Beginning with World War II and continuing into the Cold War, U.S. cities installed air raid sirens to alert the citizenry of, at first, a Japanese invasion and later a Soviet bomber strike. Los Angeles, as well as other American cities, installed a network of sirens throughout the city including five in San Pedro, four of which still exist and we will take a driving tour beginning at the north end of San Pedro and working our way south to visit them all. The sirens were numbered when they were installed and those are the numbers we will be using.

**Excerpted from Dennis' Air Raid Siren Page**

Siren #83 is located on the west side of Park Western Dr. just south of Via La Paz. The siren is a Federal Signal Corporation Model SD-10 nicknamed "Wire Spool" because that is what it looks like. The model number stood for Special Dual Tone, 10 Horsepower. The SD-10 came out in approximately 1954 and stayed in production until at least 1987-1988. To understand how a siren works visit airraidsirens.net/tech_howtheywork.html.

Siren #84 is located on the north side of 7th Street at Ellery inside the fenced area of the 7th Street Elementary School. This siren is also Federal Model SD-10.

We now we turn east to find siren #164 located on 10th Street just west of the intersection with Mesa. This siren is a Federal Model 500T siren nicknamed "Rotating", which in fact it did, and this one still does if it is breezy.

The remains of siren #86 are located on the North side of 36th Street, just east of Gaffey. The siren itself is missing and the remainder of the installation is badly rusted.

Before turning north to visit the scant remains of siren #85, a stop across the street at the Fort MacArthur Museum is in order. In addition to exhibits describing the military history of the area and restorations of sections of the battery in which the museum is located, they have air raid sirens on display including one, a Chrysler-built air raid siren, which is powered by the same 331 cu. in. V-8 engine used in Chrysler cars of the same era. This siren is believed to be the loudest ever built. Several were installed in Los Angeles County during the 1950s including one at 18600 Wilmington Avenue in Carson and another in Lomita Park in Lomita.

The last siren, which was located on the south side of 24th Street just west of Walker Street, was removed in the 1990s. This is a photo of what remains.

The best source of information on the sirens Los Angeles city and county I am aware of is Dennis' Air Raid Siren Page . This article would not have been possible without this excellent site.

Jim is a former aerospace engineering manager who, since retiring, has become an author and speaker on a variety of military subjects. To read more about his work, please visit https://easyreadernews.com/the-battle-that-didnt-happen/. To learn about the military history of Fort MacArthur and Palos Verdes, please visit http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-shneer/exploring-the- military-history-of-fort-macarthur-and-palos-verdes/paperback/product-23784472.html to purchase a copy of his recent book.

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