Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hermosa Beach’s Bijou theater wasn’t the first cinema in the small but growing beach town when it opened as the Metropolitan on June 27, 1923. The Hermosa Theatre, a nickelodeon where one dropped a nickel into a machine to view a silent film, had opened in 1913 on Pier Avenue. The concept for the theaterContinue reading “The Bijou in Hermosa Beach ends up as a bank after starting out as one”

The transformation of Redondo Beach from a sleepy seaside town into a thriving tourist center began with the formation of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway and Redondo Hotel companies by sea captains J.C. Ainsworth and R.R. Thompson. The railway brought tourists to the developing coastal settlement, and the Hotel Redondo, which opened in 1890,Continue reading “Redondo Beach’s Tent City offered a popular vacation option in the early 1900s”

The idea for a centrally located senior citizens center in Torrance first was floated in April 1951. A group of citizens proposed that the city put up $5,000 to build the Torrance Adult Recreation Center at 1318 Cravens Ave. downtown, right behind the then-current location of the Torrance Public Library at 1345 Post Ave., nowContinue reading “The Bartlett Senior Citizens Center has been a downtown Torrance fixture since 1952”

The Westchester Golf Course got off to a perfectly fine start. Construction began on the 4,179-yard, 18-hole public course in 1965. Golf architect Lawrence Hughes of Palm Desert designed the executive course, which consisted of nine par-3 and nine-par-4 holes (par 63 total). Executive courses are shorter in length than standard courses, with shorter playingContinue reading “Why Westchester spent 17 years as the nation’s only 15-hole golf course”

Why all this fuss over a fireboat, lovingly maintaining it and carefully preserving it in a building all its own? When it’s the Ralph J. Scott, a firefighting marvel that served the Port of Los Angeles for 78 years, it deserves all the extra attention it gets. Known originally as Los Angeles City No. 2Continue reading “Fireboat #2, the Ralph J. Scott, served the Port of Los Angeles with distinction for 78 years”

The Portuguese Bend Club in Rancho Palos Verdes began as a planned vision of a California beachside utopia. Kelvin Vanderlip, son of pioneer Palos Verdes Peninsula landowner and developer Frank Vanderlip, brought the idea into reality in the late 1940s. The proposed development would be owned and operated by the Vanderlip family’s Palos Verdes Corporation.Continue reading “Landslide intrudes on Portuguese Bend Club’s seaside haven”

San Pedro has been welcoming people to its colorful environs for a long time, as the above 1921 roadside photograph illustrates. Nowadays, one can be welcomed to the seaside enclave without ever leaving the 110 Freeway, thanks to the “San Pedro smokestack.” The old-school cylindrical tower with “San Pedro” inscribed in capital letters vertically onContinue reading “San Pedro welcomes you with a smokestack, a park, and a bridge”

The early 1960s surfing craze hit one of its prime hotbeds, the South Bay, like a double-overhead bomb. In addition to its pervasive influence on pop culture, the widespread allure of riding tasty waves inspired the formation of dozens of local surf clubs, such as the Dapper Dans and the Torrance Surfing Association in theContinue reading “1960s surfing craze spawned clubs for females as well as males in the South Bay”

Redondo Beach’s reputation as an entertainment and recreation mecca in its early 1900s heyday took several hits during the 1920s. The passage of Prohibition in 1919 hurt major resort spots such as the Hotel Redondo, which closed for good in 1925, and the Great Depression that began in October 1929 meant fewer people had theContinue reading “1937 mob hit on The Strand in Redondo Beach led to gambling cleanup”

Before there was a Point Fermin Park in San Pedro, there was the Point Fermin lighthouse. Point Fermin had been given its name by British explorer George Vancouver, after whom the British Columbian metropolis was named. Vancouver had met and been impressed by missionary Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen in 1792, and he decided toContinue reading “The enduring charm of Point Fermin Park and its picturesque lighthouse”