About Us:

Even though the records of the first thirty years of Torrance Rotary were destroyed by fire, past-president Stu Marsee set upon recording the early history of our club. Fortunately, charter member Charlie Jones was still a member of our club in 1974 when Stu set out to write the 50-year history of Torrance Rotary.

Torrance Rotary was chartered on November 6, 1924 with 21 members. Jim Hines, a banker with the State Exchange Bank and later the Bank of America, was our first President.

Torrance Rotary was the first service club in Torrance. Our first meeting was in a store on El Prado next to the drug store. Ladies from one of our local churches served our dinners. We moved to a church hall until they kicked us out for smoking too much. We moved to the American Legion Hall on Carson Street until an earthquake shook us out. Harold Kingsley, the editor of the Torrance Herald (later the Daily Breeze) was our second president and an outstanding speaker. The secretary, Carl Hyde, became the third president.