port of Los Angeles ran Holidays by the Sea at San Pedro Town Square from 4 to 8 p.m. The decorated boats were the last thing on the program, listed for 7 p.m. This year the Port lists the same celebration for Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. The LA Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade starts at 6 p.m. the same night and runs until 8 p.m.

With the land event shortened, the boats set the schedule for the whole evening. The official parade site says the boats take roughly 90 minutes to cover the route, and with a fleet about a mile long, the last boats finish well after the first ones. That means it reaches different parts of San Pedro at different times, and the time it passes your stretch of waterfront decides what else you can fit into the night.

Last year the boats were the finale. This year they run past the end of the land event.

Here is how the two Holidays by the Sea schedules compare, based on what the Port and LA Waterfront have published.

West Harbor's event page describes this year's celebration as free and family-friendly, with the official tree lighting at its center. For a sense of what the evening has held before, the 2025 program had the San Pedro City Ballet performing scenes from "The Nutcracker" at 4:45 p.m., the tree lighting at 5, Victorian carolers at 5:20, and the Franklin Haynes Marionettes at 6. It also had snow play, photos with Santa, and tall ship deck tours. The Daily Breeze's recap of last year's night describes sled rides on artificial snow, the ballet, the tree lighting, and then the boats.

The Daily Breeze recap places the tree lighting in Town Square, in front of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum on Harbor Boulevard. The museum's address is 600 Sampson Way. The museum is one of the parade's official viewing spots, so the tree lighting and an early look at the boats happen in the same place. The schedule is what decides whether you stay there.

Where the boats are, stop by stop

The official parade site says the boats leave the East Basin near Banning's Landing Community Center in Wilmington and head up the Main Channel toward San Pedro. The main body of the fleet stretches about a mile. The most detailed timing published for the route comes from Random Lengths News' 2024 parade coverage. Treat those times as 2024 estimates, but they show the order in which San Pedro's viewing spots see the boats.

1. 6:00 p.m. Start at the East Basin, past the Wilmington marinas.
2. About 6:15 to 6:20 p.m. Banning's Landing.
3. About 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Cruise Ship Plaza, the Battleship Iowa judges' station, the LA Maritime Museum and the Port Police dock.
4. About 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. West Harbor, the former Ports O' Call Village.
5. About 7:45 to 7:50 p.m. Warehouse 1 and the SS Lane Victory.
6. 8:00 p.m. Cabrillo Way Marina, the last judges' station, and the finish at Cabrillo Marina.

The San Pedro viewing spots on the parade's official list follow the same order along the channel. They are the Cruise Ship Promenade at Harbor Blvd. and Swinford St., Fanfare Fountain and Gateway Plaza, the Maritime Museum, West Harbor at 1100 Nagoya Way, the SS Lane Victory and 22nd Street Landing at 141 W. 22nd Street, Cabrillo Way Marina at 2293 Miner St., and California Yacht Marina's Cabrillo Marina at 224 Whaler's Walk.

Picking your stretch of the channel

If the estimated timing holds, boats will pass the Maritime Museum during the last half hour of the 5 to 7 p.m. listing. That makes the north end of the waterfront the place to combine the tree lighting with the front of the parade. Everyone who stays in that area sees the parade at roughly the same moment.

South of Town Square, the evening gets longer. West Harbor's viewing area sees the boats later, around 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. by the 2024 estimates, and something new opens there this season. Harbor Glow, a timed-ticket holiday light experience from Glow Works Inc., opens Friday, Nov. 20, and runs through Jan. 3, 2027. It's set up in West Harbor's amphitheater space at 1332 S. Harbor Blvd. On weekends it's open 5 to 10:30 p.m., so on a Saturday it stays open well after the last boats reach Cabrillo Marina.

Ticket prices change by date and go up on the day of the visit. Children under 3 get in free. Harbor Glow has its own premium parking lot next to the entrance that can be reserved with tickets. West Harbor's public lot is farther away, first-come, first-served, and paid on site.

The quietest end of the route is the south. The SS Lane Victory, 22nd Street Landing and the two Cabrillo marinas see the boats last, around 7:45 to 8 p.m. by the 2024 estimates. That's where the parade's final judges' station sits.

A parade that depends on volunteer boaters

In its 2024 profile, Random Lengths traced the first Harbor Holiday Afloat Parade to around 1962, when 57 boats took part. Bob McKoy, who was running the organizing work for Pacific Unicomm Corp. at the time, told the paper recent turnout had been lower.

"The last five or six years will probably end up with about 28 to 30 boats. We are used to typically having 50."

In the same piece, the paper reported that Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club had won the trophy for most participants for 11 straight years. It also reported that every grand marshal had ridden on one of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute's tall ships. Bruce Heyman of the parade committee told Random Lengths he hoped the rebuilt waterfront would make San Pedro's parade "every bit as envious as what they have at Newport Beach."

This year's theme, "Home for the Harbor Holidays," honors first responders and military personnel and remembers loved ones.

Getting to the water with the Vincent Thomas Bridge closed

This is the first holiday season in years without the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Caltrans closed it fully on Nov. 7 for a 16-month, $752.8 million deck replacement. Both directions of State Route 47 between Harbor Boulevard and Ferry Street are closed, along with the approaches and several connecting ramps. Random Lengths News reports the bridge is expected to reopen March 1, 2028. Random Lengths' closure update says detours run mainly along I-710, I-110, State Route 103 and Harry Bridges Boulevard. Traffic control officers are posted at 18 key intersections.

This matters most for guests coming from Long Beach. Random Lengths reports the Commuter Express 142 bus between San Pedro and Long Beach now runs free and often, under an arrangement between Caltrans and LADOT. The Port also plans to start parking and roadway work at Harbor Boulevard and 22nd Street in November 2026, with completion expected by January 2028. Last year the event page pointed visitors to the two free lots at 22nd and Miner streets or to downtown parking, with the Red Trolley running to Town Square.

Sunday moves the celebration downtown

The holiday weekend doesn't end at Cabrillo Marina. The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce holds its 46th Spirit of the Holidays Parade on Sunday, Dec. 6, at 1 p.m. The route runs from 13th Street and Pacific Avenue to 6th Street and Palos Verdes Street. It ends a few blocks uphill from where Saturday's tree lighting happens, in daylight, about 17 hours after the last boat ties up.

Our team at Randazzo Real Estate watches the San Pedro calendar closely, whether it's a bridge closure that changes how guests get to the waterfront or a parade that changes when the north end of Harbor Boulevard is busy. If you're thinking about what weekends like this one mean for a home near the water, we're always glad to talk it through. When you're ready, you can request your free home valuation.