Clik here to view.
Dudley Gray’s dream to bring an Iowa courthouse building to Torrance
The Torrance Courthouse legal office building. (Jan. 2015 Daily Breeze photo) After South Bay criminal attorney Dudley Gray died at 85 in 2007, defense attorney Robert Shapiro called him “one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Suangna Native American village in Carson
Plaque commemorates the site of the Suangna native American village at the present-day Watson Industrial Park on 230th Street near Utility Way in Carson. (Jan. 2015 Daily Breeze photo) It feels...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fast-food pioneer Glen Bell’s South Bay connections
This building on Firestone Boulevard in Downey housed the very first Taco Bell restaurant, below, which opened in 1962. (Long Beach Press-Telegram staff photo; 2nd undated photo courtesy Taco Bell...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alondra Park: An island of greenery comes to life
Alondra Park, Redondo Beach Boulevard entrance. (Jan. 2015 Daily Breeze photo) Alondra Park has been many things over the years, but there’s one thing it never has been, and still isn’t: part of an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bootlegging and rum-running in the South Bay during Prohibition
On Jan. 19, 1920, 33,100 gallons of wine were flushed into the gutter outside the North Cucamonga Winery in Los Angeles (845 N. Alameda) at the start of the nationwide prohibition on intoxicating...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The two lives of Claude Inman: Goldrush boomtown lawman becomes Redondo Beach...
Claude Inman from Oct. 21, 1955 Daily Breeze. Claude C. Inman, born in Bishop, Calif., on Dec. 6, 1872, became a goldrush boomtown lawman in 1903. He’d been drawn to the gold country like a lot of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harbor City’s ice rink has served the South Bay for more than 50 years
The Skating Edge ice skating rink in Harbor City. February 2015 photo. Construction plans for the Olympic Ice Arena, the South Bay’s oldest surviving ice rink, first were announced in June 1961. An...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Artist Rick Griffin started his illustrious career in the South Bay
Rick Griffin. 1961 yearbook photo. Rick Griffin was born Richard Alden Griffin on June 18,1944. He lived in a house on Rainbow Ridge Road on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. His father was an engineer. When...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Irene Lewis creates a haven in Lomita for railroad buffs (Part 1: Little...
Torrance Herald, Sept. 22, 1955, Page 18. (Courtesy Torrance Public Library Historical Newspaper Archive) Irene Lewis never saw trains while she was growing up in the tiny farm community of Summerville...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Irene Lewis makes her dream of a train museum for Lomita a reality (Part 2:...
The Lomita Railroad Museum. (March 2015 Daily Breeze photo) Inspired by her visit to the Colorado Railroad Museum at the end of Part 1 of our tale last week, Irene Lewis returned home to Lomita...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Playa del Rey’s early days
Overall view of Playa del Rey lagoon showing the Del Rey Hotel, Playa Del Rey Pavilion and pier in 1908. (File photo) Playa del Rey, “The King’s Beach,” had rustic beginnings. In 1871, a man named Will...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Public high schools on the Palos Verdes Peninsula
Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates. (March 2015 Daily Breeze photo) Before the opening of Palos Verdes High School in September 1961, high school-age students on the Peninsula had to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reeves Field on Terminal Island kept them flying during World War II
View of the Naval Air Station Terminal Island from the air looking southwest in 1945. (Photo: National Archives) The Reeves Field story begins with Allen Field, a 410-acre civilian airfield built...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Old George Hewitt of Manhattan Beach was a real character
Old George Hewitt, September 1950. (Daily Breeze staff photo) George W. Hewitt lived during a time when it wasn’t odd in the slightest for small towns such as Manhattan Beach to have much-beloved...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Harvey Aluminum in Harbor Gateway had a long, sometimes turbulent history
Undated aerial photo of the Harvey Aluminum plant in Harbor Gateway, taken from the Daily Breeze of Jan. 31, 1965. News of the construction of a massive $7 million aluminum plant on 253 acres of vacant...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Patmar’s drive-in was a primo hangout spot in El Segundo
Undated postcard, probably from the late 1940s/early 1950s, presents an aerial view of the Patmar’s complex in El Segundo, with the round drive-in restaurant in the foreground. Running a successful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Green Hills Memorial Park converted grazing land into a solemn landmark
Aerial view of Green Hills Memorial Park, with Western Avenue at right and Palos Verdes Drive North at top. (Photo courtesy City of Rancho Palos Verdes) In 1948, Robert T. McNerney convinced a group of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Narbonne High School had a nomadic early history
The auditorium at Narbonne High School, 24300 S. Western Avenue, Harbor City. May 2015 Daily Breeze photo. Narbonne High School is 90 years old this year. But, the school on Western Avenue in Harbor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dale Velzy: “The Hawk” opened the world’s first surfing store in Manhattan Beach
Dale Velzy in 2000. (Associated Press photo) Dale Velzy was born in Oakland, Calif., on Sept. 23, 1927, but grew up in Hermosa Beach. His father was a woodworker and part-time lifeguard. As a young...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Time stands still at the San Pedro Post Office
The U.S. Post Office in San Pedro opened in 1936. (May 2015 Daily Breeze file photo) San Pedro’s drive to build its own federal building and post office dates back to at least 1913, when the U.S....
View Article