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The Smothers Brothers aren’t just the longest-running brother act in show business; they also qualify as the longest-lived comedy team in modern history. The famous Redondo Union High School grads were born at the Fort Jay army hospital on Governors Island in New York to Thomas B. Smothers Jr., and his wife, Ruth. Smothers wasContinue reading “Smothers Brothers graduate from Redondo Union High into big time show business”

Consumers Mart of America made a huge splash in Torrance in 1961. The discount department store chain opened a gigantic, $5 million store at 20225 S. Western Avenue, on the northwest corner of Del Amo Boulevard and Western on the city’s eastern edge, on April 20, 1961. It was only the second of the chain’sContinue reading “Consumers Mart of America chain crashes and burns after its big Torrance debut”

Local history isn’t always old and musty. Some recent landmarks have vanished from the view so quickly and completely, it’s as if they were never there. Take record stores. Chains and independents once dotted the South Bay landscape, but the rise of download services, streaming and other innovations in the early 2000s have  killed offContinue reading “Not too long ago, record stores dotted the South Bay retail landscape”

William F. “Bill” Czuleger never lost a Redondo Beach mayoral election. First elected in 1961, he was re-elected to three more terms before being forced out of office in 1977 by a term-limit measure. Czuleger was born in Dallas, Pennsylvania, near Wilkes Barre, on March 4, 1909. His parents had emigrated from Nagyszolas, Hungary, inContinue reading “‘He was a natural mayor’: William F. Czuleger ran Redondo Beach for 16 crucial years”


Property records show that the irregular, 2,237-square-foot building situated on Cabrillo Avenue just east of La Capilla restaurant in Old Torrance where rap group N.W.A. created its landmark “Straight Outta Compton” album was built in 1929.

 Its first tenant was the Torrance Chamber of Commerce, which was established in the city in 1913. The ChamberContinue reading “1327 Cabrillo Avenue: Small building in Old Torrance has big history”

The South Bay History blog is on vacation this week. It will return on June 17.

Bruce’s Beach, the terraced 270-by-200-foot hillside park at 26th Street and Highland Avenue in Manhattan Beach, has a stunning view of the ocean. It also has a tragic history. The story of Bruce’s Beach begins with South Bay pioneer landowner George Peck, who owned large swaths of property in San Pedro as well as theContinue reading “Why it took nearly a century for Bruce’s Beach to get its name back”

Before line dancing, there were barn dances. In the old West, barn dances were social events usually held on weekend evenings in rural settings where folk and square dancing took place on a large scale. The family-friendly dances would take place in large barns, usually with a band or orchestra playing traditional music to aContinue reading “Barn dances, Western swing enlivened South Bay nightlife in the 1940s”