Author Archives: Sam Gnerre

The Broadway, at left, was the first major store at Del Amo Shopping Center, shown in this undated early 1960s Daily Breeze file photo. The empty lot north of it across Carson Street would become Del Amo Fashion Center. The intersection of Hawthorne and Sepulveda boulevards is visible at bottom right.   The saga of Del Amo Fashion Center, Torrance’s massiveContinue reading “Marriage of the Malls”

Traffic streams through the Sepulveda Tunnel under the south runway at LAX. December 2011 Daily Breeze photo.   When a set of water pumps in the Sepulveda Tunnel under LAX malfunctioned during rainstorms in mid-November 2011, a lot of drivers learned how vital this transportation link can be. The tunnel flooded, leading to massive trafficContinue reading “Sepulveda Tunnel”

Mae Marsh, then known as Mrs. Louis Arms, looks through her old photos in her Hermosa Beach home in this July 1964 Daily Breeze file photo.   She was born Mary Wayne Marsh on Nov. 9, 1894 in Madrid, New Mexico, but she rose to fame as Mae Marsh, one of the most popular actresses ofContinue reading “Mae Marsh”

The laying of the cornerstone at the partially built El Segundo High School administration building occurred on June 18, 1927. Photo: El Segundo Historical Committee of the Friends of the El Segundo Public Library.   For the first few years of El Segundo’s existence – the city was incorporated in 1917 – high school studentsContinue reading “El Segundo High School”

The El Ja Arms, “The Perfect Hotel,” near the corner of Diamond Street and Pacific Avenue in 1924. Daily Breeze file photo. Note the Red Car coming down the middle of Diamond Street.   The El Ja Arms Hotel was the second hotel to be built in Redondo Beach, though it was nowhere near asContinue reading “The El Ja Arms Hotel”

Sheriff’s deputies Lt. Jack Norris, left, and Sgt. A.J. Sully examine the abandoned mine shafts on the Great Lakes Carbon Corp. site in Torrance in this May 1964 Daily Breeze photo.   In the early 1900s, the Dicalite Company began mining diatomaceous earth in the South Bay. Diatoms are single-cell organisms that settle to theContinue reading “Tunnels in Torrance”

 This undated Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce postcard shows the original wooden pier built in 1904. Photo: Hermosa Beach Historical Society. The first Hermosa Beach Pier was built in 1904, two years before the city officially incorporated. Constructed out of wood, the 500-foot-long pier broke up and much of it floated out to sea duringContinue reading “Hermosa Beach pier”

The newly built U.S.S. Mississippi is launched at the Newport News, Va. shipyard on Jan. 25, 1917. Photo: Library of Congress.   The U.S.S. Mississippi battleship was ordered for the U.S. Navy on June 30, 1914. She was launched from its construction berth at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Virginia on Jan. 25, 1917 andContinue reading “U.S.S. Mississippi explosion”

The Dutch-themed blue bakeries with the windmills grew out of a partnership that began in downtown Los Angeles in 1915. Theodore Van de Kamp and his brother-in-law Lawrence Frank began selling potato chips, then known as Saratoga chips, in a tiny storefront at 236 1/2 Spring Street downtown. Van de Kamp’s wife Marion and Frank’s wife Henrietta actedContinue reading “Van de Kamp’s bakeries”

Exhaust rising from the Pacific Light and Power Corp. forms a cloud above the building in about 1912. The plant began operation in 1907. Daily Breeze file photo.   The story of Redondo Beach’s electric power plants begins with Henry Huntington. In 1902, the Red Car and real estate magnate organized the Pacific Light andContinue reading “Redondo Beach’s power plants”