Category Archives: Uncategorized

George Freeth rightfully gets credit for introducing the sport of surfing to the South Bay in Redondo Beach in 1907. Freeth learned the sport while growing up in Hawaii in the late 1800s. But without the influence of Duke Kahanamoku, born Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 24, 1890, theContinue reading “Hawaii’s Duke Kahanamoku a major figure in South Bay surf culture”

Phineas Banning built the Wilmington Cemetery in 1857 on three and a half acres of land in the town named for his Delaware city of origin. He designated a separate fenced plot for his family members on its grounds following the death of his 2-year-old son. The cemetery, originally operated by the Wilmington Cemetery Association,Continue reading “Historic Wilmington Cemetery has weathered its share of storms”

Pete and Pearl Reitz of Palos Verdes Estates often had traveled to Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia before opening their South Seas palace The Polynesian in Torrance. They were so enamored of the culture that they held the traditional Halenui home blessing ceremony and feast at their new restaurant while it was under constructionContinue reading “The Polynesian restaurant brought South Seas atmosphere to the South Bay”

Last week, we told the story of San Pedro’s Di Carlo Bakery, founded by Italian immigrant Lorenzo Di Carlo in 1906. Born in Italy on Feb. 14, 1898, Di Carlo’s son Pietro was a toddler when the family came to the U.S. in 1900. From a very young age, Pietro worked in the family business.Continue reading “Pietro Di Carlo’s successful life ends mysteriously on the San Pedro docks”

Lorenzo Di Carlo came to the United States from Italy with his wife, Filomena, and three-year-old son, Pietro, in 1901. The family settled in Steubenville, Ohio, where Lorenzo, originally a glass blower, found a job as a railroad worker. He saw an opportunity to start his own business, opening a bakery for his hungry fellowContinue reading “Di Carlo Bakery served up goodness to San Pedrans for almost 100 years”

Soichiro Honda started out as an auto mechanic in the late 1930s, and the inveterate tinkerer eventually formed his own company to manufacture piston rings for Toyota. After the start of World War II, his factory turned to manufacturing aircraft propellers for the war effort, until American bombs and a 1945 earthquake destroyed his YamashitaContinue reading “American Honda finds its corporate home in Torrance”

To South Bay residents, Imperial Highway is that east-west roadway on the southern border of LAX. Follow it on a map and you’ll see how it wends its way from the Pacific Ocean at Vista del Mar eastward for just over 40 miles before ending unceremoniously in Anaheim Hills in Orange County. But its backContinue reading “Imperial Highway once figured as part of a superhighway plan”

Military historians have traced the origins of the U.S. National Guard as far back as 1636, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court formed three militia units to protect its citizens. State militias were protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the Militia Acts of 1792 provided for the establishment of organizedContinue reading “Torrance’s National Guard armory opens with flyover, huge parade in 1955”

Oil drilling proliferated in Southern California beginning in the 1920s. Derricks and wells dotted the landscape, from Venice Beach to Huntington Beach. South Bay landscape photos of Torrance and other cities from the first half of the 20th century show forests of wooden derricks blanketing the area. One of the larger oil strikes still operatesContinue reading “Deadly 1949 oil tank blast in Inglewood wasn’t the end of Basin Oil’s woes”

Head east on Carson St. from just west of Western Ave. (A) to just the other side of the 110 Freeway (B), roughly 1.4 miles, and you will pass through four jurisdictions: Torrance (west of Western), the City of Los Angeles (between Western and Normandie), unincorporated Los Angeles County (Normandie to 110 Freeway), and CarsonContinue reading “How and why the “Shoestring Strip” came into existence”