“What I’ve tried to do, if you’ll pardon me, is bring in the factory-workers aspect of life…the screaming wife when he comes home from work. The basic realities of the everyman existence…something seldom mentioned in the poetry of the centuries.”-Charles Bukowski, interviewed by Sean Penn, Interview magazine, Sept. 1987 Henry Charles Bukowski was born inContinue reading “Charles Bukowski”
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Terminal Island’s lost village
The Japanese fishing village on Terminal Island is shown in this undated photo from the 1930s. Photo courtesty San Pedro Bay Historical Society. Imagine being told you have 48 hours to move from your house to a distant location, where you will be forced to stay for four years. Then, when you are allowed to returnContinue reading “Terminal Island’s lost village”
Hollywood Riviera Beach Club
Aerial view of the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club taken on July 27, 1930. (Photo courtesy Historic Torrance: A Pictorial History of Torrance, California.) Surfers still refer to the section of Torrance beach below where the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club once stood as “Burnout Beach.” The name refers not to the state of mind of itsContinue reading “Hollywood Riviera Beach Club”
Augustus W. Timms
After serving in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War (1846-48), German immigrant Augustus W. Timms, shown at left with his wife Louise, settled on Catalina Island, where he had a goat farm. He also established a boat landing there which became known as Timms Landing. The area was known by that name for decades until the cityContinue reading “Augustus W. Timms”
Vetter Windmill
German immigrant Herman Vetter played a key role in the early days of the city of Hermosa Beach. He was among the city’s first group of elected trustees in 1906, and served as Hermosa’s first city clerk. He also helped push for the city’s incorporation in 1907, and helped to found its first school, OceanContinue reading “Vetter Windmill”
Club Gunga Din
The completed Club Gunga Din in Hawthorne, which was built in 1945. Reprinted with permission from Hawthorne, by Walt Dixon, Jerry Roberts. Available from the publisher online at http://www.arcadiapublishing.com or by calling 888-313-2665. When club Gunga Din was completed in Hawthorne in 1945, it was billed as the first “teen canteen” in Southern California.Continue reading “Club Gunga Din”
Terminal Island’s ‘Big House’
The Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution can be seen at the upper right of this undated aerial photo, north of the Coast Guard station. (Photo courtesy Freebase.com) The first prisoners, 610 men and 40 women, filed into the new 21-acre federal prison near the southern end of Terminal Island on June 1, 1938. TheContinue reading “Terminal Island’s ‘Big House’”
Hawthorne’s Chris Montez
Born Ezekiel Christopher Montanez on January 17, 1943, Chris Montez grew up in Hawthorne. He graduated from Hawthorne High School in 1962, which made him a contemporary of the Beach Boys. He recalls hanging out playing music at the Wilsons’ house in Hawthorne, and being in a science class with Brian Wilson. But his realContinue reading “Hawthorne’s Chris Montez”
California Shipbuilding Corp.
During its four-year existence, the California Shipbuilding Corporation employed as many as 40,000 workers at one time at its Terminal Island location. Calship, as the company was known, built a total of 467 Liberty and Victory ships during its years of operation during World War II. The ships were used chiefly to haul military cargoContinue reading “California Shipbuilding Corp.”
Red Cars and reefs
When Daily Breeze reporter and surfing enthusiast Doug Morino told me about “Trolleycars,” a surfing spot off the Hermosa Beach Pier he’d heard about, I was a little skeptical. According to an item he’d seen in Surfing magazine, old Pacific Electric Red Cars had been dumped into the ocean years ago just off the HermosaContinue reading “Red Cars and reefs”
