The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 4, No. 32 - August 7, 2014 Inside This Issue Calendar...............................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................10 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Food.......................................5 Legals....................................9 Politically Speaking............7 Real Estate.........................11 Sports....................................6 TerriAnn in Torrance..........8 Weekend Forecast The Torrance High School track team distance runners ran a symbolic lap to honor Hometown Hero Louis Zamperini, who passed away July 2, 2014 at the age of 97. Over 2,000 people came to Torrance High’s Zamperini Stadium for the community memorial service: the “Celebration of Life” included personal tributes by family and friends including daughter Cynthia Zamperini-Garris, son Luke Zamperini, grandson Clay Zamperini, best friend Jim Standifer, producer Matthew Baer, Gail Morgan from the Torrance High School Alumni Association, childhood friend and former mayor Ken Miller, Kyle Gauthier from the Victory Boys Camp and musician Alex Katunich. Zamperini Field pilots also donated their time to perform special flyovers for the appreciative crowd during the ceremony. Former Mayor Frank Scotto acted as master of ceremonies and Mayor Patrick J. Furey made a special presentation of the flag to the Zamperini Family. The memorial service was organized by the City of Torrance, Torrance Historical Society, Torrance Unified School District, Torrance Airport Association, Torrance Air Fair Association and Torrance High School Alumni Association. Photo by Osvin Suazo, oqoimages@gmail.com. Friday Partly Cloudy 81˚/68˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 80˚/68˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 81˚/67˚ A Celebration of Life: Louis Zamperini Historic Buildings Survey Complete By Dylan Little city movement of man living in harmony After three years and thousands of volunteer with nature.” hours, the Torrance Historical Society unveiled Beyond the planning stages, the city has its sidewalk survey of historic buildings in the been touched by the proteges of some of the city’s original footprint, the Olmsted district nation’s most prestigious architects. Irving (also known as Old Torrance). The group Gil, who designed the Pacific Electric railroad presented the findings and a brief history station and bridge, now known as the Depot of Torrance to the City Council during the restaurant and the Torrance Bridge, worked Council’s August 6 meeting. with Frank Lloyd Wright. And the original The survey covered 109 city blocks and city designer, Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr., nearly 2,000 structures in the area bounded by was the son of the designer of New York’s Dominguez Street, Plaza Del Amo, Crenshaw Central Park and the US Capitol grounds. Boulevard, and Western Avenue. The project Surprisingly, 60 percent of the non-industrial involved over 100 volunteers, all of whom section of the Olmsted district still retains needed to be trained in what historically that legacy. “That’s a lot,” said Higginbotham. significant markers to look out for. Torrance Torrance Historical Society President Jamie Historical Society vice president Debbie Hays Watson said the survey shows the lasting said the sheer scope of the project required impression the city’s planners have had on lots of eyes on the streets. “Now you see why we needed so many volunteers,” said Hays. The survey was commissioned by the city in conjunction with the Torrance’s Centennial Celebration. However, the survey took three years to complete, which unfortunately pushed it past the centennial year. Project manager Gene Higginbotham said he’s glad to be able to share the results with the Council. “We’ve been working on this for a long time,” said Higginbotham. “This is a real milestone for us to present this to the city. I’m very happy that we’ve gotten to this point where it’s completed.” The survey found the city to have a rich architectural history. The original concept was for Torrance to be a “garden city,” part of a movement started in England in the late 19th century, which sought to create harmony between civilization and nature. “The idea was to adopt a ‘garden city’ approach to urban design, where factory workers could buy their own homes near the factories where they worked,” said Higginbotham. “This is was different and progressive approach. The Olmsted tract embodies the goal of the garden Torrance. She said the city’s El Prado Mall is a cousin to the National Mall in Washington D.C., the Chicago Loop, and New York’s Central Park. The survey has been digitally archived by the Society and peered reviewed for accuracy. “This is the product of many minds and many hours of labor,” said Watson. “This project is a major body of work that verifies the historical and architectural significance of the original city of Torrance. But it also illustrates that we had notable contributors to start with.” The Council also agreed to a five lease for vanpool services with vRide, who replaces the city’s former vanpool provider, Enterprise. The city operates a vanpool as part of its See City Council, page 9 Exxon and Torrance Teach Kids STEM Skills By Dylan Little ExxonMobil’s Torrance Refinery, the City of Torrance, and the Torrance Unified School District teamed up this summer to give students a unique chance to learn what it takes to make it professionally in the science, technology, engineering, and math (known collectively as STEM) fields. The students who spent their summer working in the STEM sector showed off their final engineering project during their July 31 graduation luncheon. Torrance Refinery with the help of the City of Torrance and Torrance Unified School District hosted its 21st annual program graduation for students employed in ExxonMobil’s summer youth employment program at the Toyota Meeting Hall. Refinery manager Brian Ablett said in an e-mail that it’s important that high school students are exposed to professional role models, like ExxonMobil’s volunteers in the program. “It is important that we provide opportunities for our local youth to interact with professionals in our community who can have a positive influence on their career choices,” said Ablett. “We value our partnership with the city and school district through this program that provides a firstjob experience, promotes strong work ethics and reinforces the importance of education and community.” In a short speech during the luncheon, Torrance Mayor Pat Furey said the program has the potential to shape the future of the students involved in it by showing them first hand experiences in the STEM careers. He believes the program is far more than just See Exxon, page 10
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