Cabrillo Beach Bath House

About this museum

The Cabrillo Beach Bath House in San Pedro is one of Los Angeles's great survivors - a Spanish Colonial Revival building that has been watching people enjoy the Southern California coast since 1932, and one of the few historic bathhouses in the city to remain substantially intact and in active use. Standing at 3800 Stephen M. White Drive at the edge of Cabrillo Beach, it carries the elegance of the era that produced it: red tile roofs, arched colonnades, stucco walls thick enough to hold the ocean chill at bay.Originally designed by the Los Angeles City Architect to serve the swimmers and beachgoers who arrived on the Pacific Electric Red Car line, the bathhouse has evolved over the decades from its original function into something harder to categorize - a community landmark, a gathering point, and a repository of the history of public recreation in Los Angeles. With 439 reviews averaging 4.5 stars, visitors clearly feel the accumulated weight of all that history, even if they've come simply to rinse off after a swim.The building sits at the edge of one of the most sheltered beaches in the Los Angeles area - Cabrillo Beach divides into an inner harbor side and an outer ocean - facing side, making it popular with both families and windsurfers - and the larger Cabrillo Marine Aquarium just up the shore completes the picture of a genuinely remarkable coastal destination that remains largely off the tourist circuit.The bath house is open Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 9AM to 6PM, and Saturday from 9AM to 5PM. Admission is free. San Pedro itself, with its working harbor, its Croatian and Italian fishing community heritage, and its emerging arts scene, is well worth a longer look.