Author Archives: Sam Gnerre

Costco has become more than just a fixture on the big-box retail landscape. In 2014, it has grown to become the nation’s second-largest retailer, trailing only Walmart. The South Bay currently has three Costcos, one in Torrance and two in Hawthorne. The Torrance location has been in the news with its plans to relocate fromContinue reading “Costco’s rise to retail prominence in the South Bay”

Santa Claus has made his way to the South Bay in many ways over the years. These days, he arrives mostly via police department-sponsored floats that make their way gradually through the streets of its cities. City police departments operate Santa floats in cities with their own departments, while the sheriffs department helps Santa tourContinue reading “Santa Claus has found many ways to visit the South Bay and Harbor Area over the years”

As recently as the late 1950s, the Palos Verdes Peninsula land where the Peninsula Center would be built was little more than a sloping, frequently flooded valley where Silver Spur Road now runs between Hawthorne and Crenshaw boulevards Cattle used to graze sleepily in the area when it was owned by Jose Dolores Sepulveda inContinue reading “Peninsula Center, the first major shopping center on the Palos Verdes Peninsula”

The Either/Or Bookstore opened in 1966 in a multilevel building at 124 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach. It was located where Pier curves uphill from the Hermosa Beach Pier, just a short block up from what now is Pier Plaza. Either/Or took its name from the title of Swedish philosopher Soren Kirkegaard’s first book. FromContinue reading “The Either/Or Bookstore in Hermosa Beach”

John R. “Jack” Bauman, the driving force behind the Palos Verdes Begonia Farm, was born on July 1, 1922. His parents, Gus and Helen, moved from their home in Altadena to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1931 to take advantage of the better weather, as Jack was asthmatic. Helen’s father, Dr. John Reticker, was aContinue reading “Palos Verdes Begonia Farm kept South Bay gardeners happy for 56 years”

Patrick Wayne Kearney told investigators that he committed his first murder while living in Culver City in 1962. The Redondo Beach man ultimately would be convicted of 21 killings, all males, all between the ages of 5 and 28, but he may have killed dozens more. He claimed to have killed one victim a monthContinue reading “Patrick Wayne Kearney, the “trash bag murderer””

If F.M. Andreani had gotten his way in the 1930s, Torrance would have had its own seaport, and it would have been nowhere near Torrance beach. Andreani, a lawyer and engineer, had served from 1927-1932 as a harbor commissioner for the Port of Los Angeles. He found a receptive ear for his innovative plan withContinue reading “The plan for the port of Torrance”

Two boys aged 12 and 13 playing with homemade firecrackers made from shotgun powder found in a garage inadvertently started the most destructive brush fire in South Bay History. The pair set off the explosive flash powder mixture in a vacant lot on Whitley Collins Drive, between Highridge and Crest roads near Rolling Hills, atContinue reading “The most destructive brush fire in South Bay history”

The USS Iowa’s long journey to its current berth at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro began on the drawing board with its design plans, which were first laid down in 1938. The ship, whose nickname is “The Big Stick,” was built over the next few years in the New York Navy YardContinue reading “The USS Iowa’s long journey to San Pedro”