About Palos Verdes: Rancho Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance and Redondo Beach, California Area 

Palos Verdes Peninsula 

WELCOME!
It is a pleasure to present you with a beautiful Palos Verdes. It is a wonderful, prestigious and friendly community with breath taking views and fantastic weather. I know that you will come to cherish this unique area as I do. There is so much to do in and around "the hill" and finding your way around in a new community can be a challenge. My goal is to make the transition easier by providing you with information on local businesses, organizations, cultural centers and media publications.
The Palos Verdes Peninsula consists of four cities: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, and Rancho Palos Verdes. The four areas in Palos Verdes were founded to preserve the beauty of the coast and hills and to guarantee a balance of preservation and development. The region is very low density, with condominiums and single family homes ranging from the affordable to multi-million dollar estates. The title "Luxury home" takes on a new meaning on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Magnificent estates with views from Catalina to the Channel Islands.  

The quality of life on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is second to none. It boasts one of the best school districts in California and enjoys the sea
breezes of the Pacific ocean. It has three golf courses, including the future "Trump" National which is called "Ocean Trails" at this time.  

The Palos Verdes Art Center offers regular visual arts exhibition, education and community service programs. Exhibitions open six times a year, with free evening receptions usually scheduled in January, March, May, June, August and December. Class terms begin in January, March, July and September.  

The Peninsula Symphony provides four concerts and a Young Musician's Performance Competition Showcase, plus special summer family concerts, to South Bay audiences each season without admission charge. The Peninsula Symphony has been directed and conducted by Maestro Joseph A. Valenti since our founding in 1967. The COSB is a fully-professional orchestra, which is resident at the Norris Center for the Performing Arts, Crossfield Drive and Indian Peak Road, on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Under Music Director FRANCES STEINER, it gives a basic five-concert season at the Norris Center,which for the past five years has been "subscribed-out". The COSB has received three awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Peninsula Symphonic Winds (PSW) was formed in the fall of 1996 as a community band affiliated with the Music Department of Los Angeles Harbor College. In September of 2003, the band was organized as an independent, non-profit educational association, whose purposes are to prepare and perform musical concerts for the musical enrichment and education of the public, and to provide an opportunity for musicians to learn the skills needed for the performance of the concert band repertoire. The members of the band are volunteers who come from a variety of musical backgrounds, and for whom making music is a labor of love.  

The Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts was built in 1983 by a visionary group of individuals who formed the Community Association of the Peninsula (CAP.) Local residents contributed the bulk of construction costs for the Theatre, supplemented by businesses and corporations. The most notable of the Theatres early and continuing contributors is the Kenneth T. & Eileen L. Norris Foundation, after whom the Theatre is named.  

The Norris Theatre is a 450-seat, state of the art facility that has become the cornerstone of the performing arts on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, bringing leading entertainers and performing artists to the region and reinforcing these efforts with high-quality educational outreach programs for children and adults. 

Rolling Hills 

Rolling Hills is a private, gated community located atop the scenic hills of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA. Incorporated in 1957, Rolling Hills
maintains a ranch style/equestrian environment with an enduring respect for native wildlife and natural surroundings. 

Rolling Hills residents are extremely active in community organizations throughout the peninsula and dedicate themselves to preserving the unique
lifestyle found only behind the gates. Rolling Hills offers a variety of municipal services to its residents and visitors including: 

* fire and law enforcement (LA County)
* planning
* vector control
* building and safety (LA County)
* animal control and licensing
* waste disposal
* complete backyard recycling 

One of the most beautiful areas in the world with its breathtaking coastline vistas, dramatic steep cliffs, gracefully rolling hills, deep canyons ... the Palos Verdes area is a landscape inspiring both artists and poets. Palos Verdes is a small peninsula and a suburb of Los Angeles. Filled with natural beauty and majestic beaches, the Palos Verdes area is a must-see for any visitor to Southern California. 

