What happens to a downtown built around a train station once the station has no trains and no dinner service either?
The Depot was a fine-dining room inside the 1912 Pacific Electric station at 1250 Cabrillo Avenue, and it served its last meal on September 30. Over the same few weeks, the City of Torrance held a public meeting on a trail that would connect downtown to the regional transit center, and county and city officials broke ground on restoring a 1933 public building on Carson Street. Neither project is a restaurant, but both are about what the depot was built to do, which is getting people into downtown and giving them a reason to stay.
A Station Building Without a Train or a Kitchen
Irving Gill designed the depot, and it was completed in 1912 to serve passengers on the Pacific Electric's Torrance spur. The building sits on Cabrillo Avenue just south of Torrance Boulevard. After the rail era ended, Southern Pacific sold the property in 1986 to Capellino and Associates. According to a South Bay history column, the buyers had been approached by restaurateurs Robert Bell and Michael Franks about opening a restaurant there.
Chef Michael Shafer was in his 35th year at The Depot when he announced the closing. In a farewell letter on The Depot's website, Shafer wrote that he and his guests had "watched my kids and yours grow up at the Depot," celebrating "birthdays, anniversaries, births, and memorials as a family and community." He also announced a parking lot sale of the restaurant's memorabilia. Richard Foss's A La Carte column in Easy Reader called the closure the end of "an era of fine dining in Old Town Torrance." Foss described Shafer as a familiar presence in the dining room who knew "an astonishing number of his patrons by name."
The Gill building is still standing at the corner it has held for well over a century. What comes next downtown depends on the blocks around it, and the city has been reworking those blocks for several years.
The City Has Been Rebuilding the Front Door
In 2021, Torrance adopted the Downtown Torrance Revitalization and Connectivity Plan. Among other findings, it identified a lack of bicycle and pedestrian connections between downtown and other major local landmarks. The city's downtown plan page lists business attraction, design, parking and mobility, branding and funding as its revitalization strategies. Since then, the plan has turned into a series of dated steps:
- 2023: The city approved a permanent outdoor-dining program that allows permitted parklets in the public right-of-way.
- September 8, 2025: A new downtown gateway arch was dedicated at Sartori and Post avenues, as reported by the Daily Breeze.
- January 27, 2026: The City Council voted 6–0 to accept a $200,000 Metro grant, plus a $20,000 local match, for downtown street-activation events tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
- June 13, 2026: "Kick It in Downtown Torrance" opened downtown streets to people, with match screenings of Qatar–Switzerland at noon and Brazil–Morocco at 3 p.m. A second date was scheduled for July 11 at El Prado Park.
Metro's event listing described Sartori Avenue and El Prado Avenue as car-free community spaces for those dates, with pump tracks, learn-to-bike activities, art installations, food trucks and live music. In its follow-up release, the city said the June event drew residents, families and visitors to live broadcasts, local vendors, youth soccer, live music and chalk art.
So far, most of the money and organizing has come from the city. In a January 2026 staff update, Torrance reported that a property-based business improvement district for downtown still lacked enough support to go to a formation vote. The city was looking into an alternative funded by business owners. Because of that, the next big change downtown is a public works project.
A Trail That Ends Where the Railroad Began
The proposed Multi-Use Active Transportation Trail would start at the Torrance Transit Center, cross Crenshaw Boulevard and run east along Dominguez Street. Where Dominguez turns into Sartori Avenue, the route would continue south to Torrance Boulevard in downtown. That endpoint is on the same boulevard the Gill depot sits just south of. The project description on the city's website describes a link between the new Regional Transit Center and Downtown Torrance that people could use to reach destinations, services and jobs "without the need for a car."
The Daily Breeze reported on the plan's two parts. The first is a two-way off-street path through the open space along Dominguez. It would end on Sartori where the existing train tracks cross at Portola Avenue, and from there bike lanes on Sartori would carry riders to Torrance Boulevard. At a community meeting on October 13, participants voted overwhelmingly for modern site amenities along the path, such as playground equipment or park benches, over simple exercise stations. They also chose Class II bike lanes, which are separate lanes, over Class III lanes, where bikes share the travel lane with cars.
Torrance Planning Manager Oscar Martinez told the paper the project is in its early stages, with no firm plans or cost estimates yet. For now, the city is gathering community support and opinions. Questions can go to the Community Development Department at 310-618-5990.
Carson Street's 1933 Building Goes Back to Work First
On Carson Street, an older public building already has funding, a timeline and tenants. On October 16, officials broke ground on a $17.4 million renovation of 2300 W. Carson St. It is a Spanish colonial-style brick building that businessman and philanthropist Sam Levy gave to the county, and it opened in 1933. The building was last a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health clinic and has been empty since that clinic closed in 2002.
The two historic downtown-area buildings are now at very different points:
| The Depot | 2300 W. Carson St. | |
|---|---|---|
| Opened | 1912 | 1933 |
| Origin | Irving Gill design for the Pacific Electric | Gift to the county from Sam Levy |
| Most recent use | The Depot restaurant, closed September 30, 2026 | County public health clinic, closed 2002 |
| Next use | To be determined | Pathway Torrance Community Health & Wellness Center |
The restored building will be called the Pathway Torrance Community Health & Wellness Center. Venice Family Clinic will run the health facility on the ground floor, and the city will lease the second floor for administrative offices and housing and homelessness outreach staff. The plan also adds community meeting rooms and an outdoor plaza for community events. Supervisor Janice Hahn is putting $11 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the budget. The city secured another $6.4 million in state and federal funding through Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. At the groundbreaking, Hahn spoke about the decision to restore the building instead of replacing it, according to the Daily Breeze:
"A lot of people want to tear down historic buildings — but that's not me. This is a beautiful county building that has been part of Torrance's story for nearly a century."
Construction was set to start before the end of October, with completion expected by July. The first meeting rooms and outdoor plaza to come out of this round of downtown investment will be inside a building from 1933.
Where the Evenings Go This Season
The Depot is closed, but some longtime Old Torrance spots are still serving. Red Car Brewery & Restaurant at 1266 Sartori Ave. opened in August 2000, and the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce marked its 25th anniversary in August 2025. Sartori is also the street the proposed trail's bike lanes would follow into downtown.
Dates on the city's holiday calendar:
- Saturday, November 14, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Holiday Arts and Craft Sales, free, at Ken Miller Recreation Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive.
- December 1 through 6: The Torrance Memorial Holiday Festival at 3330 Lomita Blvd. Public hours are December 1–3 and 5–6, and health screenings are offered December 5–6.
- Downtown: Last year's Downtown Torrance Association Holiday Stroll ran on December 3, 2025, from 4 to 8 p.m., with vendors, carolers, a DJ and photos with Santa. Discover Torrance posts the association's event listings.
The trail proposal is open for public comment now. The Carson Street restoration is scheduled to finish by July, and The Depot's last service was September 30 at 1250 Cabrillo Avenue.
At Schneider Properties, we follow how Torrance's older blocks are being reused, from the Gill depot on Cabrillo to the Levy building on Carson. If you own near downtown and want to talk through what the trail or the restoration could mean for your street, contact us. We're glad to share what we know.
