City of Carson has a long and colorful history, which dates back to the actual founding of California, it is a very young community in terms of its age as an independent city. Carson was incorporated as a city in 1968. Compare that to Carson's neighbor to the east, Long Beach, which incorporated almost a century earlier, in 1888, or to its neighbor to the west, Torrance, which became a city in 1921. In those intervening years, the area that is now Carson remained an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County, and as a result, the young City of Carson is still struggling to overcome the penalties that came with delaying its incorporation. The history of the City of Carson since 1968 has, to a large extent, been the history of struggling to deal with these problems caused by its late incorporation. And to its credit, Carson has worked miracles in the short time since its birth as an independent city.

Carson acted swiftly to close down most of the unwanted facilities that had been hoisted upon the city in the past, enforcing a strict building and landscaping code, and a working to attract successful new commercial ventures to the city. As a result, most of the heavy industry of the past has been replaced. The new industrial parks in Carson, such as the Watson Industrial Center, are models of cleanliness and attention to appearance. Beautification efforts by the city have resulted in numerous landscaped center medians, lighting projects, street improvements and public parks.