South Bay History: Torrance occupational center SoCal Roc has offered job training for more than 50 years

The idea seems like a no-brainer now: Build a communal center for occupational and vocational education that can serve multiple school districts which might not be in a position to fund such training programs on their own.

But no such facility existed in California when Capt. Charles Gardner of the U.S. Naval Station in Long Beach broke a bottle of champagne over the plow of a bulldozer during the dedication of the Southern California Regional Occupational Center in Torrance on Oct. 6, 1967.