Town file
Lomita, California
Lomita, California (Los Angeles County, California) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 536, "Cooking Up Murder" (12 October 2024).
- Town
- Lomita
- County
- Los Angeles County
- State
- California
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 536
- Approximate location
- 33.793, -118.317
Episode 536 / 12 October 2024 / 72 min / express
Cooking Up Murder
""We're going to Lomita, California... It's in LA County, but it's its own little suburb over here."" about 0:04:03
The case: Murder of Dawn Vines (October 18, 2009). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2024
- Population
- 20,884
- Median household income
- $85,852
- Median home value
- $846,100
History, in brief
- The Sepulveda family established and started raising cattle on Rancho Los Palos Verdes, which angered the Dominguez family because the Sepulvedas had no land grant and simply started using the land. about 0:05:21
- The dispute was not resolved until 1841, when the Sepulvedas finally got a signed deed. about 0:05:49
- Too much rain in 1861 ruined the crops. about 0:06:05
- Too little rain in 1862 ruined the crops again. about 0:06:09
- A paralyzing smallpox epidemic hit in 1862. about 0:06:14
- Swarms of grasshoppers ravaged the grasslands in 1863. about 0:06:22
- It did not rain at all in 1864. about 0:06:30
- By 1865 there was basically no cattle left and the five-year run of disasters had destroyed the whole Southern California ranching industry. about 0:06:35
- In 1935 the vaudevillian actor Frank Gumm of Grand Rapids, Minnesota leased the Lomita Theater to present his singing and dancing daughters Mary Jane, Dorothy Virginia and Judy, who was Judy Garland. about 0:06:58
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Loves Lomita; aside from living near a hospital and hearing ambulances and fire department sirens it is pretty quiet, graffiti is quickly covered, and the only change wanted is the grass cut more often on side streets."about 0:07:27
3 stars
"Wishes there were fewer drug addicts everywhere, and says the drinking water is disgusting and not safe for human consumption."about 0:08:05
2 stars
"Bad; would not want a vacation there."about 0:08:34
5 stars
"Great little neighbourhood with a small-town feel, 15 minutes from Redondo Beach and 20 from LA, with lots of fairs and festivals year-round that remind the reviewer of home."about 0:08:44
1 star
"Reply to the five-star review: 'What the hell are you talking about' - it is overcrowded, nasty and dirty, with homeless people defecating on lawns and bums everywhere; asks what small towns, meth towns?"about 0:09:05
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Canyon Lake, California61 miles
- Cottonwood, California114 miles
- Borrego Springs, California119 miles
- Springville, California163 miles
- Olancha, California172 miles
- Sunnyside, California217 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.