Carson, California (Images of America Series)

Most of the rolling ranchlands between what developed into the cities of Torrance and Long Beach in Los Angeles County's South Bay region were the domain of the Dominguez family's Rancho San Pedro. Among the families that married Dominguez sisters was that of George Henry Carson, whose seven sons and eight daughters helped ingrain the Carson name throughout the region. After World War I, the area prospered, developing its own businesses and identity so that the issue of possible cityhood ended in 1968 with incorporation. The city of Carson has been home to California State University, Dominguez Hills, the Goodyear blimp, oil refineries, industrial parks, track-and-field champions, 1984 Olympic bicycling events, and some of the most extraordinary racial diversity found anywhere, with Latinos, African Americans, and Filipinos each making up more than 20 percent of the total population.

Cindy Tino-Sandoval, the author of Images of America: Yorba Linda, is a professor at El Camino College and Mount St. Mary's College. The vintage photographs she has compiled for this evocative compendium were collected through the generous cooperation of California Sate University, Dominguez Hills, the Carson Fine Arts and Historical Commission, the historic Dominguez Ranch Adobe and Museum, and the personal archives of local residents.