I am pretty sure that the area is very bus friendly. Basically the two main streets are Hawthrone and PCH which is perpendictular to it. Taking Hawthrone..not much to go to unless you want to get shopping done at Del Amo Mall (Very big, but there's not much there at all...bunch of chains, bad street brands, shoe stores, etc). There's a Nordstrom further down at the Galleria but it sucks too. PCH is good though to get to the Beaches. It'll be very easy for you to bus into Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach....there might even be a smaller municipal beach shuttle in that area. In that specific area, there isn't much to do as far as nightlife. I believe the big bar in that area is the TGI Fridays near Hawthorne and Skypark. There's some Sports Bar there too...its very chainy and it attracts kind of a ghetto "sports crowd"
http://www.yelp.com/biz/national-sports-grill-torrance You need to go down PCH into Redondo till you get some "good" nightlife. The little village down by the border of Redondo Beach and Torrance is pretty nice too...lots of surf shops, small burger joints, etc...kind of near the base of Palos Verdes Drive
http://www.rivieravillage.org/ The main thing you have in your area is a few car dealerships, the Torrance Airport, a few hospitals, etc. There are some decent food options though. There is a minimall on Crenshaw, I think its called Rolling Hills Plaza that has some billards place...not sure if its still there and a few japanese restaruants, movie theater, Islands (chain), etc. A few chinese places (Seafood Village), there is a few Pho places and Korean BBQ and chinese buffetts on Hawthrone past del amo (all mediocre). El Pollo Inka is the Peruvian place and its right there by Hawthrone and PCH as is a Bob's Big Boy and a Hawaiian place, The Loft which is not bad for what it is.
