Gateway Plaza Fanfare Fountain

It’s really beautiful at night. The boulevard with the lit palm trees is the perfect place to walk. It’s a must see. It’s just too bad that the fountains don’t work sometimes because of repair or maintenance.

We were there in afternoon when visited the USS Iowa battleship, a few yards away. These fountain show is accompanied by music (sometimes classical) and is performed every half an hour until 10pm. Between 12 noon an 1 pm as well as between 8 and 9 pm they even perform it every 20 minutes.
It’s a very nice and chilly place especially in the evening when it’s dark.
As I wrote already we saw it in the afternoon and we decided to come back in the evening to see it illuminated.
Was very nice, we stayed there for an hour or so.
Highly recommended!

My family and friends have enjoyed these fountains for years and we have always been impressed with the security, choice of music, free parking, trolly, and overall experience.
Well… we just went last night 5÷3÷14 and I could not believe how it has changed.
There were entire families bathing in the fountains walking around in them and there were no longer security guards there stopping them. I even saw the police pull up and thought, good they will come and stop them, but nope!
Signs are posted everywhere in English and Spanish not to go in the the fountains but they do anyways.
So, we just waited until 8:00pm thinking once the show starts they will get out, right?
Nope… they broke the sensors and we asked someone from the food venue if the fountains were going to work and they said, «No, they haven’t been working since 3 pm that day.
There has got to be a way to protect this very expensive (from what I can remember, in the millions) fountains from irresponsible parents letting their kids do whatever they want. We drove a long way to see this with our new friends and we were so disappointed and we had to pay for parking this time.
Is there anyway to find out online if the fountains are working in real time?
I tried calling the number to the port but it was closed.

After tidepooling at Cabrillo Beach on New Year’s, we decided to swing by Fanfare Fountain on our way home after dinner, hoping to catch a show.
Parking: The cruise terminal offers free parking for an hour, and it about a block away from the fountain. We found out later that there was parking across the street from the plaza, but I’m not sure if it is free or not.
Gateway Plaza: The place was beautiful! I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. There was some delay before the fountain show started, but we just walked around and took pictures and admired the space. It is setup so that there is a walkway that transverses the fountain diagonally, which allows you to see everything from a different angle.
Sadly, the music only lasted one song. But the show continued silently afterwards, which was nice to watch. I would say this is a solid post-​dinner date spot if you are ever in the area.

so pretty! better than the grove’s dancing water!

I think the shows are pretty boring when you’ve been to places like the Belagio in Las Vegas and seen the water there, but its nice free, cool entertainment in the summer and my little brother loves it!

I’ve been to San Pedro like 10 times now and I’ve driven past the Fanfare Fountain so many times. This time I suggested we check it out so we googled/​yelped it and found out when the shows began. At 8:00pm there is a show every 15 minutes, that’s when we went; it was magical! Kids were biking, scootering and running about as the music played and the water danced about. I loved it! Can’t wait until my next trip to Pedro. Actually, this was my son & dils first time too and they’ve lived in Pedro for 2 ½ years now. They’ve decided to make Fanfare Fountains a must see for all visitors from NoCal; I think that’s a capital idea!

I was able to view the fountain yesterday when in San Pedro. While I appreciate the aesthetics and welcoming feeling of this water feature, I question the wisdom of spending this much money (a contractor on the project told me yesterday that the total cost was $ 15 million! I have not verified this independently.). There needs to be a sense of balance here-​building something much less techie and more practical would have been more appropriate given fiscal realities.
San Pedro is a great town which is on a great trajectory of improvement to it’s attractions and infrastructure, but most reasonable persons must think that the replacement of practical public works such as parks and public restrooms is much more in order. The Ports O’ Call area for example can benefit from some upgrading and good heavy maintenance. The public restrooms are a disgrace. Expansion of and upgrades to the Maritime Museum are other suggestions. Also, if this is Port District money, they and the DWP need to give a better break to businesses and museums in town rather than charging exorbitant rates for services such as permitting, power hookups, taking away parking revenue and other parasitic practices which kill business. If the logic of these high fees is to pay for $ 15 million toys, a reassessment of policy-​and leadership-​is in order.
San Pedro has a farmers market downtown, new attractions, new hotels, marinas, and more improvements that are transforming the town. The locals I have encountered in the past few months are all great people, enthusiastic and supportive of their town and it’s future. I truly wish the town and the citizens all possible success and prosperity.
I also wish that they can be unshackled from poor decision making by those who force these overpriced white elephants on them.

