Sam Gnerre

1 week ago | dailybreeze.com | Sam Gnerre

Veteran real estate developer Fred W. Marlow was fresh from launching major home building projects in Westchester and upscale Windsor Hills when he began looking toward the San Pedro coastline for his next project. By then, he’d established 10 real estate brokerage offices in the southwest Los Angeles County area, where the Marlow-Burns Development Co. planned most of its projects.

2 weeks ago | dailybreeze.com | Sam Gnerre

When workers at North American Aviation went on strike on June 5, 1941, just months before the Pearl Harbor attack brought the U.S. into World War II, alarm bells went off in Washington, D.C.The company, founded in 1928 and headquartered at 5701 W. Imperial Blvd. at the southeastern edge of Los Angeles International Airport, already had been producing airplanes for the Allied war effort even though the U.S. had not entered the war officially.

3 weeks ago | dailybreeze.com | Sam Gnerre

The last major accident to date at the Torrance oil refinery occurred a decade ago in 2015, when it was still being operated by ExxonMobil. Four workers were injured when a massive explosion destroyed the plant’s catalytic cracking unit and covered nearby cars and neighborhoods with ash and dust. A year later, PBF Energy bought the plant from ExxonMobil and renamed it the Torrance Refining Company. Since then, things have been relatively quiet at 3700 W.

1 month ago | dailybreeze.com | Sam Gnerre

The World’s Fairs in 1938 was held in Berlin, Helsinki and Glasgow, according to the official list kept by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions. Missing from that list: Alondra Park. I wrote about the history of the county park 10 years ago, but I thought a look at some of the early plans for the large chunk of open space might be of interest. The 53-acre parcel was part of 320 total acres that Los Angeles County purchased in 1927 for just more than $1 million.

1 month ago | dailybreeze.com | Sam Gnerre

South Bay History: Big Ben Discount Store may be long gone, but Torrance Towne Center still thrives