Redondo Beach 

Redondo Beach does not have one key year in its history, it has several. Over the centuries the City has been inhabited by Native Americans, was a booming trade center for oil and lumber, and was fashioned as a popular resort town. 

Before 1784, Native Americans occupied the Redondo area. They lived off the sea and used the salt flats located where the Edison Company is today. This Native American land became Rancho San Pedro in 1784 when the California government made it part of a large land grant to the Juan Jose Dominguez family. 

In 1890, the Hotel Redondo opened. The City was becoming "The Place" for tourists. Railroads and steamships brought people by the thousands, not to mention freight loads of oil and lumber. At this time, Redondo was the first port of Los Angeles County. Steamers from the Pacific Steamship Company stopped at Redondo four times a week, at one of its three piers, as part of regular runs between San Francisco and San Diego. The Redondo Railway Company and the Santa Fe Railroad left Los Angeles daily for Redondo at regular intervals. Eventually the City was served by Henry Huntington's Big Red Electric Cars. 

The Hotel Redondo, with its 18-hole golf course, lush landscaping, tennis courts and 225 luxurious rooms, each of which was "touched by sunlight at some time of the day," induced more visitors than ever before to venture to the coast. If the price of hotel accommodations was too steep, one could rent a tent at nearby Tent City. Patrons were charged $3.00 per week, or $10.00 per month for a tent. Wooden floors and electric lights were included in the price. 

Several natural and man-made novelties lured visitors to Redondo Beach. Between Diamond Street and the Hermosa Beach city line there was Moonstone Beach. Natural mounds five to six feet deep and 40 to 50 feet wide of gem stones were there to poke around in. 

Carnation Gardens, in the general vicinity of Ruby and Sapphire Streets east of Catalina Avenue, offered 12 acres of sweet smelling flowers that were almost always in bloom. The piers, too, were an attraction. Sports fishing was unsurpassed and amusements such as games, rides and the largest salt water plunge in the world added to the excitement. 

On April 18, 1892, Redondo voters adopted cityhood by a vote of 177-10. The first City Hall was built in 1908 at Benita and Emerald Street. 

Redondo's popularity began a slow decline when San Pedro Harbor started to take shape in 1899. By 1912, the Pacific Steamship Company stopped calling at Redondo altogether. Lumber schooners still used Pier No. 3 at Topaz Street until the railroad pulled out in 1926. Because of prohibition, the $250,000 Hotel Redondo closed its doors and in 1925 was sold for scrap lumber--the price was $300. 

Big time gambling, complete with mobsters and shooting incidents, found its way to Redondo during the Depression. Chip games, bingo parlors, and a casino were run in full view of the law between 1936 and 1940. For a fare of 25 cents, a water-taxi would transport a visitor to the gambling ship Rex which operated three miles off shore. 

Storms have been an ever-present danger to the City's piers. They have been washed out, then rebuilt, then washed out again.Redondo's first breakwater was built in 1939 and although the cost was more than $500,000, it provided only limited protection. Because of the way it was constructed, wave action and the normal movement of the beach sand was altered. Following every storm, sand accumulated north of the breakwater. Eventually the beach area between Diamond and Beryl Streets was obliterated. A raging storm in 1953 caused extensive damage not only to the breakwater, but to City streets and private property. In 1956, work began on the marina Redondo has today--King Harbor. It is named after the man who was a moving force behind it,
Representative Cecil R. King (Democrat, 17th District). 

Redondo's population boomed in the '50s and '60s. In 1890, the population was 668; in 1940 it was 13,092; and in 1965 it was 54,772. Today, Redondo citizens number a little over 63,000. Still known as a tourist and resort town, Redondo can boast of piers with fishing and amusements, a Saltwater Lagoon reminiscent of the old plunge, many fine food restaurants and hotels, and a beautiful harbor. But Redondo today is not all fun and games. Some of the best and most innovative schools in the State are located in Redondo. Small and large businesses flourish, and City services are on a par with or exceed those of any other South Bay city. 

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