The area that would become the Seaside Ranchos development in Torrance, one of the city’s most desirable residential areas in which to live, was originally part of the Sepulveda family’s Rancho Los Palos Verdes Spanish land grant.
The land grant included the Palos Verdes Peninsula and areas of San Pedro on the east and present-day Torrance on the west. A partition map from 1882 shows how the land was divided into smaller pieces, including a Parcel B.
Dr. Charles Norman Ellinwood, a prominent San Francisco physician who had served as a surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War, ended up inheriting Parcel B from his friend and colleague, Dr. Levi Cooper Lane, following Lane’s death in 1902. (Lane’s name is shown as the parcel’s owner on the partition map.)
The parcel became known as the Ellinwood Ranch property, though Ellinwood himself never lived or even spent much time there. He died in the Bay Area on Jan. 4, 1917.
Its present-day boundaries stretch from Anza Ave. on the east to the Torrance/Redondo Beach city limit just east of Prospect Ave. on the west, and from Sepulveda Blvd. on the north to Pacific Coast Highway and Calle Mayor on the south.
His daughter, Charlotte, sold the first 207 acres of the 800-acre plus Ellinwood Ranch parcel on Dec. 19, 1945. Real estate developers at the time were actively seeking land for housing developments following the end of World War II.
The buyer was Los Angeles attorney Roy P. Dolley, who turned over development of the land to Torrance real estate man Ben Haggott. In May 1946, Haggott got permission from the city of Torrance to begin building the first homes on the land.
Dolley and Haggott memorialized their own children with some of the street names in the Ranchos. Dolley named Doris Way, Robert Road and Linda Drive after his offspring, while Haggott did the same with Reese Road, Sharynne Lane, and Dennis Road. (Ranch owner Charles Ellinwood also got a street named for him posthumously, Ellinwood Drive.)
By June 15, 1947, the first 15 houses had been erected and sold, and Haggott told the Torrance Herald that they were selling as fast as his crews could put them up. Ultimately, nearly 200 were built in the first phase, with an additional 450 being planned that year.
At 1,200 square feet, the single-family ranch-style three-bedroom homes were small by modern standards. They included modern kitchens, fireplaces, tiled showers. Prices started at $10,800 for 1,200 square feet, with G.I. Bill financing welcome.
Approximately 1,700 new homes eventually were built in the Seaside Ranchos area. Realizing that such a large development would result in a correspondingly large number of children, Haggott set aside land for the Torrance Unified School District to use for a new elementary school, the newly formed district’s first school project.
On Sept. 12, 1949, eight classrooms opened at Seaside Elementary on Sharynne Lane. By 1950, overcrowding had already become a problem. A much-needed new addition was built in 1954.
After several delays, South High School opened at 4801 Pacific Coast Highway, on the southern edge of the Seaside Ranchos development, on Jan. 6, 1958. It was the third of Torrance’s four high schools to be built.
The Seaside Ranchos area also includes a unique Torrance feature; Sea-Aire Golf Course, located just west of Seaside Elementary. The city’s only public golf course, the small, lushly vegetated nine hole pitch and putt course opened on Sept. 2, 1957.
Seaside Ranchos may be most well-known for its annual spectacular outdoor Christmas lights and decorations displays. The tradition began in 1984 in the Sleepy Hollow area. Houses on Sharynne Lane, Doris Way, and Reese and Robert roads participate in the annual extravaganza, which draws thousands of visitors.
A newer feature of Seaside Ranchos, Seaside Heroes Park, was dedicated on Jan. 22, 2011. The small park on Anza Ave. honors three local men, Cpl. Joseph Anzack Jr., Capt. Matthew Ferrara, and Cpl. Micah Gifford, who died while serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. All three attended South High School.
Ben Haggott and his wife, Mikko, lived in his Seaside Ranchos house on Robert Road until his death at 78 on Jan. 15,1982; Mikko died in 2022. In addition to his real estate development activities, he served for decades on water company boards. At the time of his death, he was vice chairman of the Metropolitan Water District.
No explanation has been given for the fact that despite its name, Seaside Ranchos is a good two miles away from the ocean, other than the name probably was a marketing move meant to evoke the development’s relative proximity to the coast.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
“The Ellinwood Riviera Legacy,” by Elizabeth A. Spatz, Hollywood Riviera Homeowners Association website.
Find A Grave website.
L.A. Street Names website.
LAist website.
Seaside Neighborhood Association website.
Torrance Herald archives.
You always have the most interesting columns!They are a joy to read!Take care,Paul HillSent from my iPad
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