When Frank Vanderlip bought the isolated farmland that made up Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1913 from the pioneering Bixby family, he had never seen it. Then a New York banker, he still recognized its potential as an investment. It was undeveloped land in a booming area, and its location by the sea made it seemContinue reading “Legislating beauty: The Palos Verdes Art Jury”
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Dennis Wilson’s fast and furious life
Dennis Carl Wilson was born on Monday, Dec. 4, 1944, at Centinela Hospital In Inglewood, the middle child of Murry and Audree Wilson of Hawthorne. He would become a key member of the Beach Boys, one of the most popular bands in rock ‘n’ roll history, before coming to an untimely end. Dennis and hisContinue reading “Dennis Wilson’s fast and furious life”
The story behind Thomas Keller Memorial Park in Torrance
Blink and you’ll miss it, this small, irregular plot of greenery in downtown Torrance. It’s just east of the La Capilla Mexican restaurant, and, in the city’s early years, the post office would set up a mailbox there at Christmastime where children’s letters to Santa Claus were collected. In August 1964, the city decided toContinue reading “The story behind Thomas Keller Memorial Park in Torrance”
San Pedro’s Walker’s Cafe continues to thrive after 71 years
The building that houses San Pedro’s venerable Walker’s Cafe, at 700 Paseo del Mar across the street from Point Fermin Park, originally was built in about 1913 as a turnaround station at the end of the Red Car line down Pacific Avenue. Trolley tickets once were sold from the diner’s arched window (since remodeled). WhenContinue reading “San Pedro’s Walker’s Cafe continues to thrive after 71 years”
All about Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, and its namesake
Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, the city’s first Catholic high school, was the end result of an ambition held by Reverend William Ford, then pastor of St. James Parish in Redondo Beach. Ford wanted to bring a Catholic high school to the South Bay, and his dream started to become a reality with theContinue reading “All about Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, and its namesake”
The United Sulphur Company fire and the modernization of the Torrance Fire Department
Torrance’s first fire department, Fire Company No. 1, had its headquarters in a converted Chinese restaurant at 1925 Carson Street. Harry McManus served as the city’s first fire chief from 1912 to 1921. The 10-man volunteer force was summoned together to go fight blazes by the sound of a sledge hammer banging against an oldContinue reading “The United Sulphur Company fire and the modernization of the Torrance Fire Department”
Iris Cummings Critchell’s remarkable life — so far
Iris Cummings Critchell was born Iris Cummings in Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 1920, and grew up in Redondo Beach. . Her father was a doctor, and her mother taught high school Greek and Latin. Cummings – she became Iris Cummings Critchell when she married Howard Critchell in 1944 – attended Redondo Union High School.Continue reading “Iris Cummings Critchell’s remarkable life — so far”
The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach served as a beacon for jazz aficionados
The Lighthouse story begins with the building of Verpilate’s restaurant at 30 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, just steps from the Pacific Ocean, in 1934. In 1940, it was converted into a Polynesian-style bar and renamed “The Lighthouse” in an attempt to attract area longshore workers and merchant seamen. Howard Rumsey, the man whose nameContinue reading “The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach served as a beacon for jazz aficionados”
Whatever happened to the Inglewood Golf Course?
The Potrero Country Club opened in Inglewood in 1925, occupying a large L-shaped plot of land along Manchester Boulevard, from Prairie Avenue on the west almost to Crenshaw Boulevard on the east. Yes, that Manchester and Prairie, now famously known as the site of the Forum, once was the westernmost third of a 120-acre golfContinue reading “Whatever happened to the Inglewood Golf Course?”
Violent labor strife rattles Torrance, Harbor Area businesses in the 1940s
Beatings, intimidation, stores closing for months on end, strikes, picket lines — the retail business climate in the South Bay and Harbor Area during the 1940s roiled with toxic elements. The labor problems centered around the tactics used by the Retail Clerks Union, Local No. 905 of the American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.) headed byContinue reading “Violent labor strife rattles Torrance, Harbor Area businesses in the 1940s”
