DISTRICT / EL SEGUNDO

Smoky Hollow

A roughly 120-acre older industrial district next to the refinery, named for the steam and smoke that once drifted over it. Its mid-century industrial buildings now house design firms, studios and tech and aerospace startups, under a specific plan meant to make it a creative business incubator.

Generated poster art of a street of sawtooth-roof brick and metal workshops with roll-up doors, with refinery stacks far off under a big sun. Not a photograph. — Generated art made with ChatGPT image generation for elsegundo.xyz. Not a photograph. Image credits

Type: District
Where: Light-industrial district near El Segundo Blvd, Sepulveda Blvd, and Grand/Franklin Aves, just north of the Chevron refinery

What the sources say

Each line links the public source it comes from.

Size: Approximately 120 acres ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
Size (consultant figure): About 94 acres migcom.com
Cross streets in state filing: Indiana Street/Sepulveda Blvd, El Segundo Blvd, Franklin Ave/Grand Ave ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
Name origin: Steam plumes from the refinery once clouded the district bisnow.com
Location: A few blocks north of the Chevron refinery urbanize.la
History: Hosted aerospace and other heavy industry and manufacturing during World War II; declined as demand for industrial buildings fell, then drew creative and tech tenants bisnow.com
Specific plan: City unveiled the Smoky Hollow Specific Plan update on April 19, 2018; it allows 2.97 million sq ft of office, industrial and public facility space through 2040 bisnow.com
Plan goal: Create an incubator district where businesses can grow in a creative setting; current land uses are industrial, office, commercial and residential ceqanet.lci.ca.gov
Recent tenants: Varda Space Industries, Neros and General Matter operate there en.wikipedia.org
Rediscovery: Local artists discovered the area in 2009; tech firms followed en.wikipedia.org

Sources and checks

Sources checked October 29, 2026.

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