Wilmington

The holiday season is a good time to explore, the freeways aren’t quite so congested. So I went to Wilmington, not in Delaware, in Los Angeles. P1120949 The isn’t exactly on the tourist maps of Los Angeles, but I always say, every place has something worth seeing.

P1120941 My destination was the Banning Museum.

Being a lover of Los Angeles, I know more of it’s history than most people and I’m always excited to learn more. The name Phineas Banning has been lost to the mists of time. I learned about him when I became an LA Conservancy docent and started researching in ernest. A young intrepid man from Wilmington DE, he moved west and became a Stage coach driver. When the Spanish designated the Pueblo of Los Angeles, they weren’t thinking big, Phineas Banning was, he spearheaded the development of the port, first by building a wharf and a railroad that ran the 22 miles from Los Angeles to the port, later, as State senator he got federal funds to both dredge the port and create a deep water port as well as make sure that the transcontinental railroad would come to Los Angeles and not San Diego.

P1120948 He started the city of Wilmington, named for his birthplace and built his own home there in 1864. An expansive, expensive Greek Revival mansion. Three generations of the Banning family lived here until 1925. In 1927 it was donated to the city of LA and years later, another Banning descendent spearheaded the restoration of the building.

Phineas Banning is one of the reasons why Los Angeles became the major city in Southern California instead of San Diego – which actually has a much better natural port. Today the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is the largest most active port on the West Coast. Seattle comes in second, Portland gave up on being a serious port a long time ago and the Navy took over San Diegos’ port.

map_LA_city_neighborhoods2014 If you look at a map of Los Angeles you will see a very narrow strip from the south part of the city that goes down to the ocean. By 1909 Los Angeles annexed Wilmington and other small communities along the route to the harbor. Yes, they wanted not only to own the harbor but to be connected to it. One of these days I will write a whole post on how Los Angeles became so big and so interesting in it’s shape.

P1120946 Greek revival homes are symmetrical, through the years changes were made, notice the extra window on the ground floor? This window as well as the second window on the front of the building used to be on either side of the front door. So they match perfectly but they do disturb the symmetry.

P1120944 A sunken courtyard was added to the east side of the building, along with this marvelous cast iron fence. This is called the cornstalk fence. Made in Philledelphia and installed at the Banning Mansion in 1894.

P1120943 In researching this I’ve just discovered that the matching fence surrounds the Cornstalk Hotel in New Orleans, I will be there, staying at that hotel in a few weeks! WooHoo! You bet I’ll be mentioning this to the owners!!

The interior of the home is beautiful, as well as the stables with their many examples of stagecoaches, some original, some reproductions. No photos allowed. I highly recommend a visit to this landmark. I had a private tour with a docent, no one else around, so she showed me the modern water closet (as in early 20th c). as well as the chamberpots that otherwise would have been used. Think about it, in the mid nineteenth century the outhouse was a part of a home, no matter how large and grand.

The port is very visible, it along with the largest oil field in California dominate Wilmington. So today this is basically a Hispanic neighborhood, middle class and comfortable.

P1120952 The downtown is a different story. I’m sure Wilmington has nicer areas to hang out in, the downtown is emblematic of many old downtowns, a little sad and rundown. A handful of beautiful old buildings with for lease signs.