Before the arrival of the Spanish land grant owners in the latter part of the 1700s, the Tongva branch of the indigenous Gabrielino tribe inhabited the area that later became Gardena. They farmed its fertile soil, enriched by natural irrigation arising from its location at the northern end of Dominguez Slough, a body of waterContinue reading “Gardena’s early days and its eventual incorporation as a city”
Author Archives: Sam Gnerre
Miraleste has been part of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for more than a century
When Palos Verdes Peninsula landowner Frank Vanderlip and his associates drew up the detailed master plan for their Palos Verdes Project in 1923, it consisted of four distinct areas to be developed: Malaga Cove, Lunada Bay, Valmonte and Miraleste. The first three were connected areas on the west side of the Palos Verdes Hills. MiralesteContinue reading “Miraleste has been part of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for more than a century”
Pacific Coast Highway was part of an ambitious master plan in its early days
President Theodore Roosevelt did not come up with the Roosevelt Highway plan, which was launched two years after his death in 1921. The ambitious undertaking was named in honor of the charismatic late president after the fact. The Roosevelt Highway master plan envisioned the building of an intercontinental roadway that would stretch along the westernContinue reading “Pacific Coast Highway was part of an ambitious master plan in its early days”
Howard Hughes’ Glomar Explorer operated out of Long Beach, Los Angeles ports
The saga of the Glomar Explorer begins with the disappearance of a Russian submarine, the K-129, in the Pacific Ocean about 1,560 miles northwest of Hawaii on March 8, 1968. Russian vessels tried to locate the sub, which was carrying five nuclear missiles, but declared it lost after an extensive search. Remember that the ColdContinue reading “Howard Hughes’ Glomar Explorer operated out of Long Beach, Los Angeles ports”
The Carson Civic Center complex helped put a new South Bay city on the map
The struggle to incorporate the area that would make up the city of Carson began in the late 1950s and continued on for nearly the entirety of the 1960s. The topics of the debate ran the gamut from the important and the complex – which neighborhoods and chunks of land to include, to the mostContinue reading “The Carson Civic Center complex helped put a new South Bay city on the map”
The Rolling Hills Country Club’s origin and subsequent iterations
Plans to build a golf course and a large housing development near the eastern edge of the Palos Verdes Hills were first floated in 1958. The area just north of the Palos Verdes Reservoir had become a part of Rolling Hills Estates when that city incorporated in 1957. The roughly 30 acres of hillside landContinue reading “The Rolling Hills Country Club’s origin and subsequent iterations”
Cisco’s in Manhattan Beach was an action-packed nightspot for a few years
The original building at 3600 Highland Ave. in Manhattan Beach that once housed Cisco’s restaurant and nightclub has long since been replaced. But longtime residents still remember the northeast corner of 36th St. and Highland Ave. in its prime as a bustling nightlife hot spot. It wasn’t always so. The earliest mention of the addressContinue reading “Cisco’s in Manhattan Beach was an action-packed nightspot for a few years”
The Eastview annexation battle of the 1980s led to further complications
When the city of Rancho Palos Verdes incorporated in 1973, the new city did not include a vertical strip containing 1.4 square miles of unincorporated Los Angeles County land between its new eastern boundary and the Los Angeles city land on which San Pedro rests. The Eastview area then stretched from Palos Verdes Drive NorthContinue reading “The Eastview annexation battle of the 1980s led to further complications”
Civil War tensions led to the creation of Wilmington’s Drum Barracks
The Drum Barracks in Wilmington was the first U.S. military base to be built in Los Angeles County. It takes its name not from the percussion instrument, but from Lt. Col. Richard Coulter Drum, the Adjutant General then based in San Francisco who commanded California’s militia forces. Drum played a key role in the creationContinue reading “Civil War tensions led to the creation of Wilmington’s Drum Barracks”
Sonny Bono left Inglewood High early to pursue an often-chaotic life in show business
Sonny Bono’s tumultuous life began in Detroit, Mich. on Feb. 16, 1935. His father, Santo Bono, had emigrated to the U.S. from Montelepre, Sicily. His mother, Jean, was a second-generation Italian forced by her parents to marry at fourteen. Salvatore Phillip Bono was the couple’s third child, and first boy. The family had settled inContinue reading “Sonny Bono left Inglewood High early to pursue an often-chaotic life in show business”