I was lucky enough to witness the growing pains if this location. Yes, even though its an free attraction bringing people to the port is a hard task since in the beginning there were no kiosks. Im sure its helping those kiosk make enough money since some of them are businesses that once were in San Pedro. It means a lot to me because I walked my wife when she was pregnant with my child every night and took my son when he was a newborn. We should go there more often… BTW the car show is insane… food, drinks, and activities… keeping San Pedro in the map!

I’ve been coming to Cali. for years, and I never knew a place like this existed! It’s breath-​taking, spectacular, beautiful, amazing, and any other adjective that is synonyms with the above. I was blown away. This is definitely a place worth checking out.
It’s a bit far from LA with traffic, but it’s well worth the drive. I think this is going to be a regular place for me whenever I come back to Cali.
The water show is unlike any water show I’ve seen. The water twists and turns, and shoots up like fireworks.
Got a date you want to impress? Need a place where you and your significant other can have amazing photos taken at? This is definitely the place to be at then.
I doubt it can get any more beautiful than this.
I posted a few pictures of what I could. Check them out! :]
&& Go at NIGHT time!

Truly spectacular and an often underestimated destination in San Pedro. If you’ve got half an hour to kill, especially on a hot and dry day, come visit the Fanfare Fountains. There’s a water show about every half hour, more so around noon and 8 pm. The kids will have a blast staring at the beams of water shooting up into the air, giving a nice refreshing mist.
There are various kiosks next to the fountains, selling snacks, t-​shirts, candies, etc. With free accessible parking on Swinford, as well as the red car line stopping right in front ($ 1/​person), there’s no excuse! Also, remember there are free evening concerts during the Summer, so definitely bring a portable chair. Benches around the fountains are limited. Lastly, the signs around the plaza vehemently stresses that people are not to go inside the fountains, or else it will shut off, quite possibly pissing off a whole bunch of people. Be good.

A hidden gem in San Pedro! Definitely better at night! Nice setting fit for everyone! You can take someone here on a date or hang out with family and friends for a nice evening.
A more simpler show comparable to the Belagio Hotel water show except it is much more intimate. There is a pathway in the middle where kids play and get wet from the water. It is a really nice setting.

This is a San Pedro Gem! Everytime I show someone the fountains for the first time they are always amazed. Fountains shoot hight in the air and are accompanied by music. A must see!!!

This fountain is one of the Seven Wonders of Southern California. A great place to bring visitors to amaze and impress them!
First is the question, why does the sleepy town of San Pedro have this fantastic fountain? Who cares, it’s great! It doesn’t matter what piece of music they use, from patriotic to inspirational, its really enjoyable. And at Christmas time, they play Christmas music!
There’s something so fantastic about this awesome free gift to the public, to be accessible and appreciated by anyone. It’s like a fireworks show and when it’s over, perfect strangers smile at each other.

The next best thing to the Bellagio fountain in Vegas.
Better in many ways, though:
no sweltering heat
better views
smaller crowds
you can ride the red line there or away from there
you can go eat at the Pacific Diner before going
Visit the Maritime Museum or others before or after
Check it out here:
Note that the Red Line only runs on Friday Sat and Sunday if you want to ride it to or from the Fountain show.
Also note that the show plays songs only once every 30 min. except from noon to 1pm and 8p-​9p when it plays songs every 10 min.
It’s open from 10a-​10p, this according to the above web site linked, as of June 2010. Check the site for changes.

Yay my 100^th review!!! I LOVE these fountains… they have completely redesigned the area down there and made it really beautiful. They are designed by the same company that designed the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas. The dancing fountains play every 15 – 20 minutes depending on the time of day or night. I love just driving by and looking at them, especially at night.
Yeah, they are close to the projects and those people wander down there and use it as a makeshift swimming pool but that’s to be expected. At least San Pedro is trying to take steps in the right direction to clean up this town a little bit!

A fun, family-​friendly way to spend a weekend afternoon. The fountain show is at the end of a long walking path. The path itself is studded with trees and benches. Porto-​potties and even a futuristic public bathroom dot the walk.
Even without the fountain show, the area is fun for kids and adults alike. Parents can watch their kids from the deck area as they scamper through the pathway cutting diagonally through the fountain’s infinity pool. There’s a public bathroom and some street carts selling food like roasted corn and soda and chips.
Take the trolley ($ 1 either way per person) back to the free parking closer to Acapulco and the Maritime Museum.
Don’t forget about checking out the Fire Boat at the fire station close to Acapulco. Interactive posters show great information and old photographs. Large windows allow curious onlookers to take a peek at the Fire Boat itself docked in the large cylindrical building up along the shore.

