Author Archives: Sam Gnerre

Hundreds of cars drive by it on busy Western Avenue every day. To some, it seems as if the former military housing site at 26900 S. Western, the place with all those boarded-up houses, has been there forever. In fact, the Ponte Vista site, as it is now known, only became a military housing siteContinue reading “Developing the Ponte Vista site”

    Mrs. Robert Seitz of 456 Palos Verdes Boulevard was working in her backyard on a pleasant summer Sunday afternoon when she heard an airplane engine sputtering above her. “I looked up and saw it coming straight down in a nosedive. I thought it would hit the building.” Mrs. Seitz lived on the secondContinue reading “F-51 crashes in Torrance in 1964, narrowly missing houses”

It makes sense that the Amphicar, the first mass-produced amphibious automobile, would have made its presence felt in the South Bay. Test drives/voyages seemed to center around Redondo Beach, where several such jaunts began – and sometimes quickly ended – from the early 1960s on. German engineer Hanns Trippel designed the Amphicar for the QuandtContinue reading “Sinking or swimming in the Amphicar”

The Shanghai Red Cafe, also known more familiarly as Shanghai Red’s, was one of San Pedro’s most well-known, and, at times, infamous, nightlife spots. Just to differentiate, it should not be confused with the restaurant chain of the 1980s, or the strip club that operated briefly as Shanghai Red’s, then as the Shanghai Lady, in theContinue reading “Shanghai Red Cafe in San Pedro”

Carl Boenish of Hawthorne wasn’t the first man to dive with parachute off the cliff of El Capitan at Yosemite – it had been done as early as 1966 – but he was so taken with the 1978 experience that he set about finding other tall fixed objects from which to leap. American couple JeanContinue reading “Carl Boenish and BASE jumping”

Top of Daily Breeze front page from Nov. 13, 1957. Click image to enlarge.   John Laurence Miller’s troubled life began in 1942, when he was born to Harold and Lela Miller of Long Beach. His first arrest, for burglary, came when he was 13 years old. Two years later, Miller was sent to theContinue reading “John Laurence Miller”

Developer Don Wilson was one of the biggest players in the Southern California’s post-World War II housing boom. By 1962, Wilson had built more than 50,000 suburban homes and developed more than 50 complete communities. Wilson was particularly active in the South Bay, having built more than 5,000 homes by that time in the cityContinue reading “Marlon Brando comes to Southwood”

News media members surround Bob Hope and Racquel Welch, right, as his troupe prepares to depart on a Vietnam tour on Dec. 15, 1967. Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty is dressed as Santa Claus at left of Hope. Comedian and American icon Bob Hope first performed for American troops when he did a show at March Field in Riverside, Calif. in 1941. HeContinue reading “Bob Hope’s Vietnam tours”

The Fox Theater in Redondo Beach, ca. 1956. Daily Breeze file photo.   When the Fox Theater in Redondo Beach opened on Friday, Feb. 22, 1929, it was the premier movie showplace in the South Bay. Only San Pedro’s Warner Grand, opened in 1931, could rival its splendor. Built at an estimated cost of $300,000Continue reading “Redondo’s Fox Theater”

The original Torrance High School auditorium opened in 1924. Undated Daily Breeze file photo from Torrance Historical Society. The new auditorium at Torrance High School was a great source of pride for the community when it opened in 1924. The relatively ornate structure was designed by Los Angeles architectural firm Farrell & Miller, and wasContinue reading “Torrance High School auditorium”