William Gravett was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. William Gravett, born on December 23, 1937, in Little Rock, Arkansas, moved to San Pedro, California, in 1942 with his family. His father worked at Todd Shipyard as a pipe fitter and at Regan Forge & Engineering Company as a foreman. The interview begins with Gravett recounting his early memories of moving to San Pedro during World War II. He describes the vibrant community of Channel Heights, a multiracial neighborhood where he spent his childhood.

Yukio Tatsumi was interviewed for the Port of Los Angeles Centennial Oral History Project. Yukio Tatsumi, born on August 23, 1920, on Terminal Island, California, recalls his early life in a close-knit Japanese-American community. His parents were immigrants from Japan, with his father arriving in the United States in the late 1800s and initially working as an abalone diver at White Point. Tatsumi describes Terminal Island as a self-contained community of around 3,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans, with families working in fish canneries.