Clik here to view.
Torrance’s hotel boom made up for lost time
The Torrance Marriott South Bay hotel opened in 1985. (December 2016 Daily Breeze photo) Torrance has always had hotels, but it took awhile for the major players in the hotel industry to discover the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
San Pedro keeps its Christmas boat parade tradition alive
San Pedro boat parade contestants pass near the judge’s stand at Banning’s Landing in Wilmington in the 2015 parade. The parade’s theme was “Santa’s Minions.” Dec. 5, 2015. (Daily Breeze staff file...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Los Verdes in Rancho Palos Verdes becomes one of the country’s best public...
Clubhouse entrance to Los Verdes Gof Course in Rancho Palos Verdes. (December 2016 Daily Breeze photo) The announcement in December 1960 that Los Angeles County had purchased 172 acres of land...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Wiseburn became the little school district that could
The Wiseburn Unified School District office on Aviation Boulevard. (January 2017 Daily Breeze photo) The Wiseburn School District, which presently encompasses parts of western Hawthorne, Del Aire and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Larry Carlton: A Grammy-winning musician’s South Bay roots
Larry Carlton at the 2013 Grammy Awards. (Associated Press photo) One of the most acclaimed guitarists of his era, Larry Eugene Carlton, was born in Torrance, California, on May 2, 1948. In addition...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Torrance’s South High School comes to life in the late 1950s
South High School in Torrance. (January 2017 Daily Breeze photo) The Torrance Unified School District had only just recently wriggled away from the giant Los Angeles Unified School District and become...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On vacation
The South Bay History blog is on vacation this week. It will return on February 3.
View ArticleClik here to view.
V-E Day observance in the South Bay more muted than big city celebrations
Thousands of New Yorkers jam Times Square on May 7, 1945, the day before V-E Day was officially declared, after hearing the first news of Germany’s surrender to end the war in Europe. (Associated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How eucalyptus trees came to thrive in the South Bay and Harbor Area
Eucalyptus trees flank Torrance Boulevard near the Civic Center. 2008 file photo. (Steve McCrank / Staff Photographer) Eucalyptus trees have proliferated in the South Bay and Harbor Area like few other...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Raymond V. Darby: A life of public service ends with a sudden, unusual death
Raymond V. Darby Raymond V. Darby began his public career with a successful run for an Inglewood City Council seat, winning election on April 12, 1927. The Kansas native had been born on a farm in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Violent labor strife rattles Torrance, Harbor Area businesses in the 1940s
Beatings, intimidation, stores closing for months on end, strikes, picket lines — the retail business climate in the South Bay and Harbor Area during the 1940s roiled with toxic elements. Haskell...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Whatever happened to the Inglewood Golf Course?
The Inglewood Golf Course had been closed for two weeks before this photo was taken on Feb. 28, 1978. (Daily Breeze staff file photo) The Portrero Country Club opened in Inglewood in 1925, occupying a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach served as a beacon for jazz aficionados
The Lighthouse Cafe has been a fixture for South Bay music fans since 1949. “La La Land” film posters in windows, left and right. (March 2017 Daily Breeze photo) The Lighthouse story begins with the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Iris Cummings Critchell’s remarkable life — so far
Iris Cummings Critchell sits with her husband, Howard, at an event at the Proud Bird restaurant near LAX on March 15, 2009. An aviation legend, she was the featured speaker at the event. (Daily Breeze...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The United Sulphur Company fire and the modernization of the Torrance Fire...
Henry McManus, Torrance’s first fire chief. Undated circa 1920 photo republished in Daily Breeze, Sept. 27, 1957, Page 4C. Torrance’s first fire department, Fire Company No. 1, had its headquarters in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
All about Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, and its namesake
Bishop Montgomery High School. (March 2017 Daily Breeze photo) Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, the city’s first Catholic high school, was the end result of an ambition held by Reverend...
View ArticleClik here to view.
San Pedro’s Walker’s Cafe continues to thrive after 71 years
Walker’s Cafe near Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. (April 2017 Daily Breeze photo) The building that houses San Pedro’s venerable Walker’s Cafe, at 700 Paseo del Mar across the street from Point Fermin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The story behind Thomas Keller Memorial Park in Torrance
Thomas Keller Memorial Park in Old Torrance. The inscription on the plaque reads, “In Loving memory – Officer Thomas Keller – April 17, 1986 – Blessed are the Peacemakers.” (April 2017 Daily Breeze...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dennis Wilson’s fast and furious life
American surf-rock group The Beach Boys in 1964. From left to right, Dennis Wilson (1944 – 1983), Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Carl Wilson (1946 – 1998). (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Legislating beauty: The Palos Verdes Art Jury
Cover of the original book of housing guidelines for Palos Verdes Estates. (Courtesy Palos Verdes Public Library Digital Archives) When Frank Vanderlip bought the isolated farmland that made up Palos...
View Article