Torrance

History

Torrance was founded in October 1912 and was incorporated on May 12, 1921. For thousands of years, the area of Torrance was occupied by the Tongva 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. In 1784, the Spanish Crown deeded Rancho San Pedro (including present-day Torrance), a tract of over in the province of Las Californias of New Spain, to soldier Juan José Domínguez. It was later divided in 1846, with Governor Pío Pico granting Rancho de los Palos Verdes to José Loreto and Juan Capistrano Sepúlveda in the Alta California territory of independent Mexico. 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. 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 both by Plaza del Amo east of where it meets Carson Street, and by Carson Street west of where it meets Plaza del Amo. 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. Some of the early civic and residential buildings were designed by the renowned and innovative Southern…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Bladder kelp

  Macrocystis pyrifera (L.) C.Agardh · Phaeophyceae
  174,947
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  33,167
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  32,218
• Black Phoebe

  Sayornis nigricans (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  31,296
• Western Gull

  Larus occidentalis Audubon, 1839 · Aves
  30,938
• wavy turban

  Megastraea undosa (W.Wood, 1828) · Gastropoda
  27,600
• Pacific Purple Sea Urchin

  Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Stimpson, 1857) · Echinoidea
  26,590
• Allen's Hummingbird

  Selasphorus sasin (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  26,129

Largest nearby schools

• Redondo Union High
  High · Redondo Beach · 3,005 students · 26.8:1 ratio
• San Pedro Senior High
  High · San Pedro · 2,582 students · 21.9:1 ratio
• Mira Costa High
  High · Manhattan Beach · 2,497 students · 23.3:1 ratio
• Phineas Banning Senior High
  High · Wilmington · 2,486 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• Palos Verdes Peninsula High
  High · Rolling Hills Estates · 2,290 students · 24.1:1 ratio
• Torrance High
  High · Torrance · 1,999 students · 23.5:1 ratio
• Lawndale High
  High · Lawndale · 1,921 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• Leuzinger High
  High · Lawndale · 1,896 students · 19:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.16 — 2026-10-09
  2 km SW of Signal Hill, CA
• M 2.7 — 2026-10-08
  2 km WNW of Fontana, CA
• M 2.51 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 2.81 — 2026-10-05
  32 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.48 — 2026-10-05
  31 km SW of Dana Point, CA
• M 3.81008714964485 — 2026-09-30
  4 km SE of Piru, CA