Den Norske Sjømannskirken

🇳🇴 NORWAY / QUICK FIX: Every Saturday at 12:30 the Norwegian Seaman's Church in San Pedro opens its doors to the community with hot rice porridge and all the fixin's.

🇳🇴 NORWAY
📍 1035 S. Beacon Street,
San Pedro, Harbor
🅿️ Street Parking
🥤 No Alcohol
🌱 Vegetarian Friendly

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

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Right across from Long Beach’s Terminal Island and overlooking the Main Channel from San Pedro Plaza Park, there exists a Norwegian Seaman’s Church right on Beacon Street. This church has been funded and operated by the Norwegian government since 1864 in effort to “provide havens for Norwegian seamen around the world” but still has 28 locations around the world for expats and travelers.

On each Saturday in San Pedro promptly at 12:30, someone comes out and hangs a sign in front with the word ÅPENT, meaning “open” in Norwegian. This is a welcome signal to many area folks that are from Norway or have descendents from the Scandinavian country.

Some Norwegian swag in the shop.

A large pot of Norwegian-style rice porridge is prepared at this time each week, and quite a few people come to enjoy it in the church’s lounge. You can dress up your porridge with butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, or a combination of everything. Do not forget to pour yourself a glass of lingonberry juice to accompany your porridge, or whatever is on offer. Apparently it is important to drink “something red” while enjoying your snack.

A bowl will set you back the princely sum of $5, and includes unlimited refills according to the friendly staff. You will most likely find one round filling enough though, the porridge is quite thick and heavy. The glass of juice that comes with it is just as delicious, and by the time you finish you are bound to make a few new friends.

Choir practice seems to be timed roughly at the time when everyone finishes up their bowl, they get started in the sanctuary space as others linger in the lounge. The church also has a well-stocked store which imports Norwegian snacks, dry goods, and many products from throughout Scandinavia.

With such comfy couches, you will probably find yourself wanting to hang around as long as possible, wondering if there happens to be some long lost great-grandparent in your family that called Norway home. If you find that there was, the church offers Norwegian classes, so you are in luck here in San Pedro.

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