Milliron’s department store may have been only a blip on the mid-20th century Los Angeles retail industry’s radar, but it stayed around long enough to build an innovative branch in Westchester that remains a retail fixture almost 70 years later. The Milliron family entered the department store fray when it bought the former Fifth StreetContinue reading “Innovative design put Milliron’s department store on the map in Westchester”
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Flying saucers landed with a vengeance in the public’s imagination during the 1950s
Kenneth Arnold was piloting his private plane over Mount Rainier in Washington on June 24, 1947, when he suddenly saw nine silver flying discs, each shaped “like a saucer if you skip it across water,” according to Arnold. The highly publicized sighting not only led to the coining of the term “flying saucer,” but alsoContinue reading “Flying saucers landed with a vengeance in the public’s imagination during the 1950s”
Radomes atop San Pedro Hill still serve an important function
They stand atop the highest point on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, perched on top of 1,427-foot San Pedro Hill like two giant teed-up golf balls waiting to be struck. Located in Rancho Palos Verdes near its border with Rolling Hills, the round white structures are radomes, translucent domes housing radar equipment. The domed exterior protectsContinue reading “Radomes atop San Pedro Hill still serve an important function”
Big plans for Manchester Square area finally are coming to fruition
In 2010, I wrote about the Surfridge development between the western end of LAX and Vista del Mar, now a ghost town of weed-overgrown streets and empty house foundations. Today, we’ll look at Manchester Square, a 120-acre housing tract located roughly a mile east of LAX on the other, inland side of the airport. ItContinue reading “Big plans for Manchester Square area finally are coming to fruition”
Original Redondo Beach Drifters members keep car club’s spirit alive
You can find brothers Harold and Bill Topping and their pal Al Castillon having breakfast together at Eat at Joe’s restaurant in Redondo Beach every Friday morning at 7 a.m. They’ve been meeting there since the three of them became friends while attending Redondo Union High School back in the late 1940s. The trio —Continue reading “Original Redondo Beach Drifters members keep car club’s spirit alive”
Mattel’s early days: Eliot and Ruth Handler create a toy empire
The Mattel toy company officially was formed in 1945. But Elliot and Ruth Handler, its husband-and-wife founders, actually entered the manufacturing business years earlier, They’d met as teens in 1932 at a dance in their mutual home town of Denver, Colorado, and later moved to California, where they married in June 1938. Elliot, then aContinue reading “Mattel’s early days: Eliot and Ruth Handler create a toy empire”
Chief Stroh leads Torrance Police Department into the modern era
When John Stroh joined the Torrance Police Department as a patrolman on Sept. 5, 1924, there were six other members on the force. The department was created which had been created on May 23, 1921, eleven days after the city’s official incorporation. (It was founded in 1912.) On that day, Ben Olsen began work asContinue reading “Chief Stroh leads Torrance Police Department into the modern era”
Paul Pettit: Narbonne High baseball phenom becomes the sport’s first $100,000 bonus baby
Pro baseball’s “bonus babies” made lots of headlines during the late 1940s and 1950s. The name was given to those promising amateur players being signed for increasingly high amounts by major league scouts. Baseball felt forced to adopt the bonus rule in 1947, to keep the richest teams from signing all the best young prospectsContinue reading “Paul Pettit: Narbonne High baseball phenom becomes the sport’s first $100,000 bonus baby”
South Bay car clubs geared up for annual Youth Safety Run competitions
California’s car culture has always been vibrant, but it truly came of age in the years following World War II. Freed from wartime constraints, the automobile industry revved up production to meet the growing demand. Youths with plenty of free time on their hands became obsessed with the automobile: souping it up, customizing it, cruisingContinue reading “South Bay car clubs geared up for annual Youth Safety Run competitions”
The Meistrell brothers turn Redondo Beach’s Dive N’ Surf into a water sports mecca
The history of Redondo Beach’s longest-lived diving and surf shop hinges on the Meistrells, twin brothers Bill and Bob, whose numerous aquatic sports innovations are inextricably linked to South Bay surf culture. Dive N’ Surf was one of the first surf shops in the South Bay, but not the very first; that distinction goes toContinue reading “The Meistrell brothers turn Redondo Beach’s Dive N’ Surf into a water sports mecca”
