This street honors Torrance’s sister city: Kashiwa, Japan. The Sister Cities program was launched by President Eisenhower in 1956 to stimulate cultural exchanges between American municipalities and those of similar size and industry elsewhere in the world. Torrance’s original sister city was Konya, Turkey – the partnership was formed in 1958, with Konya Drive soon named in tribute. A second sister was added in 1964: Guatemala City, Guatemala. By 1968, however, relationships with both cities had fizzled, due to political instability in Turkey and Guatemala and a general lack of effort. Enter Kashiwa to fill the void. In 1971, a delegate from Torrance’s moribund sister city commission flew to Japan to begin talks with local officials about a potential sisterhood. The deal was finalized in 1973 and Kashiwa Street was named in 1974, perhaps not coincidentally on an industrial tract owned by Japan’s Fujita Corp. Given Torrance’s large Japanese American population, it’s fitting that Kashiwa remains its sole sister city to this day.
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