It’s Small, but the Prices Are Right : Lomita: City with rural past and two-story building limit offers lower home prices than those in its costlier South Bay neighbors.
Walking down the street, you are struck by a sense of quiet--the kind of quiet you don’t often experience in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
A porch swing sways in the breeze, an elderly woman in a straw hat and gardening gloves works in a well-kept garden, children cavort in the sprinklers on a good-sized front lawn in front of a small, but tidy home.
If you had just awakened, Rip Van Winkle-style, you might think you were in a small town in the Midwest.
But you would be in Lomita, a 1.87-square-mile city in the South Bay area just south of Los Angeles. Bordered by Harbor City on the east, Palos Verdes on the south and Torrance on the west and north, Lomita retains its own style and a small-town atmosphere.
“Lomita offers a quiet, rural community in an urban metropolis setting,” said realtor Richard Stephens who has lived in Lomita for 33 years.
Lomita’s population has remained fairly constant over the past two decades because zoning laws prohibit any buildings higher than two stories, and there is not enough land to spread out. In 1980, there were 19,784 residents, and 1990 figures are estimated at 20,350.
But this doesn’t mean the city is at a standstill. To the contrary, Lomita is considered one of the last affordable areas in the South Bay, when compared with the pricier cities nearby.
House-hunters who can’t afford the steep prices of Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach and who find even Torrance to be beyond their reach often turn to Lomita.
“You can still get a three-bedroom, 1 3/4-bath home for $300,000,” said Stephens, of Town & Countrie Realty. In fact, according to his listing book, there are many homes available in the mid-$200,000 range. Those might be two bedrooms, one bath, but they might also be on a good-sized lot.
“We have some unusually large lots in Lomita, one-quarter to one-half acre in size because Lomita started out as a farming community, and the lot configurations reflect that history,” Stephens said.
Cleta Gilbert, who has lived in Lomita since 1934, can vividly remember that farming heritage.
“I remember when Pacific Coast Highway was only two lanes, and it was all residential. People raised their own chickens, and there was a lot of agriculture in the area,” she said.
Gilbert and her husband, Paul, who died in 1976, owned Lomita Auto Parts for almost 40 years. “Everyone knew everyone back then,” she said. Her daughter and her grandchildren were born and raised in Lomita.
Gilbert has lived in her home since 1956 and she doesn’t plan to leave. “Most people my age have moved to retirement communities,” she said, “but I love the small-town atmosphere and the climate here.”
Rodney and Patty Magsanide were drawn to Lomita because the homes were more affordable than in nearby areas.
Patty grew up in Redondo Beach and Rodney grew up in Hawaii, but when they decided to buy, the beach area was way out of reach. They bought their 1,000-square-foot home on Eshelman Avenue in 1988 for $171,000. It has two bedrooms, one bath, a good-sized kitchen, a bonus room and a living room. The home also has a pool, but no back yard.
With two young daughters, the Magsanides wanted an area where they would feel safe.
“Our neighbors here are really great,” Patty Magsanide said, “and I can walk to a nearby shopping area with the stroller for just about anything I need.”
They say they are a little cramped in their home, but believe they made a good investment and plan on staying in the community.
There is new housing being built in Lomita, and you can spend up to $550,000 for a new, roomy home on a big lot. And more and more builders appear to be gambling that buyers are willing to pay that kind of money for more of a house than they could get elsewhere in the South Bay.
Helping to fuel demand for new homes is Lomita’s proximity to the large job market in the South Bay. And it’s close to the San Diego and Harbor freeways, which helps to shorten the commute into Los Angeles.
Tim and Kathleen Gaines moved into their new three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath townhome in May, paying about $300,000.
Tim Gaines, a firefighter with the city of El Segundo, and Kathleen, a CPA who works in downtown Los Angeles, had previously lived in San Pedro but wanted to move more toward the South Bay.
They were both born and raised in Torrance, but found Torrance was no longer affordable. “We saw what we could get for just under $300,000 in Torrance and we compared what we could get in Lomita, and we found we would get a lot more for our money here,” Tim Gaines said.
The earliest inhabitants of the Lomita area were Indians, according to archeological excavations. Then, in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Harbor, ushering in an era when the Spanish took Indian lands for land grants.
Two early ranching clans, the Sepulveda and Dominguez families, dominated the Lomita area in the early 1800s. A spate of natural disasters in the next few decades forced the two powerful families to sell off and partition much of their holdings.
W. I. Hollingsworth opened the first housing tract in 1907, and the name Lomita, which means “little hill” in Spanish, came into being.
Lomita’s pioneer settler is considered to be M. M. Eshelman, who in 1907 purchased nearly eight acres of land for $2,337. Eshelman Avenue is still one of the main thoroughfares of the city.
In the early 1920s, the discovery of oil sent real estate prices soaring, and lots that had been bought for a few hundred dollars sold for as much as $35,000. During this time, many residents also engaged in farming, harvesting beautiful crops of celery and strawberries.
Today, much of Lomita’s farmland has been supplanted by homes and businesses. There is a bustling and diverse downtown area around the Lomita Boulevard and Narbonne Avenue intersection, but busy Pacific Coast Highway, which cuts through the city, is where much of the retail action is today.
One attraction that Lomita residents are proud of is the Lomita Railroad Museum, which features a historical depot building, authentic railroad cars, locomotive and other railroad memorabilia.
The museum was built in 1966 by Irene Lewis, a devoted railroader, and she gave the museum to the city and dedicated it to her husband, Martin S. Lewis.
As you sit on the worn seats in the caboose, you will hear the piped-in sounds of a real train whistling and steaming in the background. And as the conductor calls out, “All aboard,” you just might wish you could stay aboard, or at least in Lomita, where the hustle and bustle of big-city life seems to take second place to the calm serenity of life in a slower lane.
AT A GLANCE Population
1990 estimate: 20,510
1980-90 change: 9.1%
Median age: 31.3 years
Annual income
Per capita: 15,761
Median household: 35,831
Household distribution
Less than $15,000: 19.6%
$15,000 - $30,000: 22.6%
$30,000 - $50,000: 28.7%
$50,000 - $75,000: 18.3%
$75,000 + 10.6%
