Here’s a trick question for you: Which South Bay/Harbor Area city was the first to incorporate officially?
The answer: Wilmington, in 1871. The second? San Pedro, 1888.
An incorporated city is a municipality whose business affairs, public works and civic activities are managed by elected officials who have been chosen by the votes of its residents.
The practice of allowing residents to vote on whether or not to incorporate began with the passage of a law providing for the option by the California State Legislature in March 1883.
Wilmington’s first incorporation was repealed in 1887 after an economic downturn stunted the city’s economic development.
A decade later, it began to fight its way back to becoming a thriving location again. After an unsuccessful annexation attempt by neighboring Long Beach in 1905, the city reincorporated in 1907 to fend off further attempts. It even opened its own city hall in 1908. A year later, it unincorporated again.
Meanwhile, the growing city of San Pedro began to develop rapidly due to the growing importance of its natural harbor. It built many civic structures based on its status as an independent city, including three iterations of its own city hall. Then, like Wilmington, it gave up its cityhood in 1909.
Neither Wilmington nor San Pedro currently are incorporated cities. Instead, both became part of the City of Los Angeles in 1909 as a part of the consolidation of Los Angeles Harbor into the Port of Los Angeles.
The beach cities along the South Bay coast voted early on to incorporate. The oldest city in the area to incorporate, and remain incorporated to date, is Redondo Beach, whose cityhood became official on April 29, 1892.
The city of Hermosa Beach incorporated on Jan. 14, 1907, and Manhattan Beach’s incorporation became official on Nov. 26, 1912.
Following the opening of the Standard Oil Refinery (later Chevron) in El Segundo in 1911, the influx of employees and their families led to the beach-adjacent city’s rapid development. Its voters approved incorporation in 1916, and it became official on Jan. 18, 1917.
Playa Del Rey, the beach community just north of Los Angeles International Airport, was founded in 1902, but has never been incorporated. Like neighboring Westchester, it remains part of the City of Los Angeles despite being its own distinct community.
Moving inland, the long-incorporated cities of Inglewood (Feb. 7, 1908) and Hawthorne (Dec. 12, 1922) both fought for decades to annex the nearby community of Lennox. They both took chunks of the once-larger community, but never managed to annex it all.
Lennox remains an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. Though it survived annexation, barely, its attempts to incorporate itself were unsuccessful.
One city that succeeded in incorporating in order to fend off annexation was Lomita, the subject of repeated attempts by the city of Torrance to claim it. Serious Torrance bids during the late 1950s led to a successful incorporation movement for Lomita that became official on June 30, 1964.
As for Torrance, it had been founded in October 1912, but it didn’t become an incorporated city until May 12, 1921. Nearby Gardena’s official incorporation date is Sept. 11, 1930. Lawndale incorporated on Dec. 28, 1959.
Carson’s incorporation battle turned out to be one of the South Bay’s most epic. Fueled by Long Beach’s threat to annex land on its eastern border in 1958, the debate over incorporation raged for literally the next decade. It finally became an incorporated city on Feb. 20, 1968.
Though the Palos Verdes Peninsula’s development began with the sale of housing lots in the Malaga Cove area in 1923, incorporation for its first official city, Palos Verdes Estates, was slow in coming. When the debate finally came to a head in 1939, it split the community into bitter pro- and anti- factions.
The final vote in the December election was a squeaker: 213 votes for incorporation and 206 against. The city’s incorporation became official on Dec. 20, 1939.
The other Peninsula cities incorporated later with far less controversy. Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates both incorporated in the same year, 1957. Rolling Hills became official on Jan. 24, and Rollling Hills Estates, on Sept. 24. The incorporation of the fourth Peninsula city, Rancho Palos Verdes, didn’t become official until Sept. 7, 1973.
That leaves Avalon on Catalina Island. Most of the island is Los Angeles County land, but Avalon became its own incorporated city thanks to a drive for independence spurred on by the city’s residents.
They were chafing under the control held by the Banning family, which owned Catalina at the time, and the County, which governed it. The two entities controlled transportation to and from Catalina as well as liquor sales in Avalon, both sore points with residents.
The 1913 election resulted in a firm yes vote on incorporation, which became official on June 26, 1913. Avalon had won its freedom to regulate itself, and the Bannings were forced to loosen their stranglehold on the city.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Los Angeles Times archives.
South Bay History blog.
Various South Bay/Harbor Area local history books.
Wikipedia.
Dates of incorporation of South Bay / Harbor Area cities:
Avalon – June 26, 1913.
Carson – Feb. 20, 1968.
El Segundo – Jan. 18, 1917.
Gardena – Sept. 11, 1930.
Harbor City – Part of the City Los Angeles.
Harbor Gateway – Part of the City Los Angeles.
Hawthorne – July 12, 1922, founded 1905.
Hermosa Beach – Jan 14, 1907.
Inglewood – Feb. 7, 1908.
Lawndale – Dec. 28, 1959.
Lennox – Unincorporated, part of Los Angeles County.
Lomita – June 30,1964.
Manhattan Beach – Nov. 26, 1912.
Playa del Rey – Part of the City Los Angeles, founded 1902.
Redondo Beach – April 29, 1892.
Palos Verdes Estates – Dec. 20, 1939, founded 1923.
Rancho Palos Verdes – Sept. 7, 1973.
Rolling Hills – Jan. 24, 1957.
Rolling Hills Estates – Sept. 18, 1957.
San Pedro – Incorporated 1888, dissolved into the City of Los Angeles in 1909.
Torrance – May 12, 1921, founded Oct. 1912.
Westchester – Part of the City Los Angeles.
Wilmington – Incorporated 1871, dissolved 1887, incorporated again in 1907, then dissolved into the City of Los Angeles in 1909.
