,E[XLSVRI4VIWW8VMFYRI Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - May 21, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals ......................2 Classifieds ...........................2 Food ......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings ...3 Legals ...........................4, 6-7 Letters ..................................2 Looking Up ..........................8 Police Reports ....................3 Sports ...................................4 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 64°/57° Saturday Partly Cloudy 67°/57° Sunday Partly Cloudy 68°/58° The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne LAX Police Force Hires Three New Candidates Los Angeles Airport Police Assistant Chief Brian Walker (left) and and Chief of Airport Police Patrick Gannon (right) with officers Ian Henley, Jaime Figueroa, and Michael Hernandez, who were sworn in to the LAX police force after graduating from Los Angeles Police Academy Class 12-14. Photograph courtesy of CSI Officer Shawn Smith. Thanks for the Memories, Hawthorne By Nancy Peters Photos by Nancy Peters The city of Hawthorne boasts of historical moments, discoveries, firsts, famous and infamous people, and many pieces of memorabilia. Since 1922, when the city incorporated, the strawberry fields and acres of farmland morphed into an airport, a mall, a main Los Angeles County thoroughfare, shops, parks, a civic center, many schools and playing fields, neighborhoods of treelined streets, and a freeway (105) all its own that divided the city for many years before it was built. The 93 years since the city got its own pin on a map have been rife with good, and some not so good, memories. Much is preserved in photos, trinkets, coins, watches, and so much more in the Hawthorne Historical Museum. Housed at 12622 Grevillea Avenue, in what was once the Hawthorne Police Department Headquarters, the Hawthorne Historical Museum opened in July 2012 after approval by the City Council to establish a home for the Hawthorne Historical Society. The collection of photos, narratives, and years of memorabilia were inherited from Walt Dixon, the city’s unofficial historian who passed away in 2010. Dixon had researched Hawthorne’s history for many years and was the co-author of a chronicled history entitled “Hawthorne,” published by Arcadia Publishing Company in 2005. With Dixon’s death Hawthorne lost all the knowledge he had of the city. He lived in the city from the time he was nine months old and grew up as the city did. Other than his stint in the US Navy, Dixon knew Hawthorne better than anyone. To have Walt Dixon as the historian, however, seemed to preclude any establishment of a Hawthorne Historical Society. In 2011, Hawthorne Historical Society was founded and then the search was on for a place to display all the inherited Dixon memorabilia. But as the members of the historical society soon found out, Dixon Interior of the museum, which has expanded in the four years since the doors opened to the public in 2012. wasn’t the only resident who had things to put on display. There is no way to count how many pieces currently are on display in the museum. Historical Society President, Thierry Lubenec, said, “I have found so many pieces at local yard sales that are now on display. We have coins from the 50th Anniversary of the city that were just in a cigar box at a sale. I bought what might be the smallest item, a guitar pick from the Melody Music Store, with the store name on it, also found at a rummage sale on a Saturday morning. People who have lived in Hawthorne for many years, who went to school here, raised their families here, have so much pride in the city. It’s so fun to find these treasures and bring them to the museum. “We have a great letterman’s sweater from Hawthorne High (HHS), and they don’t give those out any longer. The quality is amazing. Also, a woman who was a member of the HHS Drill Team donated her entire uniform, white tasseled boots, the pom-poms, the hat, shirt, and skirt,” he continued as he pointed all of it out in the nearby display case. Some of the photos on the walls or suspended from the ceiling depict Hawthorne in the very early days when original Craftsmanstyle houses were part of the developing landscape, with residents enjoying the porch and the acreage surrounding the home. Several photos show Hawthorne before the mall was built, when the Red Car Trolleys ran on the tracks up and down the boulevard, when every storefront was occupied by a different business. Many of the photos in the collection depict the aerospace industry, established in Hawthorne by Jack Northrop (Hawthorne Hall of Fame inductee 2014), and the newest phase of aerospace with SpaceX establishing their headquarters in the city in the last few years. There are photos of the first Flying Tigers aircraft, with the pin and patch issued when they first flew. And a photo depicts the Black Widow building before it became a top secret facility where the plane of the same name was constructed, as well as when the windows were boarded and the building looked deceptively “abandoned.” See Museum, page 8
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