San Pedro is a community and neighborhood within the city of Los Angeles, California, occupying the southern, ocean-facing side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula at the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor. It is the harbor district of Los Angeles, separated from the city's core by roughly 25 miles and connected to the rest of the region by the Harbor Freeway and the Vincent Thomas Bridge to Long Beach. The community's history reaches back to 1784, when the Spanish Crown deeded the more than 75,000-acre Rancho San Pedro to Juan José Domínguez, making it among the oldest land grants in California. San Pedro grew as a harbor town and was annexed by Los Angeles in 1909, cementing the city's access to a deep-water port. During World War II, Fort MacArthur and defense-housing developments such as Rancho San Pedro expanded the area's military and residential footprint. Today San Pedro is defined above all by the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest container port in the United States and the entry point for about a fifth of the nation's cargo. That working waterfront, along with a long fishing and canning heritage, gives the community a distinctly maritime, industrial character unusual in coastal Los Angeles. Yet San Pedro is also a residential and recreational enclave: blufftop neighborhoods, a lively downtown and waterfront, and a chain of parks and landmarks along the coast. Schools belong to the Los Angeles Unified School District, anchored by San Pedro High School, and the community hosts magnet programs and private options. Recreation ranges from Cabrillo Beach and Point Fermin Park to the Korean Bell of Friendship, the Fort MacArthur Museum, and the Battleship USS Iowa museum. San Pedro suits those drawn to harbor views, a strong sense of place, and a working coast, at a more grounded pace than the beach cities across the bridge.