In 1945 the city purchased its first power sweeper; the work could no longer be done with hand brooms and manual labor. At present, the city has several sweepers which clean the entire town once a week and the business section three times each week.

In 1948 a new city hall was dedicated at 4460 West 126th Street. It wasn't long until the booming economy necessitated larger quarters and the building was remodeled in 1955.

A prime factor in Hawthorne's development is the municipal airport which started operations for privately owned aircraft in April, 1948. Previous to this date, Northrop Corporation used the site for operations of military aircraft. When the company located here in 1939, one of the principal considerations influencing the location was the proposed development of tan airport strip adjacent to the plant site. In August, 1939, citizens of Hawthorne pledge the city to such development and Northrop thereupon acquired, for the city, basic property for the airport. After assurances by the city that the site would be operated and maintained as an airport, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, assisted by the W.P.A., started construction. Service began on June 19, 1942. In September 1949 the city accepted a grant agreement from the Civil Aeronautics Administration and soon thereafter completed a 30 foot taxiway, cross connecting taxiways, and an apron on the north side of the airport. It is widely used by owners of private aircraft, businessmen, and industry. Best of all, it is an asset to taxpayers for it returns an annual net profit from operations. In 1964 it was ranked the tenth busiest general aviation airport in California and the twenty-fifth in the nation. From an insignificant beginning of a few hundred aircraft movements in 1950, the 1970 total reached 245,313. Ad administration building, with a restaurant and other needed facilities, were dedicated in 1968. Total valuation of capital improvements and aircraft exceeds $3 million.

It is appropriate at this point to note that Hawthorne's first municipal airport, if it can be so described, was a privately owned 15-acre site known as Kelley Field, located on the present site of Hawthorne High School in 1921. There the daring air pioneers of the day flew their "Jennies", and their antics were not unanimously approved by the populace. An article in one of the newspapers of the period criticized the aviators as daredevils whose sport frightened the people. The article concluded with the statement that airplanes were of no use to sensible people, would never be of any economic value, and would eventually be illegal to own and operate.