Author Archives: Sam Gnerre

Formed in Dec. 1957, the five-member Committee for Decent Literature was an attempt to stem what its members felt was a rising tide of indecent material on Torrance newsstands. (Inspired by the Torrance group, Gardena formed an active Committee for Decent Literature in 1959 with similiar aspirations.) Retailers were asked to cooperate with the group byContinue reading “Torrance’s decency committee”

Press Wireless Inc. was formed in 1929 by a group of newspapers in order to transmit news dispatches throughout the world. The papers were disillusioned with the high prices charged by third-party companies in the business, and sought to cut costs by handling transmissions themselves. Press Wireless established stations on Long Island, NY that could linkContinue reading “Espionage on the home front”

Mines Field in Nov. 1929, shortly before it was renamed Los Angeles Municipal Airport. Photo credit: Los Angeles World Airports.   Though the city of Los Angeles took control of Mines Field in 1928, it would be 18 years before regularly scheduled passenger service would come to the airport. William Mines was a real estateContinue reading “Passenger service at LAX”

Two recent posts to the South Bay History blog led me into cemeteries along the way. My item about San Pedro pioneer Augustus Timms brought me face to face with his grave monument at the tiny Harbor View Cemetery in San Pedro, and the recent post about Charles Bukowski led to his final resting place at GreenContinue reading “Final resting places of the famous”

  This 1957 photograph shows a typical fallout shelter that includes a 14-day food supply that could be stored indefinitely, a battery-operated radio, auxiliary light sources, a two-week supply of water, and first aid, sanitary, and other miscellaneous supplies and equipment. Photo credit: U.S. National Archives.   Fallout shelters were a critical part of theContinue reading “Fallout shelters”

  The Community Baptist Church of Hermosa Beach began in 1911 in a small building at 26th Street and Myrtle Avenue in Hermosa Beach. On July 3, 1917, the church moved to a bigger location at 1215 Manhattan Avenue. When the rapidly growing Manhattan Avenue congregation needed larger quarters, the church raised $40,000 to build a newContinue reading “The Church”

The Lomita Theatre, shown here in 1928, was located next to the old Lomita Hotel on Narbonne Avenue. (Photo from Lomita…A Century Remembered) The Lomita Theatre opened for business on May 31, 1924, with a showing of the film “Little Old New York” starring Marion Davies.  According to an advertisement, the evening also included “Sunshine ComedyContinue reading “Lomita Theatre’s special guest”

General William Starke Rosecrans, or “Old Rosy” as he was known to his men, gave more to the South Bay than just his namesake Rosecrans Avenue. He was many things during his long and varied life: a Civil War general, an anti-slavery Democrat, a California congressman, registrar of the U.S. Treasury, and, by some accounts,Continue reading “General Rosecrans”

The Broadway, one of the three anchor stores at the Hawthorne Plaza mall, is shown in a 1977 Daily Breeze file photo.   Though it didn’t open until February 1977, the genesis of the Hawthorne Plaza Mall can be traced back to the late 1960s. The shopping center was a key part of the Hawthorne PlazaContinue reading “Hawthorne Plaza”

Aerial view shows the Tomlee Avenue home in Torrance that was destroyed by an explosion on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002 while it was tented for fumigation. Daily Breeze file photo.   On Monday, Aug. 12, 2002, at 3 p.m., the Anaheim-based Network Fumigation and Exterminating Co. tented the house of Robert and Helen Mimura in the 20900Continue reading “Tomlee explosion rocks Torrance”