Rodeo in Torrance? A cowboy displays his lassoing skills at the 1969 Torrance Mounted Police Rodeo, held that year at the Torrance High football field.
A full-blown rodeo. A 3 1/2-hour procession described as "the biggest parade in southwest Los Angeles County history." Game booths, rides, a midway, an aquacade and an annual beauty contest.
All these and more were part of Torrance's Ranchero Days, a civic celebration that began with a five-day extravaganza sponsored by the Torrance Chamber of Commerce from July 24 through July 28, 1957.
The rodeo event, sponsored by the Torrance Mounted Police Association, predates Ranchero Days by three years, having begun in 1954, the year after the police horsemen's group was founded.
Proceeds from the annual event originally were used to fund the city's annual float entry in the annual Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day.
Organizers decreed in 1960 that the Armed Forces Day parade would take precedence, and dropped the Ranchero Days parade.
But in 1961, it was back. The Torrance Mounted Police Association held a rodeo parade in August of that year attended by an estimated 8,000 spectators. The Daily Breeze report on July 27, 1962 that a million dollars worth of silver would be on display in that year's parade in the form of "lavishly ornamented saddles and bridles."
Longtime local newscaster and equestrian enthusiast George Putnam served as grand marshal of the 1965 event. In that year's rodeo, spectators donated money for medical treatment of cowboy Jim Matthews of Idaho who suffered an unusual injury in the event. (See clipping, right. Click to enlarge.)
By 1966, Ranchero Days had become a two-week event. The Torrance Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsored a week-long carnival. The second half of included the rodeo, co-sponsored by the Torrance Chamber, the Torrance Elks Club and the Torrance Mounted Police Association.
In addition, a beard-growing contest was held that year among male city employees. (See clip, left. Click to enlarge.)
The rodeo, parade and beauty contest were scrubbed for the 1967 event, which consisted only of the carnival.
But those events would return the following year.
According to Daily Breeze files, 1974 is the last year in which the Ranchero Days are mentioned in conjunction with the rodeo.
The rodeo event continued at least until 1980, when the 26th annual event was held under the sponsorship of the Torrance Mounted Police Association. Finally, the rodeo ceased altogether in the early 1980s.
A rodeo cowboy hits the dirt after being thrown during the bronc riding event at the 1962 Ranchero Days rodeo.
The TMP rodeos were the best! I attended them in the mid-1970s. The owner of our stables "Circle CJ" was a member of the TMP for awhile. Those days it was held at the corner of 190th and Madrona/Prairie. Can you imagine the big field that used to be there before Columbia Park? The rodeo was awesome! My friend was even Rodeo Queen one year! Does the TMP still have its stables off Madrona and Del Amo Blvd?
Once-upon-a-time, Torrance was the "All American City" and had cowboys and a rodeo for a week of Summer fun for everybody. Now there is now a only a carwash where the rodeo was once held. The 1960's song: "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot", has been the anthem of the City of Torrance since the late 1970's. "Torrance" is now only another metaphor for banality.