One of Torrance’s most distinctive neighborhood names dates back to an ambitious real-estate vision from the 1920s.

Developer Clifford Reid saw the hills overlooking the ocean as Southern California’s answer to the French Riviera. The sloping terrain, coastal views and mild climate gave the area the resort-like setting he wanted — but Reid also believed

the development needed a little Hollywood glamour in its name.

So the Hollywood Riviera was born.

The plan was much grander than simply building houses. Developers envisioned an affluent coastal community with landscaped streets, Mediterranean-style architecture, dramatic ocean views and a private beach club intended to help attract wealthy buyers, including people connected to the entertainment industry.

Torrance annexed the southern area in 1927, giving the city something it had not originally possessed: access to the Pacific Ocean. Development followed, along with custom homes, finished streets and the Hollywood Riviera Beach Club, which became one of the area’s signature attractions.

But the dream of turning the neighborhood into a playground for Hollywood’s elite never fully materialized. Torrance was still relatively isolated from Los Angeles, and then the Great Depression slowed development dramatically.

Even so, the name survived.

The original beach club was eventually destroyed by fire in 1958, and much of the Riviera was built out in later decades. But nearly a century later, the name still reflects the vision developers had for those hills: a little piece of the Riviera on the edge of Torrance.

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