The San Pedro Elks Lodge, a community landmark and social hub for nearly 50 years, was virtually destroyed early Tuesday in a greater-alarm fire that may have been deliberately set.

Ruined were the dining room, banquet hall and other public spaces of the two-story, 35,000-square-foot structure that overlooks the Los Angeles Harbor from a hilltop just above Western Avenue.

The fire was considered suspicious because of another fire set outside the lodge on Sunday morning and another incident in which someone “broke through the vehicle gate and rammed a truck into the (outdoor) air-conditioning unit,” said John Stammreich, second-in-command of the San Pedro Elks.

Although police and fire officials would not confirm whether a potential suspect has been identified, attention has focused on a disgruntled former employee who was just recently fired.

Stammreich said the employee reportedly had left threats after he was suspended from work for two weeks about a month ago. He subsequently was fired.

“Then in less than 48 hours to have this going on, it’s too much of a coincidence,” he said.

The 11-acre property at 1748 Cumbre Drive is equipped with surveillance cameras, Stammreich added.

Los Angeles City Fire Battalion Chief Steve Ruda said investigators will use a specially trained arson dog Wednesday to go through the building in search of any evidence, including signs that an accelerant was used to start the fire.

While he said there was nothing specifically pointing to arson as of late Tuesday when a preliminary investigation was winding up, Ruda said the fact that two other incidents were reported at the lodge in recent days makes “the hair on the back of our necks stand up a little bit.”

But arson cases, he said, are often difficult to solve, and pinning down the exact cause could take a couple of days.

The fire was reported at 2:30 a.m., drawing a response from more than 100 firefighters in 27 engine companies. The structure was “fully involved” when firefighters arrived, Ruda said. Firefighters knocked down the blaze by about 4:45 a.m.

The Elks meeting hall on the west side of the pagoda-topped structure near the parking lot was largely spared from the flames although it suffered smoke and water damage. Lodge members who arrived on the scene by dawn were able to salvage the lodge’s charter and 1905 Bible, among other memorabilia.

“I’m sick,” said Matty Domancich, one of the oldest lodge members who served as the club’s exalted ruler when the property was purchased in the early 1960s. The lodge opened in 1968 but was founded in 1905. Before that, lodge members met in another building near Ante’s Restaurant, a longtime San Pedro social landmark that closed in recent years. “I’ve been a member for 62 years,” he said.

A fellow member who arrived on the scene told Domancich not to look inside as it would be too emotional, but she assured him that many of the lodge’s important memorabilia pieces were saved. Lost, however, were chandeliers and stained glass windows from the original lodge, which was built in 1911.

Lodge Exalted Ruler Jose Chavez, who lives in Long Beach, said he could see the flames from the Vincent Thomas Bridge as he drove to the building before dawn after receiving a call.

“I could see the flames and I knew it was going to be a total loss,” he said. “I was devastated.”

“(The lodge) has been in San Pedro for 109 years and the community will be behind us,” Chavez said. “We will rebuild and it will be better. We’ll rise up from the ashes.”

Julian Jimenez, another member who lives across the street only about 100 yards from the lodge, said his wife had stayed up late to watch the lunar eclipse the night before.

“She had just come to bed and we heard the sirens and fire trucks arriving,” he said. “The entire building just seemed to erupt. It was very intense.”

As firefighters knocked down the last remaining embers by 7 a.m., lodge members began congregating in the parking lot, many of them in tears.

“This is terrible for the whole community,” one member said.

“I can’t look anymore,” said another, who turned away from the smoke rising from the flat roof adjacent to the familiar pagoda-domed roof.

Though lodge membership stands at close to 3,000, the structure is a social gathering icon that draws many others in the close-knit port community, offering an outdoor swimming pool, lavish buffets, dances, gymnasium and popular Sunday brunches that typically seat hundreds of people in shifts throughout the day.

As Elks member James Dimon told a television station on Tuesday, there are probably few people in San Pedro who haven’t walked through the lodge’s giant wooden doors at some time or other.

“After church, we all come up here for the Sunday brunch,” Domancich said. “It’s a tragedy.”

“Everybody loved that place,” Ruda said. Some of the firefighters battling the blaze are Elks Lodge members, he said.

“One firefighter told me he never really cried at a fire before,” Ruda said.

Many of the community’s most prominent citizens are lodge members, including U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn, D-San Pedro, and sports radio personality Petros Papadakis, who mentions the lodge frequently on his show.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, also an Elk whose children have enjoyed spending Halloweens at the lodge, was out of town Tuesday but posted his thoughts on Facebook: “The Elks Lodge in San Pedro is more than just an iconic place with spectacular views of our hometown. It is a place where the community gathers to create lifelong memories that can never be taken away.”

He pledged that it will be rebuilt.

The lodge already had more than 500 reservations for its Easter brunch coming up Sunday. Members are looking into the possibility of setting up the brunch in the lodge’s parking lot.

“It’s a fixture in San Pedro,” one member said, adding that the lodge also provides meeting space for the Boy Scouts and other organizations.

Member Michael Newcomer has long ties also with the lodge, saying his grandfather, Henry Newcomer, helped build the structure.

“His picture’s on the wall,” he said, recalling childhood Easters spent at the lodge.

Lisa Jimenez said she grew up playing inside the lodge when her father was a member. Her mother was a member of the Emblem Club — the organization for Elks wives before the lodge took in female members — and played the organ at the lodge. Later, she was married there.

“So many memories,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “I just paid my dues yesterday.”

Other lodge members who come in from other towns and states love coming to San Pedro because of the local club’s “million-dollar view,” member Jerry Gaines said.

For locals, said 23-year member Manny Luna, the Elks Lodge “is a home away from home.”

City News Service contributed to this article.