^{Work on the Torrance Financial Center on Hawthorne Boulevard and Carson Street began in 1967. It included the 12-story Union Bank tower, then the tallest building in the South Bay. A rendering, below, shows the plan. Only one of the three towers was completed.} 

Slipping into the 1960s, the diverse growth of the City continued. The City leased airport land at very low rates to allow for the development of Rolling Hills Plaza, which opened in 1961.

The City also saw a new hospital built on Torrance Boulevard. Little Company of Mary, founded in 1960, was built as a full service hospital at Earl Street and Torrance Boulevard.

The City became a major retail focal point in the region with the building of the Del Amo Shopping Center. The mall stretched from the Sears store near Sepulveda along Hawthorne Boulevard to The Broadway at the north end near Carson Street. The project cost $40 million as an open-air mall with many of its tenants new to the South Bay. In 1963, the opening of White Front on Hawthorne just south of Torrance Boulevard was another major event in the City, and added to the retail strength of the Hawthorne corridor.

The early 1960s also were a time of new economic development initiatives by the City.

The City stepped out with one of the first industrial redevelopment projects in California. The project area was Meadow Park, which was an undeveloped area along Hawthorne Boulevard north of Pacific Coast Highway that was prone to flooding. It was a federal redevelopment project, and it involved condemnation of private property to allow consolidation of the properties for development.

The project consolidated the large number of undeveloped lots, requiring the Redevelopment Agency to use its powers of eminent domain to take the property in the area including several multiple residential units.

The development required substantial soil removal and replenishment. It also required federal funds to assist in infrastructure improvements.

In 1962, Wilson Development (which developed a majority of the houses built in Torrance in the 1950s and 60s) opened the Southwood Riviera Royale Development near Anza Avenue and Calle Mayor.

In March 1963, a suit was filed against the developer alleging a violation of the 1959 Unruh Civil Rights Act. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) picketed the tract, bringing about change to the racial profiling practices when it came to real estate in Southern California.

Torrance was now the third largest city in Los Angeles County. It had shifted its focus west, and with the new mall and Hawthorne Boulevard developments, it became the regional destination for shopping.

It retained its identity as a balanced city, but now that balance reflected manufacturing, aerospace engineering, retail and residential elements.

Torrance’s attempts to expand its borders by seeking to annex much of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and some areas to the south east and north of its existing borders were never fulfilled, so the boundaries of Torrance were set.

In 1967, construction began on the first phase of the Torrance Financial Center at Hawthorne Boulevard and Carson Street. It included the tallest building in the South Bay: the 12-story Union Bank tower, plus a series of smaller towers and single story buildings.

The development was projected to include two more towers, plus several other smaller buildings.

The other phases were not built.

Across the street at Sepulveda and Hawthorne boulevards, ground was broken for The Treasury, a J.C. Penney superstore that included a grocery store and large retail store covering approximately 180,000 square feet.