Labor Exhibit Debuts at Port of Long Beach

Exhibit photo by Mark Nero.

An exhibition highlighting and celebrating the contributions of labor throughout the history of the Port of Long Beach made its debut at the port’s headquarters just before Labor Day and is expected to remain on display through mid-November.

The special exhibition, titled “The Workers’ Harbor – How Labor Built and Shaped the Port of Long Beach,” was the brainchild of Harbor Commissioner Bobby Olvera, Jr., who also serves as International Vice President (Mainland) of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

Olvera Jr., who has a more than 30-year history with the longshore union, told Pacific Maritime in an exclusive interview that as a member of a labor-oriented family, it’s important to him that the work of people in the building trades is recognized.

“I’m a worker and come from a family of workers, and the story of workers is very important to me,” he said. “That story of workers has been lost, I think over the last 50, 60 years. We need to tell those stories.”

“I think history is told generation after generation after generation,” he added. “Today, where we see so much development in both the ports and our communities, and we see generations that … don’t know how we’ve gotten to where we’re at. So telling those stories is important.”

“We need to make sure that the community that’s here … have an opportunity to learn how did the port become what it is today. It didn’t just happen overnight, it took blood, sweat and tears from men and women for the last hundred years to make this port what it is today.”

The display was compiled in part by the Historical Society of Long Beach, which plans to host the exhibit after its run at the port.

“The exhibit will go right back up in the spring (at the Historical Society),” Brian Chavez, a project specialist with the Historical Society of Long Beach told Pacific Maritime. “That does two things: it actually expands the time which this exhibition is featured and in addition to that, it expands the outreach of local history.”

Chavez, who served as the lead curator for the exhibit, and Olvera Jr. said it took a considerable amount of time for port personnel and the Historical Society to compile the roughly 100 of items that are on display, whittled down from hundreds upon hundreds that were sorted through.

The exhibit consists of a collection of historical photos and artifacts that provide a look at the people who made the San Pedro Bay ports – including the adjoining Port of Los Angeles—possible: longshore workers, skilled tradespeople, mariners, Navy personnel and many more – the laborers who literally made the Port of Long Beach, and keep cargo moving today.

“The people that are reading your magazine are already in the industry and they understand the industry. And as the industry’s growing and our industry’s moving in different directions, I think it’s important for all industry leaders to show some reverence in a sense, both to the pioneers on the industry side and the pioneers on the labor side, Olvera Jr. said. “There’s been a lot of people that have contributed to the success of the maritime trade industry, especially on the Pacific coast, and the further that we get away from that history the more we’re in my opinion, bound to make the same mistakes that were made a hundred years ago.”

The exhibition is on display from 7:30 am-4:30 pm weekdays through Nov. 15 in the Port of Long Beach Administration Building Lobby, 415 W. Ocean Blvd., in the downtown Long Beach Civic Center. The display is free to view.

More information is available at polb.com/workersharbor.