Torrance, Lomita, Gardena and Carson History

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you live in Torrance, Lomita, Gardena or Carson, or are moving there, this page tells their story from the Dominguez family’s Rancho San Pedro to the cities’ incorporations from 1921 to 1968, with Torrance’s 1912 founding and Louis Zamperini’s Torrance High School along the way.

Near the end you will find places to visit and every version where sources disagree. For Torrance today, see our Torrance page.

What was Rancho San Pedro?

Rancho San Pedro was the Dominguez family’s Spanish land grant. The Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum says King Carlos III granted it in 1784 to Juan Jose Dominguez, a soldier who came to California with the Portola expedition, and that it covered about 75,000 acres, including the entire Los Angeles harbor.

The land passed to Juan Jose’s nephew Cristobal and then to Cristobal’s son Manuel Dominguez, who sat on the Los Angeles City Council, was mayor of Los Angeles, was a delegate to California’s first constitutional convention and was a county supervisor. President James Buchanan signed the U.S. patent for the rancho on December 18, 1858, when it measured 25,000 acres. After Manuel died in 1882, the land was divided among his six daughters, whose families include the Carson, Del Amo and Watson lines. Descendants still run the Watson Land Company and Carson Estates Company on former rancho land.

Dr. Gregorio Del Amo, husband of Susana Dominguez, arranged for the rancho to host the 1910 air meet at Dominguez Field, which our aviation history page covers. Between 1922 and 1924 the two remaining daughters deeded 17 acres to the Claretian Missionaries, who began using the adobe as a school and seminary in 1924. The adobe became California Historical Landmark No. 152 on January 11, 1935, and the museum opened in 1976. The harbor side of the rancho story is on our San Pedro and harbor history page.

How did Gardena begin?

Settlement began in the 1880s near 161st Street and Figueroa, and the City of Gardena credits Abram Pomeroy as its founder. Gardena proper began in 1887, when Pomeroy and Harrison subdivided the McDonald Ranch, and the Redondo Railway line between Los Angeles and Redondo opened on April 11, 1890. Who named the town is unsettled, though most of the stories tie the name to Gardena being a “garden spot.”

Gardena was once the berry-growing capital of Southern California, the LA County Library says, nicknamed Berryland for its strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and known for a Strawberry Day festival and parade each May. Much of the berry land was leased by Japanese immigrant farmers, who founded the Moneta Japanese Institute in 1911 and the Gardena Japanese School in 1916. Gardena High School’s plein air art collection began with a senior class gift in 1919.

Gardena incorporated on September 11, 1930, joining Gardena, Moneta and Strawberry Park, and the City calls it a small farming community of about 20,000 people at the time. In the spring and summer of 1942, Gardena’s Japanese American residents were forcibly removed, along with about 110,000 others from the West Coast, the library says.

How did Torrance get its name?

In 1910 industrialist Jared Sidney Torrance decided to build a model industrial city, a “workingman’s paradise,” between downtown Los Angeles and the San Pedro harbor, the Torrance Historical Society says. He formed the Dominguez Land Corporation, spent $1 million to buy 3,522 acres from the Dominguez family and persuaded industrial firms and a railroad to move there. The Olmsted firm planned the city, modernist architect Irving J. Gill designed the first buildings, including the depot and the railroad bridge, and Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. helped with the landscaping.

Board minutes from March 20, 1912, record that the Post Office would not accept the name Dominguez, so the board named the city for Torrance over his own objection. Torrance incorporated in 1921, grew by annexation to about 21 square miles with a 1.5-mile beachfront, and in 1955 won an All-America City award for “growth without strain.” Gill’s Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge still spans Torrance Boulevard at Bow Street; it joined the National Register on July 13, 1989, with 1912 as its significant year.

Why is Torrance High School on the National Register?

Torrance High School’s campus at 2200 W. Carson Street is on the National Register for its significance in education, architecture and community planning. The National Park Service record lists the Torrance School, designed by architect E. H. Cline in a Renaissance style with 1923 and 1925 as its significant years, as part of the Torrance High School Campus Thematic Resource, listed on October 13, 1983.

Who was Louis Zamperini?

Louis Zamperini, born in Olean, New York, on January 26, 1917, attended Torrance High School and became a star high school distance runner in Southern California. He won the state high school championship, earned a track scholarship to USC and, at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finished eighth in the 5,000 meters.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. On May 27, 1943, his B-24 went down over the Pacific, and he and the pilot survived 47 days adrift before they were taken prisoner. He spent two years in a prisoner of war camp in Japan, came home a hero and became a Christian speaker known for forgiveness. He died in Los Angeles on July 2, 2014, at 97, and Torrance’s airport carries his name as Zamperini Field, home of the Western Museum of Flight.