Locals also refer to this as «the million dollar homeless shower».
It’s awesome to drive by these fountains and see people washing their chihuahuas in the fountain water… but then again, this IS Pedro.
Yes, it’s pretty, but the traffic on harbor because of it? not so awesome.
Worth checking out if you’re in town for a cruise or something… kind of nice to watch when you’re at the light waiting to get on the freeway… might be cool to walk down here with lunch and hang out and watch the show…
But once you live down here, it loses it’s novelty. I can think of a million things where the money would be better spent… local schools, mayhaps?

I love fountains, especially the ones with lights and music. The Gateway Plaza Fanfare Fountain is literally a traffic stopper. The commuters through this area complained about the traffic the the fountain was causing when the fountain first started running. Its only been around for a few months. It cost several million to make and was funded by the folks that run the cruise ship ports. The architects were the same ones that did the Bellagio fountain in Vegas. I got that information from the LA Times a few months ago.
So this place was in my to do list when visiting San Pedro and it was on our way out of the area after my bf and I visited the Korean Bell and the Point Fermin Lighthouse earlier in the day. I tried looking for it earlier in the summer when my older brother and I went grunion hunting, but it was so late in the evening (the fountains close at 10 PM), that I couldn’t see it from the road.
We arrived around 4 PM and were lucky enough to find some free parking in the very small lot nearby. We could see the fountains in action from the street but to be honest, they didn’t look that impressive from a distance and I had to coax my bf a little bit to come along with me to take a closer look at the fountain.
As we got closer, I could see the infinity edges that lined the black fountain. There were families seated, spectator style in certain sections. Children in their bathing suits raced around the fountains, their arms and hands outstretched to touch the edges of the fountain as the circled their make shift playground. I guess if you can’t afford to take you kids to a water park, then this is the next best thing. Even my nephews would have loved it, although their fave place to get wet while playing is in Sea World down in San Diego. There were also 2 security guards that constantly patrolled the area, trying their best to keep the kids from fully diving into the fountain. Some of the kids were able to dip themselves halfway into the fountain before the guards chased them off and gave a stern warning their parents. I’m guessing this game of cat and mouse was continuous all day.
The security guard told me that the fountain ‘sings’ every 15 minutes. From 8 PM to 9 PM, the fountain sings nonstop and the lights are on. When the fountains began to sing again, I was pleasantly surprised by the music selections: songs from The Sound of Music. I have many happy memories of watching that movie, so it truly was a special moment watching the fountains dance to the soundtrack of Sound of Music.
When the show was over, my bf and I just stayed a little longer just to soak in the the sunlight and the ambiance. It was a great way to end our day trip in San Pedro before taking the Terminal Island bridge to Long Beach. The next time I visit, I plan to go between 8 PM and 9 Pm to see the lights accompany the music and dancing.

Locals call it the «dancing fountain». It’s about a block long, a masterpiece of design imo. See the photos.
The fountain dances to music every 15 minutes daily, between 10am & 10pm. Between noon — 1pm & between 8 — 9pm there are continuous shows. The conductor of the Red Line train told me that the best time in summer is 8pm, when the lights are on.
If the dancing fountain reminds you of the Bellagio fountain, it’s because they both had the same designer. There’s a video on YouTube of the water show, but the official website video is even better.
It’s all free, even parking, if you’re lucky enough to find a spot in the free lot. Otherwise, in the pay lot the first hour is free, then a dollar an hour after that.
Or…park anywhere along the Red Line train route and ride the train over to the fountain. This is a perfect outing for kids. They love the train, and at the fountain kids are allowed to splash and play… just as long as they don’t climb into the fountain. There were a ton of kids in swimsuits having the time of their lives, throwing water around at the perimeter of the fountain, where water flows over the edges. There is a security guard on constant patrol, on a Segway! This is a sight in itself, see the pics. He threatened to levy a $ 200 fine on one parent whose boy jumped into the fountain, haha! His vehicle is even equipped with a police siren. What a trip.
So…never having been here before today, there I was awaiting the show, standing next to the water, with camera poised… when the spray hit me, soaking me and camera pretty good. Ha! No one warned me I’d get all wet!
There were happy, dripping visitors all over, not just the kids! This place is a blast, seriously.
And don’t miss the fancy new promenade inside the cruise ship terminal grounds. Photo ops abound. It’s directly under the Vincent Thomas suspension bridge, what a spot. I took like a hundred pics, haha! People arrive at the ships by chartered helicopter…
But I digress.
See the dancing fountain first. I got two shots of a rainbow in the water show. That’s as lucky as a person can get in one day.
I got all sunburned, too, ’cause I stayed much longer than I’d planned. It was so good.
21 photos
Look for the lucky rainbow.