West Harbor Isn't Going to Be Another Rainbow Harbor — Here's Why That Matters

For most of the last decade, the 42-acre stretch of San Pedro waterfront where Ports O' Call used to stand was a construction fence, a rumor, and a delayed promise. Locals learned to stop asking when it would open. Now that the answer is this summer, the more useful question is whether it will actually work — and the developers built their answer into the lease terms.

The Cautionary Tale They Kept in Mind

Eric Johnson of Jerico Development, one of the two family-owned companies behind West Harbor, has been specific about the failure he was trying to avoid. Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor, the waterfront development that opened in the early 2000s, filled its storefronts with national chains: PF Chang's, Bubba Gump, Gladstones. It never felt like a place. It felt like a mall with a view.

West Harbor made a different bet. As of the December 2025 tenant announcements, roughly 80 percent of its operators are family businesses, and about 30 to 40 percent come from San Diego — coastal operators with the experience to thrive near water but without existing LA locations to cannibalize. That isn't an accident of the leasing market. The Johnsons negotiated each lease themselves. They know their tenants' children.

That curatorial discipline shows up in the confirmed lineup. Yamashiro, the Japanese restaurant that has occupied its Hollywood Hills perch since the early 1960s, is opening its first location anywhere else. Tacos El Franc, a Tijuana taqueria recognized by the Michelin Guide and featured on Netflix's "Taco Chronicles," is making its Los Angeles debut here — not in Silver Lake, not in the Arts District, here. Paraná Empanadas is bringing Argentine fare with a Malbec-marinated beef empanada that has a following in San Diego. Glass Box, also from San Diego, is a high-concept Asian dining room enclosed in a glass structure, with a menu that runs from sushi to Taiwanese beef noodle soup to tenderloin steak fried rice.

These are not brands chosen because a broker had a database. They are chosen because they have no local competition yet, and because they fit a waterfront that is supposed to feel like San Pedro, not like every other LA destination.

What Is Already Open Right Now

Before the grand opening arrives, the waterfront is already usable — in ways most residents have not fully explored.

The northern section of the promenade along the water is open for walking and sightseeing. Harbor Breeze Cruises runs whale watching and harbor tours Friday through Monday. Wheel Fun Rentals offers Surrey bikes, electric bikes, and recumbent vehicles by the hour on weekends and holidays. The Los Angeles Maritime Institute runs monthly Sunset Sails from the site year-round.

The biggest change is at the San Pedro Fish Market. After two years of operating from a temporary parking lot location during Port of Los Angeles construction, the Fish Market opened the New Landing in October 2025 — an expanded, 1,500-seat oceanside deck where you can again eat the World Famous Shrimp Tray with an actual water view. It is at 706 S. Harbor Blvd., open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 10 p.m. on weekends. The fourth generation of the Ungaro family is running it, and it is operating here only temporarily before it moves into a permanent 35,000-square-foot building in Phase 2.

Catalina Tea Bar is stationed on the promenade daily, serving flavored teas, spiritless margaritas, zero-alcohol beers, chicken wings, and tacos.

What Opens This Summer

The majority of restaurants and entertainment venues in Building A — a 73,000-square-foot structure that is now complete — are expected to open in summer 2026, with remaining tenants launching on a rolling basis through the end of the year.

Building A houses the highest-profile anchors. Mike Hess Brewing is operating a 15-barrel brewhouse with a 20,000-square-foot beer garden — comparable in scale to Stone Brewing at Liberty Station in San Diego. King and Queen Cantina will have a 9,000-square-foot over-water deck and bar. Poppy + Rose, the DTLA brunch institution, is opening only its second location here, with a 2,000-square-foot patio overlooking the water. Jay Bird's, the Nashville hot chicken spot from the Long Beach Exchange, is opening its fourth location. The Baked Bear brings its made-to-order ice cream sandwiches. Hopscotch, an experiential art gallery where high-tech installations rotate quarterly, rounds out the mix with the kind of reason to come back every few months that a restaurant alone cannot provide.

The 6,200-seat waterfront amphitheater received its final approval from the Los Angeles City Council in September 2025 and is scheduled to open this summer with a partial concert season managed by Nederlander Concerts — the firm that programmed the Greek Theatre for years. A full season is planned for 2027. The 175-foot West Harbor Wheel, slated to be the tallest Ferris wheel in California, is timed for the formal grand opening later in the year, alongside pickleball and padel courts from The King of Padel, which is bringing the largest outdoor racquet sports complex in Los Angeles — 50,000 square feet, the only waterfront facility of its kind in Southern California.

One event is already confirmed for the summer: West Harbor will host an official World Cup 26 Fan Zone during the tournament's final rounds, with four days of live match broadcasts, food, sponsor activations, and waterfront programming. Admission to the site is free; parking carries a charge.

The Block Around the Corner Is Changing Too

West Harbor's opening matters more because it is not happening in isolation. Downtown San Pedro has been filling in around it.

Trani's Dockside opened as a new waterside restaurant from the Trani family, whose original Majestic Cafe opened on these streets in 1925. The soft opening in May of that same year connected a century of local hospitality to a new location on the water.

A few blocks away, a historic downtown building is becoming The Majestic — a restaurant and cultural venue designed to host live music, including outdoor amplified performances on the patio, with up to 24 special events annually. The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce called it a significant milestone for downtown's growth. It sits steps from the harbor and San Pedro Plaza Park.

Construction on the Jules development at 625 S. Beacon Street is underway in 2026. The eight-story project by Trammell Crow's residential subsidiary High Street Residential will bring 281 apartments and ground-floor retail — a cafe, a restaurant, or a grab-and-go concept — to a full city block near San Pedro's historic City Hall and the new open piazza that is nearing completion nearby. The name is a reference to Jules Verne, chosen for its connection to AltaSea, the 35-acre ocean science and blue-tech campus adjacent to West Harbor on the LA Waterfront.

The waterfront itself connects West Harbor to the Battleship USS Iowa, the World Cruise Center, and AltaSea along a continuous promenade. The San Pedro Waterfront Connectivity Plan, which spans nearly eight miles, is designed to link all of these by foot, bike, and eventually water taxi.

A Note on What This Means for the Neighborhood

Residents who have watched San Pedro get compared unfavorably to the beach cities for decades are watching something different take shape. The argument for San Pedro has always been the views, the character, and the price — but without a waterfront that matched. West Harbor, if the family-business model holds, changes that equation. A 6,200-seat concert venue managed by the firm behind the Greek Theatre, a Michelin-recognized Tijuana taqueria, a Ferris wheel taller than any other in California: these are not afterthoughts in a second-tier market. They are the main draw, and they landed here.

If you are thinking about what all of this means for homes in San Pedro — values, timing, what the next few years look like near the water — Adela Randazzo has been watching this neighborhood closely for a long time. Request your free home valuation and let's talk through what you're seeing.