Local history, some scary stories and redeemable merchant deals — it’s all coming to San Pedro this month as the harbor area gears up for the first of the fall holidays.
A “Hop On – Hop Off Ghost Trolley Self Guided Tour,” via the town’s downtown trollies, will run from late September to late October, and is being set in motion by Pure Flow Partners, a small business in San Pedro that’s coordinating with the downtown Property Owners Business Improvement District.
Ryan Blaney, president and CEO of the PBID, said he’d been thinking about a trolley-based tour ever since he took the position four years ago. The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, had been throwing around ideas for a concierge service that would serve the growing number of cruise ship passengers coming through town who might have some free time.
“I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Blaney said of the ideas when they began percolating.
Evee Burgard and Peggy Kaelin, founders of Pure Flow Partners, which is dedicated to helping small business districts with branding and other activities, have taken the lead in putting together a mobile presentation that highlights some of the traditional scary tales in the port town. Some of these tales were highlighted in the book “Haunted San Pedro” by Brian Clune that came out a decade ago. But also included in the recorded narrations is information about the town’s history and the importance of the different sites.
And for good measure — as a way to highlight and garner business for the town’s small shops and restaurants — the tickets come with redeemable discount offers by those merchants agreeing to help sponsor and promote the tours.
It’s a way, Burgard said, to “turn visitors into customers for San Pedro’s small businesses.”
Set to launch Sept. 26, the full tour will have eight stops, covering notable locations in town. Stops will include the Warner Grand Theatre, the Battleship Iowa, the S.S. Lane Victory, Warehouse One and the former Harbor View House.
You can sign up with a QR code on mobile phones, which directs people to the nearest GPS stop to begin the tour. Histories about the buildings — as well as the scary lore that has traditionally been associated with each place — are entirely self-guided, allowing passengers time to disembark and take a closer look at each location (there will be time to board the Battleship Iowa, for example), or even pick up a snack, with reminders about what time they need to get back onto the trolley to continue to the next location.
Tickets are $28 for all eight stops (three hours) and also includes the most merchant discounts and deals; $27 will take the passenger on a six-stop tour (two hours) with stories and deals; and $26 (the one-hour express version) will include four stops, chosen by the ticket-holder.
This first fall-Halloween seasonal roll out is being considered a pilot program, Burgard said, with potential follow-up versions to include distributing audio headphones or other technology to use as part of the tour. This year’s tours, all accessible for signups using a QR code that will be displayed throughout the downtown shopping district, require participants to use their own phones and earphones.
The complete tour will take two to three hours to complete.
There are 16 sponsors downtown that have already signed up, Burgard said.
The concept, she said, came with something Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker posted about San Pedro’s new waterfront development, West Harbor.
“He stated that the success of West Harbor isn’t just how many people get off the freeway and go (to the waterfront),” Burgard said in a phone interview, “but by how many people (then) migrate” into the downtown and other areas to check out the stores and restaurants.
“We strongly believe the whole is greater than the individual parts in creating a destination,” she added. “And that is our mission; that’s what we’re looking to do.”
Pure Flow Partners did extensive research when putting together the program, Burgard said, looking for the history of each location and building along with any paranormal activities cited or observed at those sites.
“These are ‘folklore,’” she said of the scary stories, “some are documented and some are not.”
While many of the tales are in the scary spirit of the holiday, she added, and some are humorous as well.
“It gets people in the mood, it’s fun and it’s safe,” she said of the Halloween trolley tours.
It also helps to boost awareness of the town’s public trolley system, she added, saying that when she first moved to town from Redondo Beach, she “didn’t know where anything was.”
Also being eyed for future tours, she said, are those focusing on San Pedro’s many movie and television film locations, along with a possible holiday lighted lantern tour, a “Pokémon” game tour or an Easter egg hunt.
The Halloween and history ride, Burgard said, could be “just the beginning.”