What is in the Lomita Railroad Museum?

Lomita dates its founding to 1907 and incorporated on June 30, 1964. The Lomita Railroad Museum came to the city in 1967, donated by Irene Lewis in honor of her late husband, Martin Lewis, whose company, Little Engines, built miniature steam locomotives sold around the world. The building, put up in 1966 and designed and built by John W. Gallareto, copies the Boston and Maine Railroad’s Greenwood Station in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The museum says it was the first of its kind west of Denver. The collection includes a Southern Pacific steam locomotive and tender, which arrived in what the museum calls the Great Move of 1967, along with a 1910 Union Pacific caboose, a 1949 Santa Fe caboose, a 1923 Union Oil tank car and a 1913 Southern Pacific wood boxcar.

When did Carson become a city?

Carson incorporated on February 20, 1968, the date the City of Carson gives for the birth of the modern city. The City tells its story through Rancho San Pedro, the Dominguez Rancho Adobe, its Native American past, the 1910 air meet and the 1984 Olympic velodrome. The Carson family is one of the lines descended from Manuel Dominguez’s daughters.

Where can you see it today?

• Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, 18127 South Alameda Street, Rancho Dominguez: the family adobe, with tours booked through the museum website; its October reenactment of the Battle of Dominguez Rancho was canceled for 2026.
• Torrance Historical Society and Museum, 1345 Post Ave., Torrance: open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., with archives by appointment.
• Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge, Torrance Boulevard at Bow Street, just west of Western Avenue: Gill’s bridge, visible from the street.
• Torrance High School, 2200 W. Carson Street, Torrance: an active campus; view it from public streets.
• Western Museum of Flight, 3315 Airport Drive, Red Baron #3, Torrance: aircraft and engines at Zamperini Field, open Friday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Lomita Railroad Museum, 2137 West 250th Street, Lomita: the station and rail cars, open Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free.
• Gardena City Hall, 1700 W. 162nd Street, Gardena: the City Clerk’s Office holds a historic photo album donated by Sumitomo Bank.

Where do the sources differ?

• Rancho San Pedro’s grant year and size: the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum says 1784 and about 75,000 acres. The Torrance Historical Society says 1785 and about 120 square miles from El Segundo to Long Beach. The LA County Library says 43,119 acres, received between 1784 and 1800.
• Whether the rancho was a first: the museum calls it the site of California’s first Spanish land grant and its 1858 patent the first U.S. land patent in California. The LA County Library calls it the third Spanish land grant.
• Where the adobe is: the museum’s address is in Rancho Dominguez, an unincorporated community next to Carson. The state’s list of historical resources files its 1976 National Register listing under Compton.
• Which Olmsted firm planned Torrance: the Torrance Historical Society says Olmsted and Olmsted. Other accounts name the Olmsted Brothers, the firm that planned Palos Verdes Estates, but no source we read says so for Torrance, so this page says the Olmsted firm.
• Which Torrance High buildings are listed: the National Park Service lists the Torrance School under the campus thematic resource. The state’s list shows an Auditorium and a Home Economics Building in Torrance listed the same day, without naming the school.
• Lomita’s museum as a first: the Lomita Railroad Museum says it was the first of its kind west of Denver. No other source we read addresses it.
• Who named Gardena: the City of Gardena lists Nettie Thompson, a Mr. Harris about 1887, a schoolgirl named Lexie Nichols and Spencer Thorpe. The LA County Library says the daughter of early settler Spencer Thorpe named it.
• Gardena’s size in 1930: the City of Gardena says about 20,000 people. No second source we read gives a figure.

Questions people ask about Torrance, Lomita, Gardena and Carson history

How did Torrance get its name?

Board minutes from March 20, 1912, record that the Post Office would not accept the name Dominguez, so the board of the Dominguez Land Corporation named the new city for Jared Sidney Torrance over his own objection, the Torrance Historical Society says. Torrance incorporated in 1921.

Did Louis Zamperini go to Torrance High School?

Yes. Louis Zamperini attended Torrance High School before running in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he finished eighth in the 5,000 meters. Torrance’s airport carries his name as Zamperini Field, and the school’s campus at 2200 W. Carson Street is on the National Register.

When did Carson become a city?

Carson incorporated on February 20, 1968, the date the City of Carson gives for the birth of the modern city. The City tells its story through Rancho San Pedro, the Dominguez Rancho Adobe, its Native American past, the 1910 air meet and the 1984 Olympic velodrome.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Sources were read October 18, 2026.

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