Anna Lee Fisher decided that she wanted to be an astronaut on May 5, 1961. On that day, Alan Shepard became the first American to reach space during a 15-minute flight that took him 116 miles above the Earth before his capsule returned him to a landing in the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly two decades beforeContinue reading “Astronaut and San Pedro High grad Dr. Anna Fisher became the first mother to fly in space”
Tag Archives: books
San Pedro’s public library keeps up with the times and its growing clientele
In 2011, I wrote a South Bay History blog post about the San Pedro public library building that opened in 1906. The distinctive domed building at 820 Beacon St. was funded by steel industry titan Andrew Carnegie, one of 1,689 libraries he funded during his lifetime. But that library, which closed in 1923, is onlyContinue reading “San Pedro’s public library keeps up with the times and its growing clientele”
Author and Renaissance man Leonard Wibberley spent much of his life in Hermosa Beach
By the time his most famous novel, The Mouse That Roared, was published in 1955, Irish-born Leonard Wibberley already had lived and worked in a variety of jobs at a variety of locations all over the world. Born on April 9, 1915 in Dublin, he was the youngest of six children. After his early yearsContinue reading “Author and Renaissance man Leonard Wibberley spent much of his life in Hermosa Beach”
El Segundo takes its time to create a splendid setting for its public library
The Standard Oil Company of California essentially created the city of El Segundo when it opened its massive refinery there in late 1911. The company had purchased Frank Bennett’s 840-acre farm in June 1911 after its Richmond refinery in the Bay Area had reached its production capacity. I Standard, now known as Chevron USA, putContinue reading “El Segundo takes its time to create a splendid setting for its public library”
