Parker also had another vision: to create an exhibit devoted to the commercial diver's life and livelihood for the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, California. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge and collection of diving history, materials, and equipment, he worked closely with the museum's Director, Dr. William "Pete" Lee, and Curator Marifrances Trivelli to create a permanent display documenting the history of commercial and fishery diving in Southern California. The exhibit opened in July 2002 and has become a major draw, delighting tourists and schoolchildren alike.

The 20,000 Jobs Under the Sea exhibit is a total educational experience that traces commercial diving from the development of the Deanes' first practical helmet that used compressed air up to present time, including oil exploration, pipelaying, rigging and other marine construction. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are responsible for eight percent of the national economy and the divers' contribution to building the harbor and Southern California's major power plants, marine outfalls, bridges, and dams cannot be overstated. No one knows the harbor the way Parker does. Between 1947 and 1985, he worked on more than a thousand ships and, with divers employed by Parker Diving Services, set a record in the two ports by servicing more than 2,500 merchant and naval vessels, while continuing to perform ongoing construction and maintenance in the port and South Bay. This exhibit is a natural extension of his life's work.

Visitors are captivated by the lifelike displays. The Dive Locker window is a recreation of a typical locker, with the suits, helmets, tools and equipment used to construct and maintain the harbor and the South Bay's underwater infrastructures. All of the items were used locally.

Contrary to popular belief, standard diving gear (hard hat) is still used in the port's diving operations involving heavy construction and sustained work periods below the surface. One item of particular interest is a Schrader helmet dating from the late 1800s. The locker also features a pre-1933 Mark V with single-spring exhaust valve and a circa 1911 Morse No. 3 air pump, diver's dress, gas-driven compressor, com-boxes, underwater lights, umbilical, and other tools of the trade.

The second window depicts the first fishery diving in the Los Angeles Harbor area. The 1901 Japanese abalone diver represents the eleven original divers who emigrated from Japan to operate the huge abalone processing facility that once existed below the scenic cliffs of White Point in San Pedro. A few years later, these divers and other Japanese fishermen settled on Terminal Island and established the mackerel and sardine fishing businesses that brought millions in revenue to the port over the next century. The museum mannequin wears a Japanese three-light helmet dating from the early 1900s, with rare 90-degree inlet. Local artist Guillermo Avalos painted the spectacular background mural. Eerie blacklight and lifelike abalone sculpture recreate a brilliantly realistic view of the abalone diver's world.

The third exhibit window is a recreation of a diver in near darkness assembling a 36-inch sewer pipe 65 feet (20m) below the harbor's main channel sea floor. This is a replica of the sewer force main construction that Parker Diving Service completed in 1975 for the city of Los Angeles. The pipe is one of three such lines still in use today. This mannequin wears a vintage 1902-1910 Morse 4-light -- the actual helmet Parker used during the construction of the sewer force main. Parker bought it when he was stationed in the Army Diving Section at Newport News, Virginia, and then modified it to take air in the headpiece instead of the breastplate. This helmet saw more than 15,000 hours of use throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

There are countless stories told in addition to those in the display windows. Each display photograph is accompanied by an educational description of topics that range from construction of Southern California's major power plants and marine outfalls to decompression sickness to ER Cross and his contributions to diving education with Sparling School.

Parker personally funded the exhibit's construction along with Captain Ed White. Rigdon Crawford, Jr., son of Riggs Crawford (one of the original Merritt-Chapman & Scott LA harbor divers), contributed his carpentry skill. Other volunteers donated hundreds of man-hours, framing, measuring, lifting, scraping and hammering. Some of the items on display have been donated or loaned by a variety of diving enthusiasts, collectors and museum supporters, but the bulk of what visitors see is from Parker's personal collection.