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Within the San Andreas system of southern California, vertical-axis clockwise rotations have been attributed to (1) capture of the Monterey microplate, during which oceanic lithosphere beneath North America was transferred to the Pacific plate imparting basal traction and inducing northwestward motion of overlying North American crust, and (2) torsional force couples imposed at the ends of rotating panels. In contrast, some crustal blocks that are smaller and/or weaker than crust on opposite sides of faults have experienced clockwise transrotation as they have moved through restraining double bends: (1) rapid 40 degrees clockwise rotation of the eastern Transverse Ranges (6-0 Ma), starting with the southernmost parts and progressing northward; (2) rapid 23 degrees clockwise rotation of the Morales Formation in the Cuyama Valley (3-0 Ma); and (3) continuing clockwise rotation of the westernmost Transverse Ranges. The magnitude of rotation matches the angle between the strikes of fault segments on either side of the corresponding left bend. The oblique path of the San Andreas fault (SAf) across the disrupted Cretaceous batholith created a large-scale restraining double bend. As the rigid Sierra Nevada and Peninsular Ranges batholiths have converged along opposite sides of the SAf, the intervening SAf has rotated counterclockwise, thus tightening the restraining double bends. As a result, the magnitude of rotation of blocks moving through these bends has increased through time. Counterclockwise rotation of this segment of the SAf may also have caused 8 degrees-16 degrees counterclockwise rotation of the San Gabriel block. Our resulting palinspastic reconstructions not only satisfy kinematic and geologic constraints but also suggest a dynamic basis for transrotation of discrete crustal blocks, independent of microplate-capture events.