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Fort MacArthur played a key role in Southern California’s coastal defense...
The Patton Quadrangle at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro. Undated post-1933 photo. (Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division) Fort MacArthur in San Pedro got its name not from Gen....
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“Specs” Saunders and his Skateland roller rink enlivened Redondo Beach during...
Free skating at the Skateland roller rink in Redondo Beach. Undated photo circa 1950s. (Photo by Galen Hunter, from Redondo Beach pier exhibit) The Redondo Beach Pavilion building truly served as a...
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The Battle of Dominguez Rancho and “The Old Woman’s Gun”
Men playing the role of Californios use a replica cannon of the one that was unearthed to help defeat the U.S. Marines in the Battle of the Old Women’s Gun during the Mexican-American War reenactment...
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Several South Bay cities have discriminatory “Sundown Town” legacies in their...
Hundreds of Torrance demonstrators, NAACP-CORE members and supporters jammed the sidewalks in the city’s Southwood housing tract in 1963 to march for fair housing. (Credit: Los Angeles Public Library...
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Architect Irving J. Gill’s plans for the new city of Torrance had varying...
Irving Gill’s Pacific Electric railroad bridge spans Torrance Blvd. in this view looking east in June 2020. (Photo by Sam Gnerre) After Irving J. Gill accepted the job as chief designer for the...
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Manhattan Beach’s Neptunian Club has given the city’s women a voice since 1909
The Neptunian Women’s Club opened its permanent clubhouse at 920 Highland Ave. in 1926. (Credit: Manhattan Beach Historical Society) “Labor Omnia Vinci.” Work conquers all. When ten women led by...
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Rancho San Pedro land grant heiress Maria Dolores Dominguez de Watson left a...
Boundaries of the ranchos south of Los Angeles shown on undated map. Rancho San Pedro shaded in dark grey, center. (Credit: Title Insurance and Trust Co.) The Dominguez family’s role in the history of...
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Christopher Wilder’s savage crime rampage included a stopoff in the South Bay
FBI mugshots of serial killer Christopher Bernard Wilder. On April 4, 1984, Tina Marie Risico went to the Hickory Farms store in the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance to fill out an application for...
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Developer Don Wilson overcame zoning controversy to build Marble Estates in...
One of the entrances to Marble Estates in Torrance at 232nd St. and Crenshaw Blvd. (Nov. 2020 photo by Sam Gnerre) It’s hard to overestimate how much the city of Torrance relied on the oil industry in...
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The South Bay History blog has moved!
Attention, South Bay History blog readers! The blog has moved to a new URL: https://sbhistoryblog.wordpress.com Please change your bookmarks to reflect the new address, which contains the entire blog...
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