Editing Torrance, California (section)

==History==
[[File:Manuel Domínguez of California.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Don [[Manuel Dominguez|Manuel Domínguez]], a signer of the [[Californian Constitution]] and owner of [[Rancho San Pedro]], which included all of modern-day Torrance.]]

=== Pre-colonial era ===
For thousands of years, the area of Torrance was occupied by the [[Tongva people|Tongva]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The land that is now part of the City of Torrance and much of the modern South Bay was part of the extensive marshlands.

=== Spanish and Mexican eras ===
In 1784, the [[Charles III of Spain|Spanish Crown]] deeded [[Rancho San Pedro]] (including present-day Torrance), a tract of over {{convert|75,000|acre|km2}} in the province of [[The Californias|Las Californias]] of [[New Spain]], to soldier Juan José Domínguez.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.csudh.edu:2006/cdm4/RanchoSanPedro.php|title=The Rancho San Pedro Collection|website=CSUDH.edu|access-date=June 7, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618044854/http://archives.csudh.edu:2006/cdm4/RanchoSanPedro.php|archive-date=June 18, 2010}}</ref><ref>Robert Cameron Gillingham, 1961, ''The Rancho San Pedro'', Cole Holinquist</ref> It was later divided in 1846, with Governor [[Pío Pico]] granting [[Rancho de los Palos Verdes]] to José Loreto and [[Juan Sepulveda|Juan Capistrano Sepulveda]] in the [[Alta California]] territory of independent [[Mexico]].<ref>Ogden Hoffman, 1862, ''Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California'', Numa Hubert, San Francisco.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/hb9489p1s9/?&brand=oac|title=Plat of the Rancho Los Palos Verdes [Calif.] : finally confirmed to Jose Loretto Sepulveda et al. / surveyed under instructions from the U.S. Surveyor General by Henry Hancock, Dep. Survr., September 1859|website=Calisphere|access-date=June 7, 2017}}</ref>

=== Modern Era ===
In the early 1900s, real estate developer [[Jared Sidney Torrance]] and other investors saw the value of creating a mixed industrial–residential community south of [[Los Angeles]]. They purchased part of an old Spanish land grant and hired landscape architect [[Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.]] to design a [[planned community]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hellotorrance.com/History.Cfm|title=History|website=Hellotorrance.com|access-date=February 23, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070223075831/http://www.hellotorrance.com/History.Cfm|archive-date=February 23, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The resulting town was founded in October 1912 and named after Torrance. The city of Torrance was formally incorporated in May 1921, the townsite initially being bounded by Western Avenue on the east, Del Amo Boulevard on the north, [[Crenshaw Boulevard]] on the west, and on the south by Plaza del Amo east of where it meets Carson Street, and by Carson Street west of where it meets Plaza del Amo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/8762.htm|title=Ci.torrance.ca.us|website=Torrance.ca.us|access-date=June 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114171626/http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/8762.htm|archive-date=January 14, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The first residential avenue created in Torrance was Gramercy and the second avenue was Andreo. Many of the houses on these avenues reached the centennial mark in 2012. Both avenues are located in the area referred to as Old Torrance. This section of Torrance is under review to be classified as a [[historical district]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us|title=Ci.torrance.ca.us|website=Torrance.ca.us|access-date=June 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215184505/http://www.ci.torrance.ca.us/|archive-date=December 15, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some of the early civic and residential buildings were designed by the renowned and innovative [[Southern California]] architect [[Irving Gill]], in his distinctive combining of [[Mission Revival Style architecture|Mission Revival]] and early [[Modern architecture|Modernist architecture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://torrancehistoricalsociety.org/|title=TorranceHistoricalSociety.org|website=TorranceHistoricalSociety.org|access-date=June 7, 2017}}</ref>

==== Historic Olmstead District ====
Torrance was planned as a new prototype of a balanced industrial city based on the principles of the [[Garden city movement|Garden City Movement]]. The original tract developed by the [[Olmsted Brothers|Olmstead Brothers]] consists of 109 city blocks divided into three sub-districts: residential, commercial, and industrial. The plan is most notable for its axial landscaped downtown commercial neighborhood aligned to have a view of Mount San Antonio in the San Gabriel Mountains. The Olmsted Tract includes a number of buildings designed by the noted Southern California Architect Irving Gill, including the original train depot.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gnerre |first=Sam |date=September 30, 209 |title=Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. {{!}} South Bay History |url=http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2009/09/30/frederick-law-olmsted-jr/ |access-date=September 23, 2023 |website=Daily Breeze}}</ref>

The footprint of the downtown neighborhood, now called Old Torrance, was designed on a diagonal to allow the trade breezes coming from the Pacific Ocean to keep the air clean from industrial pollution for the residential and commercial neighborhoods. The industrial sections of the city were placed on the eastern side of the original tract.

Public transportation played a key role in the founding of Torrance. The [[Pacific Electric|Pacific Electric Red Car]] connected downtown Los Angeles to the new development of downtown Torrance. Designed in 1912 by Irving Gill, the terminus depot of the Red Car line was designed in a Spanish revival style popularized during this era.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernal |first=Victoria |date=March 18, 2022 |title=Where to Find Remnants of L.A.'s Red Car System |url=https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/lost-la/where-to-find-remnants-of-l-a-s-red-car-system |access-date=September 28, 2023 |website=PBS SoCal |language=en-US}}</ref>  In May 1913, the [[Pacific Electric Railroad Bridge]] was built. Often called the "El Prado Bridge", it further expanded the industrial heart of the South Bay. The concrete double-tracked arch bridge was the Pacific Electric Railway's first interurban line that connected north–south to San Pedro via the Gardena Line.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pacific Electric San Pedro via Torrance Line |url=http://www.erha.org/pesspt.htm |access-date=September 23, 2023 |website=The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California}}</ref> The bridge was used for transporting freight and commuting workers to Torrance factories. The Red Car line connected under the bridge as it connected to the train depot located on Cabrillo Avenue. The bridge no longer carries any rail cars, with Pacific Electric closing the Red Car line to Torrance in the 1940s. The bridge became the city of Torrance's second entry in the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on July 13, 1989, and is used as a logo for the city's new wayfinding signage and city materials.<ref>{{Cite web |title=See What Torrance is Doing {{!}} City of Torrance |url=https://www.torranceca.gov/our-city/see-what-torrance-is-doing |access-date=September 23, 2023 |website=www.torranceca.gov |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Torrance Bridge a.jpg|thumb|The Pacific Railroad Bridge, often called the El Prado Bridge, was designed by famed architect Irving Gill. The bridge stands as an icon for the city of Torrance.|217x217px]]