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Big Joe Turner’s final resting place
Big Joe Turner’s original 1954 version of “Shake, Rattle and Roll” endures as one of early rock ‘n’ roll’s most primal moments. But it’s only part of his story, which begins with his birth as Joseph...
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The 1950s uranium boom
An unidentified workman demonstrates the new Geiger Counter, specifically designed for Uranium and Thorium prospecting, in this photograph from 1954. (AP Photo) The post-World War II Atomic Age spawned...
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Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach
Aerial view of Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach, left. 2006 Daily Breeze file photo. Redondo Beach’s Seaside Lagoon, an enclosed swimming area on the southwest corner of Harbor Drive and Portofino Way...
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Who really killed August Lindstrom?
Front page headline from the Redondo Daily Breeze, April 29, 1931. The facts of the case seemed simple at first. Lumber dealer August Lindstrom, a Lomita resident who lived on Pennsylvania Avenue, died...
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The wreck of the Ada Hancock
In the early days of the harbor at San Pedro, the channels weren’t deep enough to allow ocean steamships to navigate right up to the two docks in the area, Timms Landing in San Pedro and Banning’s...
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Getting to the bottom of the Palos Verdes Reservoir
Because of its rubberized cover protecting the water from impurities, the Palos Verdes Reservoir always looks empty. May 2014 Daily Breeze photo. As the Los Angeles area grew in the early decades of...
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The man behind San Pedro’s Gaffey Street
John Tracy Gaffey San Pedro’s main street may be named after him, but, for some reason, John Tracy Gaffey’s life story isn’t nearly as well known as that of Jared Sydney Torrance or Phineas Banning. It...
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Torrance’s Factory Frolic celebrated the city’s industrial base
Publicity photo for the 1948 Torrance Factory Frolic from the Torrance Herald front page, Sept. 16, 1948. (Photo credit: Torrance Public Library’s Historical Newspaper Archives database.) Contemporary...
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Piggly Wiggly grocery chain had South Bay locations
Clarence Saunders opened his first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tenn., in 1916. (Photo: Library of Congress) Clarence Saunders, the innovative founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, never...
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The Rolling Hills Theatre had mostly good times, but one very bad one
Torrance Herald ad promotes the grand opening of the new Rolling Hills Theatre at Rolling Hills Plaza on Oct. 2, 1963. (Photo credit: Torrance Public Library’s Historical Newspaper Archives database.)...
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Redondo Beach fishing barge the Sacramento goes to a watery grave
This undated postcard shows the Sacramento fishing barge in operation off of Redondo Beach. The Sacramento, Redondo Beach’s onetime 300-foot-long fishing barge, began life in 1877 as The Newark, one of...
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Iconic Randy’s Donuts began as part of the Big Donut chain
Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood. June 2014 Daily Breeze photo. Doughnut machine maker Russell C. Wendell really was thinking big when he decided to start his Big Donut chain of drive-in doughnut shops in...
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Hermosa Beach’s “lighthouse” at 100 The Strand
Bicyclists pass by the “lighthouse” house in Hermosa Beach. The home at 100 The Strand was part of a struggle between the property owner and historic preservationists. It was torn down and replaced...
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George W. Post and the First National Bank of Torrance
George Wallace Post founded the first bank in Torrance in 1913. (File photo) George Wallace Post arrived in Torrance from York, Nebraska in 1913, one year after the new city was founded by Jared Sidney...
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The Rolling Hills General Store
Undated vintage postcard shows the Rolling Hills General Store. The Rolling Hills General Store was known as the Rolling Hills Market when it opened in the distinctive building with the scrubbed white...
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Torrance Crossroads becomes a retail powerhouse
The Unocal site where Torrance Crossroads eventually would be built. Looking northwest from the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Skypark Drive, where foxes once roamed. July 7, 1989. Daily Breeze...
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The Inglewood Park Cemetery predates the city’s incorporation
The Florence Avenue main entrance to the cemetery. (July 2014 Daily Breeze photo) A group of local businessmen formed the Inglewood Park Cemetery Association in 1905 in order to develop a new burial...
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1963 bank robbery near Torrance was an inside job
Front page of the Daily Breeze for Oct. 5, 1963. When Raymond Arthur Vigneau’s estranged wife, Charlene, refused to run off with him on Saturday, Oct. 5, 1963, despite him telling her that he had “a...
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The origin and early days of Marineland of the Pacific
Undated aerial file photo shows the original Marineland of the Pacific buildings in the mid-1950s. Marineland of the Pacifc delighted millions during its 33-year run on the Rancho Palos Verdes coast....
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Hollywood comes to Marineland of the Pacific
Al Lewis, Yvonne DeCarlo and Fred Gwynn from “The Munsters” pose for a publicity photo for “Marineland Carnival with The Munsters” at the park in 1965. Marineland’s growing appeal as a tourist...
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