Mexican Americans in Torrance

La Rana ( The Frog ) is two street blocks located between Crenshaw Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue in Torrance, California. La Rana has a colorful history of immigrants who settled in 1908 from various parts of Mexico with the following surnames: Torres, Ordaz, Grajeda, Flores, Alvarez, Duarte, and Solis. These families fled the Mexican Revolution and religious persecution in search of a brighter future for their children. They attended Torrance schools, such as Torrance Elementary, Nativity Catholic School, Torrance High School, and El Camino College. They earned degrees of higher education from a variety of schools like the University of California, Santa Barbara; California State University Long Beach; Loyola Marymount; the University of Arizona; and American InterContinental University. Today, those progenies include Devin Molina, an anthropologist; James Yanes, a medical doctor specializing in infectious diseases; Eddie Solis, an anesthesiologist; and Maria Dolores White, a nurse practitioner. Other professions include lawyers, nurses, teachers, police officers, accountants, professional baseball players, and a fire chief, as well as many business owners. Their stories are told through vintage photographs gathered from personal collections and commentary from friends and neighbors of the lives they led and the dreams they shared.