Joe Radisich was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. Joe Radisich, born and raised in San Pedro, California, comes from a family deeply rooted in the maritime industry. His father was a longshoreman, his paternal grandfather was a fisherman, and his maternal grandfather was a merchant marine. The interview explores Radisich’s childhood memories of growing up in San Pedro, highlighting the close-knit, blue-collar nature of the community, and the port’s central role in the town’s identity.

John Abler is an experienced sturgeon fisherman with a wealth of stories and knowledge about the sport. He has been involved in sturgeon fishing since the early 1940s and his experiences include memorable encounters with sturgeon and fishing trips with his father. Abler's expertise and passion for sturgeon fishing are evident in his detailed accounts of his experiences, making him a valuable source of information for those interested in the sport.

John Ara was born in Brooklyn in 1922 and raised in Spain until the age of sixteen. He returned to the United States and faced challenges in proving his American citizenship due to the destruction of his birth documents during the Spanish Civil War. Ara's journey to establish his citizenship involved a series of encounters, including a fortuitous meeting with a doctor who had delivered him as a child. Ara's first job in the U.S. was in the fish canneries. He then joined the Merchant Marine and served for about four years before joining the Navy during World War II.

John is Northern California Abalone Farmer. In this interview he starts with the history of abalones; how they were mainly found in Asia and Asian cultured dishes, and the main consumers of abalones in America are the Asian community. Then he shares to his audience the hardships of raising baby Abalones to adulthood in their facility. He also makes a comparison between ocean-caged raised abalones and land farm abalones, and how his land-farmed facility has more controlled over raising abalones.

John Di Bernardo was born in 1947 in San Pedro, California. His parents emigrated from Ischia, Italy, to San Pedro. His father was a fisherman who owned several boats. Eventually, his father worked on his uncle's boat, the Santa Maria, until retiring when John was nine years old. John's mother worked in the canneries and the harbor on Terminal Island during World War II. In 1985, John began working for Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), starting as a superintendent and later managing the Indies Terminal and overseeing its expansion into the YTI Terminal.

John Guest was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. John Guest, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain, was born in San Pedro, California, in 1926. Although he did not grow up in San Pedro, he returned to the area after getting married in 1955 and made a significant career with the Coast Guard in the Los Angeles Harbor area. The interview begins with Guest recounting his early years and the reason his family moved back to San Pedro.

On August 2, 2007, John Jurgenson was interviewed for the People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish oral history project. Jurgenson discusses his family history and his father's influence on his fishing expertise. He also mentions his work at the water plant and the various sturgeon spears he constructed, estimating that he had made about fourteen of them over the years.

John Maramoto was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. John Maramoto was born on June 24, 1927, in San Pedro, California, and grew up in the close-knit Japanese American fishing community on Terminal Island. His family had a deep connection to the fishing industry, with his father and grandfather both working as fishermen. Maramoto describes his childhood experiences, such as playing sports with other Japanese children, learning to swim, and the rough language developed by the fishermen, which was a mix of Japanese and English.

Oral history interview with John Olguin. 

Oral history interview with John Papadakis.