Was that San Pedro? Museum shines spotlight on town’s film appearances – Daily Breeze

Hey, that looks like San Pedro.

But no, it’s San Francisco. Or Hawaii. Or Guatanamo Bay.

Wait, it’s Batman’s cave!

Yep. San Pedro — as a stand-in — has been all of those and more.

Akin to the role of a chameleon, the historic port town most often plays somewhere else when it comes to Hollywood, said Joshua Stecker of the San Pedro Heritage Museum.

The museum’s “San Pedro on Film: San Pedro in Disguise” will explore all of that with a live event at 3 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Grand Annex, 434 W. Sixth St.

“San Pedro rarely plays itself in TV and film,” said Stecker.

Instead, it’s often used when a generic L.A. historic scene is needed, he said, such as its role in the early 2020s remake of “Perry Mason” as an HBO streaming series, set in  Los Angeles circa 1932.

But it has collected a wide array of location credits through the years — adding to an impressive list of San Pedro closeups on film.

Who hasn’t caught glimpses of the Vincent Thomas Bridge, Sixth Street, Fort MacArthur or Angels Gate Park in numerous films and TV shows?

Sometimes, the town and port get on-screen credit, as in the 1950s TV series “Waterfront” starring Preston Foster.

But mostly, San Pedro is incognito, playing other places, often in other times.

will explore all of that with its live event.

“San Pedro on Film: San Pedro in Disguise” — hosted by Stecker, president of the museum and the publisher of the San Pedro Today magazine — will explore the port town’s recurring role as a chameleon on screen, using clips from notable films, TV shows, and commercials shot in familiar businesses and parts of town that were transformed to look and feel like another place and time.

The recent remake of “Perry Mason” revamped San Pedro’s historic downtown district as a generic midcentury L.A. setting, without ever mentioning San Pedro.

Other examples are numerous.

Warehouse One appears as the bat cave in 1997’s “Batman & Robin,” starring George Clooney as the caped crusader.

“Pearl Harbor” from 2001, starring Ben Affleck, also includes glimpses scenes in the port town.

And “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” used the ocean-view park area in front of the Korean Friendship Bell in Angels Gate Park.

Other films with scenes shot in San Pedro have included “A Few Good Men,” the sequel to “Silence of the Lambs” and “50 First Dates.”

More recently, the TV series “NCIS Origins” has turned parts of Fort MacArthur into Camp Pendleton.

Tickets to”San Pedro on Film: San Pedro in Disguise” are $25, available at the door (cash and card accepted) or online through bit.ly/sponfilm. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. and raffle tickets will also be available on site for $5 each, also benefiting the museum, which is a nonprofit.

The museum is building a collection of San Pedro memorabilia and is still looking for a brick-and-mortar home to begin displaying it all. Some of the artifacts and historical photos will be on display at the event.

For more information and questions, email info@sanpedroheritagemuseum.org.